In-Sim ATV Reconnaissance

At approximately 10:00 hours after watching the weather satellite and doppler radar feeds for over an hours Hugh and Adam agreed that it would be safe for a long range EVA (both being licensed pilots reading the weather is a part of the training). Thus the crew was gathered and Anthony, Felipe and Kevin were told that their scheduled long range ATV EVA was a GO!

This search for weather info was triggered by a brief morning rain shower just after breakfast that potentially endangered the whole day's plans. Well, the rain stopped, and we had Anthony scour searched the web for appropriate weather information. We managed to find two excellent sites which gave us up-to-date data on the region:

• National Weather Service's satellite imagery for Salt Lake City:
  Select Infrared views for Western US at 1km or 2km animation - Visible and Southwest US views also cover MDRS but are less useful.
• NWS' radar page for Cedar City, Utah:
  Select Base or Composite Reflectivity, Short Range, Loop - Estimated Hab location is near final "E" in Escalante on map - You can navigate to near radars using the arrows at top left.

We recommend that for *any* extended EVA that both of these pages be opened up on a computer and that the HabCom officer check the weather at least every hour to make sure no storm front is coming in. Hanksville.com also has extended weather forecasts for planning longer EVAs but nothing beats real time observations by satellites only 30 minutes old.

After reviewing the incoming weather and convincing ourselves that we had at least 3 or 4 hours before the next rainburst, Hugh gave the go ahead for the EVA. He planned the EVA with Anthony and Felipe while Kevin prepared the ATVs and then summarized when Kevin return. In short, the plan had five waypoints:

1. Backtrack the road to the Hab so Kevin and Felipe would have seen it in daylight (for evacuation safety reasons). There was also a good photo opportunity near the "Rock Garden"
2. Return to "Candy Cane Ridge", giving Felipe experience with the ATV over the same terrain that Hugh took Kevin and Anthony on the previous day.
3. Proceed north to the junction of the "Brahe Highway" as a test of landmark navigating ability for the team.
4. Navigate west to where Brahe highway joins with a southern facing road to test GPS navigating ability.
5. Retrace back to the junction and proceed to the entrance of Lith canyon, which Felipe had previously visited on an out- of-sim EVA One back on his first day on analogue Mars.

We used the large map in the hab to plan out a series of waypoints with distances and headings marked, which Hugh then sketched on to the back of a small piece of paper cut to fit the back of his GPS unit, enabling us to take a GPS reading and flip it over to compare against our scheduled waypoints. We also recommend that a similar waypoint card be sketched out for any extended EVA.

Hugh then instructed Anthony, Kevin and Felipe on the workings of his GPS and then instructed them to start the mission. Anthony was assigned the EVA commander slot and he asked the team to use the facilities prior to departure. Then, based on Hugh's paramedic experience, we counted each person's number of pieces of equipment prior to departure to ensure we did not lose anything. Then the team suited up, testing Hugh's new procedures for airlock cleanliness. Felipe and Kevin suited up normally, but because Anthony has scuba experience Hugh instructed him on Paul's procedure of how to put the backpack on with helmet attached, which worked out well.

Prior to stepping into the airlock, Anthony asked the team if everyone had all of their gear. Felipe asked the team to bring both ATV EVA boxes rather than one as he believed that both would better help him deal with a major wound. Anthony also brought extra water and a flashlight in case of emergency while Adam, the airlock commander, checked everyone's radios. When we stepped into the airlock, Anthony asked Adam to explicitly run the pre-EVA checklist and make sure that no-one missed anything. Then we sealed the airlock up, ran a 5 minute decompression, and got the show on the road.

We loaded up the ATVs and embarked, Anthony in the lead followed by Felipe and Kevin. While it was our intention that Anthony take the balky machine which popped out of gear, the machines were switched when they were fueled earlier in the day so Felipe got it instead. Since Felipe was comfortable with the machine, we proceeded.

After a quick set of photos at a safe distance from the Rock Gardens, we stopped at the first waypoint. GPS readings and map headings did not precisely match and Anthony stopped forward progress so the team could practice hill climbing at the approximate location of the first target. After encountering a gang of friendly Martians offroading on motorcycles, we took photos and retraced our way to the second waypoint. As we passed the Hab, we were alerted to a good forecast and given clearance to continue the EVA freely as long as we wanted. Therefore, we moved on to the second waypoint and decided to press on to the third --- the junction to the Brahe "highway".

We drove almost 100m past the junction before Anthony, who was scanning the region on the map and GPS, noticed that the tiny lumps on the side of the road actually connected to a straight dirt road heading into the distance. This was Brahe highway, which we followed for approximately a mile until we reached the fourth waypoint. The scenery was again stunning, and we had an interesting radio effect from the repeater where we could hear an echo of our own voices.

At this waypoint, Hugh had requested but not pressed Anthony to take the team down the southern road based on conditons. Since time, weather, daylight and road conditions were all good, we proceeded down that road for another mile before turning round at 14:30 to make sure we made our 5th waypoint near the entrance to Lith Canyon.

We reached the 5th waypoint at around 14:45 hours, where we stopped and asked Felipe to give us more precise directions about the road. He suggested we take a left fork, which we did for approximately another mile before the road began to disintegrate into streambeds and washes. We disembarked and walked to a large rock formation, where we mimed a geology surveys to practice doing this in a suit. Because we had no instruction from the Remote Science Team, all the rocks we examined were left on site and where possible left in the exact same position.

At just after 15:00 hours we returned to the ATVs and turned around, which was difficult because the ground was very soft. We returned directly, marking landmarks as we went, until reaching the two large hump-shaped rocks that mark the northern approach to the Hab where we regained radio contact. We informed the Hab of our return in approximately 30 minutes and they put the soup on.

When we arrived at the Hab it was approximately 15:30 hours, around the time that Anthony was shooting for to make sure we had ample breathing air. (He later found that the suits had six, not four hours of air, in which case he would have kept the team out for another half hour to further explore the road south of the fourth waypoint).

As we returned to the station, we swept the steps and our shoes as part of Hugh's new protocol to prevent dust getting into the station (critical after the level of dust and mud that had unavoidably crept in during the work of the refit). And then we got the pleasant surprise of another new addition to the EVA procedure: garbage duty! To encourage simulation, Hugh now asks all teams to return to the rear airlock and pick up garbage for disposal, so the Hab can remain clean without breaking sim.

We returned and repressurized. Kevin and Felipe unsuited normally with Adam's assistance and Hugh tested further tweaks to the attached backpack procedure with Anthony, which worked well. All in all the EVA prep time was an hour, the EVA time was 3 hours and 45 minutes, and the total distance traveled was just over 20 kilometers.

In summary, our lessons learned and recommendations are:

• Weather Preparation
• Check the weather on Hanksville.com one day prior to EVA
• Check the satellite and radar imagery on the National Weather Service sites immediately prior to the EVA
• Check satellite and radar imagery hourly during extended EVAs
• Safety
• Explicitly perform a check for all equipment before sealing the airlock door for exit AND entry
• EVA team should check in hourly on extended EVAs
• Bring both medical kits if storage space is available and emergency water and flashlight
• Navigation
• Place GPS inside plastic bag on strap on EVA commander's chest for easy viewing
• Sketch out route planning onto a small card so that it can be put into the back of the GPS bag
• Housekeeping
• Have the EVA team take out the garbage upon return
• Have the EVA team sweep out the boots and stairs to prevent tracking in dust
• Have Airlock commander seat returning crew, quarantine their boots, bring the EVA crew their deck shoes and sweep out a path out of the airlock so that the team does not track in dust

All in all a great EVA!