Outreach events with the Earth and the last exploratory EVAs on the Moon surface.
And here we are, with the latest updates from the EMMIHS 2023 Hana Hou mission! Our brave astronauts were busy today with two more exploratory EVAs on lunar soil. Today, the crew was very busy: the astronauts not only had to deal with daily activities inside the base and extravehicular operations, but they were also engaged in communication events with the terrestrial public. In fact, during the course of the morning, the crew was starring in two live connections with the Earth.
The first event took place at 8:30 a.m. local Hawaiian time. The connection had been organized by the crew, in collaboration with several partner institutions, including colleagues from Lunex EuroMoonMars, the IPSA engineering school, friends and collaborators from the EuroSpaceHub consortium. The event was streamed live on Youtube, on the official EuroMoonMars channel. The streaming was a unique chance to connect two lunar bases with Earth: the EMMIHS 2023 crew, connected from the HI-SEAS base, and the EMMPOL 15 crew, connected from the lunar habitat of the Analog Astronaut Training Center, in Poland. The event was an interesting opportunity for interaction, during which the ground audience asked the astronauts questions about life on analog missions. Several IPSA students were connected to the event were curious to know more about the crew, being inspired by the mission experience. If you are curious to watch the live event again, check it out here!
Later in the morning, the crew was also involved in a second educational outreach with the public, in particular with the University of Hawaii, UH, with a number of engineering students connected. During the event, the astronauts took the audience on a full tour of the lunar base, responded to their curiosities, and showed an experiment that has kept the crew busy over the past few days, designed by Mission Commander Henk Rogers.
Between the two events, the crew also got to practice an EVA near the habitat, around a cavity that was funnily named “The Mordor,” as a tribute to Lord of the Rings. The cavity is a very deep pit that the astronauts were curious to explore. During today’s extravehicular activity, the Commander led the rest of the crew close to “Mordor” to replicate a test carried out yesterday, but with a few adjustments. In fact, during the previous day the crew had lowered a camera into the depth, while this time they wanted to repeat the test with some improvements to the unwinding system and with a different camera mounted on the descent device.
After an international lunch, this time consisting of Italian spaghetti, the crew practiced another EVA, which was longer than the previous one. During the afternoon EVA, the astronauts ventured to the lunar surface reaching what they named Skylight 1. The path to reach the designated destination was a difficult one: in fact, the astronauts had to study the best route, on the surface, to reach the target location, while minimizing the paths through the most difficult lava to cross. In fact, during EVAs, astronauts often find themselves traversing different types of lava and they constantly search for pāhoehoe lava, which is easier to traverse due to its homogeneous texture.
The day for the crew ended with the usual debriefing, reporting activities and individual work. The astronauts are sorry to leave the Moon tomorrow, but at the same time they are also happy to return to their beloved Planet Earth!
THE EMMIHS 2023 CAMPAIGN IS ORGANIZED AS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL MOONBASE ALLIANCE (IN ITS HI-SEAS HABITAT) AND LUNEX EUROMOONMARS, WITH SUPPORT OF EUROSPACEHUB ACADEMY.
EUROSPACEHUB IS FOUNDED BY VILNIUSTECH, INTERNATIONAL SPACE UNIVERSITY, COMPLUTENSE UNIVERSITY OF MADRID, COLLABWITH, LUNEX FOUNDATIONS AND FUNDED BY THE EIT HEI INITIATIVE LEAD BY EIT MANUFACTURING & EIT RAW MATERIALS.