| | |  | Charles Cockell and Vladimir install dosimeters under gravel rocks | |
Day 7 – Saturday 14 July
16 July 2001
Last night, after a quiet day due to bad weather, we had a social evening. First we had a meeting regarding safety and health issues associated with the toilet which is still causing problems and a number of measures were decided upon.
After, we relaxed and enjoyed the film "Vertical limit" on DVD. It was projected on the wall and it was strange somehow to watch it when it was daylight even though it was close to midnight. I brought with me a box of Belgian chocolates and this was an excellent occasion to demonstrate how good they are and that they can be appreciated watching a good movie even in the arctic.
Today was again a busy day. This morning we conducted our third Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). Although initially planned to start at 9:30 it was delayed by nearly two hours due to power problems in the Habitat and a shortage of portable radios for the EVAs.
| | Vladimir helping Bill Clancy to don his EVA suit | |
This was a motorised four person EVA. Biologist Charles Cockell was the EVA Commander and Bill Clancey, Katy Quinn and myself were the other crewmembers. We used four ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles) and were accompanied by Joe Amaralik, the Inuit bear hunter and his shotgun, in case we encountered some local wildlife.
The goal of this EVA was to deploy some cosmic radiation dosimeters and to collect microbial samples from inside the Haughton crater. We ventured inside the crater thinking that we would be blocked by mud at some point but luckily we reached our destination, Trinity Lake near Breccia Hill, without having to leave our ATVs.
The dosimeter deployment was successful. Some were installed under several centimetres of gravel, some on the surface, some near the lake and some in the lake. It is important to be able to measure properly the radiation exposure on Mars as Mars, unlike Earth, does not have a magnetic field to deflect energetic cosmic radiation. In addition, as Devon Island is only 200 km away from the north magnetic pole, it is interesting to measure the cosmic radiation intensity reaching the surface of the Earth close to the pole.
| | Katy Quinn and Vladimir shake hands before going on an EVA | |
p>The other goal of the EVA was to collect a series of microbial samples living in rocks and in lakes to analyse once back in the Habitat. On our way back, we took advantage of the EVA expedition to reconnoitre the terrain for our second deployment of the geophone flute. We visited four sites: three in the crater, the first close to Trinity lake, the second at the bottom of a small valley at the intersection of two small rivers, the third on the inside rim of the crater and the fourth on the crater’s external rim.
We could not decide on any of them for the moment and we are evaluating other options. Another consideration is the weather, which as you already know is an important factor in the arctic. Today’s weather was extremely windy, with southerly winds of 60 km/h and a temperature in protected areas of 4°C.
The weather forecast looks better for Monday than for tomorrow and as the geophone deployment in EVA suits is quite tiring, we may decide to carry out this EVA on Monday. This would leave tomorrow free to conduct another exploratory EVA. We would like to carry out the geophysical sounding of a pingo, that is a mass of water ice in the ground. But we are not yet sure if there are any at a reachable distance with an ATV so we are still debating the issue.
This evening we have been promised a shower, yahoo! It will be the first since I left Resolute a week ago and it is about time. Also, if all our reports are completed in time, we will watch another video this evening.
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