Lipi Roy, Crew 288 Journalist
12.20.2023
Sol 10
Gazing from the Hab Ridge, we marvel at the grandeur of nature, exquisite patterns of red, white, and purple for miles and miles and miles. Among these patterns, we spot our tiny Hab. Our eyes wide with anticipation, we await the special drone delivery from our friends. Our tiny Christmas gift!
The day began with Hunter’s (Crew Geologist) delicious spam fried rice, preparing us for another four-hour walking EVA. Flight suit, comms, EVA suit, and five minutes of depressurization later, we were ready to hike up to Hab Ridge. Treated to a diverse array of stunning landscapes, our journey led us to a lookout point where we caught sight of our Hab in the distance. Finally, it was time for the long-awaited drone experiment.
As Cesare (Commander) sent the drone to us, we successfully received secret messages and a surprise piece of Jilian’s coffee cake! This wasn’t just a proof of concept, it was a connection to our Hab, an emotion, that brought a smile to all our faces. It made us reminisce for an instant, all the great times we shared, an experience which will soon come to an end…
Jesus then took charge of the drone and skillfully captured the moments of rock sample collection and Riley’s GPR grid. Great job, Jesus! Since we are on the topic of Jesus, let me report that last night, he successfully captured the image of a calibration pattern onto the photoresist using silicon sample, a template, UV light and a photo developer. This is proof of concept to one of the many steps that would help humans build Solar Panels and semiconductor devices from regolith on Mars!
The EVA crew came back to Ryan’s amazing freshly cooked whole wheat bread (which I’m guessing was supervised by the commander because, um, sugar) which we all enjoyed with different toppings. After a relaxing afternoon of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, I cooked ‘Rajma’, an Indian kidney-beans curry for dinner. Hoping everyone enjoyed it!