Sol 11
Summary Title: Wonderful culmination of team efforts
Author’s name: Aline Decadi, XO
Mission Status: nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Today took place 2 EVAs:
– EVA-17 with the following 2 crew members: James Burk (Commander) (EVA Leader), Cecile Renaud (GreenHab Officer).
– EVA-18 with the following 4 crew members: Julien Villa-Massone (Crew Engineer) (EVA Leader), Cecile Renaud (GreenHab Officer), Erin Kennedy (Crew Roboticist), Kris Davidson (Journalist) (Not In Sim – Not Wearing Suit).
EVA-17 successfully conducted soil gathering for Crew Biologist. The crew drove the rover Perseverance to the North side of Kissing Camel Ridge, just off Cow Dung Road.
EVA-18 had the following purpose:
- Final testing of Atmosphinder robot
- Observe the geological features of that region
The EVA-18 started close to the RAM, then the crew drove with the rovers Curiosity and Opportunity to Cow Dung Road north to Brahe Hwy 1572, then north turn and stop at Sea of Shells.
Today was the final testing of the Atmosphinder robot! The robot response was prominent owing to the servo motors functioning and the LEDs being brighter compared to EVA-16.
The anemometer was activated, and the robot responded by changing the sail servo motor movements and LEDs. As the wind speed value hit different thresholds, the sail servo movements changed accordingly. This test result proves that Atmosphinder was able to control its sail trim servos in response to the wind speed. This is an indicator that in the future, controlling the direction of the robot based on the current winds is possible.
EVA crew members Cecile and Julien showed the robot computer vision camera pink and green cards, and the robot responded by moving its sails accordingly. The EVA crew members then swapped positions to change the colour combination, and the robot responded by moving its sails in the other direction. This test result proves that this is as an alternate method for human-robot interaction for astronauts, and is worth exploring further to improve the usability when collaborating with robots.
EVA-18 was an extraordinary conclusion to the Atmosphinder project. The functionality worked, making it a wonderful culmination of the efforts for the past two weeks. Sharing the enthusiasm with the entire crew was extremely rewarding! Many thanks to the entire crew for contributing to this final EVA to make it a favourable result.
The crew spent the rest of the afternoon debriefing. Julien Villa-Massone (Crew Engineer) performed a demonstration on the resources in the Hab (power supply and water). Erin Kennedy (Crew Roboticist) made a demonstration of the functions and performances of Atmosphinder. Then, the crew made the daily reports, have dinner together. The crew discussed the “remain to do” for the last day in Sim tomorrow and prepared the last EVAs tomorrow.
In the Greenhab, some activities have been anticipated for tomorrow by Cecile Renaud (Greenhab officer), such as the characterization of the soil with the plants, and the counting of the number of seeds visible from the top of the soil. It remains tomorrow to check for potential sprouts to be detected. Regarding the photoreactor: harvest training has been done with James Burk (Commander); he will be able to teach the harvest process to the next crew. Moreover, the volumes of the culture have been increased at their maximum volume.
Look Ahead Plan: we will conduct our last 2 EVA tomorrow: EVA-19 in the morning for scouting the area South to the Gateway of Condor; EVA-20 in the afternoon for exploring the geological features at Sea of Shells, according to mission request approval.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Pleasant and sunny. Windy in the afternoon.
Crew Physical Status: Nominal.
EVA: EVA-17 North side of Kissing Camel Ridge, just off Cow Dung Road; EVA-18 at Sea of Shells.
Reports to be filed: HSO Report, EVA Report, Operations Report, Journalist Report, Pictures of the day, GreenHab Report.
Support Requested: None.