Sol: 3
Summary Title: Mars is our oyster
Author’s name: Alba Sánchez Montalvo
Mission Status: Ongoing
Sol Activity Summary:
This morning, Maxime and Alba went on an EVA to repair and check on Max’s weather station and explore the surroundings. The rest of the crew stayed at the station and worked on their experiments and tasks in the different modules. After having lunch together, Louis, Arnaud and Hippolyte prepared for their EVA to perform the automatic flight with Louis’ drone to study the area between the MDRS, the Hab Ridge and the North Ridge. Meanwhile, the rest of the team listened to some music and worked on their experiments. Maxime spent some time at the observatory doing solar observations and following the tutorials on how to take pictures. Arnaud, Hippolyte, Romain and Alba spent some time together doing some sports, regretting not having unlimited water to have a shower, reminding us that we are on Mars now! Later, the team sat together to work on the daily reports before having dinner and resting to face one more day.
Look Ahead Plan: the team plans to go on EVA tomorrow, if the windy weather allows, to perform Romain’s experiment with the drone and the TapStrap. The biomedical team will perform the second time point of collection of their samples tomorrow (blood, saliva and salivary test for aMMP-8).
Anomalies in work: At the end of EVA#5, we forgot some equipment in the Curiosity rover. We let Arnaud search for the material without another person accompanying him. We are aware that it is necessary to always have two people outside the station during each outing, and this mistake will not happen again. We will discuss this during our daily meeting to avoid this type of occurrence in the future.
Weather: clear skies, sunny and warm
Crew Physical Status: full or energy, fully adapted to Mars
EVA: For the EVA #4, the astronauts successfully completed their mission by locating the weather station using GPS coordinates gathered during yesterday’s EVA. They used duct tape to fix the wind indicator and replaced the battery. While checking the trap cameras, they found no dust activity due to low wind speed, as expected. After the weather station repairs, they headed west towards Hab Ridge, encountering intriguing geological formations such as small sinkholes in the valley south of the footpath. Upon reaching the ridge’s peak, they captured stunning scenery in photographs. Feeling fatigued and overheated in their suits, the team opted not to venture further east. Descending the ridge via a wash, they returned safely to the hab at 10:31, having walked approximately 1.24 miles.
Regarding EVA #5, comprising Louis, Arnaud, and Hippolyte, utilized the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers for transportation. Initially, the trio journeyed to the North Ridge via Cow Dung Road 0110 to further explore the area discovered during the previous day’s EVA (#3). With growing confidence in their suited mobility, they ascended higher hills than the previous day’s exploration after parking their rovers by the roadside. This provided them with a better understanding of the area south of the North Rim. En route back to the rovers, they paused at the base of the North Ridge to investigate intriguing geological formations and conducted Louis’ inaugural automatic drone flight. Upon reuniting with the rovers, the team proceeded to Cowboy Corner using Cow Dung Road 0110. Once there and with the rover parked, they ventured towards the western hills of Cowboy Corner. This vantage point afforded them a deeper understanding of the area north of Cowboy Corner and a panoramic view not visible from the station. However, conditions and terrain were unsuitable for the planned second automatic drone flight. Drawing from the data collected at North Ridge, Louis opted to cancel the second flight. Subsequently, the crew returned to the MDRS via Cow Dung Road 0110, rejoining their rovers for the journey.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist’s Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, Photos (6-8 pics), EVA Report, EVA Request(s) (if applicable), Astronomy Report (if applicable)
Support Requested: N/A