Crew 305 EVA Report 02 09-12-2024
EVA # 2
Author: Hunter Vannier
Purpose of EVA: EVA training day: become familiar with the conduct on and protocols of an EVA.
Start time: 1130 hr
End time: 1300 hr
Narrative: Hunter led the EVA, joined by Rashi and Monish. Opportunity started with 100% charge and 196.6 hours, and Spirit started with 100% charge and 256.9 hours. We drove the rovers out to Marble Ritual via Cow Dung Road. After parking, we took time finding a “marble” of choice and put one in each of the baskets. We walked ~500 m south until we found the green fossilized dinosaur (thigh?) bone exposed in a light-toned sandstone/conglomerate outcrop. We then traveled northeast for ~600 m, exploring different outcrops along the way. We observed widespread differential weathering, affecting both pebbles and boulders alike, though the boulders were more mushroom-like. Atop one large hill, a rock looked like a springboard perched for a Martian diver. Freeze thaw-altered boulders and outcrops embedded in the ground were observed, where the freezing and thawing cycles have taken advantage of faults in the rock, usually parallel to bedding planes, and pushed them apart through expansion of water that infiltrate cracks and freeze during winter. One boulder looked smashed by a large hammer, and some ground-level examples looked like spinal bones of a whale carcass. After returning to the rovers, we performed beautiful three point turns and drove directly back to the Hab the way we came. Opportunity finished with 94% charge and 196.4 hours, and Spirit finished with 95% charge and 257.0 hours.
Destination: Marble Ritual
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518800E, 4251000N to 518800E, 4250500N
Participants: Hunter Vannier, Rashi Jain, Monish Lokhande
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road to Marble Ritual
Mode of travel: Rover and by foot