Day Three of MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing - “The Kissing Camels”

Day Three of MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing - “The Kissing Camels”
Report by Annie Wargetz

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Today was a very productive day for both the MDRS crew and the crew from the UND Human Spaceflight Laboratory. The crews trekked out to a spot named “The Kissing Camels” by a former MDRS crew. The spot lies between two large boulder deposits.
Throughout the day, three MDRS Crew #112 members ran through 9 and 10 point transects. Each crew member ran through a 9 point transect to collect baseline data both geologically and for biomedical reasons.
Then, after donning the NDX-1 space suit, they ran through a different 10 point transect. Each member had their own transect once the suit was on. At each point, approximately 10 pieces of data were collected using different measuring tools, such as rulers and a smartphone that measured strike and depth.
While in the space suit, the geological tasks were only minimally more difficult, and it was reported that field of vision was reduced and hand mobility was reduced, as expected.
After completing the transects with all three members, both crews returned to the MDRS habitat where the space suit was donned by UND graduate student Timothy Holland for additional mobility testing on the hills surrounding the habitat.