NASA Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition Field Report: Roving – 15 August 2006
Tuesday
Today was a massive day for the rover team. I stayed on Lance running samples, but most of the AMASE crew was onshore until 1am. The cliff-bot fought its way over a difficult steep cliff, a twisted wheel, empty batteries and collected a sample which it handed off to Jake in the astronaut suit.
Jake had spent most of the day in the suit, studying his ability to work as a field geologist and biologist in a Mars-like environment. These kinds of studies will be increasingly important as NASA prepares to send humans back to the moon and onto Mars. The suits required for astronaut safety in these environments have undergone serious improvement since Apollo days, but are still bulking and hard to move naturally in. Jake has been working on ways to improve his ability to function as a field scientist while in the suit. As an aside, Jake also has an entertaining blog about the AMASE06 expedition that is posted on the Planetary Society’s website and is definitely worth reading.
Kirsten Fristad
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
About Kirsten Fristad in her own words…
My name is Kirsten Fristad. I am a budding planetary scientist working in the highly talented Sample Analysis of Mars (SAM) Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. I graduated from Macalester College in 2005 with a major in geology and core in astronomy knowing I wanted to pursue a research career in planetary science. Through summer internships with several planetary scientists, I developed a background in analyzing martian and lunar planetary remote sensing data and Mars analog field work in Alaska. Since starting at Goddard in May, I have been organizing the Goddard/SAM Team contribution to AMASE 2006. I will continue working in the SAM lab until fall 2007 when I will commence graduate studies in a yet to be decided location to pursue a PhD in planetary science.
Before starting at Goddard in May 2006, I worked and traveled around Australia, coached high school hurdlers, and pondered the mysteries of the universe. Aside from pondering, I love to laugh, dance, listen to music from the ’80s, and travel to remote locations. I’m really hoping I can make a career of this expedition thing.
