Today was another busy day around the hab. Doug spent the morning fixing doors in the hab while Kyle worked on preparing the APRS system for upcoming EVAs. The day's activities were primarily centered around two major EVAs - one short-range pedestrian EVA and one long-range motorized EVA.

After breakfast, the crew conducted a short-range EVA that concluded one of the team's major science objectives. While tackling some the most difficult terrain around the hab, the EVA team completed the network of waypoints started two days ago that creates a tight "spider web" grid with the hab at its center. The raw GPS data was sent back to mission support in Atlanta where they will convert it to a more user-friendly format.

In the afternoon, a long-range EVA gave the team a chance to test out our communications equipment. Five of the six crew members have amateur radio licenses, allowing us to use Ham bands for long range communications that would not be possible with the FRS equipment currently at the hab. Amateur radio also allows the EVA team to use the "Automated Position Reporting System" (APRS) to transmit position data to crew members back at the hab. Both communication over amateur radio and APRS were tested on the afternoon EVA to create a baseline for future missions. See the EVA08 report for more details.

Sprinkled throughout the day were other projects and concerns. Don dropped off a fresh supply of water and gasoline this afternoon and picked up our PID to be shipped back to Atlanta, GA. We are also starting to experience substantial problems with the grey water holding tank. It seems to be completely full and not emptying into the GreenHab, resulting in a shortage of water to flush the toilets. The problem is being addressed and more details can be found in the engineering report.

Doug was the cook today and set the standard for breakfast for the rest of the mission. He prepared a wonderful corned beef hash on toasted bagels with eggs benedict. Lunch was cheese quesadillas and dinner consisted of a delicious vegetable stir-fry with rice.

The day is winding down now and the crew members are writing their daily reports. We are preparing for a busy day tomorrow. We expect a crew from the History Channel to be here at 9:00 in the morning. We also hope to perform a detailed test and validation of the APRS system we will be running for the remainder of our mission.

Until tomorrow,

John Christian
Executive Officer, MDRS Crew 37