Commander Report
03/06/2014
Miyajima Hiroyuki
I got up at 5 am. I slept well last night.
We left MDRS at 10 am by ATVs and conducted our first long range EVA. We went to White Rock Reservoir in North Pinto Hills. The route was developed by the past crew. I recorded the path, distance, time, altitude, and walking speed using the EVA tracking system and analyzed the data compared to the past walking EVA.
This crew is my second rotation and this EVA is the 6th in this season. Last year, I was sometimes asked “Why do you attend the MDRS crew twice per year?” I will stay on Mars for a total of 4 weeks by the time this crew is finished. At first, although I didn’t have a specific reason, I have learned a lot by the operations.
The MDRS has 11 crew rotations operating there in one season. There were 8 weeks between Crew 132 that I was a part of, and Crew 137. I found that the handover between each crew is very important, but it is not as easy as we may think. It may be like the broken telephone game because the procedures for the operation changes and not all the procedures are always documented.
In addition, sometimes, I found differences regarding the Hab facility between 8 weeks ago and now, such as certain equipment emitting a different sound compared to before.
I will complete the report after Crew 137.