It seems pretty days around here are over. Today, it was a rainy day with temperatures between the mid-thirties and low-fifties. Also, something that is almost over is our rotation. This week has been definitely wonderful. I could not have asked for a better group. My crew mates Karen Rucker, Victoria LaBarre, Jaxom Hartman, Johnathan Beehcner, and Drew Canham have been an awesome team to work with. Thanks to McLennan Community College, Mars Desert Research Station, and my crew mates for this opportunity.
This morning after breakfast crew member Victoria LaBarre started to work on fixing the rover issued reported yesterday with the plan of testing it one more time on the Martian terrain. At about 10:30, local time, a group led by her and completed by Beechner and Canham went out to perform a rover test. Due the bad conditions of the terrain because the nightly and early morning rain, the test was shorter than planned. However, the rover got the chance to be tested on a muddy terrain allowing her to collect information for further work. She is planning to keep working on the improvement of the rover once she returns back home.
After lunch, a team consisting of Beechner, Villarroel, and LaBarre went out of the hab to conduct the second part of the geology experiments initiated two days ago. They traveled to the location known as The Little Canyon and collected important geology data of interest. After approximately two hours of work the group returned to the Hab without any inconvenience. This geology EVA closed the series of experiments planned to be conducted outside the Hab before coming back home (Earth) by crew 167B.
Weather conditions have been getting worse as the day progresses. At about 16:00, Martian time, the area located around the Hab was under a moderate hailstorm. However, hails were not bigger than 0.3 cm causing no damage to the structure of the Hab.
Dinner consisted of breakfast food, including scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes. For dessert Commander Rucker prepared energy bites made of oatmeal, peanut butter, and Nutella.
Some crew members have already started to pack and getting ready to return to Earth with satisfaction of being part of this experience.
See you later Mars! And one more time, thanks to everybody that makes it an awesome experience.
Otsmar J. Villarroel. Commander-in-training/Astronomer/Journalist Crew 167B