305-JournalistsReport

Journalist Report

Olenka Jibaja Valderrama

03/05/2015

Have you ever achieved something and heard the song “We are the champions” inside of your head? That happened to me just an hour ago. I have mentioned in my last reports that we were working on a system to generate energy in order to warm the Hab, today we finally finished the model mockup and we tried the system. It worked! The temperature of the little Hab we constructed increased as the hot water heated the tube full of Nutella. Our temperature went from 25.7°C to 34.3°C, which is a great success. I feel really good as it took some time and effort to construct the model mockup. Of course we have to improve the system, but it’s definitely a great beginning.

We also worked on our shoe cover dispenser, specifically in the construction of the mechanic structure and the design of the bags for the shoes. We are considering the fact that there will be considerable variations on the size of shoes, so we are trying to make standard bags to fit on everyone’s feet. Today Romulo Cruz conducted an EVA in the afternoon to take more samples of land from Mancos shale formation. Before going out, he and Jim Gora surprised us with a very delicious dish that reminded me the food from Peru. Then, he dried soil samples to analyze them in the lab. Jim Gora has been analyzing the sun’s movement during the day to find out the way shadows appear in the land. This will be useful to determine the parameters for his project.

We will keep you informed of any improvement or new proposal. Attached are some photos from today.

Best regards,

Olenka Jibaja Valderrama.

Journalist – Crew 150