Commander's Report

February 6, 2008

John Thaler



Today was full of ups and downs. The power has been on and off most of
the day on account of some issues with the generator and the Xantrex.
By the end of the day it seems to have smoothed out due to the
troubleshooting skills of our crew engineers. Our three EVAs have all
run into problems. This morning's ATV EVA had only a minor snag in
that we missed the correct turn, however this led us to a beautiful
scenic outlook on a cliff at the end of Lowell Highway. On the first
of the afternoon EVAs we grossly underestimated the amount of marker
rope needed to plan out the route for a cable to run to the top of
Radio Ridge. Initially we started with 61 meters of rope, but this
reached only just past the observatory. Upon partially untangling a
massive knot of rope from the engineering area, a further 29 meters
was added but we now estimate that the full distance is 300 meters so
we will need to further untangle rope to make up the difference.
Finally, due to a late start, the third EVA which was on ATVs ran out
of time and had to turn back but they learned a lot about driving the
ATVs and are better prepared to plan EVAs in the future. Despite some
disappointments the crew remains positive and focused on the successes
of today, both planned and unexpected.

Tonight we will have an evening lecture about Field Data Management
(FDM) procedures. We will also attempt to get to bed early as we are
all getting tired and this will help us be refreshed for tomorrow's
activities.

Tomorrow we will attempt to finish laying marker rope to Radio Ridge
and perform a scouting EVA for the soil gas analysis project.
Hopefully Cheryl's Daphnia will arrive as they were expected today but
did not appear. We also continue to wait for supplies for the
extremophile project.

One item I forgot to include in the Check-In report was that we're
getting "Forbidden Access" errors when we try to access the photo
upload site. This is the reason yesterday's and today's photos are not
uploaded yet. Please advise.