Category: Journalist Report

[Sol 4]

Today proved relatively restful for most of the team. Cesare Guariniello, our geologist, cooked chocolate pancakes for the crew after an early morning yoga session once again led by Kshitij Mall, the executive officer. Though a hearty EVA to the north in search of salt deposits was planned, it was cut short by unanticipated difficulties with one of the ATVs. The EVA team of 4 returned just after 1 pm and, given the strenuous expeditions of the last few days, was more than happy to spend the remainder of the afternoon catching up on various tasks. We deployed a small robotic rover built by the NorCal Mars Society and took turns operating it remotely in the vicinity of the hab. Mark Gee, the green hab scientist, has also made significant progress on his microgreens research and gave the team a tour of his experiments. The gesture complimented the lecture Cesare gave to us last night on the local geology.

Tonight the team will try our hand at making pizza out of the abundance of powdered and freeze dried ingredients. Afterwards we will continue to relax over card games and television shows. Hopefully it will be enough to ease tensions over the nutella. Today’s EVA crew ascended a ridge named “Mount Nutella” (no joke) but the effort proved futile in replenishing our reserves.

Justin Mansell, MDRS Crew 186 Journalist

[Sol 3]

Today’s EVA was as rewarding and productive as it was grueling. A team of four of us departed the airlock just after 10:30 am and embarked on an epic trek far to the east beyond the bounds explored by any previous crew.

Oh what they have been missing!

An hour of driving brought our rovers to the end of drivable path. From there we continued on foot to the northeast of the Maxwell Montes until we once again reached an impasse. This time: a sheer cliff overlooking a spectacular network of canyons stretching as far as the eye could see! But the real treat were the walls of exposed strata. A hundred feet tall, no less! Though our objective was simply a preliminary survey, I reckon that the crew geologist will soon be back to scrutinize the story contained within the jumbled concoction of earthy hues.

The walk back to our rovers was arduous in the sun and stagnant air, but the EVA team summoned its second wind and proceeded directly into the radio navigation experiment. We drove approximately halfway back to the habitat before splitting into pairs and parting ways. The commander, Max Fagin, and myself were one pair. We dismounted the rovers while the crew engineer, Melanie Grande, and executive officer, Kshitij Mall, returned to the habitat to continue maintenance on the main airlock.

As the two rovers rocked and bounced their way up the dirt path, the commander and I steeled ourselves for the long walk back to the hab. But rather than follow the road, we would be taking a more direct route: one guided through unfamiliar terrain by Morse tones broadcast from the hab and received by us on a utilitarian antenna. It worked perfectly. Homing in on the hab’s beacon, we returned with time enough to spare for many photos. When we at last entered the airlock the elapsed time was nearly 4 and half hours. Grueling indeed!

Back at hab, the crew engineer has been working hard to master the quirks of our fickle generator. The dwindling supply of nutella has also begun to bring out the worst in us. But spirits are high, and our geologist, Cesare Guariniello, has baked a delectable cake in celebration of our green hab scientist’s birthday.

Justin Mansell, MDRS Crew 186 Journalist

P.S. Photos attached. Photo of the day: 521750_4255200 03Jan2018 Stunning strata.jpg

Crew 186 Journalist Report 2Jan2018

[Sol 2]

The weather is exceptional today. Only faint tendrils of moisture drift lazily across the boundless sky, and we were able to run the habitat for most of the day on solar power alone. The downside to all this, however, could be attested to by the members of the crew who endured the oppressively hot radiance on our second EVA.

Guided by the crew’s geologist, Cesare, the team drove far to the south in search of clay and hematite samples. At one of the sites the crew was able to ascend a nearby butte and was treated to a spectacular panorama of the endless Martian desert. They returned with an overwhelming number of photos and much exhaustion. Our Green hab scientist, Mark Gee, had an especially tiring day, as he spent much of the morning preparing an experiment growing microgreens in conditions of minimal input and testing the effects of the habitat biome on plant growth.

Following a brief rest, the crew returned to preparing experiments and performing maintenance duties on the habitat. These duties included an engineering EVA to move equipment and check the battery status the rovers.

Justin Mansell, MDRS Crew 186 Journalist

Today, we had a lie-in and woke up at 8am. After the breakfast, we made sure to charge the generator, we played poker and prepared for the EVA. Ilaria, John and I then took soil samples on our ATVs and our rover. We hiked to the top of a hill and enjoyed the landscape. We were surrounded by a large canyon and desert plains. As we went back to the Hab, we did the last communication experiment of our mission. After this 3-hour-long EVA, we had a well-deserved lunch. Everybody went back to their daily activities: I cleaned the helmets and checked the electronic systems, David worked in the GreenLab, while Thibault, Ilaria and John did a medical experiment.

Arno

Journalist Report 12-25-2017AD 7:33pm Sol 7
Author: John Sczepaniak MD

Today, was Christmas on Mars. In the morning the commander let us sleep an extra hour. Yay!!! We were priviliged to be visited by a three crew re-supply team and they brought us a wonderful Christmas meal. We had prime ribs, sugar coated sweet potatoes, butter coated biscuits, and ofcourse healthy vegitables. We were really stuffed. That was not all, we shared gifts from our respective countries and enjoyed French chocolates. For beverages with had apple cider (non-alcoholic). We shared our personal experiences and our plans once we return to Earth. It was a bit difficult for some because they would really like to be with their family back on that beautiful blue ball we call home. Alas, we will make due with the situation at hand; I would say we are doing well.

Overall it was nice to have a day off from extravehicular
activities. Going outside the habitat in a spacesuit is a bit physically draining. It requires everyone on the crew to prepare the suits, get participants dressed, and maintain communications. Not to mention the weight of the suit and the physical demands of wearing pressurized suits. The crew is now pretty accustomed to the decompression and repressurization. Our new space suit testing is coming along well and we hope to test it again tomorrow.

We wish everyone back on Earth a wonderful and bright Christmas. If you do not celebrate the holiday we wish you happy holidays and a beautiful New Year.