EVA #8 Report

January 27, 2010

Luis Saraiva


Time:
12:46-15:09


Crew Members:
Luis Saraiva, Brian Shiro, and Carla Haroz


Site Location:
Intended: Candor Chasma [~4.5 Km East of Hab]


Transit Mode:
Walking


Objectives:
1) To familiarize ourselves with medium-distance-pedestrian EVAs on
snow; 2) Test our ability to navigate without GPS under bad visibility
conditions; 3) See if wearing headlights help locate EVA Crew members
from a distance; 4) Collect fresh snow samples for subsequent biological
testing.


Lessons Learned:
1) Again, walking on snow is very slippery, and special attention to the
masked rugged terrain. Both Brian and Carla fell. Brian fell once and
Carla twice on 3 separate occasions (no major injuries reported. One of
us got a slightly bruised knee). 2) We were walking at a very fast
pace and all three of us had severe problems with fogging. I was
wearing my regular glasses under the goggles, which caused my glasses
to fog ~15 minutes after departure. I managed to unfog them by pushing
my goggles against the air vent and hold that position for about 1
minute (so that air can access my glasses). Brian and Carla had severe
fogging problems with their helmets on our way back, with Carla having
to break sim and remove her helmet of in the last 1/4 of the way.
Brian remained in sim but in the last Km had close to 0% visibility on
his helmet and had to slow down and occasionally be given directions.
3) The headlamps were not very comfortable and the light intensity is
not strong enough to locate crew members at a distance (we were all
wearing PETZL Tikka headlamps). 4) Wearing a headlamp prevented us from
wiping the fogged helmets with the caps on our heads. 5) The knees and
elbows areas of the suits should be reinforced, especially for sample
collection and injury prevention.