FMARS Sponsors	Dispatch from FMARS Robert Zubrin - Monday, July 15, 2002 Engineering Report | EVA-4 Report | Biology Report | Geology Report | Photo Gallery EVA crew of Robert Zubrin (left), Frank Echardt, and Nell Beedle preparing for EVA. We had a very eventful day today. The primary activity was a three person EVA led by me and including Nell and Frank, with K. Mark providing armed escort. We travelled about 6 km southwest from the hab, skirting the outer edge of the crater. In the course of this, we stopped systematically on the outbound leg recording 10 waypoints, including their location, geological characteristics, rock size distribution, and operational features such as transversability by ATV, quality of radio contact with the hab, and view of the surrounding terrain. The purpose of this activity is to create a waypoint database that can be referred to by any future crew who might want to know what they can expect to find in different places and make their EVA plans accordingly. In addition, our records of rock size distribution (in which we estimated the fraction of ground covered at each location by sand, granules, pebbles, cobbles, small boulders and large boulders) provide a quantitative estimate of the roughness of the ground that can be compared to the coloration on our Landsat satellite images for each point. This comparison will allow us to verify or refute Frank's hypothesis connecting image brightness with surface smoothness, and thus trafficability. We discovered regions including interesting outcrops, a 400 ft deep canyon, and an oasis covering at least 10 acres featuring grass, flowers, and even a very stunted tree. There was evidence of an arctic fox den in the vicinity and we saw tracks of very large animals. There may have been tracks of two different species. One looked like it might be caribou, except that it was a solitary animal, not a herd. The other looked like bear tracks, except that at 6 inches in diameter they seem a bit small for a polar bear, but too big for anything else. The First 5 hours of the EVA was thus productive and delightful. However on the way back through the crater, my ATV was stopped when it broke through a thin layer of dry surface dirt covering subsurface mud. I jumped off and pulled the vehicle out before it stuck hard, but Nell, who was following me, slowed down and her ATV stopped. She did not get off in time, and her vehicle got trapped deep in the mud. She and I tried to push it out but were unsuccessful, and got our feet deeply caught in mud as well. We managed to free ourselves, and then tried to tow the vehicle out with one ATV. This proved insufficient, and in fact the towing vehicle got partly stuck. So K. Mark and Frank went back to the hab to get more rope. Using this we were able to free the first towing ATV. Then using them to pull together, with Frank pushing and gunning the engine from the side of the vehicle, we hauled out the stuck ATV. The activity was strenuous, and Nell and I both broke sim to remove our helmets and backpacks to allow us to work. In the heat of the fray, Nell's spacesuit dome was smashed and some of the fittings on my backpack helmet connection hose were destroyed. This was this year's crew first serious encounter with Devon Island mud, and it was a sobering experience. While the episode was stressful, we worked well together to save the situation. Crewmembers now have a better idea of how to deal with mud, and I believe, a better sense of themselves as a team who can count on each other in a tight spot. In difficult human endeavours, morale is everything. Emerging successful from our trial by mud, crew morale is now sky high. I can't say that I would have planned today's events, but I don't regret them. A few pieces of broken and muddy equipment are a small price to pay for the way the crew is feeling tonight.
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