Commander Report
Susan Jewell
SOL 7 - Logdate: 0012062015
Water on Mars
It is nearing the middle of our simulation and I just can’t believe how the time is passing by so rapidly. We also cannot believe that most of the crew have not taken showers since the mission started seven days ago! I wonder how long we can last without taking steaming hot showers, the smell of clean lathering soap, and the feeling of fresh shampoo in our hair. Moments like these we can understand and really appreciate the small luxuries of life like soap and water! To conserve on our water ration we have implemented a limited amount of water to be used each day. So creative “out of the box“ thinking and strict discipline is the key to success. For example, wrapping our plates and bowls with cling film and foil paper to reduce washing each time we eat a meal, or using wet wipes to clean our utensils, or having “dry” baths each night to keep regular hygiene, or at the very least, to be sociable and prevent strong body odors.
Future Martian explorers will need to seriously change their behaviors to adapt to scarcity of resources, such as water and food. Living in a closed-loop environment poses many challenges on the human condition and quality of life. Another problem space explorers will need to face each day are the funny weird odors emanating from our bodies and strange places. Today the crew had another major problem that all earthlings suffer from at least once in their lifetimes…a block toilet! Imagine the thought of living in a “small sardine can” with weird smells from a blocked toilet, stagnant urine, and other indescribable floaters…forget about calling Joe the Plummer. Here on Mars, you can only call “McGyver”, aka the crew engineer, who has performed a brilliant job in keeping all the life support systems functioning well. We love our crew engineer, Ilaria...Thank you!
Ad Astra!