Time: started 18:38, completed 19:15

Weather: low about 10c (50F) high of 27.5c (81.5F), partly cloudy and windy

Crew Physical Status: Clean and busy. Good spirits.

Brief Narrative of Field Mission Results: The wind storm ahead of a front caused us to change our plans from an EVA to inside testing, which team accepted eagerly.

I think I spent the entire day working on my computer -- processing reports, preparing photos, uploading a few dozen files, and exchanging many emails about the Toilet Supply Tank. Now nearly at 7 PM, with dinner in a half hour, it seems a bit much to be working on the computer again!

Our day began with the usual briefing just after 9 AM, held outside on the front porch of the hab, with everyone gathered around in a semicircle. We had two visitors from the London Sun, Brian Flynn a reporter and David Howells a photographer. We took the opportunity to review all of the subprojects. (To my chagrin, I learned while reading my email after breakfast that the NASA press release had not mentioned all of the organizations involved.) Later in the morning, I helped Brian don a Mars Society suit. He appeared to have a grand time posing in a variety of red rock locations.

The wind really picked up by late morning, with dust preventing work outside. This was just as well, as our main activity was to finish assembling and testing the computerized backpacks, including all the fittings for cables and fans. Rick checked the internal temperature (above 100F) and estimated everything might work up to 90F outside. We have now very nifty metal packs, to go with the flight suits newly purchased for Brent and Abby.

The various teams spent the day testing their systems locally, including checking the EVA plan for compatibility with the rest of the system, testing the voice commands that had been reimplemented since last year, and resolving more of the upsets encountered by the ERA. All of this ensures a much smoother test when we do the EVA tomorrow with the ERA following the astronauts.

Meanwhile, Abby and Brent reviewed maps and protocols for documenting stratigraphy in the field, which had been stored in the Compendium system by the RST last night. They also reviewed the expanded voice commanding vocabulary and considered were advised about what to avoid and what to definitely try. John is eager for one of them to name a location and the other to use the name to associate an object with the place. This sharing of names is a new feature for this year.

While talking about the new vocabulary, we brainstormed about interesting combinations. What if an astronaut were to say to Boudreaux, "Follow me" and then "Watch me" -- moving it to a rock outcrop, say, and adjusting its camera to aim at the astronaut. Then the astronaut could say, "Stop tracking me" followed by "Take a picture of me" and quickly jump out of the way. Could this be a way of getting the robot to aim correctly at an interesting feature? Jeff thought probably not, as the location of "me" would be adjusted before the picture was taken. But the idea showed the increasing complexity of the system, and the power of combinations of even the simple commands we have provided.

About 6 PM, after a relatively relaxing afternoon of working together in the hab, we had our debriefing. The support team then went back to Hanksville for the night, and we began to prepare a simple dinner of chili, corn bread, and salad.

Plans for Tomorrow: We will do another hour of testing, focusing on the commands the astronauts will give to Boudreaux, the robot. Then about 1030 AM, weather permitting, we plan to suit up Brent & Abby and head out for an EVA planned at 175 minutes.

Report Transmission Schedule: We appear to be hitting our stride, with reports from most subteams.

Maintenance: We determined that the Toilet Supply Tank (TST) was not refilling this morning. After reviewing the available documentation and many helpful emails fronm the support team (which arrived very quickly), we narrowed the problem to the filter for water arriving from Tank #5 at the GreenHab and the TST. It took a lot of work to get the filter canisters opened because the instruction to "turn counterclockwise" depends on your perspective (looking down or looking up). Plus we had to find a suitable tool to open them. We can't tell whether the trickle of water from the filter is sufficient, but it's better than the lack of flow we had before.

EVA Narrative/Data/Interpretations: See RST and EVA communications reports.

Inventory: No deficiencies detected.

Miscellaneous: If our schedule were disrupted by weather back home more often, I think we'd all be happier.