Commander Report
27 April 2016 – Sol 4
Mission Support,
Greetings from Mars on a very wet day. We had heavy rain throughout the night and into the morning. There have been a couple of small leaks through the roof and in the bathroom though easily contained with buckets. Because of the weather, we did not perform an EVA today.
The group relaxed some in the morning and had pancakes for breakfast. Later, we discussed winter and survival for spacecraft reentry as well as the role of flight surgeons. We also covered celestial navigation using a sextant, and solved several problems related to our position on Earth using navigational stars. We were hoping to perform this exercise using observation from the observatory, but the weather has been uncooperative.
We also continued our group exercise class this afternoon. The remainder of the day has been relaxing and enjoying our time on Mars. The crew has certainly benefitted from some additional rest today, and we are excited for our final full day tomorrow.
We have invested a significant amount of time in trying to get the Hab’s 3D printer working. It does not appear to be functional at this time. The filament modules do not appear to be feeding appropriately. According to multiple blogs, this is a common problem and the company has replaced these free of charge. However, it takes two months on Earth let alone the transport time to Mars, so we do not anticipate a resupply is viable. We recommend that the manufacturer be contacted if future missions would like to use the printer.
We have not had additional critter sightings. The water pump has returned to its normal sounds though the pressure is the best that it has been. It appears that there was a small amount of air in the line which was evident after the toilet burped several times.
We are planning for our EVA approximately 1000 tomorrow. We have word that a fuel delivery will likely arrive before then.
The generator has been working well and we have not lost power except for the one time earlier this week.
We watered the plants.
You should also receive an XO Report/Daily Summary and an Engineering Report.
One question for Mission Support. Do you know when our replacement crew will be arriving on Saturday? We would like to have the Hab ready for them. Should we meet them in Hanksville or are they coming directly to the Hab?
Thank you.