Category: Journalist Report

Journalist Report

Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist

01.11.2024

Sol 4

Today is a special day! Madelyn (Melon) informed us in the crew debrief last night that Sol 4 is where we’ll have our first showers on Mars. How exciting! The crew began the day with rehydrated coconut milk and cereal (another great Earth-meal remake). With EVA #5 scheduled to begin at 0900, the crew helped with suit up before EVA crew Anna (Roots) and Anja (Freebee) went on a productive engineering EVA with Melon on CAPCOM. Roots made repairs to the rover rear-view mirrors which were loose. Then, the two of them successfully built a dirt ramp for an easier exit of the RAM for REMI on future EVAs. Over comms, it sounded pretty physically demanding but the EVA crew worked effectively on their task and were successful!

In the meantime, Ben (Funk) recorded a significant harvest of red cabbage, arugula, and kale from the GreenHab (did someone say salad?). After returning to Hab, he began cooking a very tasty lunch of spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce. The crew licked our plates clean in approval. At this time, half of our crew (Funk, Freebee and Rebecca (Chopper)) completed their bucket showers. They had varied levels of success but also tips to save water on future showers (I began taking notes of course). As the crew dispersed for our afternoon tasks, Melon, Chopper, and Freebee put their heads together to plan out future EVAs and science equipment training for the crew. They were able to optimize crew task time and science sample output.

At 1430, the crew gathered in the ScienceDome to get a rundown of how to use the pH meter and the microscope. This will be an important component for our Project MADMEN science objectives. At 1500, the science equipment onboarding process began with Freebee, Funk and myself getting trained on the process of loading the Microfluidic Devices with the diluted soil samples from EVA #4. We took turns practicing in the laminar flow hood and examining the processed Microfluidic Devices under the microscope. It felt pretty rewarding to produce a properly flushed LB agar and take pictures of what is under the slide. We hope that any microbes present in the soil will have a happy time living in the nutrients in the next few days. We sure hope to be able to identify them.

As the sun is setting, the crew continues with their tasks and preparing their reports for the Comms window. We have been settling into a good routine so far, juggling MADMEN science tasks, individual roles, exercising, personal and crew socializing time. Overall, we have been making good progress on our research timeline as well as our consumables. Besides settling into our routines, we’ve been settling well into our roles too. Whenever we have any engineering issues pop up, Roots locates the source of the problem and works with Mission Support to make sure our Hab runs smoothly. Whenever it nears the mealtimes, Funk (or sometimes Freebee) comes up with new and creative recipes to fill our days with tasty meals. Melon ensures that the crew stays on schedule (with work-life balance!) and keeps us on track every Sol. Chopper is a very knowledgeable biologist and works tirelessly to process our soil samples, all while training us on the equipment. Freebee takes great care of REMI (both in and out of EVAs), filling her time with not only data analysis but also brainstorming future meals with our Martian selection of ingredients with Funk. As PODO, I watch over their progress, making sure it all gets documented and of course sharing it with you all. We complement each other’s skills well and have bonded over many nighttime social activities and mealtime conversations. Morale is good and we’re all excited to get positive results on our science tests in the coming days.

Photo of the Day: 290-01_11_2024 living off the land.jpeg

Journalist Report

Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist

01.12.2024

Sol 5

This morning, the crew made staggered entrances to the kitchen to enjoy some cookies and bread made by Anja (Freebee) last night. With today’s EVA 6 being our longest yet, our EVA crew, Madelyn (Melon), Anna (Roots), and Freebee began preparing for their adventure to Vallaris Marineris. This region has promising geological features that Melon hoped to target, from evidence of river flow in the area. The rest of the crew did our best to help feed them (with Freebee’s tasty risotto from last night) and suit up before departing from the Hab at 1255. The goal of this EVA is to collect samples from two sites of interest for MADMEN science objectives while Freebee is to drive REMI around those sites to collect more radar data.

At the base, Ben (Funk) was responsible for CAPCOM while Rebecca provided scientific field test support for the EVA crew. I (PODO) experimented with the pH probe to determine the electrical charge buildup that is necessary for accurate pH measurements on field tests. Currently, its metal panels require 5 minutes of charge buildup to get an accurate reading of the buffers we have on hand. Although this was not the expected measurement protocol, it has been a great workaround for the pH meter issues we had during the initial setup period.

The EVA crew ended up collecting samples at the mouth of the Tharsis Montes riverbed. They were even able to find fossils! While they performed ATP field measurements and salinity tests of the soil, the crew also collected plenty of interesting rocks for analysis. The most worthy of note amongst those is the gypsum-resembling rock. It’ll be analyzed and properly categorized under the microscope in the coming days. Overall, it was a great success! We congratulated the EVA crew at their return and are super excited to “dig into” (ba-dum-tsh) the samples they collected. Today we also got the chance to image the microfluidic devices with the Sol 3 and found bacteria in them! Very exciting indeed. (To be fair, we’re all in a very excited mood right now particularly while we’re smelling the tasty Chana Aloo that Funk is cooking up.)

Looking ahead, we have another long EVA tomorrow that will target sites at Candor Chasma. With a rover ride included, we can’t wait to bring back some sick samples to the crew. We’ll keep you posted!

Photo of the Day: 290-01_12_2024 in da valley.JPG

Journalist Report

Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist

01.08.2024

Sol 1

We woke up today to our first Martian sunrise. The crew was taken aback by the view and took plenty of pictures with our crew mascot, Snapper. We seized the opportunity for final out-of-sim photos with the whole crew, including inspiring poses as well as silly ones. Breakfast was one of high personalization, where each crew member customized their oatmeal with a variety of dehydrated fruits and condiments. The workday began with finishing our onboarding training including rover driving practice.

As we headed back to the Hab, GreenHab officer Ben began cooking up lunch of vegetable fried rice with a side of lentil and beef curry leftovers. We continue to be impressed with each of Ben’s culinary creations at every meal. Shortly after, we officially started simulation around 1330. We had a great time marking this start with a commemorative video taken by our GreenHab officer Ben.

Following the start of sim, we began to prepare for the crew’s first EVA to Marble Ritual which started at 1445. This first EVA was carried out by the Commander (Madelyn Hoying), Crew Engineer (Anna Tretiakova), and Crew Scientist (Anja Sheppard). The remainder of the crew assisted with the EVA preparation and enjoyed learning more about the suit-up process. The EVA crew successfully completed the Marble Ritual and began scouting the surrounding area for research. They discovered a very suitable site to look for signs of life in future EVAs. The crew chose this site because there was evidence of past pools of water which represents a favorable location for microbes. Besides site surveyance, the Crew Engineer experimented with making field sketches of the terrain using pen and paper in EVA gear. It was a great success and will be an excellent tool to have another method of recording visual data of any EVA site or findings in the future. Logistically speaking, this first EVA also allowed the crew to sort out comms and camera difficulties, so we hope to have a smoother EVA experience from here on out.

While the EVA crew was away, GreenHab officer Ben began his role by hydrating the plants and experimenting with musical therapy with the cucumbers. We wonder what sort of music they would like. Ben said he might try complimenting them to encourage growth. Results to come, I suppose. The crew is hopeful for harvest. Meanwhile, Executive Officer Rebecca McCallin and I were based in the ScienceDome where we worked to calibrate the pH Meter for our crew’s science objectives and connected the microscope with the computer software with Ben’s help.

Looking ahead, we are hopeful for stargazing tonight. The crew took in the beautiful Martian sunset with cotton candy clouds and hopefully the skies will be clear. Moreover, we look forward to EVA #2 tomorrow where the second half of our crew will make a similar trek to Marble Ritual in the Sol 2 morning along with a third EVA to roll out Anja’s robot (tentatively named Remi (Robotic Exploring Martian Imager)) onto the Martian terrain for the first time.

Picture of the Day: 290-01_08_2024 crew jump.jpeg

Journalist Report

Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist

01.09.2024

Sol 2

The crew began the day with great optimism. From last night’s stargazing behind the Musk observatory, many of us were left in awe with the amount of stars we were able to see under the clear Martian skies. We all marveled at the way our eyes were able to pick up on the impressive Milky Way band located directly overhead. As a life-long city dweller myself, I had never seen such a sight before and was left speechless (aside from the intermittent “wows”) for minutes after my eyes adjusted. Many of my crewmates were also experiencing their first times under such a clear and dark sky filled with stars. Though cold, we all thought the sight was well worth our venture into the darkness and hope for continued clear skies in the coming nights.

This was a great prelude to our Sol 2, which had 2 EVAs and our first set of exercise countermeasures in store for us. (It’s a very fulfilling schedule indeed!) At the first meal of the day, we revisited the simple yet timeless breakfast of oatmeal with freeze-dried fruits. This time, Anna (Crew Engineer) has discovered the joy of peanut butter which I predict will be added to our crew’s breakfast repertoire on future Sols. Promptly after, EVA #2 crew began suiting up in the lower Hab. This crew consisted of the Executive Commander (Rebecca McCallin), GreenHab Officer (Ben Kazimer), and Crew Journalist (Nicole Chan). This EVA, like EVA #1, was to complete training at Marble Ritual. It was an overall success! We took the rest of the allotted EVA time to survey and document the surrounding area. While Rebecca and Ben proceeded to examine and collect rock specimens of interest, I practiced making field sketches with pen and paper in EVA gear. Upon retrieving the pen from the science equipment bag, I realized that the pen had run out of ink unfortunately. The crew will make sure this will not happen in future EVAs but it was good practice for maneuvering the objects and retrieving them from the bag. With the Commander (Madelyn Hoying) serving as CAPCOM on this EVA, we continued the remainder of the EVA with more sampling and geological observations and visual documentation before heading back to the Hab.

In the meantime, the Crew Scientist (Anja Sheppard) has been preparing for our afternoon EVA #3 where she and Madelyn will be taking REMI to the Hab’s surrounding area to confirm system operations and collect some initial data. Soon thereafter, Ben, who was juggling multiple roles on this Sol, dutifully started cooking up our lunch, a very delicious butter noodles with alfredo sauce and rehydrated peas and cauliflower. As always, it was very delicious and many crewmembers asked for seconds (and thirds). With that, our EVA 3 crew (Madelyn, Anja, and REMI) began suiting up while Ben managed CAPCOM and Executive Officer (Rebecca McCallin) and Anna headed to the ScienceDome to continue setting up the mission science equipment.

Things went well on EVA 3 except for an identified and recoverable hiccup with REMI. The EVA crew was still able to practice maneuvering REMI in the field and survey areas of interest for future EVAs. We are excited to continue seeing REMI in action during our mission! In the ScienceDome, Rebecca and Anna worked hard to troubleshoot the pH meters and salinity probe to get ready for our geological sample tests. Checking in on the plant babies, Ben harvested some dill (our crew’s first harvest!) and recorded promising growth on the tomatoes (special shoutout to #4 and #9!).

Currently, Anja is cooking up taco bowls with our beloved canned chickpeas. It’ll be an exciting first taste of chickpeas for Rebecca, which are a fan favorite amongst the rest of the crew. Overall the mission is going well despite some science hiccups as the crew continues to find solutions, just like future Martians will have to do. As we wrap up Sol 2, we all look forward to what tomorrow will bring.

Photo of the Day: 290-01_09_2024 anja with REMI.JPG

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
01.04.2024
Sol 11
We awoke this morning to a surprise: snow! The landscape was completely blanketed in white and the sky in the early morning matched the ground with a thick layer of clouds. As the sun began to rise, the clouds began to thin making for a stunning sight. It was gorgeous. (And, I am still cursing setting my time lapse up incorrectly this morning such that I missed the transition from 8-9:30 am believing those images auto-captured!) A vision to behold, this snow day was not wholly welcome because the precipitation meant the cancellation of our scheduled EVA. This would have marked our eleventh EVA of mission and our very last EVA. Learning that yesterday actually proved our final EVA together as Crew 289 left us all saddened and somewhat at a loss. Beyond our rest day, each of our days was marked by balancing research at the hab, cooking and cleaning, and one or sometimes two EVAs.
We filled the day with further research, additional team bonding, and winding down our time here in the hab with the beginning of packing. As to research, Riya spent time building her CO2 sensor. She also examined the plants grown in her hydroponics set up under a microscope to investigate visually whether there was any difference between the plants exposed to hydrogen peroxide (radiation alternative) and her control plants. Eshaana was able to gather some additional data regarding the photovoltatics for her mini-farm after yesterday’s clouds foiled our attempts to characterize the shading with time lapse photography. Adriana wrapped up carbonate characterizations of her sediment samples and packed up her oysters for safe transportation back to Michigan. I was able to begin some calculations and cross-comparisons on my reporting research to better understand commonalities and differences between prior Journalist Reports and Sol Summaries. Tomorrow we will summarize our progress on our research during our time on Mars before we begin the journey back home.
On the fun side, we also played some games. The whole crew played a round of Zombie Dice, an amusing push your luck dice game where you are a zombie trying to eat the most human brains while avoiding gunshot wounds. It was quick and entertaining. Nathan beat out Adi 15 to 13 in a surprise defeat in the final round after Adi led the entire game. Fitting in a snack-sized ziplock, the transportability to fun ratio was right on. Then the crew broke out Terraforming Mars which is a substantially larger strategy game that resides in the hab games closet. Only 2 of the crew had ever played previously so learning the game and set up filled considerable time such that many opted out of gameplay. Those engaged in the game were optimistic they would be finished by dinner time, as were the rest of us and thankfully they were! It was fun to pull the game out from the cabinet and realize that the game is endorsed at the very top of the box by someone particularly important in our being able to be here at MDRS: Dr. Robert Zubrin, founder and President of the Mars Society.
We also took some time today to make use of the lower deck for a photoshoot. Donning our flight suits for the final time this mission, we attempted to capture semi-professional images of the members of the crew with packs on and helmets in hand and also versions without gear. We had a good time assisting each other to ensure collars were folded down, patches were on optimal display, and that flight suits were not weirdly bunched. I’m thankful the crew indulged me because I think we were able to have a good time. Also, those who may choose to return to MDRS or pursue other pursuits for space exploration now have themed photos to choose from for their biographies.
After the skies cleared up mid-day, melting away nearly all of the snow, we are hoping for cloudless skies tonight to do some star-gazing. Our first days at MDRS, the moon was too close to full to be able to see many stars. It lit up the whole landscape and drowned out the vast majority of starlight – a notable fact for those not used to this level of dark. (Light pollution has really changed the way that the vast majority of us experience the dark of night.) With luck and good weather, we hope we may be able to view the Milky Way tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Our time here at MDRS is rapidly coming to a close but we are still experiencing many firsts. In addition to new games and new photos, today we also experienced the heart-break of culling our rock collections. (How many pounds of rock samples is too many to take home is a very tough question!) Things are also coming full circle. Our first night at MDRS, Gabe and Adi made strawberry shortcake for the first time. They are teaming up again this evening to treat us and cement their knowledge. No one is sad about that.

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
01.05.2024
Sol 12
We ended sim at 10 am this morning but our work didn’t stop. CO Adriana and HSO Gabe went off an adventure to ensure transportation for the crew while the rest of the crew started cleaning, packing up, and prepping the habitat for the next crew. This included cleaning the buildings further afield (the RAM, the Science Dome, and the GreenHab) as well as the main living space. We also swabbed down the rovers! We will finish up our cleaning – sweeping, mopping, and bathroom wipe downs – early tomorrow morning before we depart back for our homes. Yet again, we are thankful to have had fantastic weather throughout the mission. It has made our clean up mostly mud-free.
Despite it being a partial sol, today was not free of research. Eshaana (GEO) finished collecting her last set of data for her mini-agrivoltaic farm and then disassembled the whole set up. We gained a new crewmate today when Riya completed the build on her air quality sensor, Russell! Riya also removed all the plants in her hydroponics set up, collected imaging, and figured out how to work the camera on the microscope to collect pictures of the plant cells. The root strength on her stress-free plants is noticeably improved over those treated with hydrogen peroxide (simulating the effects of radiation.) Everyone also completed synopses of their research for submission to MDRS.
We also ate through our (very limited) leftovers and kept ourselves motivated through our work with some treats from Earth including masala chai.
Tomorrow, we depart. Our memories of Mars will be filled with unforgettable moments – unique meals, amazing sights, funny conversations, and more. Serving as a Purdue astronaut has been an honor.
This is Crew 289 signing off from Mars. See you back on Earth in a few days’ time.

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
01.03.2024
Sol 10
Weather makes a big difference and Crew 289 has been remarkably fortunate so far on mission. While it has been below freezing after sundown every day, making morning and evening forays into the further parts of the hab chilly, the sunshine has warmed the days to 30-40°F and resulted in quite comfortable EVAs with appropriate gear. (Ok, it’s typically still chilly riding on the rovers but wandering around warms up an astronaut nicely.) Until now, every day has been practically cloud-free with the exception of one partly cloudy day where we needed to preserve power. Today was genuinely cloudy though and in addition to needing to be cautious regarding power usage, our EVA crew came back quite chilled. Cold and, as ever, hungry but, overall, very happy.
Their destination was White Rock Canyon, a decent clip away southward of the hab. We were uncertain about the presence of the fossils in the location since we were unsuccessful in locating oysters just slightly westward at Barrainca Butte but a close look at the map left us hopeful based on earlier finds along Hab Ridge. Elevation is key to finding oyster deposits and today’s exploratory EVA with Adriana “Rocky” Brown, Eshaana “Butter” Aurora, Riya “Pots” Raj, and Gabe “Terminator” Skowronek was shockingly fruitful. The crew collected over 54 fossils and, best yet, these samples are stunningly clean and well-preserved. You can see the growth plate ridges on the shells! Today’s find more than doubles Rocky’s collection for the mission giving her plenty of materials to work with for her graduate research. We also played with LiDAR and 3D scanning of the fossils to try to document them digitally. We still need to optimize the process, scanning something small versus a geographical feature is not 100% comparable, especially when you want a full scan of the entire shell.
Adi “Michelin” Anibha, Nathan “Shrub” Bitner, and I held down the station today and monitored comms while the EVA crew was out hunting up oysters. Due to the cliffs between us and them, comms were very quiet today. The chatter was missed while we completed research tasks and our cooking.
I tackled breakfast today trying out a new recipe: brown rice and quinoa porridge with coconut milk, brown sugar, and soy sauce. It took well over an hour-and-a-half to cook down into porridge but no one complained. My crew is too kind for that! After shoving food in our faces, I started on bread using instant soup packets brought from Earth as a salt substitute. I finished kneading right as the EVA crew got their comms vests on and dashed downstairs to help them finish suiting up for departure. Everyone had to wait longer on the bread than anyone wanted – it went into the oven right after the return of the EVA team – but everyone was so excited when it finally came out that we hacked into it while still steaming and slathered it in Nutella, peanut butter, butter, and/or strawberries. Fried rice is on the menu for tonight. Can’t wait! It smells gooood.
We are winding down our time now and tomorrow marks our final EVA, assuming weather allows. (We may get rain on Mars!) If we are able to proceed, E.L.F. will be the star of the mission again. In a test today, E.L.F. broke irreparably while completing a practice jump. He reached a vertical height of 1.5” but won’t be doing any more leaping until he can be fixed back up at home. Yet, we’re pleased to hear he is not out of action entirely! Tomorrow we’ll hope to witness his origami moving motion out on the planet’s surface.
Tonight, I expect we’ll likely call it an early night after staying up late last night to finish the movie we started New Year’s Eve. We thought we’d watch another hour of the movie but we got drawn into the cricket match of Lagaan and finished the whole thing instead. Adi had to pause to explain the rules to those of us not familiar with the game. We passed a very enjoyable time in the loft but those of us who did not squeak in a nap today are starting to fade.

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
01.02.2024
Sol 9
Here on Sol 9, Crew 289 is beginning to count down the days (and the meals) until departure. Less out of excitement to return to Earth and more to begin the necessary planning to ensure that we can maximally complete our various research projects and coordinate travel arrangements to successfully return ourselves and our equipment. However, today also marks the day where we are beginning to feel the dwindling of our food resources. After tonight, we have 4 more breakfasts and 3 more lunches and dinners here at MDRS. We have plenty of food to keep us fed but, from here on, our kitchen experiments will become that much more experimental. Wish us well!
Breakfast this morning was a choose your own buffet mix of leftovers and cereal with coconut milk. Lunch was a tomato soup cooked by today’s Hab team of CO Adriana “Rocky” Brown, Eshaana “Butter” Aurora (GEO), Riya “Pots” Raj (GHO) and cheesy biscuits. Each was peak inventive with cheesy broccoli soup powder going into the biscuits and soy sauce helping add some salt to the soup and brown sugar some sweetness. Also, apparently biscuit mix also went in to the soup. Ingenious since they needed additional salt and thickener and the biscuit mix had both. Dal makhani – lentils and kidney bean combo – is for dinner.
We did have an EVA today. Electronic LeapFrog (E.L.F.) was the star this afternoon at Candor Chasma, getting a chance to tackle some steeper, rockier, terrain. E.L.F. was able to climb and descend well with a leash assist. Unfortunately, when he prepared to undertake a jump, he lost a wheel so we were not able to measure his standing vertical. (Happily, he’s already been fixed up and will be ready for his third Martian terrain test 2 days from now.) Rarely do we only have one objective during our EVAs and this one was no exception. We were able to collect FLiDAR (drone with a phone) of the chasm and to more thoroughly explore the territory for future EVAs. Before heading back, the team – Aditya “Michelin” Anibha (SCI), Nathan “Shrub” Bitner (ENG), Gabe “Terminator” Skowronek (HSO), and me, Sara “Zinger” Paule (XO) – did take a moment for a group photo. The terrain in the chasm was absolutely beautiful so at one point I entrusted my phone to Shrub today to take photographs while I clicked away with the GoPro (his phone was engaged in the FLiDAR scanning which requires 2 phones, 1 to fly and 1 to scan). I also got some entertaining footage of the drive back to the Hab in the rovers. Shrub declared along the way that thinking of this particular route as comparable to a rollercoaster made it even more fun – it was indeed a delightfully bumpy ride.
So much happens in a day at MDRS and I am only able to give you a taste of the experience. Here is a small sampling of other things that happened today: Rocky checked carbonate levels in some of her collected sediments. Terminator processed a photo of the Crab Nebula (M1). Butter set up a camera for her agrovoltaic minifarm. Pots discovered 11 baby tomatoes in the GreenHab. I finished coding the Journalist reports from prior crews that I selected for sampling a few days ago and also started on coding Sol Summaries, another mandatory report type. And, best yet, for fun this evening, we experimented with “Pots” 3D pen. Her 3D printed piping tip performed admirable in decorating funfetti cupcakes! Beautiful and yummy.

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
01.01.2024
Sol 8
Crew 289 got a bit of a later start today after staying up late here on Mars to ring in the new year for humanity. With an EVA planned for noon, that start was not substantially later – more like 9 am than the usual 7/7:30 am. This meant that a number of folks missed the morning internet window (7:30-9 am MT) but no one particularly regretted the choice. We have slightly more communication with Earth than anticipated pre-mission – our evening internet access lasts from 6:30-9:30 pm MT – yet, our communication windows with Earth remain highly limited with crew responsibilities taking up the majority of that time, whether accessing materials to further our research, sharing photos from the day, processing LiDAR, or contending with the all-important 2-hour window of reporting into Mission Support. We love you fam and friends, but if your astronauts are quiet, it is likely because we ate up our time with mission-specific tasks, which definitely includes sleep.
We collected more rock samples and more LiDAR scans, some, in fact, of rocks, during today’s EVA. Typically, we reserve the LiDAR treatment for the type that are too large to fit in our pockets but the team is gaining additional facility with LiDAR after initial experiences with the technology in the field and is thinking up new ways to deploy the tool, including possibly a future scan of one of Rocky’s devil’s toes (her collected oyster fossils, this is not a new nickname for her feet). Today we also rescanned the Habitat in an attempt to improve on the earlier scan now that we have established our technique with Riya’s elevated monopod (phone on a stick). Each member of today’s EVA crew, Adriana (Rocky), Eshaana (Butter), Riya (Pots), and me (Zinger), took turns so the scan would not suffer from overly tired arms.
Upon our return to station from the short drive south to Kissing Camel Ridge, we walked into a pre-prepared feast. Aditya (Michelin), Gabe (Terminator), and Nathan (Shrub) were inspired in the kitchen and cooked up mac & cheese with a side of ground beef for those who desired it, green beans & cauliflower, mashed potatoes, and cheesy biscuits. Out of respect for me and Pots, the crew has been very kindly maintaining a vegetarian diet and only cooking up meat supplements on the side. (It is muchly appreciated, crew!)
Tonight, we will enjoy some fresh lettuce and kale for our dinner which was grown in the Greenhouse by Pots and the preceding GreenHab Officers. Many thanks to all who have provided for us through their labor and careful tending of our green growing friends from seed to sprout to nutrition source. On Earth, gardening is certainly a source of joy but on Mars it is truly a life-giving endeavor and the import does genuinely feel stronger here.
Our Crew Engineer has also been working on a unique side project today. The stair/ladder from the lower deck to the upper deck of the hab is steel with raised ovoid cut outs (basically, imagine mouths with spiky teeth) for traction. While house shoes for wearing around the hab are highly recommended on the packing list, Shrub forgot his. (I think we all forgot something or thought we could do without. My mistake was foregoing the saline nasal spray. Poor, poor life choice.) Shrub has made it through 8 sols without indoor shoes/slippers but his sock soles have suffered and his feet are quite a bit more aerated now than they were early on in mission. His new high-tech Mars shoeware involves a clever repurposing of cardboard, strings, and tape. His prototype maybe leaves something to be desired but the fashion modeling is reasonably on point, or, would be if everyone wasn’t dying of laughter.
In other happy news, the crew is clean again! Woo, for shower 2 of mission. Baby wipes can do a lot but it is not the same level of refreshing as showering. We are eagerly awaiting our navy shower versus bucket shower water usage results though I fear the data may be a bit dubious with so many other water needs also depleting our resources. That’s okay though, it will give us rich fodder for debate tonight over dinner.

Sara Paule, Crew 289 Journalist & Executive Officer
12.31.2023
Sol 7
Martian rest day is the best day! Ok, hardly. High achievers like to get things done and our crew is certainly a group of highly motivated individuals. Yet, we have managed to have a comparably low-key day, especially since it is New Year’s Eve.
The day started with sleeping in and a stack of tropical crepes, supplied by Pots. She flavored the crepes with coconut milk, cinnamon, and the water from rehydrated strawberries, blueberries, and mangos. In addition to the reconstituted fruit, we had an assortment of toppings to choose from: syrup, Nutella, crunchy peanut butter, smooth peanut butter, and honey. Delish.
Brunch was followed with a few rounds of Jenga before the crew broke up for the afternoon to handle 2-4 hours of needed tasks for the day and assorted research responsibilities. Everyone returned to the hab in the late afternoon to watch Bollywood dance videos. Michelin is educating us about Indian dance moves in hopes of some evening time dancing. Ultimately, the videos are the next tactic in his recruitment drive after introducing us to some Indian music last night because he has warned us all he will not dance without at least one other participant.
The crew then teamed up on the 500-pieces “Mars Explorers Wanted” puzzle from the hab games cabinet. With irregularly shaped pieces, it has proven a particular challenge but we trust that it will be completed before dinner or, at least, we are hoping so. Otherwise, we’ll be eating dinner on top of the puzzle because our dinner table, which is also our report drafting table, is the puzzle table. Overall, people are mostly enjoying themselves. I think. Then again, Rocky declared at one point, “This is fun. Remember, we’re having fun!” while pounding on the table. Shrub also suggested that a knife would allow us to edit the puzzle to make any piece fit as needed. So, maybe I’m misreading the fun quotient.
There has been bopping throughout the day. Music has been a constant throughout the hab today, including in the GreenHab. We’ve learned that plants like EDM so in addition to the composting, watering, and careful tending via trellising and pruning, the plants are being tempted to grow with good tunes. Music is also good for confined astronauts. Plants and people-alike are in a good mood thanks to tunes downloaded pre-mission. Many tunes are space themed. Rocket Man is a regular occurrence, obviously.
Tonight, our New Year’s Eve celebration will include a biryani made by Butter and Michelin. It is smelling absolutely amazing. Since we skipped lunch today with a late brunch, we did do some minor snacking in the afternoon by raiding the kitchen cabinets for creative tasty treats. Tortillas with butter, salt, garlic powder, and parmesan were the most commonly consumed item. Peanuts and trail mix supplemented. Mostly, these were items to tide us over until we could enjoy dinner since our celebratory biryani dinner was planned last night with much anticipation. It was well worth the wait. The spice was so good.
The post-dinner plan is to settle down in the “couch” space at the very top of the hab with popcorn and a movie. I’m not sure anyone on Crew 289 has really utilized that area of our living space. It is only accessible via a ladder since it is situated above the 6 bunk rooms on the upper deck of the hab and is next to the 1 bunk room that is similarly in the loft space. I take the lack of usage of that area as a sign that our home feels reasonably spacious despite the fact that the central building is only 8 meters wide. Around midnight, we’ll ring in the new year with some sparkling juice – this time a fancy rosé.
From Mars, we are wishing our loved ones and all on Earth, a positive end to 2023 and a beautiful new year.