We initiated EVA exploration operations today. The team was all first timers – Heather Jennifer, and Troy. They did a great job, and filed an excellent report. With their permission, it is reproduced below. It conveys an excellent idea of the things we do on our EVA excursions.

Back at the hab, however, the day was hardly uneventful. We had a wind storm. While our weather station was unfortunately not yet operational, a conservative estimate was that it was blowing at least 60 knots. Part of the dome of the hab almost broke free and the greenhouse tried to take off for Kansas, and Frank, Steve, and I had to break sim to deal with it. The aim of the roof-mounted satellite dish was also disrupted, causing us to lose internet communication capability until evening. The most violent part of the storm was fairly brief, so that after the chaos subsided we resumed contact with the EVA team using our local repeaters. Frequently, however, the background noise caused by the wind blowing around their helmets made them difficult to understand and made it hard for them to hear us. When we would get their reports, we would repeat the essence of it, twice, and then ask “Is that correct. Please respond affirmative, affirmative, affirmative or negative, negative, negative.” That’s what it took to distinguish between yes and no.

There are sometimes very high winds on Mars. Because the atmosphere is only 1% as dense as that of the Earth, however, a 100 miles an hour gale on Mars only packs as much force as a 10 mile per hour breeze on Earth. So astronauts won’t have to deal with flying greenhouses. But the storm will still make plenty of noise. So today was an interesting test.

Anyway here’s the EVA team’s report. My favorite part is the delightfully understated two-line section that reads; “Weather conditions today were generally favorable. High winds were encountered which made operations more challenging.”

It must have been a blast.