Sol: 7
Summary Title: The Stars Are Calling…
Author’s Name: Jin Sia, HSO
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary:
Inga prepared a breakfast of oats and fruit this morning. At 0900, Jin
and Inga departed on the EVA of the day, which covered extensive
objectives and spatial area. They tested two prospective EVA paths to
ascend the delta escarpment south of Kissing Camel Ridge West and
conducted an interview about field exploration with the escarpment as
a stunning background. Jin surveyed radio reception quality south of
Robert’s Rock Garden, then the team conducted a similar survey over a
nearly 4-kilometre stretch of Cow Dung Road, learning valuable
insights about the value of viewshed analysis for communications. Inga
also helped Jin practice his Russian with words relevant to driving,
like "поехали", "хорошо", and "давай".
In the afternoon, Dave conducted a fascinating post-lunch
show-and-tell about the history of electronics. He showed samples of
punch-cards for computers, toroid magnetic memory (like that used on
the Apollo spacecraft), integrated circuit designs he made, and old
models of floppy disks. Later, he led a discussion on what Martian
society could be like. He started the discussion with the prompt:
"Food production will be done by specially trained personnel and run
by a single organization answering to a citizen committee." The crew
launched on multiple tangents delving into topics like sociology, the
nuclear family structure, astrodynamics, and gender inequality. The
crew learned a lot from each other and look forward to the next
session.
Finally, in the evening, Lindsay, Jin, and Inga started putting
together a Martian pizza. It’s currently in the making as this report
is being written and we can’t wait to try it.
On Sol 7, the crew pushed the boundaries of exploration and of the
imagination in pursuit of the goal of Mars. The stars are calling, and
we must go.
Look Ahead Plan: Lindsay will lead a second EVA to the Jotunheim
formation tomorrow to collect more samples. She will be accompanied by
Dave, who will continue Jin’s work in geographical data collection.
Anomalies in work: Some of the radio batteries are old and are causing
issues during EVA operations. Three radios failed during EVA #5 for
this reason. Dave Laude is conducting a systematic investigation.
Weather: Warm (low 80s F) and sunny.
Crew Physical Status: All crew nominal.
EVA: EVA #5
Reports to be filed: Photo report, journalist report, science report,
operations report, GreenHab report, EVA #5 report, EVA #6 request.
Support requested: None.
END