EVA Report:
SOL: 09
Date: 02/07/2017
Report filed by: Saroj Kumar (Crew Scientist and Executive Officer)

Crew members involved in the EVA: Arpan Vasanth, Sneha Velayudhan and Saroj Kumar
EVA leader: Saroj Kumar
Begin: 10.45 am
End: 01.40 pm
Type of EVA: Walking + Rovers (Phobos and Deimos)
Purpose: Sample collection for characterising the transference of human commensal bacteria and developing zoning methodology for planetary protection and photography for outreach activities
UTM Coordinates: Northing: 4256715 Easting: 520914 Zone/Sector: 12S

Summary: The primary objective of today’s EVA was to collect sample number-7 for the experiment on developing zoning methodology for planetary protection. The first five samples for the experiment were taken at a distance of 0, 1, 2, 5 and 10 meters from the hab. Today’s samples were required to be collected from a very far distance from the hab with requirement of almost negligible or no prior human presence. Considering this, the crew selected ‘Green Mars north’ as one of the location for sample collection which is believed to have met the requirement. The secondary objective was towards outreach activities for which the crew had planned to take photographs of the sample collection process and take pictures of beautiful ‘Mars’ scenic view which looked similar to Valles Marineris.

At the beginning of EVA, the crew checked the battery level charge of rovers and made sure both Phobos and Deimos have sufficient charge to support the EVA. While heading towards ‘Green Mars north’ the crew spent few minutes at the entrance of ‘Special region’ to take some pictures. After reaching the destination, Arpan and Saroj took the samples while Sneha took the photographs of experiment procedure during sample collection. Later on, crew members took the pictures of beautiful Green Mars North. The crew spent about 45 minutes at the location and then headed back to the hab. During the end of the EVA after reaching hab, Arpan and Saroj took the readings and checked the status of hab support systems. The EVA for the day was successful by completing all the tasks as planned.