Category: EVA Report

EVA #8
Author: Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Purpose of EVA:
The first part of the EVA is going to be maintenance for the weather station located at 4251250,518500. They will take the rovers towards Pooh’s corner and park them there, then walk 100 meters west towards the weather station. The high winds of today may have caused some damage and the cameras have probably recorded interesting dust formations, we would also like to know if it properly recorded it.
Then, the EVA crew will go back to the rovers parked at Pooh’s Corner and continue towards the North to reach the intersection between Cow Dung Road 0110 and Brahe Hwy 1572. Geological maps indicate this region to be interesting for the discovery of fossils. We will park the rovers there and then perform a geological survey in a radius of a maximum of 1 km around the rovers. We will be very careful of the charge of the rovers and not let it reach below 50% during the trip towards the destination.
Start time: 9:10am
End time: 11:50am
Narrative:
The EVA crew successfully reached the station after having parked their rover at Pooh’s Corner, and it indeed suffered some damage from the high winds that occurred during the last days: the Wind indicator that was replaced during the EVA #4 was ripped off by the high winds. Luckily, it did not fly far from the station and with the use of duct tape, has been successfully repaired for a second time. A quick check of the recording of the cameras showed very good results; the high winds indeed were recorded. After the maintenance on the station was completed, we went back to the rover and drove until the intersection between Cow Dung Road 0110 and Brahe Hwy 1572 for a geological survey of the area. The team first found a big amount of gypsum and collected some samples, and then went out in the search of some fossils. The EVA team searched thoroughly the area and walked approximately 500 meters south-east from the intersection but sadly did not find any fossils. After looping back to the road, the team drove back the rovers to the hab with the samples of Gypsum to analyze later.
Destination: Weather Station and Intersection between Cow Dung Road 0110 and Brahe Hwy 1572
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84):
Weather Station : 4251250,518500
Intersection between Cow Dung Road 0110 and Brahe Hwy 1572: 4254750, 517750
Participants: Romain Maddox (Commander), Loriane Baes (Executive Officer), Maxime Foucart (Astronomer), Hippolyte Hilgers (Green Hab Officer)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110, Brahe Hwy 1572 (intersection)
Mode of travel: Driving and walking (Curiosity and Opportunity)

EVA #9
Author: Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Purpose of EVA: Discovery of new landscapes for future EVAs and taking pictures
Start time: 9:31am
End time: 11:30am
Narrative: We headed for the compass rock where we parked the rovers. We took some photos at this rock and then descended into the Candor Chasma to visit the area and take some photos and videos in order to carry out reconnaissance for future EVAs.
Destination: Candor Chasma
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 425200 520000
Participants: Loriane Baes (Executive Officer), Imane El Bakkali (Health and safety Officer), Alba Sánchez Montalvo (Journalist) and Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110 and Galileo Road 1104 (We’ve parked the rovers near compass rock and walked to Candor Chasma)
Mode of travel: Rovers (Perseverance and Opportunity) and Walking

EVA #3
Author: Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Purpose of EVA:
The EVA will be composed of 4 crew members. Maxime and Loriane will work on Maxime’s experiment. They will use the Curiosity rover. Louis and Hippolyte will work on Louis’ experiment and they will use the Spirit rover. They will all go to the same location.
Maxime’s experiment:
Setting up the weather station for a personal experiment. I have chosen a location near the lab that could yield interesting results and that has visibility from the hab so that I can check if my weather station can withstand the harsh environment. Firstly, we will have to go to the RAM (depressurising it), take the weather mast, load it into one of the rovers and secure it using ropes. We will drive towards North Ridge and park the rover at the level of Pooh’s Corner and then go west on foot to set up the weather station, at ~200 meters maximum from the rover. After the weather station is set up and running, we further investigate the area west of Pooh’s corner to check the dust conditions and then go back to the rover and drive north, to Cowboy’s Corner, to take pictures and pick a new location for the weather station when it will be moved in 2 days. We will probably walk at max 500 meters from the Rover to check the conditions of the soil and dust.
Louis’ experiment:
After the first day of test and reconnaissance flights during SOL1. Louis’ experiment will now focus on the first tests of automatic flights with the most basic flight parameters. He decided to further explore the area at the North of the Hab (North Ridge). The drone will now take a predefined amount of pictures over the selected study areas. The goals are to evaluate the consequences of the relief and weather conditions on the variability in the captured pictures. This automated flight will be realized by using another control software than the one used during SOL1: PIX4Dcapture. This application allows to predefine a specific flight area over which the drone will take pictures at the same altitude and with a constante overlap between each picture. If this basic set of parameters is working, more customized flights will be realized, increasing the quality of future captured products.
Start time: 2:02pm
End time: 4:29pm
Narrative:
To perform this EVA, the crew members had to exit the station through the RAM to take Maxime’s weather station outside. The weather station mount was secured securely to the rover (Curiosity) and we drove without any issues toward Pooh’s Corner. Unfortunately, during the trip the weather station itself suffered some damages, with the loss of the wind direction indicator. Despite this setback, the weather station was set up west of Pooh’s corner, at exactly (in UTM WGS 84): 4251250,518500. The movement cameras were turned on and secured. The weather station operated smoothly, except for a message about low battery. The issue of the wind indicator and the low battery will be solved during the following EVA.
On his side, Louis had struggles with setting up his experiment. At first, the drone wouldn’t take off because of magnetic interference even though the drone was isolated on the ground. After a few minutes of troubleshooting with Hippolyte’s help, the drone was able to take off. More research needs to be done to correctly understand the met controlling problem. The drone was used to perform its first automatic flight with basic parameters. This flight proved the feasibility of the basic experiment requirements.
The crew members then headed back to the rovers parked on the side of the road near Pooh’s corner. Then, they took the direction of Cowboy corner to explore the area and take pictures and videos using the drone. Due to some map reading errors, the crew actually stopped on the side of the road near North Ridge and decided to finally climb the small hills of the area to observe the surroundings for future EVAs and to capture pictures/videos. Crew members then took their rovers back to come back to the HAB and end today’s EVA.
Destination: Pooh’s corner, North Ridge, Cowboy’s Corner
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84):
First stop : 4251500, 518500
Second stop : 425200, 518800
Participants: Maxime Foucart (Astronomer), Louis Joseph (Engineer), Loriane Baes (Executive officer) and Hippolyte Hilgers (Green Hab officer)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel: 2 vehicles (Curiosity and Spirit)

EVA #4
Author: Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Purpose of EVA: The group will check the status of Maxime’s weather station positioned during EVA 3 in the area between the MDRS, the Hab Ridge and the North Ridge. We will be walking toward the station to save time as it is not near a road. Weather station and fixing the wind indicator. We will be replacing the battery while the weather station is being checked, Louis will perform his first automatic flight of the day to study the area between the MDRS, the Hab Ridge and the North Ridge..
After the station is fixed, the group will head to Amazonis Planitia by climbing to the top of the Hab Ridge using the 1103 footpath. Upon reaching Sagan Street 1103, the group will traverse a maximum of 400m westward along the road. This route aims to gain insights into the Amazonis Planitia area for potential future weather station placement. We will also take pictures along Hab Ridge. After that, the group will use the same pathways and roads to head back to the station. On their way back, they will check the status of the weather station for a second time. The entire trip will be performed on foot and the total walking distance will be around 2 Miles round trip.
Start time: 9:01am
End time: 10:31am
Narrative: The astronauts have successfully completed their mission, by first locating the weather station using the GPS coordinates that were collected in yesterday’s EVA. Using duct tape, the wind indicator has been successfully fixed and the battery changed to a new one. During this time, the trap cameras were checked to see if they worked properly, and they did. They did not capture any dust activity, but that was expected because of the low wind speed. After the repairs on the weather station were completed, the astronauts set out west towards Hab Ridge. After joining the 1103 footpath, the EVA team saw very interesting geological formations : very small sinkholes in the wash of the small valley just south of the footpath. The astronauts then arrived at the top of Hab Ridge and took pictures of the breathtaking scenery. The EVA team decided to not go further east as they were starting to feel tired and hot in the suits. The EVA team then went down the ridge towards the hab by walking down in a wash. They then came back safely to the hab at 10:31, a little tired after walking 1,24 Miles approximately.
Destination: North of the Hab to North Ridge, beginning of the Amazonis Planitia
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84):
First stop (weather station): 4251250,518500
Second stop (beginning of Sagan Street): 4251500, 518000
Participants: Maxime Foucart (Astronomer) and Alba Sánchez Montalvo (Journalist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: 1103 (Footpath), Hab Ridge Rd N, Sagan Street 1103
Mode of travel: Walking

EVA #6
Author: Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Purpose of EVA: As the first two EVA’s, this one will be focused on Romain Maddox’s experiment. On Sol 1, he took the baseline for his experiment, this time, he will do the first real data collection and will continue on Sol 8, 11 and 12. The 4 crew members will continue the experiment by controlling a drone (Parrot Anafi) and doing 8 maneuvers with an estimate of 7 minutes per flight and per person and the same place that they did last time, Marble Ritual. Crew members will stay in a radius of about 60m around the rover. They should only go at around 20 meters but as we experienced last time, if the drone has a malfunction and crashes, we might need the 60 meter radius. Anyway, we will contact the Main Hab before exceeding 20 meters.
Start time: 9am
End time: 9:51am
Narrative:
Romain’s experiment: After a change of suit and the waiting period in the airlock, we got out, took the rovers and went to Marble Ritual. There, I refreshed the memories of my crew mates on the goal of the experiment and the objectives that they needed to achieve. Once the explanations were over, we started the tests. Romain passed first, then Arnaud, Louis and Imane. During Imane’s turn, the wind started to rise a bit but thankfully, it calmed down really quickly. We then took a couple of pictures of the landscape and headed back to the hab to start the second EVA.
Destination: Marble Ritual
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 4251000 518750
Participants: Romain Maddox (Commander), Imane El Bakkali (Health and Safety officer), Louis Joseph (Engineer) and Arnaud de Wergifosse (Scientist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel: Driving 2 vehicles (Spirit and Perseverance) and walking

EVA # 3
Author: Leanne Hirshfield
Purpose of EVA: 1) A short EVA to Marble Ritual with Commander equipped with neurophysiological and behavioral sensors to assess range of sensors and data quality during EVA-related movement (e.g.,walking, riding in rover, standing still on Mars). The Health and Safety Officer supported the Commander throughout the EVA. The task included travel to Marble Ritual and then walking to find one waypoint within 300 meters of Marble Ritual. Commander reported observations from waypoint and collected one biological sample to bring back to the Hab.
Start time: 10:30
End time: 11:45
Narrative: Suits (2 and 7) and Radios (1-2) fully charged before leaving and plugged in upon return. Arrived to Marble Ritual around 10:40 AM, and ran sensor testing study outlined below. Arrived back on site around 11:45 AM. Both depressurized before entering the Hab. Perseverance Hours (before EVA): 169. Beginning charge: 100%Perseverance ending charge: 82%. Perseverance plugged in upon return. EVA #3 was a huge success! We learned a lot about the process of collecting eyetracking and fNIRS data out on EVA. We brought the data acquisition laptops with us and ran through our study protocols pretty seamlessly. Things we learned: everything is harder to do on EVA: from sensor troubleshooting to simple breath holding studies (breath holding results in a lovely hemodynamic response in the brain that we can measure with fNIRS). Very little room for experimenter error if we want to collect actual field data in the future. Emily was able to quickly convert our walkie talkie communications into transcripts with WhisperAI, and our review of the discourse suggests that this would be a rich source of team cohesion and team processes data that we could apply NLP techniques to in future collections. Good stuff and very much a learning experience!
Destination: One location: between the HAB and Marble Ritual.
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518250,4251000
Participants: Leanne Hirshfield (Commander) and James Crum (Health & Safety)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, North direction, and then walking within a 300 meter radius around Marble Ritual.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking

EVA # 4
Author: Emily Doherty
Purpose of EVA: 1) A farther EVA to Pooh’s Corner with Crew Engineer equipped with neurophysiological and behavioral sensors to assess range of sensors and data quality data quality during EVA-related movement (e.g.,walking, riding in rover, standing still on Mars).. The Journalist will support the Crew Engineer throughout the EVA. The task will include travel to Pooh’s Corner and then walking to find one waypoint within 300 meters of Pooh’s Corner. Flight Engineer will report observations from waypoint and collect one biological sample to bring back to the Hab.
Start time: 14:15
End time: 15:45
Narrative: Decided to venture to Marble Ritual instead of the original planned Pooh’s Corner due to a delayed start. Upon arrival to Marble Ritual, we spent about 30 minutes troubleshooting our sensor equipment. We then spent about an hour testing the range and feasibility of the sensors in high sunlight conditions. We arrived back at the Hab around 15:45 and depressurized before entering.
Destination: One location: between the HAB and Marble Ritual.
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518250,4251000
Participants: Marta Čeko (Engineer) and Emily Doherty (Journalist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, North direction, and then walking within a 300 meter radius around Marble Ritual.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Crew 293 EVA Report 14-03-2024

EVA # 18

Author: Marie Delaroche (Leader)

Purpose of EVA: Photogrammetry exploration EVA with 2D map

Start time: 8:59

End time: 12:25

Suit 1: 13.43V, 2.5 LPM airflow

Suit 6: 13.30V, 2.3 LPM airflow

Suit 8: 13.68V

Narrative:

8:57 Depressurization started

9:02 Depressurization over, out on Mars

Opportunity 167.9H, 100%

Spirit 246.6 75% -> 72% -> change rover

Curiosity 271.8H, 100%

9:07 Leaving campus

9:14 Arrived at Kissing Camel Ridge

10:30 3 checkpoints left

11:04 2 checkpoints left, everything is fine

11:36 1 checkpoint left

12:05 Léa suit malfunctions, helmet off, heading back to the rovers

12:14 Back at the rovers

Curiosity 58%

Opportunity 59%

12:25 Re-pressurization

12:30 End of re-pressurization, EVA Crew back in the Hab

Suit 1: 10.61V, 0.4LPM airflow

Suit 6: 12.39V, insignificant airflow

Suit 8 12.5V

Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518000,4249500

Participants: Marie Delaroche (EVA Leader), Léa Bourgély, Mathurin Franck

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: rover on Cow Dung Road, South direction

Mode of travel: Walking and driving

Vehicles used: Opportunity and Curiosity (Spirit not used, charge level dropped from 75 to 72 % even before we started moving)

Additional notes : NA

Crew 293 EVA Report 13Mar2024

EVA #016

Author: Erin Pougheon (Leader)

Purpose of EVA: Changing batteries of atmospheric instruments and retrieving data, go to Kissing Camel Ridge to search checkpoints with a 3D map, generated with photogrammetry. Pictures will be taken from a drone, put outside by the EVA team

Start time: 8:50

End time: 12:30

Narrative: The EVA started well with the change of batteries at the atmospheric instruments. Meanwhile, a drone pilot took drone pictures of the EVA team and of the station during the first 30 minutes of the EVA, from inside. The EVA team then went to Kissing Camel Ridge and started to search for the checkpoints. One hour into the EVA, one crewmember had a problem with their suit (Suit 5), it turned off. The problem was not identified during the EVA, it seemed to be a circuit issue, not a battery one. The EVA team chose to go on with the EVA with the suit on, but without the helmet, for said crewmember. The EVA team chose to put safety and science first and go on with the photogrammetry experiment, because either way, the helmet had to be taken off to come back to campus, thus simulation was already broken. The EVA team continued to search for checkpoints and came back alright to campus.

Once the EVA Crew was back at the Hab, the Crew Engineer could figure out what the problem was. See Operations report for details.

8:50: Start depressurization

8:55: Exiting airlock

8:58: Drone taking off

Opportunity

167.5H, 100% charge

Curiosity

271.5H, 100% charge

9:00: Rovers leaving campus

9:03: EVA Crew arrives at atmospheric instruments site

9:10: Retrieving data from Field mill, data from MegaAres and LOAC secured.

9:17: Leaving atmospheric instruments site, taking pictures with drone at the intersection near the Hab

9:26: Switching to channel 1, heading to Kissing Camel Ridge

9:33: Rovers parked near Kissing Camel Ridge, site exploration begins

9:48: Looking for checkpoints, everything ok

9:59: 4 checkpoints reached; Problem with Leo’s suit; Sim broken to fix the issue

10:03: Suit not operational; decision to continue the EVA, one crewmember not in sim (wearing EVA suit without the helmet).

10:14: 7 checkpoints reached out of 12

10:33: Still looking for checkpoints

10:54: 8 checkpoints reached

11:05: 10 checkpoints reached

11:25: Everything OK

11:45: 1 checkpoint left

12:10: Still exploring

12:22: Back at Rovers, leaving Kissing Camel

12:30: Back at Hab

Opportunity: 50%

Curiosity: 47%

Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518000,4249500

Participants: Erin Pougheon (leader), Leo Tokaryev, Yves Bejach

Road(s) and routes per MDRS map: rover on Cow Dung Road, South direction

Additional notes: See Operations report for information on the suit.

Crew 293 EVA Report 13/03/2024

EVA # 17

Author: Mathurin FRANCK

Purpose of EVA: Emergency EVA

Start time: 4:35 am

End time: 5:50 pm

Narrative:

→ 4:08pm depressurization alarm, Yves radioed every module and alerted all Crew members of the depressurization. Pressure sensor checked in the Science Dome, depressurization warning confirmed by the interface.

→ All crew members accounted for and returned to the Hab, wearing oxygen masks (NB: FFP2 masks)

→ Commander took control of the operation and designated herself as HabCom. She also designated:

1 crewmember (Int1 : Léa ) tasked with helping with repairs from the inside of the tunnel
2 EVA crew members (Ex1 : Mathurin and Ex2 : Erin). Ex1 is EVA Leader.
First, two new picket fences were put in place. There was no metal wire in the RAM, we used zip ties to fix the picket fences to the cage. Then we removed the handbrake of the robotic rover to loosen the rope. We put the handbrake back and untied the rope. We then put back the tarp and secured it with zip ties.

Note that the zip ties we had are not very big, so we had to put a lot of them to be extra secure.

Objectif of the EVA: Fix Science Dome tunnel

Destination: Science Domes tunnel

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518000, 4251000

Participants: Mathurin, Erin, Léa

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: None

Mode of travel: Walking

Crew 293 EVA Report 09-03-2024

EVA 14

Author: Léa Bourgély

Purpose of EVA: 2D Photogrammetry EVA at Candor Chasma

Start time: 09:00

End time:13:00

Suits and radio check:

Suit 1: 13.35V 2.6LPM

Suit 2: 13.3V 2.4LPM

Suit 3: 13.35V 2.6LPM

Radio 3: 8.09V

Radio 6: 8.09V

Radio 1: 7.99V

Radio 7 (HabCom): 8.09V

Narrative:

08:59 Depressurization begins

09:04 EVA begins

Curiosity: 270.8h, 100%

Opportunity: 166.4 100%

09:08 Leaving campus

09:10 Arrived at the atmospheric site

09:33 Data retrieved (not the field mill), batteries changed. Heading back to the rovers

09:35 Leaving atmospheric site. Switching radio to channel 1.

09:47 Leaving the rovers.

10:00 Arriving at the entrance of Candor Chasma. Contacting every 15min to make sure everything is alright.

10:12 Arriving in the canyon

10:30 almost at the starting point

10:36 Reached the starting point

12:04 Going back to the rovers

12:37 Back to the rovers.

12:39 Leaving site

12:47 Arriving on campus

Curiosity 43%

Opportunity 44%

12:50 Pressurization begins

12:55 End of EVA

Suits checkup: (END)
Suit 1: 12.50V

Suit 2: 12.50V

Suit 3: 12.69V

Destination: Candor Chasma

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 520500, 4251000

Participants: Léa(EVA Leader), Erin and Mathurin

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, North direction, then Galileo Road to Compass Rock

Mode of travel: Rovers and walking