Science Report
11/13/2014
Dario Parastesh
Drone Science Report
Today I flew the drone at our waypoints during the EVA. I had no particular problems, so no crash this time. I improved a lot since last time. However, I have some problems yet with the following aspects:
- The gloves are the main problem. A different radiocontroller could help to deuce the lack of sensibility on the sticks.
- The batteries time is pretty low, as they have just 8 minutes of autonomy, so the time to record is very short. However, I have 3
packs of them.
- Today I was able to change the propellers and set a new one, but unfortunately I did not consider the specific correct location
for them on the drone, and initially I was not able to fly. Then, I got the correct positioning of them and fly the drone.
- The possibility to view the camera from the radiocontroller as a first person view help in understanding where the drone is if
you lose the visibility from the helmets.
- A drone with a more accurate and defined location (GPS location, altitude) is required in order to pilot a drone directly from the
HAB and explore the terrain around. This is not possible with the current used since the range of communication is limited to 100 m.
In general the experiment has had a great success since in many days the EVA can be limited to specific area sas long as signs of water or minerals can be recognized from thermocameras or adressed cameras.
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Science Report
11/13/2014
Christiane Heinicke
Sea Ice / Long duration EVA
The long EVA yesterday was intended to show if a long hike through rugged terrain ("to the coast" at FMARS) wearing suits is more exhausting than without suits. Instead of sea ice mock-up measurements I decided to do ground temperature measurements (see yesterday's permafrost report) which appeared to me to be of more value.
Except for the fogging issue, the suit had no effects on manoeuvrability. My helmet fogged up every time I walked up a hill, regardless of the duration of the EVA. The bulky backpack makes carrying the equipment a bit trickier, but not unfeasible.
For long walks it seems that - at least for me - the limiting factor is the extreme discomfort of the backpack holding the life support systems and the awkward positioning of the neck ring. Both are clearly not designed for females, nor for someone with my body dimensions. (No, I am not a dwarf...)
Conclusion: If I am going to FMARS, I will have to come up with a wearable backpack design for me, but apart from that I had no problem with the long duration EVA and was rather disappointed we could not finish the full 30km hike.
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Science Report
11/13/2014
Christiane Heinicke
Solar Cooker
Played around with the solar cooker inside the Greenhab for a bit. The experiment was compromised by the cloudy weather, however. When the sun did shine, temperatures rose at a rate of about one quarter of that achieved outside at the same time of day. But the sun did not shine long enough to go higher than 38 deg C.