Journalist Report
Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist
01.08.2024
Sol 1
We woke up today to our first Martian sunrise. The crew was taken aback by the view and took plenty of pictures with our crew mascot, Snapper. We seized the opportunity for final out-of-sim photos with the whole crew, including inspiring poses as well as silly ones. Breakfast was one of high personalization, where each crew member customized their oatmeal with a variety of dehydrated fruits and condiments. The workday began with finishing our onboarding training including rover driving practice.
As we headed back to the Hab, GreenHab officer Ben began cooking up lunch of vegetable fried rice with a side of lentil and beef curry leftovers. We continue to be impressed with each of Ben’s culinary creations at every meal. Shortly after, we officially started simulation around 1330. We had a great time marking this start with a commemorative video taken by our GreenHab officer Ben.
Following the start of sim, we began to prepare for the crew’s first EVA to Marble Ritual which started at 1445. This first EVA was carried out by the Commander (Madelyn Hoying), Crew Engineer (Anna Tretiakova), and Crew Scientist (Anja Sheppard). The remainder of the crew assisted with the EVA preparation and enjoyed learning more about the suit-up process. The EVA crew successfully completed the Marble Ritual and began scouting the surrounding area for research. They discovered a very suitable site to look for signs of life in future EVAs. The crew chose this site because there was evidence of past pools of water which represents a favorable location for microbes. Besides site surveyance, the Crew Engineer experimented with making field sketches of the terrain using pen and paper in EVA gear. It was a great success and will be an excellent tool to have another method of recording visual data of any EVA site or findings in the future. Logistically speaking, this first EVA also allowed the crew to sort out comms and camera difficulties, so we hope to have a smoother EVA experience from here on out.
While the EVA crew was away, GreenHab officer Ben began his role by hydrating the plants and experimenting with musical therapy with the cucumbers. We wonder what sort of music they would like. Ben said he might try complimenting them to encourage growth. Results to come, I suppose. The crew is hopeful for harvest. Meanwhile, Executive Officer Rebecca McCallin and I were based in the ScienceDome where we worked to calibrate the pH Meter for our crew’s science objectives and connected the microscope with the computer software with Ben’s help.
Looking ahead, we are hopeful for stargazing tonight. The crew took in the beautiful Martian sunset with cotton candy clouds and hopefully the skies will be clear. Moreover, we look forward to EVA #2 tomorrow where the second half of our crew will make a similar trek to Marble Ritual in the Sol 2 morning along with a third EVA to roll out Anja’s robot (tentatively named Remi (Robotic Exploring Martian Imager)) onto the Martian terrain for the first time.
Picture of the Day: 290-01_08_2024 crew jump.jpeg