EVA Report – April 18th

Crew 280 EVA Report 18-04-2023

EVA #3

Author: Mariona Badenas (Crew Commander and Astronomer) and Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist)

Purpose of EVA: The main goal of the EVA was to collect iron oxide samples for Neus Sebaté’s (Mission Specialist) research project, which consists of building Martian batteries with iron materials. During this EVA, Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist) supported Neus in the sampling process, Mariona Badenas (Commander) was in charge of the navigation, and Núria Jar (Journalist) documented the EVA for her podcast. The EVA group was accompanied by two media teams (documentary and Catalan TV press teams).

Start time: 11:20AM

End time: 12:47PM

Narrative: The EVA was planned for 11AM, but it finally started at 11:20AM. It took 30 minutes for the crew to get ready, and during this time, both the media and the documentary team recorded the preparation of the EVA. After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, we drove Curiosity and Spirit to Marble Ritual to gather iron-rich rock samples for Neus Sabaté (Mission Specialist). With these samples, Neus will try to build batteries with Martian-like materials.

After a smooth but windy drive to our destination, we parked the rovers and walked east of Marble Ritual, where we located many black and reddish rocks with iron oxide materials. Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer) and Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist) assisted Neus with the rock sampling process, while Núria Jar (Journalist) reported the whole process with beautiful pictures (see “Pictures of the Day”).

During this time, the broadcasting team filmed the crew, although all EVA teams made the effort to disregard their presence to respect the simulation. We completed the scientific goals of the EVA at 12:15PM, after walking and sampling for 1 hour at about 400m from where we parked the rovers. After that moment, we communicated our intended route back to the rovers to the media team through a radio that we provided them, and they followed us with a drone.

We then drove back and returned to the Hab, where we followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol. The first media team abandoned the area soon after, while the documentary team entered the base a few minutes after the EVA team returned to the base. Although we had a windy expedition, we experienced no problems during this EVA.

Destination: Originally Cowboy Corner, but Marble Ritual.

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 519000 E, 4250500 N

EVA participants: 4: Mariona Badenas (Commander) (EVA Leader), Carla Conejo (Executive officer & Biologist), Neus Sabaté (Engineer), Núria Jar (Journalist).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110.

Mode of travel: Drive on Cow Dung Road 0110 to Cowboy Corner then walking around no farther than 400 meters for sampling.

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