Crew members: Commander April Andreas, Engineer Jonathan Beechner, and Executive Officer Clark Overman
Locations:
12 N 518172 4250624 (sand dunes)
12 N 518832 4251144 (mass wasting)
12 N 518911 4251602 (desert pavement)
12 N 518535 4253343 (hoodoo)
12 N 518158 4253775 (creek bed)
12 N 517738 4254864 (gypsum fields)
ATV: 1 – 2 – 3
Time: 11:30 am depart – 02:00 pm return
Purpose: Orientation EVA. Teach students about sample collecting, navigation, and communication. Also identify major landmarks to get bearings and provide some geological background about the area.
Summary:
We started the EVA a little late since the hand-off and orientation took a bit longer than expected. We tried bringing the ham radio extended antenna on the EVA, but it didn’t seem to improve communication. We went to locations to specifically look at ancient sand dunes, mass wasting, desert pavement, a hoodoo, an active creek bed, and gypsum fields. We were very excited to see one or two fossilized bivalves in the creek bed, and were overwhelmed by the sheer number of those same fossils at the gypsum fields.