Journalist’s Report
Date: Dec 8 2012
Written by: Dan Wilcox
Today is the first day on Mars when I didn’t notice my helmet.
Our suits are custom tailored to each of our bodies and we’ve been wearing
them in training for years, so they became a second skin. However, when
you’re *actually* on Mars itself, you become acutely aware of the fact
that only about 2 cm of material is between you and certain death. We
definitely remembered we were wearing them with our first steps onto the
Martian surface.
Now that we’ve been here 8 sols and gone outside on EVAs for 5, the old
habits are setting in and my suit is again an extension of me, just a big
dress suit in the business of exploring another planet. We were out today
collecting soil samples of what appears to be a dried clay powder similar
to bentonite on Earth and I placed my pen next to sample point so it would
be easy to tell in the photo how large the area was and what relative size
the soil features are. When I picked it up to make notes on the location,
heading, and MPS (Mars Positioning System) marker number, I noticed both
my pen and notebook were covered in light red fines (very small
particulate soil).
Naturally, I blew off the dirt and continued work.
And, naturally I suddenly felt pretty stupid when the inside of my helmet
fogged for a second or two.
Our soil collection is precipitated by my desire to ask the question, how
will culture on Mars divert from that on Earth? One answer would reference
the Inuit and their score of words describing snow. Perhaps future
Martians will have extra words for describing Martian soil and the colors
red & yellow then those on Earth. Another answer might be via materials.
What kind of cultural artifacts will be made on Mars? Options include
sculpture from disused Hab hardware, space suit scarecrows, or, as I’m
thinking, watercolors using natural pigments of the Red Planet. Today, I
collected 6 samples ranging from brick red to grayish purple to white and
some time during the next week, I’ll check our food supplies for corn
starch, baking soda, and vinegar to use as a binding agent for the fine
colored rock powder.
Ok, we’re wasting precious water on “art” but our reclamation equipment is
successfully mining moisture out of the atmosphere, so we have a little
extra to experiment. Besides, how much money is being spent on art and
culture on Earth today? If people can spare a few bucks for their favorite
band I can certainly spare a few mL of H2O to kickstart the first Martian
painting ... if only I had some actual drawing ability. Well, a first is a
first, disregarding quality!
While I was collecting the colored samples, Lisa and Habib were
doing a little orienteering training with both analog and digital
compasses about half a kilometer north of the Hab. As they were following
a heading to the North, their compass needles suddenly shot around to the
West. Puzzled, they double checked their instruments and made a 20 meter
arc towards the NW. As they walked, the needle turned slightly with their
angle, literally pointing to a local magnetic anomaly as something under
the hillside is attracting the needle. This could be a kind of magnetized
ferrous rock which indicates a raw material source for future iron and
steel or it might be the entrance to a buried Martian city. I’m thinking
the former is more likely, but the latter would be more exciting. We’re
planning on making a return trip to see if we can map a more precise
location.
As I said before, we’ve been on Mars for a week now and each sol is
beginning to blend into the next. There is a cycle of work: daily EVAs,
food preparation, reports, communication with Mission Support, and
planning for the next day. Not all the work is bad, as we had what is
probably the first homemade chocolate ice cream on Mars (amazing what you
can do with dried chemicals), but we are getting a bit worn with the
routine. Therefore, Commander Reynolds has requested from Mission Control
for a duty free day tomorrow, a day of rest which I believe is roughly
Sunday in North America.
We’ll get a rest but Mission Control won’t. They’re back with you working
night and day to keep in constant touch with us and our vital systems as
well as collecting and cataloging gigabytes of data. We are in contact
every night and coordinate every change and question of resources and
systems with them, from suit modifications down to what batteries to use
with certain devices. They need to know *exactly* what our equipment and
resource situation is to best help us deal with any contingencies.
We know we’re in good hands.