Late last night the power situation at the Hab took a turn for the worse, as the propane tank levels dipped far below operational levels. At 23:00 the decision was made to switch from the Generac to the backup gasoline generator, "Li'l Genny". Today the crew learned that the adapter needed to plug into the new diesel generator would not arrive until Saturday, meaning that Li'l Genny will have to suffice for almost three full days. This is probably more use than it would care to see, however the crew's options are rather limited. Power consumption has been scaled back; the crew is taking great caution not to run several high-consumption devices at the same time. To assist in this effort, GreenHab is temporarily being taken offline. Water still flows into the holding tanks, and the sump pump may be run once or twice during off-peak hours, but otherwise no power is being consumed by GreenHab systems.

Before the diesel generator is brought online, a stand and shelter must be constructed for it. The shelter is absolutely critical, as the generator cannot run in the rain. The stand will allow for easier changing of the oil (must be done once every two days). Jason will be sending design proposals on to Mission Support tonight for their approval.

On a more productive note, early this morning Amy, Kevin and Ryan completed EVA 6, the second RST biology EVA. They traveled to Tank Wash and collected several soil samples. They ran into difficulty in both interpreting the directions, and also in using the equipment. As a result, this EVA took somewhat more than the three hours that were set aside for the mission. The crew, however, is becoming comfortable with the procedure for the biology EVAs, which will make future work much easier.

As soon as EVA 6 returned to the Hab, Daniel, Dennis and Jason began suiting up for EVA 7. They had originally planned on a PEV EVA, but after realizing that they couldn't figure out how to fit into the vehicle, the plan was switched to an ATV EVA. The second geology EVA was completed very easily in under an hour and a half. The report filing process is also starting to come together.

Tomorrow half of the crew will go out on a biology EVA. While they are out, the other half of the crew will stay behind, working on building the support structure for the diesel generator, and also working on the PSUMS rover project. Unfortunately the demands from the RST and the engineering needs around the Hab have limited the PSUMS members ability to work on their rover project. This project is now being moved into a higher position on the crew's list of priorities. Work on other projects will continue, but will scale back a small step to allow time for the rover. Assuming the power doesn't go out, it should be another productive day.