Category: EVA Report

Crew 261 EVA Report 05-05-2023

EVA # 7

Author: James Burk, Commander (with inputs from XO Aline Decadi)

Purpose of EVA:
Test of drones at Compass Rock.
Build experience for longer-range EVAs.
HabCom training of crewmembers to support longer-range EVAs.
Gathering of EVA traverse data using Meshtastic devices

Start time: 8:37 AM

End time: 10:35 AM

Narrative:

Overview of EVA
In preparation for the rest of the mission, this EVA was designed by the crew to build experience and confidence with long-range EVAs, including demonstration of a long rover traverse with frequent SOC checks to monitor battery capacity. We also wanted to practice flying drones with EVA suits on, using Compass Rock as a recognizable landmark that is easy to see on a drone viewfinder. We also planned to give other crewmembers back in the Hab time working as HabCom and learning how to support longer EVAs.

During this EVA both crewmembers carried two Meshtastic devices each (one T-Beam and one T-Echo) to gather data from the field to test the technology overall including its range from the Hab.

Commander Burk and XO Decadi drove with Curiosity rover to Compass Rock with intermediate waypoints: drive to Cow Dung Road, then North to Galileo Road, then East/Southeast to Compass Rock. Walk on foot to explore area.

It took us some time to find the right turn on Galileo Road (see Issues), and once we did and drove to Compass Rock, we disembarked and prepared our drones for flight.

The Atmosphinder electronics payload was included on EVA-7. The air quality monitor was added, which reports PM 2.5, PM 10, and NH3 every 10 seconds. This sensor data, along with the pressure, humidity, temperature, wind (anemometer), GPS, and battery, was logged at 1 Hz to the microcontroller’s microSD card. The data will be analyzed at a later date. Progress on Atmosphinder including adapting and installing both sail assemblies, affixing an improved towing method, and coding the mechanised sail trim motors.

The plan was for both Commander Burk and XO Decadi to practice individually flying drones in their EVA suits with their associated difficulties (gloves, low visibility due to helmet, etc.) Upon arriving at the site, XO Decadi could not get her drone to power up. Commander Burk was able to deploy his drone (an off-the-shelf DJI Mavic Air 2) successfully and flew it for approx. 15-20 mins, making multiple passes over Compass Rock, and the EVA team and our rover.

Just as he was preparing to land the drone, he lost sight of it and attempted to use the “Return Home” feature, which he had tested successfully that morning back in the vicinity of the Musk Observatory (within the simulation protocols).

According to Commander Burk, the Return Home feature seemed off because he could not see the drone, even though the controls stated it was at distance 0 from home and landing. He aborted the Return Home feature, fearing that the “Home” waypoint was still set to the Musk Observatory (which was out of range of the drone’s battery), and attempted to manually pilot the drone back to him. Due to the limited visibility of his EVA gear, he was not able to ascertain position of the drone from only the viewfinder, and attempted to fly the drone using the mountains and Compass Rock as guide points. Long story short, the drone ran out of battery and he was forced to land it before he was able to sight its location visually. Commander Burk was under the impression that, because he had lost sight of the drone while it was north of Compass Rock, that it landed in that area.

After this happened, Commander Burk and XO Decadi packed everything up in the rover and began returning to the Hab on Galileo road, stopping briefly to look for the drone north of Compass Rock. Unable to find the drone, they returned to the Hab via Galileo Road and Cow Dung Road, briefly stopping at Marble Ritual to pick up an interesting animal bone that the previous day’s EVA had sighted.

The EVA team returned to the Hab safely, without the drone. During the debriefing session, the Crew Journalist requested that Commander Burk choose a name for the drone based on Greek mythology. He chose the name “Icarus”, after the story of the young boy who was given wings, and then flew too close to the Sun.

Later on in the day, Crew Engineer Julian Villa-Massone was able to both pinpoint the GPS coordinates of the downed drone using Commander Burk’s DJI controller and smartphone app. Villa-Massone then flew his own drone from the Musk Observatory and imaged the Icarus Drone at its landing spot, to enable future EVA planning to rescue it.

Issues Experienced During EVA 7
[Procedural] The Garmin units we took were not properly configured to show the coordinate system used on the official EVA map.
[Technical] XO Decadi’s drone batteries did not work despite being plugged in all night. After the EVA, she determined that the issue was due to her EU travel adapter (with the drone charger) not being fully seated in her stateroom’s wall outlet.
[Technical] The turn onto Galileo Road from Cow Dung Road is not a T-Intersection as shown on the map. It’s more like a half-oval off the road (almost like a turnaround for trucks, and the intersection to Galileo as off that half-oval. This turn off was hard to spot driving north.
[Technical] XO Decadi determined that the coordinate grid on the version of the official EVA map does not appear to be 100% precise.
[Procedural] Commander Burk flew a drone despite the high wind gusts, which caused the Icarus drone to be blown off course and visibility lost.
[Procedural] Commander Burk was not familiar with how to find & use DJI Fly app’s feature to “Find My Drone” which could have been used on-site to locate it.

Outcomes
As a lesson learnt from this experiment, we concluded that the map shall not be used as a primary tool while navigating in exploration areas, but rather as an indicator. The good solution is to focus on a detailed preparation upfront, using satellite imaging to visualize the shape of the road and understand the terrain landforms, combined with the use of waypoint-enabled navigation devices on the field.
Another outcome from this EVA was that the SOC of the Curiosity rover decreased in a non-predictive way: in ten minutes, it decreased very quickly from 100% to 85%, then it stayed at 66% for a very long time. As a lesson-learnt, it could be useful to test the rover under 60% in the vicinity of the MDRS station (for safety purposes) to predict the SOC. This could help to learn/ predict if the SOC goes very fast from 60% to 40% or even 20% or if it stays stable for a certain time around 50%-60%; and what are the parameters that can influence the SOC while in a long-range EVA. As the battery consumption may be different for each rover, we would recommend performing this test on the 4 rovers and provide the results to the mission support.
Mission Support provided a higher-resolution EVA map that we will begin using to plan.
Drone flights should not be done when there is danger of high wind gusts.
Drone flights should reference wind predictions at different altitudes using resources like Windy.com so that appropriate & safe altitudes are used for flights.

Destination: Compass Rock.

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 520000 E, 4252000 N

Participants:
James Burk (Commander) (EVA Leader), Aline Decate (XO).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive to Cow Dung Road, then North to Galileo Road, then East/SouthEast to Compass Rock. Walk on foot to explore area.

Mode of travel: Rover

Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): Rover (Curiosity)

---

Crew 261 EVA Report 05–05–2023

EVA # 8

Author: James Burk, Commander (with inputs from XO Aline Decadi)

Purpose of EVA: Exploration of Area for Geologic Purposes

Start time: 11:25 PM

End time: 1:00 PM

Narrative:

EVA-8 conducted exploration of Area for Geologic Purposes. The purpose was also to train for communication between the crew and HabCom.  The crew walked to the MDRS sign, then headed due Southeast. The crew found various traces of ancient civilizations on the field.

The crew in the field had a positive experience overall, but suffered from some communication issues between themselves and between the HabCom team (led by GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud with support from Commander James Burk).  After the EVA, the crew hosted another long debriefing session, as was done yesterday.  Our crew feels these debriefing sessions are very important to provide an open forum for discussion and also to help assist all crewmembers with building their analog astronaut experience, skills, and understanding of safe procedures.

Issues Experienced During EVA 8
1. [Procedural] Many Comms-related human factors process issues, including lack of use of different channels, lack of headset troubleshooting, not pausing after hitting the button on the radio before talking, and cross-talk between EVA crewmembers.  All of these issues compounded and caused HabCom to have diminished understanding of the situation, including the perceived health status of crew members.
2. [Technical] Crew Engineer Julian Villa-Massone’s radio gear was acting temperamental and it was hard for him to hear HabCom.  On the other end, HabCom’s receiving of Villa-Massone included heavy breathing (due to microphone too close to mouth) which caused HabCom to believe that Villa-Massone was struggling with breath often.
2. [Procedural] HSO was on the EVA and did her job by observing and checking in on EVA crewmembers, who were all nominal throughout the EVA, but because of the above Comms issues, the information on crew health was asked for by HabCom and not received.  As a result, HabCom continued to assume that Villa-Massone was having difficulty and responded accordingly with Concern.

Outcomes
We spent a lot of time talking about correct Comms procedures, including use and troubleshooting of radios, using brief and factual communication, and ensuring that HabCom requests are better attended to by the EVA Lead and HSO.
We should provide more buffer time between EVAs to allow for debriefing sessions, which the crew is finding very valuable.
Crew members should take into account who is doing which role and how they communicate & like to receive communication.  This is especially important because we have crewmembers from different cultures where English is not their primary language.
XO Decadi organized and held a training session for emergency procedures in the field, based on the past two days’ EVA experiences and her personal experiences on AMIDEE-18 and with the European Space Agency’s Ariane projects, with the purpose to expose what kind of hazards may happen on the field and how to detect and make decisions on the most appropriate “way for action”. Then we practiced how to remove the helmet/ backpack in different degraded situations as quick as possible.
Addition of Safety Check to Pre-EVA checklist to ensure crewmembers have acclimation with their gear to carry out the emergency contingency procedures we trained on today.
We agreed to plan out EVAs earlier in the day so that the entire crew can be involved.

Destination: Due Southeast of Hab, past MDRS sign.

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518400 E, 4250600 N

Participants: Julien Villa-Massone (EVA Leader), Kris Davidson (Crew Journalist), Audrey Derobertmasure (HSO).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Walk to MDRS sign, then head due Southeast.

Mode of travel: Walking

Crew 261 EVA Report 04-05-2023

EVA # 5

Author: James Burk, Commander

Purpose of EVA: Initial Meshtastic Testing + Safety Drill

Start time: 9:00 AM

End time: 10:33 AM

Narrative:

Overview of EVA
Today’s EVA was designed to allow four of our crew to get additional experience with driving rovers and exploring areas within 1km of the Hab, while also testing out our Meshtastic devices for the first time on this mission. Each of the four EVA team members carried a Meshtastic device on their person, and also carried a fifth device in the bed of Perseverance.

The primary objective of the EVA was completed and the devices captured data, which you can see visualized below. The crew did not make it to their planned destination of Gateway to Candor, although that was not a critical part of the EVA. The goal was to give the crewmembers more experience with Rover, Comms, and EVA procedures overall.

Safety Drill
During the last part of the EVA, the crew experienced an anomaly. While exploring an area approximately west of Pooh’s Corner, Executive Officer Aline Decadi started to smell what she described as a “burning plastic smell”. This was confirmed by GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud who also smelled what she described as a “sulfur smell”. Fearing that XO Decadi’s backpack components were burning, the EVA team quickly worked to take off her helmet and suit. By the time they had done that, XO Decadi started to feel ill, and felt like she was going to faint. She was assisted back to the rovers by the three other crewmembers: GreenHab Officer Renaud, HSO Audrey Derobertmasure, and Crew Journalist Kris Davidson.

The crew has been carrying a Garmin inReach mini 2 on all EVAs, which has a custom “MDRS Assistance Required” feature, that is meant to alert the Hab, Mission Support or local county EMS in the case of an emergency or when assistance is needed. In this case, GreenHab Officer Renaud triggered the feature immediately and it was seen by HabCom within a couple minutes on our custom EVA monitor.

The crew experienced issues with comms throughout the EVA, which compounded the situation. At one point, one of the two rovers drove off while the other had not yet started, which was due to Comms issues.

The EVA team then proceeded back to the Hab safely.

The team performed a debriefing session and many issues were raised and discussed. A list of them is below. We also created a set of “Outcomes”, or recommendations, for both our crew’s future operations and the program in general.

Overall, the crew felt this was a great learning experience. The team debriefing session, while sometimes quite heated, overall was a very productive and constructive discussion.

Issues Experienced During EVA 5

1. [Technical] XO Decadi’s EVA gear seemed to create a smell that made her sick, briefly.
2. [Medical] XO Decadi experienced light-headedness due to issue #1. At one point, she was leaning hard on the other crewmember and felt like she was going to faint.
3. [Procedural] When individual crewmembers experienced Comms issues, not all crewmembers worked together to resolve them.
4. [Procedural] Rovers should stay together at all times, and certainly within sight of each other. One rover should never be out of sight of the other.
5. [Procedural] Crew members should be careful not to talk at the same time, because it interferes with Comms and makes it so nobody is heard. This happened often on this EVA.
6. [Procedural] Crew members should switch to Channel 2 when having comms issues between each other. One crewmember stayed on Channel 1 during the entire EVA, despite the Comms issues.
7. [Procedural] Removing XO Decadi’s helmet in an emergency situation was done in a suboptimal way.
8. [Technical] Our Garmin device did not trigger an email to Mission Support, as was designed. We are investigating this problem.
9. [Procedural] It is safer to go to the furthest point of the EVA and then work your way back closer to the Hab. Instead, the EVA team first stopped near Marble Ritual and then north of Pooh’s Corner, with the intent to eventually get to Gateway to Candor. Instead they should have driven all the way to Gateway and worked their way back in the direction of the Hab.

Outcomes

• Air flow of a backpack can be left on while the helmet is removed. In today’s case it was rightly switched off by one crew member while two others were removing the helmet, because of the nature of the perceived issue (burning component in backpack). In other emergency cases, keeping air flow on would be desirable
• We need more hand signals, especially to communicate comms outages or when driving a rover with a sick crewmember in passenger seat (ie, “Are you ok?”)
• Crewmembers should always carry water on their person, and there should be at least one emergency water bottle carried by the EVA crew in the rover. By utilizing a carabiner clip with a water bottle that has a loop at the top, a crewmember can easily stow it on their person so that both hands are free.
• EVA members should have a mandatory water break every 20-30 mins, to keep ahead of any thirstiness or dehydration. We have noticed this can creep up on you quickly, and we keep powering through minor thirstiness only to suffer severe thirst later in the EVAs. Often, peer pressure or psychology prevents people from being the first to pause the EVA for reasons like this.
• When two rovers are driving, the person driving the rover should communicate with the other rover driver, and the other two (passenger) crew members should remain quiet.
• There should be a mandatory comm check at the beginning of every traverse. In today’s case, one rover lead was trying to communicate with the other, but they were not heard.
• The EVA suits should support rapid removal of helmet and backpack battery in the case of an emergency.
• EVA teams should carry sugar packets to help ill crew members. In today’s case that would have helped.
• For our crew’s HSO, the threshold for breaking sim would have been an actual fainting, not an “almost” fainting. In today’s case, the incident did not meet the threshold, although we broke the sim anyway due to the backpack smell issue.
• We should perform drills to practice self-removal of the helmet and backpack in an emergency.

Destination: Gateway to Candor.

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 519000 E, 4251700 N

Participants: Aline Decadi (XO) (EVA Leader), Audrey Derobertmasure (HSO), Cecile Renaud (GreenHab Officer), Kris Davidson (Crew Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive to Cow Dung Road, then drive north to Gateway to Candor. Walk on foot to explore area.

Mode of travel: Rovers (Perseverance and Spirit)

---

Crew 261 EVA Report 04–05–2023

EVA # 6

Author: James Burk, Commander

Purpose of EVA: Testing of Atmosphinder prototype with wind sails and improvements since EVA #4

Start time: 12:00 PM

End time: 2:00 PM

Narrative:
This EVA was conducted during extremely strong (~30-52 kph) winds outside the Hab, which were very desirable for the type of testing that we aimed to perform.

EVA-6 conducted Atmosphinder testing using the half-sized robot (~1 m diameter) in front of the Hab. The objectives of the test focused on structural aspects of the robot and de-risking operational elements. The EVA crew members worked together to increase the operational understanding of extracting the full-scale body of Atmosphinder, a prototype sail, and the science payload, that was used for previous EVAs, which collects various data.  Like EVA-4, the lessons learned from this exercise will de-risk these elements on future EVAs when transporting the robot to regions of interest.

There were three separate rounds of tests conducted including testing the sail for the first time, which was done by Commander James Burk holding the sail while pulling it apart with his two arms, while Crew Roboticist Erin “RobotZwrrl” Kennedy manipulated the robot’s servos and positioned the sail in various configurations to see the effects that the strong wind gusts would have on the materials and engineering design.

Qualitative testing observed, again as with EVA-4, that the robot can roll down a small incline unassisted, and this was performed on a larger slope than EVA-4 and for multiple runs.  It was expected that this test would be destructive, but the robot’s structure held together well.

The science payload was also positioned in several locations and data on the wind speed was gathered.

All tests were performed successfully and valuable new information was learned.  The crew journalist and EVA team lead also took photos and recorded video footage for public outreach and internal review purposes.

Destination: Flat ground just outside the hab.

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518100 E, 4249900 N

Participants: James Burk (Commander) (EVA Leader), Erin Kennedy (Crew Roboticist).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Walking outside between the Hab and RAM.

Mode of travel:  Walking.   No Rover driving performed; Use of Rover Bed only for this EVA.

Crew 261 EVA Report 03-05-2023

EVA # 3

Author: James Burk, Commander

Purpose of EVA: Collection of soil for GreenHab experiments and operational testing of EVALink and VR-Comms procedures using Garmin devices.

Start time: 9:00 AM

End time: 10:15 AM

Narrative: EVA-3 conducted a collection of soil for GreenHab experiments and operational testing of EVALink and VR-Comms procedures using Garmin devices. The soil collection is meant to support our Biostimulation experiments. Commander James Burk and GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud took the Opportunity rover on a traverse south to the north side of Kissing Camel Ridge (East), which is also just at the entrance of Robert’s Rock Garden. They parked the rover and walked east approximately 100 meters, stopping at three distinct sampling locations to collect different types of soil that will be used for the Biostimulation experiments. They also took Garmin waypoints and photos of the collection sites.

At the end of the EVA, James found a small rock that appears volcanic in origin. Cecile quickly named it “The Mountain”, and they brought it back to the Hab as a souvenir. Coincidentally, the name is very similar to James’ high school nickname. His high school sports teammate Karl Foston dubbed him “Mt. Burk” due to his height and his expertise with blocking basketball shots.

Destination: North side of Kissing Camel Ridge, just off Cow Dung Road.

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518300 E, 4249500 N

Participants: James Burk (Commander) (EVA Leader), Cecile Renaud (GreenHab Officer).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive towards Cow Dung Road, take it south to the entry to Robert’s Rock Garden, and walk east to the collection site.

Mode of travel: Rover (Opportunity)

---

Crew 261 EVA Report 03–05–2023

EVA # 4

Author: James Burk, Commander (with inputs from Aline Decadi, XO)

Purpose of EVA: Initial testing of Atmosphinder prototype

Start time: 11:00 AM

End time: 12:00 PM

Narrative: EVA-4 conducted Atmosphinder testing using the half-sized robot (~1 m diameter) in front of the Hab. The objectives of the test focused on structural aspects of the robot and de-risking operational elements. The EVA crew members worked together to increase the operational understanding of extracting the robot out of the RAM, loading the robot into the rover (ATV), securing the robot to the rover (ATV), and driving slowly with sudden decelerations. The lessons learned from this exercise will de-risk these elements on future EVAs when transporting the robot to regions of interest. Quantitative testing of the robot was completed using force meters to measure the longitudinal and latitudinal forces required to lift the robot. Qualitative testing observed that the robot can roll down a small incline unassisted. Structural elements on the robot that failed were known previously and can be repaired. The electronics payload was tested separately, with the new addition of the wind sensor compared to EVA-2. The EVA-4 worked smoothly, and valuable new information was learned. The success of this EVA-4 was in large part thanks to the EVA crew lead and the crew facilitating behind the scenes.

Destination: Flat ground just outside the hab.  Originally the EVA was planned to go farther Northwest from Hab but once the team was out, they assessed that terrain from afar and felt that the terrain immediately in front of the Hab was lower risk for the experiment.

 

 

Crew 261 EVA Report 02-05-2023

EVA # 2

Author: James Burk, Commander and EVA Lead

Purpose of EVA: EVA and Rover Qualification for crewmembers

Start time: 9:00AM

End time: 10:20 AM

Narrative: We drove the Rovers (Spirit and Perseverance) to the Marble Ritual, then walked around no farther than 200 meters for communication check. We exercised walking around with the spacesuits, regular health status, made photographs, and performed communication checks & extensive use of the radio. The communication was confirmed to be good on the field. Each crew member has used the radio extensively, experienced the spacesuits, the walking, the driving, the team cohesion, and the overall safety health checks were nominal. The EVA-2 crew members qualified on EVA procedures today, some for the second time.

This was James Burk’s first EVA as Commander of a crew at the MDRS, and he dedicated the EVA to Max Boyce, a member of the NorCal chapter who tragically died last year. Max was part of Crew 197 with James in October 2018. Max was a very dedicated Mars Society member and was part of the chapter that works on our EVA suits every year. Max showed James and his 2018 crew how to do EVAs, as well as other duties at MDRS. It was a deeply emotional moment for James.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518687 E, 4250789 N

Participants: James Burk (Commander and EVA Lead) (EVA Leader), Erin "RobotZwrrl" Kennedy (Crew Roboticist), Audrey Derobertmasure (HSO), Kris Davidson (Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive on Cow Dung Road and walk east until Marble Ritual.

Mode of travel: Rovers (Spirit & Perseverance)

Crew 261 EVA Report 01-05-2023

EVA # 1

Author: James Burk, Commander and EVA Comms Lead

Purpose of EVA: EVA and Rover Qualification for crewmembers

Start time: 9:25 AM with start of rover traverse at 9:37AM. (Prep began at 8:30am)

End time: 10:15 AM

Narrative: We drove the Rovers (Curiosity, Perseverance, and Opportunity) to the Marble Ritual, then walked around no farther than 200 meters for communication check. We exercised walking around with the spacesuits, regular health status, made photographs, and performed communication checks & extensive use of the radio. The communication was confirmed to be good on the field. Each crew member has used the radio extensively, experienced the spacesuits, the walking, the driving, the team cohesion, and the overall safety health checks were nominal. The EVA-1 crew members qualified on EVA procedures today. Nevertheless, it took more time than expected to go outside the hab, drive with the 3 rovers, and qualify for the EVA procedures.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518687 E, 4250789 N

Participants: Aline Decate (Executive Officer) (EVA Leader), Audrey Derobertmasure (HSO), Julien Villa-Massone (Engineer), Cecile Renaud (Greenhab officer), Kris Davidson (Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive on Cow Dung Road and walk east until Marble Ritual.

Mode of travel: Rovers (Curiosity, Perseverance, and Opportunity)

Crew 280 EVA Report 27-04-2023

EVA #11

Author: Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist)

The EVA had one goal:

Navigation exercise (aka. “Rescue Googly Mission”). Ariadna Farrés (Crew Scientist & HSO) and Cesca Cufi (Engineer) designed a treasure hunt competition for the Hypatia I crew. The crew was divided into two groups with the goal of finding 4 beacons and a final treasure in the shortest amount of time.

The first group was formed by Neus Sabate (Mission Specialist) and Laia Ribas (Green Hab Officer & Biologist) who performed the navigation exercise while Arianda Farres (HSO & Scientist) was supervising.

Start time: 9:35 AM

End time: 11:05 PM

Narrative:

This morning the first group was given the instructions for this navigation exercise, which consisted of two maps (one of the Hill at 518800E 4249100N, and the other of the entrance to Roberts Garden at 518400E 4249200N) and a pdf file with the instructions for the navigation challenge (see pdf attachment).

After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Opportunity and Spirit rovers and headed towards Robert’s Rock Garden. Once they arrived there and parked in the designated area the time started to count. The team had to perform 3 different tasks:
Establish communications with the base from a designated area.
Head to 518800E 4249100N (which we called Hippo Hill) and find 4 beacons around the Hill
Get back to the parking area and rescue Googly (our cactus friend) that was hidden inside a small cave.

The group formed by Neus Sabate and Laia Ribas completed the three tasks in 38 min. After taking a couple of pictures to immortalize the moment the EVA crew headed back to the base. At 11:05 AM the team returned to the MDRS, before entering the Hab, they followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Roberts Rock Garden

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518000 E, 4249000 N

EVA participants: 3: Neus Sabate (Mission Specialist) (EVA Leader), Laia Ribas (Green Hab Officer & Biologist) and Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist).

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

Mode of travel: Drive on Cow Dung Road 0110 to Robert’s Rock Garden then walking around no farther than 1000 meters for sampling.

EVA #12

Author: Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist)

The EVA had one goal:

Navigation exercise (aka. “Rescue Googly Mission”). Ariadna Farrés (Crew Scientist & HSO) and Cesca Cufi (Engineer) designed a treasure hunt competition for the Hypatia I crew. The crew was divided into two groups with the goal of finding 4 beacons and a final treasure in the shortest amount of time.

The second group was formed by Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer), Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist), Núria Jar (Crew Journalist) who performed the navigation exercise while Cesca Cufi (Crew Engineer) was supervising.

Start time: 3:05 AM

End time: 4:05 PM

Narrative:

This morning the first group was given the instructions for this navigation exercise, which consisted of two maps (one of the Hill at 518800E 4249100N, and the other of the entrance to Roberts Garden at 518400E 4249200N) and a pdf file with the instructions for the navigation challenge (see pdf attachment on EVA#11 Report).

After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Perseverance and Spirit rovers and headed towards Robert’s Rock Garden. Once they arrived there and parked in the designated area the time started to count. The team had to perform 3 different tasks:
Establish communications with the base from a designated area.
Head to 518800E 4249100N (which we called Hippo Hill) and find 4 beacons around the Hill
Get back to the parking area and rescue Googly (our cactus friend) that was hidden inside a small cave.

The group formed by Mariona Badenas, Carla Conejo and Núria Jar completed the three tasks in 31 min. After taking a couple of pictures to immortalize the moment the EVA crew headed back to the base. At 4:05 PM the team returned to the MDRS, before entering the Hab, they followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Roberts Rock Garden

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518000 E, 4249000 N

EVA participants: 4: Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer) (EVA Leader), Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist), Núria Jar (Crew Journalist) and Cesca Cufi (Crew Engineer).

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

Mode of travel: Drive on Cow Dung Road 0110 to Robert’s Rock Garden then walking around no farther than 1000 meters for sampling.

Crew 280 EVA Report 26-04-2023

EVA #10

Author: Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist)

The EVA had the following goals:
Documenting the EVA for outreach purposes, by Núria Jar (Journalist).
Drone flight recording, by Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist) and the support of Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer).
Collecting sand samples for the CatMart project, by Laia Ribas (GreenHab Officer).

Start time: 10:10 AM

End time: 12:50 PM

Narrative:

After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Curiosity and Spirit rovers and headed north towards the cross with Brahe Highway 1572. The crew performing the EVA had the goals of: i) collecting sand samples searching for Martian biosignatures for Laia Ribas’ (GreenHab Officer) project; ii) documenting the latter process with a GoPro camera; and iii) recording some Martian landscape images with a DJI Mini 3 Pro drone.

The communications with the base were established with normality during the whole EVA with checks-ins every 30’ minutes. Just before arriving at Brahe Highway 1572, we parked the rovers and the EVA team climbed a hill nearby next to the road. From there, communications were established with the base to inform of our position. After that, to facilitate the communications between the EVA crew and the EVA leader, the EVA leader decided to switch between channel one and two on the radios. After taking a 5-minutes rest, the EVA team split themselves into two groups. The first group, Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer) and Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist) stayed in the hill to fly the drone and take some zenith pictures of Mars; whereas the second group, Laia Ribas (GreenHab Officer) and Núria Jar (Journalist) descended the hill to access a dry water drain to search for Martian biosignatures. The two groups maintained constant visual and radio communications.

Around 12:10PM the team decided to return to the MDRS, which they reached at 12:50PM. Before entering the Hab, we followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Cow Dung Road 0110 cross with Brahe Highway 1572. Our initial plan was to reach Overlook, but we finally explored the Brahe Highway 1572 area by foot.

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 516000 E, 4255000 N

EVA participants: 4: Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer) (EVA Leader), Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist), Laia Ribas (GreenHab Officer) and Núria Jar (Journalist).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive east on Cow Dung Road 0110 and park before arriving at Brahe Highway 1572.

Mode of travel: Drive east on Cow Dung Road 0110 and to Brahe Highway 1572, to walk around the area no farther than 1000m from the rovers.

Crew 280 EVA Report 25-04-2023

EVA #9

Author: Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist)

The EVA had the following goal:

Collect some iron-containing rock samples to evaluate its use for Martian batteries by Neus Sabate.

Start time: 2:35 PM

End time: 5:10 PM

Narrative: Before starting the EVA, we received a call from mission support advising us of the possibility of rain in the next few hours. During the whole EVA the astronauts checked the weather, which ended up being windy but with no signs of rain and the mission could be completed.

After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Spirit rovers and headed White Rock Canyon and Barrainca Butte area to collect iron-containing rocks as suggested by Mission Support Dr. Shannon Rupert.

The EVA team drove very slowly along Cow Dung Road to decrease the discharging rate of the battery rovers. Once they reached the selected area they observed a larger amount of rocks around Barainca Butte. They spent about an hour exploring the area and collecting rocks. At 4:30PM the crew decided to head back to the base, which they reached at 5:10PM. Before entering the Hab, they followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Barainca Butte

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 520000 E, 4248000 N

EVA participants: 2: Ariadna Farrés (HSO and EVA Leader) and Neus Sabate (Mission Specialist).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive south on Cow Dung Road 0110 and stop after the junction with Watney Road.

Mode of travel: Drive south on Cow Dung Road 0110 and stop after the junction with Watney Road. Walked around Barainca Butte. Then walk around no farther than 1500m from the rovers.

Crew 280 EVA Report 23-04-2023

EVA #8

Author: Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist)

The EVA had two goals:

Evaluate the feasibility of navigation strategies and finalize the navigation exercise for the crew.
Drone flight training around an area with obstacles.

Start time: 10:05 AM

End time: 12:10 PM

Narrative: This morning, the Hypatia I team evaluated the weather and the condition of the road before some crew members started their EVA. For this purpose, they inspected the terrain around the base, which was dry despite the rain of yesterday night. Having identified no muddy areas, they concluded that the road conditions around the base were good and decided to proceed with the EVA. The crew also discussed the possibility of returning to the base in case of finding wet terrain along the road closer to the destination, which was not the case.

After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Perseverance and Spirit rovers and headed towards Robert’s Rock Garden to perform two different tasks: 1) find landmarks in the area and prepare the navigation exercise for the crew; 2) maneuver the crew’s small drone in an area with obstacles.

During the pass along Kissing Camel Ridge the EVA crew lost communication with the base, once the rovers were parked around Robert’s Rock Garden we managed to re-establish communication with the base by moving around and pointing the EVA leader’s antenna north. Once communication with the base was established, the EVA team split themselves into two groups. The first group, Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer) and Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist) walked to an elevated area in one of the hills in Kissing Camel Ridge to perform the drone flights. The second group Ariadna Farrés (Scientist & HSO) and Cesca Cufí (Engineer) walked around the area identifying landmarks, mapping the area and planning the navigation exercise to perform next Thursday with the whole crew. The two groups maintained constant visual and radio communications.

To facilitate the communications between the EVA crew and the EVA leader, the EVA leader decided to switch between channel one and two on the radios. Channel one was switched on every 30 min to re-establish communications with the base.

Around 11:50 AM the team decided to return to the MDRS, which they reached at 12:10PM. Before entering the Hab, we followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Roberts Rock Garden

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518000 E, 4249000 N

EVA participants: 4: Ariadna Farres (HSO & Scientist) (EVA Leader), Mariona Badenas (Commander & Astronomer), Cesca Cufi (Engineer), Carla Conejo (Executive Officer & Biologist).

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

Mode of travel: Drive on Cow Dung Road 0110 to Robert’s Rock Garden then walking around no farther than 1000 meters for sampling.

Crew 280 EVA Report 23-04-2023

EVA #7

Author: Neus Sabaté (Mission Specialist)

The EVA had four goals:

Check communications between the Midland radios that we brought for a larger distance between the EVA crew and the base
Collecting some iron-containing rock samples to evaluate its use for Martian batteries
Collecting some sand samples to search for microorganisms

Documenting the rock sampling for outreach purposes

Start time: 10:00 AM

End time: 12:10 PM

Narrative: After performing 5 minutes of depressurization in the front airlock, the EVA team took Curiosity and Opportunity rovers and headed towards Compass Rock. Following Mission Support’s advice, the team decided to drive at a very slow pace, which significantly decreased the discharging rate of the battery rovers. During the journey, communication with the Hub was checked every five minutes. Soon after taking Galileo Road, the transmission with the Hub became weak and on the first turn communication with the base was lost. At that point, communication with Midland radios was tested, with negative results.The team reached the final destination 10 minutes later. At Compass Rock, the team explored the area within a radius of no more than 1000 meters from the rovers. Cesca Cufí and Neus Sabaté climbed to a hill and established contact with the base. Then, they collected different samples, mainly sandstone rocks of sizes between 5-15 cm of diameter. In the meantime, Laia Ribas collected red sandstone at three different locations while Nuria Jar documented the collecting process by taking images of the locations. At 11:40AM the team decided to return to the MDRS, which they reached at 12:10PM. Before entering the Hab, we followed the 5-minutes pressurization protocol.

Destination: Compass Rock

Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 520000 E, 4252000 N

EVA participants: 4: Neus Sabate (Mission Specialist and EVA leader), Núria Jar (Crew Journalist), Cesca Cufi (Crew Engineer) and Laia Ribas (Green Hab Officer).

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive north on Cow Dung Road 0110, turn east on Galileo Road 1104.

Mode of travel: Driving on Cow Dung Road 0110 to Galileo Road 1104. Drive 0.8 miles until Compass Rock. Then walking around no farther than 1000 meters for sampling.