---

Excerpt April Childress' Log Book March 27, 2003

As always, I had quite a time putting some rock samples in a plastic zipper bag, especially with a large camera six inches from my gloved hand to add pressure. Jody commented that another problem is not being able to see well from inside the helmet. For one thing, inside the helmet, one is farther away from what needs to be seen. For another, it's hard to avoid glare when wearing a helmet, and it's hard to look down. So seeing rocks to take samples from, seeing to place one's feet when walking, seeing the GPS coordinates-all these are difficult when in EVA gear. Gloves are their own problem. If I want to get something out of a front pocket, I have several handicaps. First, I can't see the pocket, even though it's on my hip. Second, I can't feel to open the velcroed flap that keeps it closed. Third, I can't really get my gloved hand inside the pocket to grab what's there, and once I do manage all this, I can't easily manipulate the item, whether it be a pen or a camera.

Jody also mentioned that the suits themselves are restrictive-using a rock hammer is harder because the suit restricts arm movement. So is driving an ATV. Sometimes, our heads hit the inside of the helmets as we bounce over bumps. Also, there's no way to see behind when riding an ATV in an EVA suit, so we wear polished steel mirrors on armbands. But holding up an arm and looking at the reflection while driving an ATV through rough terrain is virtually impossible. Even when a rider stopped, however, it's virtually impossible to turn around far enough to see behind. So the front man in an ATV caravan has to rely on radio reports from his companions to know if they are back there.

So one might ask, why bother with the suits, since we're in Utah? Well, the fact that they limit us so much is the whole point. Our inconveniences are the technologist's problem to solve. The more people who understand just how hard it is to do the simplest tasks while wearing EVA suits, the more willing and able innovative folks will be to come up with solutions for future astronauts to the Red Planet. If we here in Mars/Utah find the circumstances in EVA suits difficult, inconvenient, or dangerous, well, we can take off the suits. But astronauts on Mars won't have that luxury. They will have to be able to perform all tasks outside their Hab within the limits put upon them. Finding out what problems need to be solved is a useful thing, as is putting potential solutions to the test in the field.

---

A note: One thing you get out of this is a need for larger pockets...right?--Chris