Sol Summary – December 11th

Crew 217 Sol Summary Report 11Dec2019

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Mars needs teachers

Author’s name: Atila Meszaros

Mission Status: Second day on the red planet and rocking our mission goals.

Sol Activity Summary: We started the day earlier, as we needed to cover a considerable amount of activities. The morning began with a double breakfast on my side and our first Biology class from our favorite Ecology teacher, Shannon Ruppert. The main objective of the day was to get 3 types of biology samples: gypsum from the Moon areas, water from pre-selected ponds and some fragments from the mysterious unidentified green layer. All of them were collected wonderfully. We aimed to plated them on agar so we would be able to determine qualitatively the biological content of them. In order to do that, we MacGyvered the agar making business and created (patent pending) the "Petry baggies". Today has been a wonderful day, I saw Shannon put a suit and go on an EVA for the first time ever, and you don't usually see that. I haven't been in sim for a while, but spending this week with wonderful people, one more inspiring and dedicated than the next one, it's really fulfilling. I haven't been in school for a long long time, but if I had one of these teachers for just a day when I was growing up, I would have definitely changed my life. Looking forward to seeing their work and how this experience will create new and better programs for their kids.

Look Ahead Plan: Last day of the mission! We will start preparing the rockets for our afternoon EVA. Part of the crew will be doing the first last EVA to Hab Ridge during the morning. After lunch, we will be working on the GreenHab, planting and making a terrarium with Mars soil simulant. During the afternoon, small rockets wait for us to be launch And during the evening, we will try to wrap up the mission and spend our last night together.

Anomalies in work: Nothing to report.

Weather: Colder than yesterday, partly clear skies, light winds, and an impressive full moon.

Crew Physical Status: Healthy, a little bit tired, but happy.

EVA: Our first two long EVAs tackling our scientific goals: water holes, gypsum, and unidentified green layer sample return.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Reports 3 & 4, EVA Request, GreenHab Report, Science Report, Operations Report, Journalist Report, and Photos.

Support Requested: Science Dome materials and instruments (listed on the Science Report).