Sol: 10
Summary Title: Regathering
Author’s name: Enkhtuvshin “Dono” Doyodkhuu
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: I woke up feeling queasy in the morning today. The crew made a nutritious soup for me, and let me stay in bed until afternoon, for which I am very grateful. I was not able to use the observatory today and will not be submitting the Astronomy Report.
Everyone else started their day leisurely at 9 AM today, had breakfast, exercised, and headed out to EVA #9 in the afternoon. Led by HSO Duluu, accompanied by Geologist Davaa and Journalist Sunny, performed a test run for the geological mapping task that would later be performed in the Mongolian Gobi as part of the training program. Our goal is to come up with a guidance protocol for mapping out the surrounding area of the analog station.
Today’s meals featured garlic soup with dumplings for lunch, and Mongolian traditional dumplings called “buuz” for dinner, which usually takes extensive preparation, but the crew has gotten proficient at preparing meals in the Hab at this point. Our experiences here are sure to further the product development from freeze-dried recipes at the MARS-V project.
We had a meeting with the UCCS team currently working on the MARS-V analog helmet and was introduced to their final design concepts. Muggi and Davaa have finalized their ideas for the general structure of MARS-V analog station, and we plan to work on these further with the technology team back at the MARS-V project in the coming year.
Sunny, Duluu, and Tungaa are working on further developing the training programs to be implemented at the MARS-V analog station. The experiences we have gathered at MDRS during the rotation have given us a tangible handle on what being an analog astronaut is like.
We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have participated at the station as Crew #287, and we have had a great time and experience here that is sure to further the development of the MARS-V project going forward. Here’s to more future collaborations between Mars Society and Mongolian Aerospace Research and Science Association!
Look Ahead Plan: This is the last day of full sim for us. We’re planning on doing a bit of photo shooting and drone footage tomorrow morning, and we’ll end the sim in the afternoon. The day after that, we’ll receive the Netflix documentary crew on station, and show them around. We will then hold an online meeting with the team in Mongolia and recap the Alpha Mission. We plan to do the cleaning in the evening and head back out first thing in the morning on 9th of December.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Sunny. Almost no clouds. Very warm.
Crew Physical Status: I seem to have caught a bit of cold today and stayed in bed until afternoon. Everyone else is completely healthy.
EVA: Successfully performed one EVA today.
Reports to be filed: Sol summary, Journalist report, Operations report, Greenhab report, EVA report, Photos.
Support Requested: None.