Because of the crazy schedule for the field tests, things started happening out of order these last few days. The Segment Two Lith Canyon EVA was cancelled and we moved on to Segment Three. There had been no time for the crew to review our feedback from the last EVA. Then, while the crew videotaped a planning meeting for this EVA, they weren't able to download it prior to the EVA, so we got the data, over one hundred images, voice notes,, associations, samples and alerts, without the benefit of knowing exactly what the crew's EVA plan was. The data rolled in all afternoon yesterday. It was exciting and daunting at the same time, and a little overwhelming to work through.

I think we all felt that way. There were some great images, and happily for us, a number of associations. I put out an email suggesting we all just work on a part of it, since at that time, I didn't know the planning meeting had been videotaped. It was pretty late when Maarten sent notice of the meeting replay, and because of a slow downloading speed, it wasn't going to be available until 4 am in the UK. I sent out another email to the RST, suggesting that since we had so many data, perhaps it would be best to focus on the meeting replay instead. I've always said that one of the most important character traits for a crewmember at MDRS is flexibility. That holds true for RST members, too!

Kevin had the meeting replay ready at a little after 4 am. No time for voice nodes, but at least we could get an idea of what the crew had planned. I watched it until the start of our SOWG Meeting at 5 am. The crew were much more relaxed than in the last Meeting Replay. Actually, the differences were rather funny. Before, no one had interrupted the meeting. This time people walked though the upper deck at random. Brent and Abby had the giggles. The familiar sound of the water pump going on and off was background music. Clearly the crew had settled into life at the Hab.

In the meeting replay, Maarten, Brent and Abby outlined their plans for Segment 3. It would have been extremely beneficial if we had had the meeting replay before making our preliminary analyses. It would have been beneficial had the crew had the time to review our feedback from the last EVA, too, because in the meeting they wondered how valuable the worksite associations were to us, when we had already told them how wonderful we thought they were. It was particularly rewarding to see how the crew considered the RST in the creation of their plan.

We generally agreed that there had not been enough time to make sense of the data, although both Stacy and Melissa had preliminary analyses, or to watch the entire meeting replay. So our discussion turned into a sort of debrief of the past two weeks, and we focused on suggestions and plans for next season. The highlights were the suggestions that the agents be programmed to give the crew a warning if they do not associate data with a worksite, that the RST define a methodology for organizing data based on mission hypotheses, and that the RST have a simulated field test, using the Segment Two data, prior to the next rotation at MDRS, where we could create a time schedule that would allow the RST/crew communications to run at optimal.

It has been an extremely rewarding two weeks. Maarten, Brent and Abby sent us an email that made us all very proud of what we had accomplished. And as I told Simon, Al, Melissa, and Stacy, if I had to get up at 5 am, I'm glad it was with them! The first field-testing of a Remote Science Team for Mobile Agents was a success. I'm looking forward to the future challenges that await us, first here on Earth and then, finally, on Mars.

Until then...