We went into full Sim this morning and immediately hit problems. In losing power to certain areas of the Hab, namely the communication section, half of the crew quarters and the mess, we remained in full sim as we thought this was a typical problem that Mars explorers would encounter. Solving this took up the morning so the planned EVA was postponed until the afternoon, moving Edwins robot experiment to tomorrow. Heather is struggling at the moment and is not sleeping and so she remained at the Hab to try and get some sleep, while Edwin effected further repairs to the robot. While Reece and Susmita went on a foot EVA to locate fossils Jamon and I went on an ATV EVA to scout out possible locations for Edwin tomorrow.

This was my longest EVA so far, about three hours. We each seem to be having different problems, except for the communication, which is a problem for us all. It is surprising how when the radios fail the mission suffers drastically. Having worn protective vests in work the packs cause me no problem, the boots I am also used to. However my downfall is the high temperatures. Coming from a relatively cool country I am having difficulty being in the blazing sunshine for this length of time, particularly in the suit. I find I am sweating so much that my eyes are stinging. I am plastered in sun cream and only my face is exposed behind the helmet, but I am finding that hard. From my point of view this is a good thing. I am here to try and get a feel for what being an astronaut on Mars would be like. It will not be easy. It will be uncomfortable, stressful and with extremes of temperature. So I need to overcome difficulties to get the full experience. I am not alone in this feeling, it is shared by most of the crew, which is probably one of the reasons why we get on so well.