0112-JournalistReport

SOL 3

Journalist Report

Crew Journalist Adeniyi Adebayo

Hello Earthlings,

Mars was exceptionally warm today. Sol 3 began with routine engineering checks and team debrief. During team debrief, we planned the day’s EVA and the EVA team set out in earnest on a most adventurous day-out. Hiking north-west from the HAB, we set out to collect the most varied soil samples we could possibly find. Comrade Lenin (Mikhail Lenin) who was in charge of this EVA made sure that the team moved fast and decisively as we hiked across the rough terrain of the red planet.

We reached the highest summit of today’s EVA approximately 50 minutes after stepping out of the HAB. I helped Comrade Lenin to track our GPS locations and set up landmarks of the Skoltech Martian mission. We spent the remainder of the EVA hiking across trails left by previous missions, re-creating landmarks for ATV stops and trails. I picked up some rocks as we walked across the vast lands of just sand. Mars looks strangely beautiful even with its lack of lush and vegetation.

We got back to the HAB and crew commander treated us to a wonderful meal of rice, beans and turkey. Lunch was followed by routine checks by HSO to confirm the fitness of all crew members.

After a short rest, all crew members retired to their work stations for an evening of deep work on various research projects. Comrade Lenin's robotic arm will be scooping sand from various points on Mars in the coming days as he finalizes the coding of the robot. Captain Marmot (our crew astronomer, Veronika Shtengardt), spent the day calibrating the telescope and hopefully, very soon, we will have some beautiful shots from the Martian skies.

Here are some shots from SOL 3.

From Mars, with love.