Sol 2 – Anywhere is walking distance if you’ve got the time
Before departing MDRS for a day of botanical sampling, crew 210 spent the morning working on social media outreach and (importantly), fueling up on coffee. While team members emptied the hab car water tank (filled last night in Hanksville), other crew members continued to repair the hab tunnels. The full team (five humans and two space dogs) left the station at 11:30.
After refueling the hab car in Hanksville, we drove to the Factory Butte access road and sampled plants and lichens at the Valley of the Stars and at Salt Creek. We returned to Cow Dung Road and went to continue our plant sampling outside of the Burpee Dinosaur Quarry
When we went to return to MDRS the hab car did not initially start, so Mike Irvine and myself hiked back to the hab from the quarry to retrieve the crew car. However, just as we returned to the hab we heard from the rest of the team over the radio that they were able to restart the car and they made their way back to MDRS.
Tomorrow the team will travel to Loa in the morning to retrieve parts for the ATVs, and plan on sampling around the hab (time-permitting) in the afternoon.