Author: jburk

Crew 212 EVA Report 14-MAY-2019

EVA #010

Author: Zoe Townsend

Purpose of EVA: Collection of sand samples for contaminants.

Start time: 16:30

End time: 18:45 (late and extended to rescue Opportunity)

Narrative:

Today’s EVA was to collect sand for containments. The results of which will be postposed back on Earth. Prior to the EVA, the team were contacted by Shannon to explain that part of the road was unpassable, the decision was taken to walk from Zubin’s head. Due to the heat the EVA was reduced from 2 hours to one and a half starting half an hour later.

During the EVA, the crew required a lot of equipment to prevent contamination of the samples. Therefore, the decision was taken to first scout the area and then once the location was decided to conduct the sample extraction. An unfortunate run in with non sim personal delayed the start of the extracted where there was persistence to take photos of the crew.

Throughout sand extraction communication came through from the Hab and whist the crew tried to communicate apparently the Hab could not hear the responses. The crew returned to the rover and headed back to base. Unfortunately, due to a combination of the delayed start, non sim personal and walking instead of driving the sim overran and without stable communication the Hab decided that emergency measures where required. Shannon headed toward the sight and caught up with the team returning to the Hab. After establishing the issues with the radios it was decided the crew was healthy and the situation was stable. It was then decided that the crew would collect Opportunity from it position after the Engineering EVA.

–

The debrief was extensive and these are the results:

• · That upon arriving at any sight, confirmation must be made that the crew are in radio contact.
• · Timings must be adhered too
• · That all personal must be present prior to EVA to help with ensuring the embarking crew have all equipment required
• · A check list of equipment will be adhered to or else the EVA will be stopped
• · A briefing before all EVAs is compulsory.

Coordinates (UTM NAD27 CONUS): Sector12S Northern 4248210, Eastern 518718 and also Sector12S Northern 4246840, Eastern 518268

EVA Participants: Hector (Medic), and Zoe (Commander)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: 1101

Mode of travel: (walking or driving)? Rover Curiosity.

Kind Regards,

Zoe

Crew 212 EVA Report 13-MAY-2019

EVA #09

Author: Vittorio Netti

Purpose of EVA:
Primary objective
Testing the first BVLOS mission of the "Palantir" fixes wing drone (Success)
Testing the flight attitude shifting capabilities of the "X-5" fixes wing VTOL drone (Partial Failure)

Measuring the Oxygen fluxus from the SpaceSuit under extensive stress (Partial Success)
Measuring the Oxygen level in blood after extensive stress in Spacesuit (Success)
Secondary objectives
Collecting aerial photos of the martian surface (Success)
Testing the assisting landing capabilities of the drone (Success)
Testing the ground control station during the auto mission mode (Success)

Start time: 16:00 AM

End time: 18:33 AM

Narrative:

The purpose of this EVA was to

The equipment was composed by:
– Palantir drone
– Ex Case 1 (pressurized)
– Ground Station Tripod

Since two experiments were foreseen for this EVA, two rovers were needed. Spirit presented anomalous battery consumption rates in the past days, so we decided to leave it at the Hab. Curiosity has always functioned nominally. Although Opportunity had overheating problems on last Sunday (Sol 0), it has been performing nominally in the past EVAs; while keeping the driving speed low, we decided to take it, as the EVA destination didn’t require a long drive (approx 15 minutes each way).

Opportunity departed from the hab with 100% of battery.
Curiosity departed from the hab with 100% of battery.

We departed from the Hab around 4:15 PM and drove towards north to free the mouse (captured last night) before Cowboy’s Corner; the speed was maintained low to avoid overheating problems with Oppi. After that, both rovers performed a U-turn and drove in the direction of URC North Site. At around 50 meters from the final objective, Opportunity stopped, and the battery overheating warning was on. Battery level at that point was 99%. We tried to start the engine many times, but the alarm was always on and didn’t let the engine start.

Since that we were on the experiment site, we decided to leave the rovers and start the experiment procedures, hoping that the Opportunity batteries can cool down during that time.

Together with Paolo we proceeded to assembly the drones and the GCS. At the same time, Zoe and Camilo proceeded to set a running track in order to perform their experiment under stress.

The "Palantir" drone has been hand-launched by Paolo and suddenly the control has been taken by the program, that started the automatic photosurvey of the area. During the mission "Palantir took more than 150photos, mapping more than 45 Hectare of terrain in 28 minutes.

Zoe and Camillo proceeded with the experiment, running through the track for 10 minutes with their suit on, on which they previously sealed the external openings.

After the landing, the Palantir has been recovered without damages. Together with Paolo we proceeded to assembly and arming the X-5 for his test.

The X-5 take-off happened at 17.45, but after the transition to the Plane mode the aerodynamic surfaces resulted not to be controllable enough from the software. We tried to perform a controlled soft landing without success. The plane suffered an impact to the ground that destroyed both the motor support plates.

At the end of experiments, since Opportunity was still off, we received authorization from the Director to use one rover to carry all four EVA crew members back to the Hab, leaving all the equipment in the overheated rover to have place for all the crewmember. The crashed drone has been left on his impact point in order to perform further analysis on the impact dynamic

Opportunity was retrieved later by the Director and an out-of-sim crew member. During the recovery, the X-5 has been photographed and then stored in the Opportunity trunk together with the rest of the equipment They were able to start the rover and drive to the Hab, where the rover stopped once again, luckily right in front of the Hab.

Destination: URC North Site

Coordinates: (UTM NAD27 CONUS): 519012.00 E, 4251740.00 N, Zone 12S

EVA Participants: Vittorio Netti (Commander), Camillo Zorro (Medic), Zoe Townsend, Paolo Guardabasso

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

Mode of travel: driving