FMARS Sponsors	Dispatch from FMARS Robert Zubrin - Sunday, July 14, 2002 EVA-3 Report | Science Reports | Photo Gallery EVA crew members R. Zubrin, Markus Landgraf, Frank Eckardt, and Nell Beedle confering about their route in the highlands above Cornell Lake. We had a successful 4 hour motorized EVA today. It was led by me and included Frank, Nell and Markus. The purpose of the EVA was to find good sampling locations for Markus' MASSE life detection experiment. This requires obtaining rock that is "in situ," to wit not broken away from the large rock formations that are its origin. We went first to the rim of Devo Rock canyon. This was unsatisfactory, so we descended into the canyon and were able to verify through test sampling that we could get adequate samples from Devo Rock itself. While in that area, we also found interesting fossils, including fossils of algal mats, and various coral precursor organisms. Details on this will follow in the geology report. We then traveled to Marine Rock, and Markus verified that satisfactory samples could be obtained from there as well. These two locations provide a satisfactory minimum baseline for Markus' program. The EVA went much better than yesterday's. We had no stalling of ATV's while in motion and only one incident of delay due to starting problems. We have no convincing explanation for the improved ATV performance today. Possible theories include that there was water in the tanks yesterday but we burned through it, or that the wetter air yesterday got water into the intakes along with the air, but this did not occur today since it was drier. Other minor problems with the spacesuit helmets that we encountered yesterday were corrected and did not repeat. While we were in the field, Shannon made significant progress with her biology program. Details are in her biology report. The weather is cold and partially sunny. Our understanding, however is that Resolute is socked in, preventing plane flights in or out. This is not a problem for us right now. We have three 55 gallon barrels of diesel fuel on hand and have been using it at a rate of 12 gallons per day The water heater is broken. It was apparently plumbed in backwards originally. This probably created a condition where it was run naked of water, and that burned it out. There is a replacement heater element in the hab, but it is not for our unit. Consequently we have resorted to making hot water on the kitchen hot plates, and bringing it downstairs to the sponge bath room by hand. It's not elegant, but it works. The crew watching the movie Galaxy Quest. Last night was Saturday night, and since our work was done by around 9, the crew decided to get together and kick back and watch a movie, courtesy of the DVD player on Emily's computer. Flashline Station has a fair movie library, since the rule here is that anyone who comes must bring two books, two music CDs, and two DVD movies and donate them to the station. The choice of the crew was for comedy (a preference I have observed to be nearly invariable among previous Arctic and Desert Station crews), so we chose "Galaxy Quest" and enjoyed it mightily. Emily wrote an article for a British newspaper (The Daily Record) and answered questions from the Adler Planetarium. She did not get the questions until 2:20 PM, and so was not able to answer until 2:45 PM. Was she too late?
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