Status Report

FMARS Crew Status Report #1 – 7 July 2001 – 10:00 PM MDT

By SpaceRef Editor
July 7, 2001
Filed under , ,

Status: Pre-Simulation Setup

Crew:


Commander: Dr. Pascal Lee
Medical Officer: Rainer Effenhauser M.D.
Geologist: Darlene Lim
Biologist: Dr. Charlie Cockell
Engineer: Frank Schubert
Engineer: Dr. Stephen Braham
Filmmaker: Sam Burbank

Reporting: Dr. Pascal Lee

Six of us entered the hab yesterday evening. Stephen finally landed at Haughton today.


The rest of the day was spent with:

  • Frank finishing/fixing plumbing in the hab and coordinating the major
    hab cleanup effort (almost complete now: we’ll still need to dedicate
    tomorrow morning to that)

  • Stephen setting up shop in the hab and unpacking all his gear. His comms
    won’t come on line until Monday at the earliest.

  • Pascal hosting the surprise visit of a delegation of two head officials
    from the Nunavut Research Institute, the research licensing agency
    authorizing our research on Devon Island. The representatives arrived on
    the plane that flew Steve in.

  • Pascal and Rainer having to deal with a medical emergency and evacuation
    of one of the Inuit youths hired for the summer following an ATV accident
    this afternoon. Luckily nothing serious in the end but Rainer did leave for
    Resolute Bay by Twin Otter to take the boy to the clinic and flew back to
    Devon only late tonight, landing at camp at 3am on 010708.


    In short, we are still catching up on the heavy delays imposed mainly
    by the unseasonably late departure of snow this year, by some aspects of
    the hab build out effort, by visits of officials, and by an accident.


    Tonight, we are finally all in the hab: it’s 3:45 am and Rainer just
    joined us. Spirits are high and we are eager to begin sim in earnest.
    We are planning to be in sim from now on, with some occasional necessary
    breaks, in particular to allow Steve to set up our overall comms
    infrastructure over the next few days.


    Plan for tomorrow, Sunday July 8:

  • 8am local: wake-up / breakfast
  • 9 – 11am: hab lower deck cleanup and water tank refill (with 5 gallon
    buckets hand-carried by support staff as the water pump is not online
    yet because of the risk of freezing.

  • 11am – 12pm: suit prep
  • 12 pm – 2 pm: hab local EVA (Frank Schubert and Sam Burbank) to outfit
    the outside of the hab with an escape ladder and connect a wastewater
    disposal system (drain pipe to a ground sump). Darlene will monitor the
    EVA from inside the hab. Meanwhile, Pascal, Charlie and Rainer will prepare
    for a late pm EVA.

  • 4 pm – 6 pm local: Pascal, Charlie, Rainer and Darlene perform an EVA on
    foot. Darlene will retrieve a meteorology package set up on Haynes Ridge
    in 2000 400 m southwest of the hab. Depending on how well things go,
    Pascal and Charlie may then elect to go on a short ATV-rover traverse into
    Haughton Crater to search for shocked basement rocks and possible
    endolithic microbial communities living within them. Rainer and Darlene
    will reenter the hab and remain on standby for EVA in case Pascal and
    Charlie need help. All crews will remain within walk back distance from the hab at all times. Oxygen reserves assumed to carried on each backpack is 3 hours, a relatively low value consistent with a spacesuit that needs to be kept relatively light in weight.

  • 7:30 pm dinner
  • 8:00 pm daily debrief
  • 8:30 – 10:00: report writing


    The next FMARS crew status report will be issued following crew report period on Sunday evening, or sooner as events warrant.

  • SpaceRef staff editor.