Time: started 8:19 Friday, completed 9:51

Weather: low 15c (59F) high of 29.1c (84.4F), hot and dry (12% humidity) with mid-afternoon winds

Crew Physical Status: Very good, one person with minor scrapes.

Narrative of Field Mission Results: Today was another successful day. We began with a briefing at 9 am, joined by Carol Russo, special assistant to the NASA Ames Director, on detail to Johnson Space Center for the next year.

Preparing for the day's test required a number of steps, which would take most of the day:

1. To deal with the overloading of the ERA's computers, we would use the spare laptop for running the Brahms-ERA agent system, locating it in the truck at Lith. This computer would be virtually "on board," communicating wirelessly with ERA systems. Configuring the machine and relating it properly to the ERA might seem complicated, but the modularity of our systems made it relatively easy.
   
   
2. To handle the overheating of the astronaut computers, we would reconfigure the ventilation in the metal-enclosed backpacks, adding small fans right against the CPU area, with an additional opening on one of the backpacks. We would use a flow-through method, rather than just pushing or pulling the air. The metal cutting and electrical work required a good part of the day.
   
   
3. Once the first two steps were completed, we'd do a full-up start procedure in place at Lith, without intending to run the EVA. We would verify the sequence of starting we had identified yesterday (roughly: network, RIALIST, Mobile Agents, biosensors, and GPS). We've learned that the sequence of plugging in the headsets, sensors, and camera is crucial; unplugging after the system starts can cause odd behavior later.
   
   
4. We would examine the far point Cisco repeater (.5 km from our EVA site) and recharge the battery if necessary.
   
   
5. We'd replace the push-to-talk mechanism used by Brent.

I retired to my stateroom-office to write the previous day's report and process photographs. I also greeted a Spanish-speaking TV group from Salt Lake City and gave an orientation to Carol Russo. These activities filled my morning, then I turned to email, including responding to more than 20 fairly interesting questions from an Italian reporter.

The winds picked up at the canyon, requiring equipment to be moved into the truck and the canopy to be tied down even more securely. But the network backbone held with good throughput to the hab. We decided to go out about 4 PM after testing showed that the fans allowed the backpack computers to run cooler than those just sitting on tables in the open truck. Nathan had carried around the backpack doing speech tests with the ERA that showed all was in order.

What followed was our quickest start to date: We arrived at Lith at 4:40 PM, started the Mobile Agents system from 5-5:13 PM, changed to internal battery at 5:18 PM. By 5:30 PM Abby was fully outfitted and starting her sensor systems by voice command. The EVA then proceeded in its usual chaotic way, lasting nearly 1.5 hours.

Conditions were excellent for this EVA test-moderate to no wind, temperatures in low 80s, partly cloudy, beautiful late afternoon lighting. Of course not everything went according to plan.

The ERA had some GPS trouble and didn't ever reach a waypoint by voice command (though it came close on the last try, losing GPS during the operation). The robot was successfully teleoperated from the hab to provide video of the work in the canyon. The astronauts commanded the robot to take photos and a panorama from the ledge, looking down at them on the canyon floor. (However, one photo was a bit late, and Abby had already moved out of sight.)

For about an hour, the geologists went about their work of naming work locations, taking photographs and samples, and making voice notes. New commands like "Associate last voice note with last sample bag" and automatic naming of downloaded images as "collections" occurred properly. By using location names that begin "Work Site" (e.g., "work site 5"), the system automatically associated subsequent sample bags and voice notes with that location (so additional commands are no longer required). The data was properly stored in the ScienceOrganizer database in the hab (transferred automatically by Mobile Agents from the HabCom Brahms system) and copied by MySQL to the mirrored database on the MARST machine at NASA Ames.

Members of the RST received email of each filing in ScienceOrganizer, for example:

• New ImageFile: AstroTwoModel_IMAGE_FILE_18
• EVA Plan: LithCanyon_SegmentOneEva_Plan
• Activity: WalkToWayPoint6
  
• Creator: AstroTwo
• Object ID: AstroTwoModel_IMAGE_FILE_18
• TimeStamp: 05/07/2004 01:51:02
• File Name: DSC03026.JPG
• Latitude: 3827.1609 NORTH
• Longitude: 11047.507 WEST
• Northing: 4256063.456452287
• Easting: 518167.9314386884
• Zone: 12S
• ScienceOrganizer Link for RST: https:...
• ScienceOrganizer Link for Hab Crew: http://...

Notice how the EVA plan, activity (established by the astronaut during each phase of the EVA), astronaut name, exact location and time are stored. A link is provided to the actual data.

As a member of the hab crew, I received copies of each message, so I can quickly review the sequence of what occurred during the EVA from my mail folder. I see that Abby took 19 photos, used four sample bags, and made three voice notes. She named three work sites, spaced 20 and 16 minutes apart. An email even indicates the moment when her GPS signal was lost (as she stepped under an overhang at the lip of the canyon)-a milestone for this test, because her backpack computer remained on the network, with the ERA serving as a relay to the backbone. Various alerts about heart rate and Oxygen saturation were also sent, but it's not clear if these sensor readings were correct.

Although we were disappointed that the ERA couldn't be moved from side to side to keep the astronauts within camera view, this was actually an improvised addition to the scenario last week. We in fact met our objectives for this segment of establishing the ERA as a relay and using the Mobile Agents system to properly document the geology of an area.

In comparison, last year's test at Lith lasted only about 20 minutes and only proved that the basic data logging commands worked; only one image was actually received remotely. This year we used the system for over an hour in the canyon, used much more sophisticated naming and association automation, and all of the data was stored automatically in the hab and a remote database.

We have clearly turned the corner from just getting the system to work at all, to having a system that can actually be used and improved by observing how people use it.

We arrived back in the hab before 8 PM. We were treated to a pizza dinner by NREN, including the entire expedition team (with visitors from two communication network vendors). It was a fun and relaxing evening. Our celebration was tempered only by the absence of the support person who had set up the party, now hospitalized in Provo (though doing well).

The intensity and excitement of our work continued late into the evening, as we watched a "video file" on NASA TV after 11 PM. The 17 minute segment, edited by Victoria Steiner at NASA Ames, showed our work last week and included interviews by myself and Maarten. It was eerie for me to watch this video sitting in bed with my laptop on the wireless network. The others watched on the big screen in the main room.

With the draw on the network, the image was out of synch with our voices. And bizarrely, adding to the sense of relativity, my connection was about 20 seconds ahead of Maarten's, so I provided narration from my stateroom of what was coming next. Our experience was a hall of mirrors, of present and future echoing and twined together-just like our field tests, both physically real here and now, yet in our imaginations and videos, projecting the reality of people on Mars.

Plans for Tomorrow: Do Segment #3, in which the ERA follows the astronauts in the long run out of the canyon towards the east and north..

Report Transmission Schedule: GreenHab reports will continue.

Maintenance: LPG tank was resupplied at 6 AM, but we weren't notified until evening, so we stayed on diesel all day.

EVA Narrative/Data/Interpretations: Pending reports

Inventory: We have plenty of food.

Miscellaneous: Party talk: "We must be on Mars, there's two moons"