Journalist Report
12/14/2013
Prepared by Antoine Juhel
It has now been officially one week since we have landed on Mars, and a lot has already happened. Our spirits has been tested multiple times but our resolve has not wavered. With one week to go we will redouble our efforts, and make the most out of our time left here on Mars.
Today the crew enjoyed a late wakeup as this was a non-exercise day. After enjoying some cinnamon-chocolate chip pancakes the crew slowly began working on their daily activities. In parallel a couple crewmembers worked in conjunction with mission control and performed maintenance work on the Hab’s telescope.
In the afternoon, EVA team 2 continued to test the armband GPS device in a regular walking EVA, while the rest of the crew performed much needed household tasks around the Hab. After their return, the crew started to work on their first video log outlining the research currently being done here on Mars. This surprisingly took more time than anticipated, and occupied most of the remainder of the afternoon.
Maintenance-wise, we had been having some issues with starting a couple of the nuclear-powered Rovers, however this issue was resolved when we realized that the affected Rovers’ cooling rods were malfunctioning. Once identified, the problem was easy to fix and all rovers are now fully operational. We are still having issues with the below freezing temperatures affecting our water system. Our crew engineer has been waking up every hour throughout the night to activate the water pump in order to keep the water from freezing. In the future, we will be taking turns doing so to ensure that all crew members get a minimum amount of quality sleep every night.