FMARS Sponsors	Dispatch from FMARS Robert Zubrin - Thursday, July 18, 2002 EVA-8 Report | Photo Gallery Planning the EVA. When we got up this morning, the weather was foggy with a light rain that would be more than sufficient to cloud any spacesuit simulator helmet, so initially I thought today's plans for a biology and MASSE program EVA had to be cancelled. However by 11 AM the rain had stopped, and while it was still overcast, I decided that it was worth the gamble to have a crew suit up. This decision worked out well, as the weather continued to improve, and the team was able to conduct a highly successful afternoon EVA. I was not on this trip, but after each of our EVAs, the EVA commander writes up a report. So I'll let the commander of this one, Markus Landgraf, speak for himself, (click on the EVA link above). While all this was going on, I was back at the hab trying to get our Stratos Inmarsat terminal to work. This system is out connection to the internet, and is our primary method of transmitting reports, photographs, and other data. It's also the only way anyone outside of Devon Island can email us. It worked well for our first week here, but started operating erratically about two days ago and failed completely yesterday. So if you've been emailing us and haven't gotten an answer, now you know the reason why. The system is pretty compact, about twice the size of a big laptop computer when it is all folded, and so it is readily transportable and thus attractive for field work. It is theoretically capable of transmitting at 64 kb/s, and occasionally actually achieves this level of performance. It's not cheap: the charge is $32 per megabyte transmitted or received, but the Stratos company helped make it affordable by sponsoring the loan of the equipment itself for free. The unit basically consists of three components: a fold out antenna, an electronics box with a programmable handset, and a 50 ohm cable connecting the two. The problem that we have is that the signal to noise ratio of the device has suddenly dropped by 20 decibels (a factor of 100) so it can no longer lock on the satellite. The antenna seems bulletproof, (and unfixable if it should be the cause of the problem), so I decided to concentrate my efforts on the programmable handset. I worked my way through all the menus and checked everything, with no positive results. Writing daily reports. Using our Iridium phone, which is our backup com system, I actually managed to reach a technical person at the Stratos help desk, but all he could do was walk me through the handset menus and get the same null results I had gotten before. He pointed out that at our current location we are outside of the region of guaranteed service by the Inmarsat system, and this statement is true. However the unit was working fine until two days ago. Thus it appears that the only possible fixable cause for our problem is the antenna cable, which indeed is a fairly delicate piece of hardware. I requested that he have a replacement cable Fed-Exed to Aziz Kheraj, the owner of the South Camp Inn in Resolute, who could then forward it to us by Twin Otter. The Stratos man said no, he couldn't do it, "the cable costs money." I asked "how much?" The answer came back; sixty dollars. I said he could add it to our bill, but he needs to discuss the problem with management to see if that is doable. So the jury is still out on Stratos. I'm very grateful to them for the free loan of the gear, but when you are on a desert island 900 miles from the North Pole, you really want a communication system that works. Hopefully Stratos management will understand this, and show us, and all the readers of these dispatches that they are prepared to go the distance to back up their product. In the mean time, we are filing our reports to the Mars Society Canada Mission Support center in Toronto by Iridium phone, and they are transcribing them for posting on the net. This communication system is voice-only, so the transmission of more photographs will have to wait for now. Will Stratos come through? I wish I knew. Stay tuned.
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