119-JournalistsReport

Journalists Report

January 19, 2014

Vibha Srivastava

The day started very well with everyone getting up at 7 in the morning as the Commander instructed. It was a wonderful morning witnessing the sunrise from the hab’s window just outside our crew quarters on simulated Mars. After the breakfast, we had extensive discussions about our scheduling with the Science Channel film crew over the following day. Kai introduced us about the detailed concept of filmmaking and noted the schedule of each of the projects. We drove to Hanksville to have the briefing prior to the team going to sim from Shannon Rupert, Director, The Mars Society. We spoke to DG in the ‘Hollow Mountains’ to check the status of our hardware equipment arriving early next week. He was really kind enough to give us some important details about the Hab. As soon as we were back, Ewan and Kai managed to get the rover working successfully. Under Ashley’s guidance, Susan tried the quad bikes as all of us had already tried it. As soon as we were sure about our rover doing well, we happily landed on Mars fully equipped, so went in sim. I took a detailed look at the Science Lab to get familiarized with the lab and find some instruments necessary for my experiment. We donned the EVA spacesuits to get familiar with them before stepping out on any future EVAs. Michaela and I tried figuring out the maximum temperature that the furnace heats up to, for our respective experiments. Ewan and Sue Ann finished their engineering round for the day. Ashley and Susan discussed about their projects. Michaela devoted a significant time to familiarize herself with the GreenHab. Kai neatly assembled his camera. We had a good discussion at the dinner table to plan for the next day as the Science channel is expected to arrive anytime tomorrow. Altogether, it was an amazing beginning on Mars. We have a very healthy group dynamics and had a fun-filled day on Mars today.