Field ReportsFMARS Crew Status Reports
- FMARS Crew Status Report #3 - 11 July 2001 - 10:00 PM MDT
- FMARS Crew Status Report #2 - 8 July 2001 - 10:00 PM MDT
- FMARS Crew Status Report #1 - 7 July 2001 - 10:00 PM MDT
August 14, 2001 - Haughton Crater
The blue skies gave way to a drizzly overcast under strong winds. The crew of Phase 6 in the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station has already settled into a routine.
August 8, 2001 - Haughton Crater
This afternoon our information systems field integration tests with the Hamilton-Sundstrand concept spacesuit were taken one step further.
August 7, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Today was a day of logistical preparations for upcoming higher fidelity EVA simulations. I spent part of the day at the HMP Base Camp with the newly arrived team from Hamilton-Sundstrand Space Systems International Inc., an aerospace firm currently under contract at NASA to develop and support life support systems for EVA on the Shuttle and ISS programs.
August 6, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Yesterday, we went on our phase's (Phase 5) first EVA. The target site was "Site 10", a location selected last week by the Science Operations team gathered at NASA Ames Research Center. They picked an interesting location, a banana-shaped pond the length of a football field with some intriguing little gullies on the side valley walls.
August 4, 2001 - Haughton Crater
For the fifth day in a row we are engulfed in thick fog.
July 31, 2001 - Haughton Crater
The day was devoted to executing a simulated EVA with a science agenda proposed by the Science Operations team at NASA Ames Research Center and with overall mission support from the Mission Support team in Denver.
July 29, 2001 - Haughton Crater
We had a packed great day!
The day started with a small planning meeting and a big Sunday brunch. Larry revealed to us his excellent culinary skills and is now our de facto chef.
July 28, 2001 - Haughton Crater
The Phase 4 crew entered the FMARS Hab this afternoon at 1 pm local time.
July 22, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Another great sunny day. Oz and Samson were off to the southern part of Haughton Crater for most of the day. In addition to carrying out geological surveys, their radio check-in calls (part of our field safety procedures) allowed us to test the performance of the HMP's new field safety radio system. Using a Kenwood TH-D7A(G) handheld 5-watt transceiver tuned to 144.200 MHz talking to an Icom satellite transceiver, they were heard loud and clear from over 13 km away.
July 21, 2001 - Haughton Crater
We had another beautiful sunny day. Dr Charlie Cockell and Dr Bill Clancey took off early on an ATV traverse to Lake Trinity and The Three Sisters (three massive fragments of an ejecta block perched on top of a hill in the western rim area of Haughton Crater).
July 20, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Today is July 20, 2001, the 25th anniversary of the Viking 1 landing on Mars and of course also the (32nd) anniversary of the Apollo 11 moonlanding. CNN carried a live webcast from the HMP Base Camp this morning featuring HMP Co-Investigator Dr. Peter Smith, planetary scientist at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Peter was the PI of the camera system that was deployed on the greatly successful Mars Pathfinder spacecraft which landed on Mars in the Ares Vallis region in July, 1997, not far from Chryse Planitia where Viking 1 had touched down.
July 13, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Today we had unrelenting rain at Haughton. Now that the Marines have brought up supplies for the NASA HMP, the next several days and Twin Otter flights from Resolute Bay to Devon Island will be dedicated to bringing all the cargo over to Base Camp.
July 12, 2001 - Haughton Crater
The event of the day was the US Marine Corps paradrop operation. Three paradrops took place this afternoon over Von Braun Planitia, a rolling plain located just outside Haughton, northwest of the crater. In spite of adverse weather and reduced visibility (it was windy, foggy, drizzly, and the ceiling was marginal at no more than 700 ft), the paradrops were a complete success. The view from Base Camp was simply spectacular.
July 9, 2001 - Haughton Crater
We had a great busy day, with hab upkeep and improvement activities, and two simulated EVAs.
The hab itself is currently safe and comfortable enough to live in, but it will continue to require work and finishing touches for some time. Steve is still very busy setting up our comms and IT research and support systems and has been allowed the flexibility to break from sim as required.
July 8, 2001 - Haughton Crater
I am now in the FMARS hab, with six other crew mates, living a rather unique experience. We've just begun, with obvious limitations but also a sense of promise, a field simulation of a human exploration mission on Mars.
July 6, 2001 - Haughton Crater
Conditions in the field remain "unseasonably" cold and wet, but the NASA HMP Base Camp is now set up and the Mars Society FMARS interior buildout is essentially completed.
July 2, 2001 - Resolute
We are still in Resolute Bay tonight. Still waiting for conditions to improve for our first deployment to Devon Island.
July 1, 2001 - Resolute
Rain and fog in Resolute Bay, and still no way to fly in to Haughton Crater yet. A First Air Twin Otter returning to Resolute Bay from the Noranda Camp on Grinnell Peninsula in northern Devon Island took the long way home this morning and flew over our airstrip. Snow cover is down to 15% but there are now large puddles of meltwater. It's still too risky to land by airplane at Haughton and there seems to be no dry ground in sight.
June 30, 2001 - Resolute
The events of our day were the arrivals in Resolute Bay of Dr. Louis D. Friedman, Executive Director of the Planetary Society, and of HMP veteran Darlene Lim, graduate student in geobiology from the University of Toronto.
June 29, 2001 - Resolute
The past few days have seen beautiful weather in Resolute Bay, with deep blue skies and almost uninterrupted sunshine. Winds have been slight. If only we were on Devon...
June 28, 2001 - Resolute
Snow conditions at Haughton Crater on Devon Island still do not allow a safe landing by Twin Otter. There is too much snow on the airstrip for a wheeled landing, too little for a landing on skis. The only way in at this time is by helicopter. There is no helicopter available in Resolute Bay right now, but the one chartered by the Noranda mineral exploration company will be arriving tomorrow and we've arranged to use it to fly a few team members to Haughton Crater at the earliest opportunity.