Sol: 4
Summary Title: Habituation
Author’s name: Enkhtuvshin “Dono” Doyodkhuu
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: We are quickly adapting to our life on Mars. The power situation has been sorted out: propane is resupplied, and the generator has been fixed. Water has been refilled. We had our second salad harvested from the Greenhab. Finally received our drone. Ben worked wonders on assisting us so far, with his delightful companion, Jewels. We are having rice soup with Mongolian beef for dinner and are getting ready to play a psychology game at the time of writing.
The crew woke up promptly at 8 AM, had breakfast and exercised together. We had a quick meeting to discuss our roles and our individual target results for the rotation and started to prepare for the EVA of the day. Led by Tungaa, the EVA crew of 3 headed for Gateway to Lith, but the rover batteries proved insufficient to reach there; this is considering the 55% protocol. This was our first long-distance EVA and the CapComm led by Sunny showed quite the professionalism, checking with us every 5 minutes. We are getting used to communicating effectively via the different channels. The foot exploration after parking the rovers proved to be physically demanding, but it is not a challenge we can’t face.
The afternoon was relaxed, and the crew managed to take a quick nap. During this time, I had a chat with the Netflix documentary producer – Lauren, their logistics person – Skoti, and the Mars Society’s Director of Public and Media Relations – Michael Stoltz. We are getting ready to receive them on the last day of our rotation.
We will be contacting the MARS-V team back in Mongolia later during the Comms window today, and the crew has taken care of the reports in advance to make time for that. We’ve also tested our drone inside, and all seems nominal.
It has already been 5 days since we came to Mars. It has become apparent to us that there lie innumerable base challenges in this alien place in terms of infrastructure, psychology, physiology, consumption, daily routine, and crew chemistry. We came prepared for all these challenges but facing them head-on is an incredible reality check. Onwards and upwards!
Look Ahead Plan: We will now start using the drone for EVAs and will commence geological and microbiological testing. We also plan to record a crew log early in the morning tomorrow. The MARS-V training program is also ready to be tested in a true sense starting tomorrow. Hopefully more positive updates to follow.
Anomalies in work: None
Weather: Bit chilly during the night, but nice and sunny during the day.
Crew Physical Status: All healthy and energetic.
EVA: Performed one successful long-distance EVA today.
Reports to be filed: Sol summary, Journalist report, Operations report, Greenhab report, EVA report, EVA request, Photos.
Support Requested: Fixing Perseverance’s parking brake.