Today we executed a long (for us) distance EVA to gather geologic and biologic samples. Jody and April started suiting up at 09:45. Because this EVA required extra equipment, the process took a little longer than usual. The EVA team departed at 10:36, heading north along Cow Dung Road. April's headset failed early on, not allowing her to transmit, but she could still receive. Switching to a spare radio showed that the fault lay in the headset.

Jody planned to make three stops at possibly interesting sites that he had picked from aerial photos and topo maps. The end of the EVA route took them to an overlook of the Muddy Creek, for a round trip of about 16 km.

Periodic radio contact was performed in order to assess the quality of communications We found that even at the far end of the route, 8 km away, the quality was good.

One of the objectives of this EVA was to get some biological samples. The EVA team quickly learned that the gloves made this task very difficult. It was obvious that specially configured sample collecting tools would be needed to obtain good samples. Normal tools, such as cotton swabs, were too difficult to handle with the cumbersome gloves.

Both of the EVA team reported that being on the ATV in the suits was quite pleasant, even though the temperature at the time was around 18 degrees C. They only drawback was that the helmets greatly restricted visibility, something we all expected.

Jody reported that during the EVA he saw many other interesting sites that would require extensive investigation. Time permitting, we will plan to visit as many sites as possible during our stay.

The EVA teams returned back to the Hab at 13:45, de-suited, and we all ate lunch while they described their trip. A formal debriefing took place after the dishes were cleared.

While Jody and April were out, Kim, Derek, and Tim began trying the astronomical tools available at the Hab. They installed the Skypipe software and made the connections to the Jove Radio Telescope, which was simply a pair of copper wire of a certain length, connected to a laptop by coaxial cable. They found that there was a lot of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the various pumps and fans around the Hab.

They also tried to set up the MUSK observatory, an optical telescope made by Celestron and enclosed in a small white dome on a ridge above the Hab. Unfortunately the computer was inoperable, so that project will have to wait until repairs can be make.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History will host a Mars Discovery Day, and they have invited Crew15 to participate by webcam and Instant Relay Chat (IRC). The Hab will be live from about 8:00 to 14:00 MST.