EVA Report
EVA#1, Sol 3
Crew members: Arthur Lillo (EVA leader), Mouâdh Bouayad, Simon Bouriat
and Louis Mangin (EVA buddies)
Habcom : Xavier Rixhon
Departure time: 9:08 AM
Return time: 12:00 PM
Location: South of the Hab (12N 518500, 4250000) and beyond Rock
Garden on Main Road (12N 519200, 4248200)
Purposes:
• Around the Hab exploration
• EVA training for newcomers
• Seismology experiment: search for a good spot to install the
seismometer during a later EVA
• Balloon experiment: first deployment
Summary:
At first we did the engineering check and refilled the black water
tank. It took us about 30 minutes to complete the operations. Xavier
guided us well on the radio but we can surely improve our efficiency
during later EVAs.
After that we took the rovers Phobos and Deimos to go South on the
Main Road. We stopped when we reached the plain located just North of
Camel Ridge. There, we deployed the 5-meter-wide balloon: three of us
were needed to run in circle while the balloon was filled with air
(not an easy task with the bulky spacesuits). Then under the action of
the sun on the black plastic, the air inside could get warmer and take
the cardboard platform to the sky. A sport camera and a set of
atmospheric sensors recorded the ascension. In the beginning the wind
pushed the captive balloon behind a hill, with the 90-meter rope
almost horizontal. The wind finally stopped and we could anchor the
now vertical rope in the middle of the plain.
Meanwhile, we searched for a place where to bury the seismometer. We
dug a square hole in the clay of the delta, a later EVA will be needed
to install the equipment. 40 minutes before the end of EVA, we stored
the balloon and took the rovers for a ride on Main Road, South of
Camel Ridge, to explore and take some pictures. We came back to the
Hab exactly on time, and our fellow Hab-dwellers welcomed us with a
song on the walkie talkie during pressurization.