1225-CommandersReport

Commander Report

Nick Orenstein

Commander's Log, Mars Date 1321225.5

Last night we had our first freakout. Luckily for Crew 132, this was a fantastical film freakout of the finest Fireball kind. Our modest living space transformed into a warmly lit theater for a screening of The Flaming Lips' "Christmas on Mars", on Mars.

This movie, in its own far out arthouse way, identifies a number of psychological issues which Mars travelers will inevitably experience after long durations away from the home world. Psychotic episodes. Hallucinations. Clinging to old Earth traditions. Birth. Visits by a goateed rockstar alien Santa? Cosmic reality's a, well, it's rough.

So far Crew 132 has not been on Mars long enough for any of these challenges to arise, but we are keenly aware of their potential. At this point, our members are close knit and lucid. But how long can this last? Mars explorers will certainly gain some valuable answers after the upcoming Flashline MARS full-year mission.

On a less philosophical note, today was an exciting personal day. I completed the first assembly of the new GreenHab hydroponics system thanks to the invaluable help of Officer Parrish. As the MDRS GreenHab Coordinator, I proposed the hydroponics system to Mission Support six months ago and I purchased equipment for the new design three weeks ago. Today, the ideas became reality. Soon, the reality will include crops on Mars.

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Commander Check-In Report

Nick Orenstein

Crew Physical Status:

Jolly

Eva Depart Time: 10:20

Eva Return Time: 1 4:40

EVA Highlights : Geologic mapping and sample collection. Met all science goals and had significantly less trouble with EVA equipment than yesterday.

Engineering/Hab Maintenance:

We are attempting to lower our average daily water usage to prevent unnecessary overuse. Our calculations are that we use 350 L/day and Crew 131 used 150 L/day.

Report Transmission Schedule:

Commander Check-In

Commander Report

Engineering Report

GreenHab Report

Science Report (Geology)

Science Report (Biology)

EVA Report

Daily Photos

Journalist Report

Plans for Tomorrow:

Contact DG for expected trailer water resupply. Research work. No EVA.

Inventory:

n/a

Support Requests:

Can HAL be changed to include access to Wikipedia? We understand blocking other websites, but Wikipedia helps with scientific research. Also, crew members report that http://mail.office365.com and http://mail.yahoo.com are not connecting but that http://mail.google.com is working.

Miscellaneous:

Christmas on Mars.