Journalist report
Olenka Jibaja Valderrama
03/11/2015
Hello Mission Report:
I can’t believe we only have 3 days left in Mars! It feels like yesterday when we started our projects and now we are so close to finish our rotation. Today I am really happy because my radish plants are bigger than yesterday, they are doing great. I also did my daily observations of the sweetpotato. The sweetpotato plants are growing slowly, maybe I won’t be able to see significant growth during my rotation. I am preparing a document with some instructions related to my project, so next crews can continue the research. I have also been investigating about the capture, transportation and storage of carbon dioxide in order to use it to feed plants, I hope we have time to develop a project related to this topic, which I consider important to study as Martian explorers produce this gas everytime they breath.
Luis Castillo has been moving the bigger plants into more suitable pots. The hop plants are growing fast, so he had to but a metal mesh too in order to induce the correct growth of the stem. He has also moved sorghum plants. We can’t wait to start working in the Green Hab as we know it’s really necessary for future projects related to vegetables.
Romulo Cruz has been organizing the samples he took as part Jean Hunter’s request. Daniel Rivas has already finished assembling the structure of the exoskeleton with the electronic part, so he is ready to try how it works. Now he needs to try it basically on three types of terrain: clayey, sandy and rocky. Jim Gora has been analyzing the real photos he took yesterday from the dessert using the program he has done. He concluded that he needs to adjust more parameters.
As part of our team project, we have finished constructing the electronic card of the shoe cover dispenser system to make it automatic. We have also been trying the warming system mockup model in order to find out the maximum temperature possible with water at different temperatures. For each different water temperature, we need to measure the temperature during one hour, this is why it takes so long.
Knowing that this are our last days makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. Sad because I am sure I will miss this. Happy because we got this chance, which I consider a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Attached are pictures from today.
Best regards,
Olenka Jibaja Valderrama
Journalist - Crew 150