Elaine Walker's Personal Journal - HMP 2004 Education and Public Outreach July 28, 2004 Accompanying Photo's. Departing on the twin otter today were Cliff Leight (Mars Institute, Project Photographer/Carpenter), Gordon "Oz" Osinski (Geologist, Planetary Science Institute), Rhoda Akeeagok (high school student from Grise Fiord), Sekou Crawford (Stanford University/NASA Ames, Lead Test Engineer for Astrobionics), Mark Stevenson (CNN), and Frankie Parker (HMP camp cook). The HMP field season is already winding down. With the departure of our camp cook, other HMP participants are stepping up to the plate to help in the kitchen. Vicky Glass and JD Polk, MD, roasted a honey glazed ham and made a fine desert. Vicky has volunteered to manage the kitchen duties for the rest of her stay in addition to continuing to serve as our paramedic first aid officer. We feel we are in good hands because we know that Vicky, as a firefighter, can carry a 200 lb person out of a burning building in full gear. John Parnell (University of Aberdeen), geologist and geochemist, has been gathering ice samples from different locations to extract sand grains for chemical analysis. Camille Desportes de la Fosse (Institute of Science and Technology (IST), University of Paris) has gone along with him to lend a helping hand chopping ice. In Haughton Crater today, John found an interesting fossil stromatolite. It contains two generations of algae. One type of algae (the solid rock) is 450 million years old, and ther other algae (on the surface) is alive now. John also found tiny nematode worms in a stream near to the NASA HMP base camp, similar to the one we drink out of. I'm not a fan of worms in my diet, but these look pretty harmless. Today I find Keith Davidson (Simon Fraser University/Assistant to the HMP Chief Field Engineer) duct taping an antennae together. I'm thinking of putting together a "Duct Tape Series" of photos to show the ingenious uses of duct tape on Devon Island. I'm sure that duct tape will go to Mars. Keith also shows me the radio and directional antennae that we use to get our connection from a dish on Maynard Hill above camp. The Hamilton Sundstrand team plans to have an experienced geologist test out their Concept Spacesuit for Advanced Planetary Exploration, but today, David Rosenbush (Hamilton Sundstrand, software engineer) will be donning the suit in order to work out any bugs they may encounter before testing it with a geologist. Ron Sidgreaves (Hamilton Sundstrand) helps David into the suit and they work into the evening making improvements. The DAME drilling activity is going well at the new impact breccia site, and the vibrational diagnostics tests continue. By this evening, the drilling has gone 3 times further into frozen breccia than any previous breccia drilling here.