Today was our first day on Mars. Half a day actually, but busy nonetheless. Our sim didn’t start until early afternoon, once the previous crew left and we had our introductory telecon with the Mission Director. Amazingly we have cell reception out here – if you stand in the right place. Regardless, cell phones are off from now on and our satellite internet is limited and slow. Mars is a lot like the early 90's but without the parachute pants.
We were all eager to get going and our first order of business was an EVA to scout for future EVA locations. Humberto stayed at the Hab with Jorge and acted as our CAPCOM while they worked on a robotic spider. Robotic spiders in an isolated space research facility could potentially go very wrong were this to be a movie. But it's not.
Jorge is the commander from crew 140. He’s stayed on in a supporting role and to get more time in with their research. He’ll leave when our commander Alex arrives this weekend.
We had allocated two hours for our EVA, but due to the learning curve and excitement it ran long. We were about 50 minutes out on the ATVs one way, so we didn't get back until nearly 7pm when the comm window opens with Mission Support. My fault for scheduling such a long EVA so late in the day. Live and learn I suppose, which is what we’re really here for. To live and learn for ourselves, and hopefully humanity.
Is that an excuse? Maybe, but it’s exactly why we did a practice EVA and things are going very smoothly. Crew 140 left the Hab in excellent condition for us and I expect the learning curve will soon flatten.
Once we doffed our spacesuits and sat down for our nightly communications window it wasn't long before we were interrupted by an apparent plumbing issue. Seems our water pump decided to be an overachiever and not stop pumping water even though nothing was running. Our supply is limited, and while we have requested more of the precious substance it’ll be several days before it arrives. Commercial resupply courtesy of the Hollow Mountain Gas Station.
Turns out our fears were unfounded though. We thought we had a leak but while the pump was running it wasn't actually pumping anything. Perhaps it got an air bubble stuck in it when we refilled the tank from the big tank outside. This is happening on and off, but seems to be getting better. Mission Support is aware of it and we’ll cut power to it overnight if we need to.
And so here I am. Most of the crew has gone to bed already. It was a good day – we all decided to sleep in until 8:00 tomorrow. And data rate allowing, we’ll start posting some pictures.
-Pete Morgan-Dimmick
Executive Officer / Acting Commander
We were all eager to get going and our first order of business was an EVA to scout for future EVA locations. Humberto stayed at the Hab with Jorge and acted as our CAPCOM while they worked on a robotic spider. Robotic spiders in an isolated space research facility could potentially go very wrong were this to be a movie. But it's not.
Jorge is the commander from crew 140. He’s stayed on in a supporting role and to get more time in with their research. He’ll leave when our commander Alex arrives this weekend.
We had allocated two hours for our EVA, but due to the learning curve and excitement it ran long. We were about 50 minutes out on the ATVs one way, so we didn't get back until nearly 7pm when the comm window opens with Mission Support. My fault for scheduling such a long EVA so late in the day. Live and learn I suppose, which is what we’re really here for. To live and learn for ourselves, and hopefully humanity.
Is that an excuse? Maybe, but it’s exactly why we did a practice EVA and things are going very smoothly. Crew 140 left the Hab in excellent condition for us and I expect the learning curve will soon flatten.
Once we doffed our spacesuits and sat down for our nightly communications window it wasn't long before we were interrupted by an apparent plumbing issue. Seems our water pump decided to be an overachiever and not stop pumping water even though nothing was running. Our supply is limited, and while we have requested more of the precious substance it’ll be several days before it arrives. Commercial resupply courtesy of the Hollow Mountain Gas Station.
Turns out our fears were unfounded though. We thought we had a leak but while the pump was running it wasn't actually pumping anything. Perhaps it got an air bubble stuck in it when we refilled the tank from the big tank outside. This is happening on and off, but seems to be getting better. Mission Support is aware of it and we’ll cut power to it overnight if we need to.
And so here I am. Most of the crew has gone to bed already. It was a good day – we all decided to sleep in until 8:00 tomorrow. And data rate allowing, we’ll start posting some pictures.
-Pete Morgan-Dimmick
Executive Officer / Acting Commander