Sol: Sol #7
Summary Title: Good weather for field work
Author’s name: Annalea Beattie
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Summary: Sunday is our scheduled day off so we slept in until after nine had a breakfast of leftovers and then went back to our work. Daniel spent time in the Science Dome successfully extracting DNA with his mobile Bento Lab. Rajvi and Mehnaz continued their usual chores caring for all the systems and the Green Hab. Aditya worked on his star imagery and on his research project. That was the story for the home crew for the rest of the day. Clare, Bharti and I prepared our gear for our EVA #8 south of Cowboy Corner. With Rajvi, we adjusted our suits and checked batteries. For the first time I chose to wear the all-in-one suit with the built-in helmet and I am converted. It was super comfortable, a little bit noisy sometimes but the weight is distributed evenly on the shoulders and the hips. It felt easy to move about the field in spacesuit number eight and I barely noticed wearing it. Our EVA was successful with samples gathered for Daniel from two locations. On a large scale we examined the rubble falling down the grey, greenish grey and red slopes of the Morrison. Their spectacular sinuous and cross-bedded features have been deposited by ancient river systems over millions of years. It was both sunny and chilly today and there was still snow settled in the shadows. As we walked around the base of the ridge we found elongated cross-bedding, micro-folding and varieties of small concretions. It was a successful EVA and we were all really happy to be out working in the field. We arrived home at four and after a cup of tea now our crew are cooking and writing reports for the day to be submitted tonight to Mission Support. After Comms this evening we have a special outreach event organized by our terrific media person on the ground in India, Sakshi Sharma. Our crew will meet with her, with the members of Women in Space South Asia, and all the other invited guests from all over the world to talk about our work and our experiences living here in simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station.
Look Ahead Plan: Two EVAS requested tomorrow to east and then to west Kissing Camel Ridge.
Anomalies in work: None
Weather: Cold but dry in the morning and sunny this afternoon at 41F. There is little chance of rain and the wind tonight is at 4mph. There is a waxing crescent moon and clear skies.
Crew Physical Status: Nominal
EVA: EVA #8 to south of Cowboy Corner.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, EVA report, Astronomy Report, EVA request.
Support Requested: None