SOL 24: “Mega-Hassles with MegaARES”
04:52 PM: Once again this morning, Crew 311 adapted its organization to the packed schedule of the day. This time, Meddi and I studied both 2D and 3D maps of Kissing Camel Ridge in parallel. The 3D map covered the reliefs of the area, but the software had a lot of trouble reproducing all the flat spaces in the region, so we couldn’t do without the 2D map to continue our research. The areas for placing beacons on the map were very wide, and after the two beacon search sessions were finished, we realized that both teams had found the beacons in the same amount of time.
The morning EVA was very long, and for good reason: we had problems retrieving data from the atmospheric instruments, which hadn’t been done for a while. The MegaARES interface started displaying illegible messages when retrieving the week’s data, and then the interface crashed. We waited a long time before concluding that we would retrieve the rest of the data once we had put away the instruments.
The morning EVA was very long, but it could have been very short because the wind was blowing very strongly, and if it had increased just a bit more, we wouldn’t have been authorized to continue the EVA.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew tested the rover that we had assembled in the previous days, but the results are not conclusive for now. We still hope to make it run in the coming days! Upon our return, some good news arrived: Somaya was cooking batbout (Moroccan bread). Célyan and she went to get a bunch of fresh vegetables from the GreenHAB to enhance the meal. We thus enjoyed delicious vegetarian burgers. Feeling the taste of fresh tomatoes was a pleasure we hadn’t experienced for more than 3 weeks already, and the frenetic discussions at lunchtime gave way to the silence of enjoyment.
06:28 PM: We had little rest in the early afternoon because the day’s schedule was packed, and as soon as our meals were finished, we launched our last daily recording for the Twins2 experiment. We then concluded our discussions about possible architectural improvements in the station with an overall view of it, and everyone returned to their daily tasks.
06:50 PM: Just a few moments before the start of the daily communication window and while everyone was focused on their activities, one of the topics discussed during the brainstorming session became relevant again: part of the tarp covering the newly installed tunnel had flown away. Here, the wind is rising and determined to complicate our last moments in the station! Discussing improvements to the station then takes on its full meaning.