No luck again for the balloon launch today, the winds were too high even early in the morning, but we got valuable information from mission support and Liftport about how to increase lift. We also measured the balloon and figured out that it actually is the 10-ft model, not the 8-ft one like we suspected yesterday. Maybe the helium was too cold, or all the rigging and lines were too heavy, or we didn't inflate it enough. We'll see tomorrow, hopefully – John will get up at o-dark thirty to see if the winds are favorable. As long as there is helium, there is hope :-)

Plan B was to continue with APRS testing and surveying, and this is what we did instead. While Kyle tracked our progress on the APRS base station in near-real-time, Doug and I explored and mapped the dirt roads at the foot of Skyline Rim. During the long rides north and south, this towering, miles-long escarpment framed the western horizon, with its angular cliffs looming like ancient petrified bastions over the barren plains. At the farthest end of our route, we discovered a hidden canyon near Highway 24 that no prior crew had surveyed. While our GPS units were busy recording and transmitting waypoints, we enjoyed traversing the alien desert landscape – so different from the familiar wooded hills of Georgia that we are used to.

Just like during our mapping of Lowell Highway, we noticed that several of the dirt roads indicated on the official USGS map no longer existed, and others had significantly changed their course. We strongly recommend that the main routes are re-surveyed at least once per year– all it takes is a few EVAs equipped with a quality GPS (most new units come with WAAS capability, providing better than 5 meters of positioning accuracy) and the appropriate interface/mapping software (free). I will leave a CD-ROM with all necessary software, maps and instructions for the next crews at the hab.

Tonight's dinner discussion, among other topics, for the first time mentioned planning for next year's mission – a sure sign that our adventures here are slowly but surely coming to an end. Hard to believe we only have two more days in sim… By now we are dedicated to submitting a proposal for a 2006 Georgia Tech mission, as soon as the documentation of Crew 37's activities is complete. We hope that with all the lessons learned during this initial rotation, next year's expedition, if approved, will be able to accomplish even more.

Signing off for today,

Jan Osburg
Commander, MDRS Crew 37