Phase Three got underway this evening with the informal change of command between Rocky and me. This phase differs radically from ExOne's first two phases not only in focus but also in function. The overall goal of phase III is "missions of opportunity", meaning research dependent on each of our individual goals. The schedule calls for an 8 a.m. meeting, detailed science surveys from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. (with lunch in there), dinner/supper/tea (we are an international crew) from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m., followed by an 8 p.m. planning meeting. The rest of the evening is spent on individual planning/ personal activities.

We will alter this schedule only if a project calls for it and no EVAs (except possibly recreational) will be scheduled after dark. Phase III will be different from Phases I and II in that whole crew pre-planning will be minimal. Several months ago, all of the phase three crew shared their goals for the phase, and that document will be used to plan our EVAs and daily activities. For example, Graham will be doing his comparative rover study on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we will have half of the crew participating.

Jon is interested in scouting sites out of sim to revisit in sim in phase IV. I am interested in doing fieldwork out of sim for one day so I will have a comparison to work done in sim. However, the crew will operate as much in sim as is possible for this larger crew of thirteen. Monday will be an out of sim day for all of us, then Tuesday morning we will begin in sim operations. I hope for a phase where we can accomplish much, while still enjoying each other and our unique experience.

Our sim priorities will differ from normal sim operations at MDRS, which are Safety first, then Sim, then Science, and finally Comfort. Because several of our studies, including a few cancelled EVAs from Phases One and Two, will require documentation for human factors and operational research, we have elected to run the sim priorities as Safety- Science- Sim- Comfort. This allows us to function as close to full sim as possible without sacrificing the focus of ExOne's overall mission.