Crew Physical Status: Excellent overall. PJ has sunburn from yesterday, so we scratched him from the EVA and kept him inside. Anna (NDX-1 teammember) briefly fainted outside and we provided assistance, but she quickly recovered and is just fine.

Brief Narrative of Field Mission Results: Began sim at 11 pm last night. Performed "EVA-1: Walkback Range Test" this morning. Assisted NDX-1 team with their set-up for pressurized demonstrations tomorrow (this support was provided out of sim). Worked power issues, integrating the new generator. Added a substantial contribution to the DVD library.

EVA Narrative/Data/Interpretations: Alex Diaz and Elizabeth Wolfe performed EVA-1: Walkback Range Test. Recorded temperature, distance, and average speed.

Time Departed/Returned from EVA: Departed 11:10 am. Returned 12:10 pm.

Plans for Tomorrow: Assist NDX-1 team in the field (will start very early in the morning). Conduct EVA-2: NDX EVA Connector Accessibility Test. Support Media visit (ABC-TV Houston) and documentary filming (Swedish film director).

Report Transmission Schedule: Expect reports to be sent before 9:00.

Maintenance: Experienced a power outage this morning. A new generator was hooked up to the Hab in the past day and Marcus is helping to work the integration. Meanwhile, we're back on the old generator. A separate generator arrived to support the NDX-1, and working splendidly. A nut popped off EVA helmet 2 and was replaced. We are currently stable and fully operational.

Food/Essential Supplies Inventory: Overall very good. It is apparent we will run out of certain items, though, like milk, eggs, and cereal. Steel wool and paper towels are two cleaning supplies that I wish we'd gotten before sim began.

Miscellaneous: More visitors appeared today -- a family with several children, riding on ATV's. We talked with these "native Martians" from within our pressurized tunnel, provided token gifts for the kids, and they had their picture taken in front of the Hab. They also warned us that Easter is a very popular time for ATV's in this area and we may be swarmed with visitors this weekend.

Support Requested:

• Fresh water supply is getting critical. We do not have enough in the outer tank to fully resupply our inner tank tonight. If we have to try, I fear we risk getting air into the lines.
• A request from the EVA coordinator: do we have mass data on the suit components (suit alone, helmet, backpack assembly, boots, etc.)? If not, we offer to perform mass measurements if a scale could be pointed out or provided to us.
• Communication system: The handheld communication devices work well for only a very short distance. We have changed batteries and still experience frustration trying to talk to one another for our EVA's, water re-supply, the Observatory, and general communication between crew that are outside. We've currently proceeding with operational workarounds (call button codes, agreed safe stop conditions if communication is lost, etc), but would appreciate advice on how to improve the performance of our walkie-talkies. The current lack of reliability in this critical system is threatening the success of many planned objectives.

Chip Shepherd
Commander, MDRS Crew 61