MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION

EVA Report – February 16th

EVA Report
EVA#2, Sol 4

Crew members: Louis Maller (EVA leader), Xavier Rixon, Victoria Da-Poian,and Louis Mangin (EVA buddies)
Habcom : Arthur Lillo

Departure time:  9:04 AM
Return time: 11:48 PM

Location: North of the Hab (12N 521000, 4251000) in Candor Chasma, and South (12N 519500 4248500)

Purposes:
– Around the Hab exploration
– EVA training for newcomers
– PR photos inside the picturesque Condor Chasma
– Training in basic non-vocal communication inspired from diving procedures
– Ergonomy test for the new generation ORA-2 Optinvent glasses (confort, screen visibility, autonomy)

Summary:
For most of the team on EVA today, this one was a first EVA, meant to train them, get used to the spacesuit and different EVA gear.
We left almost on time, after an EVA prep a lot shorter thanks to the work of our engineer who gave a lot of thought into how to optimize the process.
The engineering check was also optimized and thus swiftly done, so we could leave on the EVA by 9:14
We used the rovers and were due north, found the road leading towards condor chasma without any problem, and as I remembered the spot quite well, parked not far from the entrance of the canyon. We started exploring the canyon at approximatively 9:40 We descended into it and explored for something like an hour, taking pictures and videos on the way. It is a really out-of-the world scenery, that I was glad to explore a second time. Some crewmembers experienced heavy fogging inside their helmets, which makes walking in this canyon where the footing is a bit tricky all the more challenging. After a while, I decided to turn back, thinking mistakenly that the road further south would be closer to the canyon and allow to take some shots of it from above.
Instead, we rapidly lost the road as it meanders in riverbeds, so we stopped, did a pause for some pictures over a quite beautiful landscape and then went back. We had some time left, so I decided to head for white rock Canyon on the South, from where I was certain that it would be possible to take some shots from the ridge. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the distances, which are greater south of the Hab, and we stopped not far from a ridge… which was two-meters deep. I then decided that the EVA had lasted enough, especially since the walk in the canyon had been tiring for everyone, even if the ride on the rovers had taken care of the fogging issue.
Therefore we were back at the Hab a bit earlier than expected (11:48) but had an interesting EVA, which, aside from the pictures, was the occasion to test basic functions of the glasses (displaying the time), and assessing how high the issue of screen visibility was (and the discomfort of not being able to use sunglasses).