1201-CommandersReport

Commander's Report

12/1/2014

Gregory Leonard

Today has been a highly eventful and once again productive day for all team members. The crew awoke this morning to find that a sleepless team member the previous evening had affixed our MDRS-144 mission patch and Mars Arctic 365 patch onto our black coveralls. It was a pleasant surprise and they look fantastic!

After a group breakfast we reviewed planning for the day, this followed by the development of a team mission statement. Everyone shared their outlook on the purpose of this crew’s mission together, from which we constructed and proclaimed the collective, overarching principles of our mission, including our unifying technical, intersocial, and outreach themes and objectives.

Two team tasks assigned by MDRS Director saw further progress. First the “Antarctica pile” platform was cut in half: the rotted half was dismantled and discarded, and the good half was re-leveled and reinforced, and all reusable lumber, hardware, and equipment re-stowed on the repaired deck. The second task required transit (using ERV, our Earth Return Vehicle) to the Loa supply depot to collect materials for the construction of the Hab’s 7th stateroom in the loft. All materials have been acquired and stowed neatly in the Hab tunnel, leaving ample room for crew to access the GreenHab. The stateroom will take shape in the coming days and provide much needed additional crew room for the Hab.

This afternoon, two crew members presented with symptoms of illness; they are being monitored by crew HSO (see HSO report).

The team met early evening to fine tune our mission schedule and a high-level plan has been developed. Our plan lays out in fine detail, enumerated on half-hour increments, the planned activities for all crew for the planned mission duration. With our mission planning in hand we are now readying for entering into full simulation this evening. Additionally, a detailed EVA plan was made for tomorrow Mars surface work; a mission support request has been submitted.

Before dinner we captured crew photographs in our new coveralls and t-shirts. This is a fine looking crew! Importantly too, we are well-prepared, confident, and quite energized to be nearing our crew’s initiation into full Mars analog simulation.