Journalist Report – January 14th

Crew 219 14-Jan-2020 Journalist Report

Abdul Elnajdi, Crew 219 Geologist

Sol 9

I cannot believe that today is the ninth day since our arrival on
Mars! I got up at 7:30 am and hoped that the sun was shining like
yesterday and the day before. I consider myself a person who loves
getting up early, but I cannot start my day without a cup of coffee.
Thank God that the commander of our mission, David, brought coffee
with him. It is strong and has a delicious taste.

Today's schedule will be quite easy, our XO, Nathan, planned one EVA.
As I do my geological duty, I am very happy to go outside and collect
samples of the red planet. Although there is snow, I only see red
soil! That's what my imagination has been showing me since we arrived
on Mars. I am trying to collect samples from different sites around
the Martian base for my proposal. I am working to draw a map with GIS
that shows the mineral and chemical composition of the Martian soil
using XRF and XRD analysis of the samples.

Despite the unexpected difficulties that sometimes face us, seeing my
friends working professionally on their various tasks makes me feel
very happy. This happiness sweeps my body with a great energy that
drives me to work every day to make this mission a success.

I learn a lot from David as he reminds us of our mission today and how
important it is to complete everything before six o'clock so that we
have time to write our daily reports. I smile when I see our engineer
Alejandro jumping like a ninja warrior to record water and power
numbers so the day goes well for everyone. I feel safe listening to
our HSO Keith's medical advice and his reminders to drink water. I
love to listen to Robby and Cynthia as they tell me about the progress
they make every day in the GreenHab and in the observatory, or seeing
Nathan planning for the next EVA. As I collect samples, I think about
the food that Hannah will make! We are lucky that Hannah is with us!
The food she makes makes you forget your tiredness all day. She made
fish tacos for lunch today! Good food, good company, and a sunny day!
What else you need on Mars?!

Our crew had a wonderfully sunny EVA today; they collected new samples
and brought them back to the Science Dome, putting them in the oven to
dry. I will work later to sieve them and put them in special bags
until they are ready for analysis when we return to Earth. The rest of
the crew spent time cleaning around the Hab. I found out that my
friends love to drink my chai! So I made some for them because that
makes them happy and we always have something fun to talk about with a
nice cup of tea. The HAB is just like USS Enterprise from Star Trek:
no matter what the spaceship went through, everything will be just
fine by the end of the day because the crew did so well. It was
another beautiful sol and we already know our tasks tomorrow. We are
all ready to get a good night’s sleep and wake up to another
spectacular sunny Sol. Salam 