Good.


Time Departed/Returned from EVA:

EVA #11: 10:16 / 11:00.

EVA #12: 12:18 / 13:22.

EVA #13: 14:22 / 16:21. Sandstorm Brief Narrative of Field Mission Results:

EVAs today consisted of measuring water gully slush flows, locating rock varnish, and operating the Sandstorm Rover.


EVA Data/Interpretations:

EVA #11: Two water gully slush flows located and elevation levels taken.

EVA #12: Two locations with rock varnish were located.

EVA #13: Tested travel distance capability of the rover.


Engineering/Hab Maintenance:

n/a

Report Transmission Schedule:

CMDR Check-in, ENGR, CMDR Report, Photos, 3 EVA Reports, 3 Science Reports


Plans for Tomorrow:

- Rest day
- Sleep in
- Breakfast
- Psychophysiological Experiment
- EVA Geocache
- Lunch
- EVA exploration
- Dinner
- Reports by 20:00
- Food Study Questionnaire
- Showers


Inventory:

n/a

Support Requested:

n/a

Miscellaneous:

DG took control panel from water heater to replace components.

Background information regarding the project abstract, purpose, goals, and specific experiment details and information are included in the Science Report from January 6.

___________________________________

The following data was collected yesterday (January 7):

MISSION SUPPORT NOTE: Spreadsheet of the Jan 7th data is here.

Each crewmember sat in the test area in my stateroom for 11 minutes (a 3 minute pre-exposure baseline, a 5 minute affective images and sounds exposure, and a 3-minute post exposure measurement). During this time, I measured the crewmember’s heart rate variability and skin conductance level in response to the digital images and sounds.

I also had each member complete a Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire after dinner.

We put fresh batteries in Sandstorm and then took her out to the same place yesterday where she stopped. We wanted to confirm if it was the range of the signal or dead batteries for the reason that she no longer responded. Once the XO and the rover finished pressurization in the airlock he hand carried her to the GPS location he logged yesterday as her stopping point. We still had connection to Sandstorm at that point and drove her a further 16 meters. The obvious issues with long range driving of the rover was video confirmation as the image on the laptop screen would freeze. All the software that drives the rover is created by our NorCal Mars Society team and one idea that came forward in today's test was to have a refresh button built into the rover software to refresh her camera to hopefully unfreeze transmission when operating. Reducing frames per second (fps) to her lowest setting didn't make any significant changes with video feed.

Another issue with wi-fi signal to connect with Sandstorm was line of site and the presence of hilly terrain. Sandstorm had a bit of trouble traversing deep snow and steeper mounds. We tried to keep her on as flat a surface as possible. She could however make it through small dips and bumps in the road with an increase of the throttle. Larger rocks would often impede her movement but the Marsonauts would aid her in maneuvering around it.

One example of better maneuvering technique with the aid of a Marsonaut was when the Crew Engineer was visible in her forward camera view. This way Sandstorm was able to follow in a relatively clear path. This was most helpful when Sandstorm experienced very rocky terrain and Crew Engineer Wong walked in front of Sandstorm to lead her through without incident This will be a future technique to use when taking her out on another remote exploration.

There was a change of batteries made during her nearly two hour EVA with the XO later joined by the Crew Engineer. Since Sandstorm's batteries only last an hour, we had to change them out for her to continue her tests. This was done with the use of the Hab's ATV pressurized garage. During the second half of her EVA, Sandstorm's router was moved outside the Hab to test her range. Sandstorm logged 128.74 meters with the router outside the Hab. Her batteries died prematurely and she was rendered temporarily inoperable. We made sure to determine that her batteries were dead by removing any other possible variables such as hilly terrain and distance. The XO brought her back into the router's line of sight and on flatter terrain where operation of her was still not possible.

We will start Sandstorm up again tomorrow and give her fresh batteries. So far so good on getting her started up and in motion. We have been quite successful with getting her going. We just wish she could go longer and that the signal strength was strong enough to deliver adequate video feed to confirm her placement and direction of movement. Using her in conjunction with Marsonauts proved helpful when we couldn't rely on her camera for confirmation of placement, direction, or terrain.

Tomorrow we will take her outside for a second test with the router outside and using fresh batteries. We will measure a second distance and see if we can beat the 128.74 meters she logged in this configuration. My hypothesis was that she would go for a longer distance with the router outside the Hab than inside. However, our two days of testing with the router inside proved that she can go a distance of at least 209.21 meters. Now we need to prove whether she gets more distance or not with the router outside the Hab.

In her near future we will continue tests with the use of her Gigapan camera and GPS logging systems.

-A cooking day? Yes
-Celebration foods? No

2) List the foods served at today's main meal
Pesto Pasta
Cheesy Beef Potatoes

3) List any main meal foods not finished by the crew
None

4) Recipes for anything more complicated than following package directions exactly, or rehydrating.

Cheesy Beef Potatoes

1. Rehydrate freeze dried beef burger crumbles
2. Make Au Gratin Potato Package
3. Combine

Pesto pasta

1. Cook pasta
2. Prepare instant pesto sauce and creamy pesto sauce together according to package directions
3. Combine

5) Comments/questions
None