Commander Report
12/31/2012
Chelsea Iwig
The best word to describe day three for crew 121 is challenging! This has by far been the most
challenging day for us here on Mars, but we like a good challenge. The crew woke up extra early this
morning to prepare breakfast before we had to get to work on all of our data collection. Today’s
data collection schedule included Carolyn’s music study, Eric’s sleep study, Noah’s game study, and
Chelsea’s behavioral measures study. Even though it was a busy day, it was nice to have designated
time in which we could listen to music for Carolyn’s study and to play a game for Noah’s study. It
was definitely a good way to unwind after our first EVA.
Four crew members got to set out and explore the surface of Mars for a couple of hours during crew
121’s first EVA. This was definitely an awesome experience and a lot of fun, but it was also
absolutely exhausting! We hiked out to two different rock formations and collected some really great
rock samples to take a closer look at tomorrow with the microscope. The EVA suits are going to take
some getting used to. Places that would have been easy to reach normally became extremely difficult
with bulky EVA packs on our backs and the giant round helmets on our heads. By the time we made it
back to the Hab, we were famished and exhausted. Thankfully, our amazing crew-mates already had a
delicious meal on the stove for us to eat. The homemade French bread and Pasta really hit the spot!
We completed Noah’s data collection immediately after dinner and it was a great morale booster for
the entire crew. Noah’s study required that today the crew play a multi-player card game, which
ended up being Apples to Apples. The crew could have easily played for longer than the hour required
for his study, but there was still plenty of other work to get done. Carolyn’s study required two
sessions both lasting two hours. One session was in the morning and one in the evening after Noah’s
study concluded. Today she played a variety of Rock music while we carried out our other daily
activities around the Hab, such as writing reports, cleaning, and cooking. It was definitely nice to
be able to listen to good music while doing other slightly more monotonous daily tasks. Eric
continued to conduct his sleep pattern study throughout the day by interviewing crew members
periodically about their level of sleepiness and conducting tests of our memory. Chelsea
administered a mood questionnaire for her study. Normally this questionnaire and the others that
Chelsea uses would be completed online; however, another major obstacle that we faced today was the
inability to access the internet. While this was difficult at times, it was also a problem that we
were prepared to deal with. We knew that it would be very likely that we would on occasion lose our
ability to access the internet in this isolated Martian environment; therefore, we brought paper
copies of our measures and questionnaires along to allow us to still be able to collect our data in
instances such as this.
Later tonight we plan to celebrate the New Year with a few of our favorite goodies that arrived in
the food bins yesterday such as Sparkling Cider and chocolate – rare luxuries on Mars! We will also
be having our own New Year Ball drop at midnight. While it has been a very challenging day it has
definitely been a great one! Crew 121 has really come together and become a highly cohesive team
which is helping to keep morale high. We are all enjoying our time here on Mars and are looking
forward to all of the exciting experiences to come.
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Commander's Check-In
12/31/2012
Chelsea Iwig
Crew Physical Health: Everyone is in good health aside from allergies from the high amount of dust here on Mars.
Eva Depart Time:
13:14
Eva Return Time:
15:24
Narrative Of Field Mission Results: We divided into two groups of two. Group one went to Teetering Rock first and Group two went to the ridge east of Gateway. Each group then met halfway between the two points and switched destinations. We found some interesting rocks and petrified wood and were able to get oriented to using the EVA equipment.
Hab Maint: Two EVA packs were repaired today by the crew Engineer. The base of EVA pack 2 was repaired and the battery charger connector on EVA pack 4 was repaired. Also, internet was down all day until approximately 9:20pm. It was fixed with the help of the lead CapCOM. The trailer tank was emptied and both the static tank and the loft tank were filled. A request for the trailer tank to be refilled was submitted.
Rep Sched: The Commander will be reporting on the status of the crew, what we have accomplished today, and other interesting things that have taken place. We were able to go on our first EVA today, so Carolyn will be reporting on how that went. Carlos will be sending in a report on our EVA planned for tomorrow because there is just so much here on Mars to explore. The crew Engineer will also be submitting her daily report, and the Health and Safety Officer will report on the current health of the crew. Lastly, today was Carolyn’s first experimental day for her music study. Therefore, she will be reporting the goals of her study and the status of her data collection.
Tomorrow Plan: Tomorrow crew 121 will be getting up bright and early to start Carlos’ exercise study before breakfast. Upon completing our exercise, we will take a break to get cleaned up and eat some breakfast before moving on to the next data collection session. The next session planned for tomorrow will be Amy’s horticulture study. Amy and Carolyn will both be collecting physiological data for their studies and then Amy will also be taking three crew members into the GreenHab to work with the plants. Carolyn will be having a control day, so no music will be played. We are planning a longer EVA for tomorrow, so as soon as the data collection is complete, we will start donning the suits for our second EVA. We plan to leave for our EVA at noon and explore a nearby ridge north of the Hab. Upon returning from EVA we will work on reports and dinner until COMMS is over and then we will have some free time to watch a movie. We weren’t able to watch Apollo 13 last night due to problems with the internet making it take longer for us to submit all of our reports and pictures.
Inventory: No inventory conducted today.
Support Req: There are a few food items we would like to request because we are either low or out of them:
Popcorn (crew 120 suggested that this is an item that we could request)
Honey (many of the breads require honey)
Bacon (we did not receive any in our box and the previous crew used up all of theirs)
Onions (we have very little remaining)