Journalist Report Oct 27th

Journalist Report October 27

Journalist: Sandy Dance

After travelling the world the team members finally assemble and meet each other, mostly for the first time, at the Days Inn in Grand Junction Colorado. We spend an afternoon buying all those last minute things we require for 2 or 4 weeks in the wilderness. And incidentally get to know each other.

We are a good team: Diane the nutritionist, Andrew the geologist, Sandy the IT and generalist, and our Commander Guy, the heritage consultant. Unfortunately the 5th person we were expecting had a medical withdrawal and couldn’t make it. Luckily Shannon was able to donate one of her interns to the team, David who studies mechatronics at Peru University.

That afternoon we drive the 2 ½ hours to Hanksville. There we meet up with Shannon in the hot and dusty little, but strangely attractive town. This is at the Rock Shop run by one Cathy, a funky little place with a vast array of geological specimens, especially dinosaur coprolites!

Finally we drive to the MRDS down a dusty little track winding around barren hillocks and crazy shaped rocks, turn a corner, and there it is: the Mars habitat.

We spend the rest of the time shifting supplies into the hab and tidying things up.

After a knockup meal, we collapse into bed, each with our tiny but lovable “stateroom”.

Sunday 27th October

We wake at 7am for a hearty breakfast of coffee, tea and porridge, then knuckle down to a morning of cleaning the hab and base, charging and preparing the spacesuits, checking the radios, rearranging the furniture, and moving rubbish from around the hab out of site.

The weather turns cold, cloudy and windy, not like yesterday.

Guy and I manage to skive off at one point and take a walk up the hill, something we can do today as we are not yet in ‘sim’. The walk up is over a hard crust of clay lying on top of very soft and dry clay powder. Our footsteps break through if we’re not careful, we don’t want to leave a permanent trace. The surface is rendered by rain and drought into a sort of elephants hide of minute erosion texture. We make it to the top and are greeted with a magnificent panorama around the horizon: eroded hills, buttes, mountains in the distance, all in a palette of pinks, greys and greens. One feature, Factory Butte, looks like its name, but with a skirt of eroded scree at 45 degrees.

Another knockup meal, lunch prepared from the dry goods (we are going to get used to this): cheesy dumplings with thick soup, just the thing!

Science Report Oct 27th

Crew 214 Science Report 27-Oct-2019

Submitted by Science Officer Andrew Wheeler

1. EVA Suit Maintenance: The hab has been set up following arrival. All backpacks have been plugged in and fully charged. Helmets are clean and contained in their cloth bags except for one helmet, for which, the cloth bag is missing. Radios have been tested and are fully charged. Communication earpieces remain to be tested for faulty performance.

2. Green Hab: The green hab has been activated and is awaiting water and additional soil base before sowing of this seasons crops.

3. Astronomy Dome Operations: No astronomical observations have been planned for this crew rotation.

4. Science Dome Operations: The Science Dome has been activated and is awaiting EVAs for sample acquisition and sample testing.

5. RAM Operations: The RAM Dome has been activated and is ready for contingencies.

6. EVA: No preparations or activities have been undertaken to date. The access routes have been identified to allow sample locations to be identified.

7. Closed Loop Food Waste Study: This study has been initiated and is ongoing. Day’s waste: 79g; consisting of 323 calories, 10g fat, 5g saturated fat, 1179mg sodium, 52g carbohydrates, 7g fibre, 6g sugar, 7g protein.

8. Additional activities: Nil

Sol Summary Report Oct 27th

Sol:0

Summary Title: Preparing for Landing

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Since its arrival yesterday, Crew 214 of Expedition Boomerang has been adjusting to its new surroundings and preparing the campus for commencement of full simulation mode.

Sol Activity Summary: Today we cleaned the bottom level of the habitat, and the outside of the buildings. We continued to familiarise ourselves with the various operational systems and procedures. We prepared 3 cooked meals.

Look Ahead Plan: We will commence full simulation mode at first light tomorrow morning. Our fifth crew member David will join us early afternoon. David will brief the crew about using the suits and EVA procedure.

Anomalies in work: N/A

Weather: Clear skies all day, cooler weather later in the afternoon.

Crew Physical Status: All crew in good health, adjusting to MDRS conditions.

EVA: EVA schedule not commenced.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Science Report, Journalists Report, HSO Pre-Mission Checklist, Photo of the day

Support Requested: We welcome feedback from Mission Support as to how we can improve our practise of comms procedures.

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