FMARS Sponsors	Dispatch from FMARS Robert Zubrin - Tuesday, July 23, 2002 EVA-13 Report | Photo Gallery Dmitri films the crew leaving the hab. With our baseline science program already accomplished, the plan for today was a long distance scouting EVA, aiming to go twice as far as ever before and reach the sea. The EVA team included Markus and me operating in simulation mode, accompanied by Frank and K. Mark operating out of sim, and Dmitri, from Russian National Television with his camera. The reason why we traveled with two out-of-sim crew members as escorts was because of the long distance (16 kilometers each way, over rough ground) of the trip, and because of the greatly increased danger of polar bears near the coast. Irina, the producer for the Russian TV crew, wanted to come along too, proposing to ride double on Dmitri's ATV, (we only have five), but after consulting with K. Mark and Frank, I ruled that out as too dangerous. Irina was rather upset with decision, emphasizing that she was a veteran of dangerous reporting in Chechnya, and could handle rough adventures. But I stuck to my guns, and subsequent events made me glad that I did. This trip started out well enough, with the five of us traveling in good weather over familiar terrain to reach Repeater Hill, 6.5 kilometers north of the station and almost 1000 ft above sea level. We set up the radio repeater on top of the hill, and then went down its back side to follow a streambed that we hoped would lead us to the sea. The merit of following the stream bed river valley is that on Devon Island the higher ground is usually covered by the larger boulders that are hard to drive over on ATVs, while the lower ground is filled with the more trafficable pebbles and cobbles that have been eroded off to fall downhill. Our plan worked for a while, and the stream bed took us to a large lake, which unlike most of the little muddy ponds that pretend to the title of "lake" on Devon Island, was filled with a large blue expanse of crystal clear water. So we named it Crystal Lake. On the far side of Crystal Lake, the river broadened, allowing us to follow it for some distance further. But then the banks started to rise to form small cliffs around first one side then both sides of the river, and as the stream was now too deep to drive in, we were forced to leave the low ground and ride high above its banks along ridges that were strewn with large sharp boulders and cut crosswise by trenches. The traveling got worse and worse, and on reaching the top of one such ridge about 10 km north of the hab, Frank asked that we call a halt for consultation. The ground was almost impassable, and likely to get worse, he said, because we still had another 450 ft to descend over the remaining 5 km between us and the sea. Looking down at the stream, it offered no alternative, as it was now narrow, deep, and filled with large boulders, sharp drops, and small rapids. We contacted the hab by repeater, and they informed us that a storm appeared to be moving in, a fact that soon became apparent at our own location as a strong wind picked up and the sky quickly transformed from blue to overcast. K. Mark had driven about 200 m ahead of the rest of us, and was urging us forward, since the view was great from his vantage point and the ground seemed to be getting somewhat better. Crossing rough ground. I considered the options. If bad weather had not been in the offing, I would have tried to push on, but when you are on EVA, rain is a threat. The raindrops landing on your helmet faceplate fragment your vision, and make it impossible to pick out the safest route to drive over the boulders. So I ordered an abort. It was good that I did. When K. Mark came driving back to our position, the steering control linkage for his front right ATV wheel snapped. There was nothing we could do to fix this, but fortunately the vehicle remained semi-drivable, as the broken wheel just kind of flopped around and, most of the time, liberally allowed the good wheel to determine the craft's direction. Then as we started to head back, it began to rain. The view through my helmet deteriorated in no time, and coming down from the boulder-covered ridge, my left wheels went over a depression and my ATV flipped over sideways, throwing me off in the process. So then I was on the ground, with the ATV pitched up a bit more than 90 degrees on its side, threatening to topple over on to me while I tried to hold it back with my right leg. I had been traveling fourth in line at this point, and K. Mark, Frank, and Markus were all ahead of me where they could not see what was going on. However Dmitri was behind me, and he grabbed the ATV and held it back while I scrambled free. Sometimes having the right kind of press coverage can save your life. The rest of the drive home was not fun, but at least it was comparatively uneventful. When we got back to the station, we had a debriefing. It is now apparent that the most risky position when we are traveling single file on our ATVs is the last in line, because if you are last, no one is watching you. We have accordingly decided to implement a new procedure whereby, whenever we attempt anything difficult or dangerous, we will do it one at a time with all who succeed stopping to look back at the rest until all are across. Live and learn. Learn and live. It's raining hard now, but hopefully it will clear enough to allow what may be our last EVA tomorrow. On Thursday we will begin packing for our pullout.
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