Day 6

Good morning from the red planet! It is beautiful and sunny out- the rain has gone and it is looking like it will even get up to 60 today! Jessica has dubbed today "breakfast day" since the only meal we all really enjoy out here is breakfast. It doesn't taste freeze-dried and isn't rubbery. I'm a total fan of this idea and will get started on it soon.

Yesterday I declared the day "homework day" and I spent the morning writing a senior design report and the afternoon studying for a history test that I am missing this coming Tuesday. The crew has gotten into the series "Firefly" as we are all Joss Whedon fans...so I had to fit in a few of those episodes too. :)

Billy headed down to engineering in the early afternoon and put together the rover. She's looking good. We had some unfortunate news come from Dan, as he had gone out to check the voltage on the battery that I was using in my repeater station...the winds had gotten up to 30 mph and our solar panel had blown over and cracked. Luckily, the voltage coming off the panel was normal, and it is just cosmetic damage...but mission support obviously doesn't like to hear these things. Dan's rotten luck continued when he went on a turbine EVA with Jessica and Eric...one of the main components failed. He came in, looking pretty disheartened. So is life out here. Things are up in the air, and failures occur daily. It is the kind of challenge we engineers really enjoy. We are typically the crew that comes out and fixes everything, so mission support has no issue with us. I'm hoping we can keep that reputation this year, especially since I'm planning to be Commander next year.

Also not functioning- two of the backpacks. Chris, Dan and Eric spent some time soldering the fuse and both seemed to kick back on. We still are having issues with one of the helmets- when Chris was on an EVA, the bowl actually came loose of the base and he was exposed to air- hence, he died on the surface of Mars that day. Hopefully we can continue to get them working.

A non cooking day- I rehdyrated some mountain chili and sierra chicken. It wasn't great, but it was edible. 5 days until burgers and milkshakes. 7 days until a real shower! While I will be so happy to get back to regular meals, I really will miss the time out here. We ended the evening by playing some paperclip poker and watching firefly again. Off to go enjoy the day!

Plans for today:

Breakfast day!
Radio coverage EVA and mapping EVA
History
Turbine fixing

Quotes:
"I'm pushing all the buttons I have"-Dan
"Jilllllian!"- Chris, everytime the firefly discs skipped
"I was going to steam roll him, but then I got too lazy"- me

Check out Billy's picasa pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bjg222

Jillian
Crew 93-XO

Day 5

I absolutely love my mornings out here. I'm usually the first up, so I head downstairs to look outside of the air lock at the beautiful terrain. A bit wet this morning, but still cannot wait to get out there today. I sit with a mug full of hot chocolate and answer emails from friends and family. The team slowly stumbles out of their rooms and we laugh about the previous days. There's no stress, no rush to school, no last minute exam preparations- just relaxing sittings with good friends.

Yesterday was a "cooking" day so we used some bread that Jessica had made on the previous cooking day to make french toast. We only had imitation egg whites and dehydrated milk, but Billy did a great job in making it appear like real french toast. I decided early that day that I wanted to launch the repeater without the antenna, so I traveled down the stairs to engineering to assemble the repeater station. With the help of Dan and some wire cutting, we got the solar panel charger hooked up to the battery and the Icom programmed. We talked to mission support about borrowing a solar panel from the side of the hab, as we would need this in order to keep the battery charged and to avoid having to travel to the station nightly to change out the 12V. They noted that the solar panel was not hooked up to anything critical and that we could use it. Excited, Chris and I suited up and went out on an EVA to retrieve the panel. I forgot how difficult it is to use any tools in the heavy gloves. Once we had disconnected the solar panel from the hab, we headed back inside. I hooked up the solar panel to the repeater, and Dan and I carried the station up to the observatory hill to make sure the battery was charging with ample sunlight. To our surprise, it actually was. What, something working? We were thrilled.

Speaking of working...DG, our supply chief, has become our hero. In one day, he brought us a full water tank, fixed the downstairs heater, put a new battery in the rover Viking II, and fixed our HabCar. We now have heat, water, and more methods of transportation.

Once Dan and I got back into the hab, I grabbed my shower stuff for another steamy 90 seconds. Oh, how thrilling. When I came out of the shower room, I saw Eric and Dan suited up, just coming back from an EVA to test voltages on the remaining solar panels. From what I gathered, we had not done anything to hurt the system by removing one of the panels. They desuited, and I went upstairs to comb my Oasis (the biodegradeable soap we use, ew) knotted hair. After that I cooked the crew an interesting dinner, which really wasn't as successful as I would have liked. I attempted cheesesteaks with imitation beef bits, onions, velveeta and bread pockets....but they were very average. We just keep thinking, in one week, we'll be able to get hamburger's and milkshakes in town. Our crew will go out of sim next Thursday, clean the hab Friday, and leave Saturday. It is odd to look at Facebook and see friend's statuses note that they are returning from spring break, while I am still here. I guess that means I should get to my homework...

We ended the evening by watching the first two episodes of the popular series "Firefly", which all of us "space nerds" love. This was followed by a good 9 hours of sleep. Brilliant.

Quotes:

"I was thinking we could have the "clam chowder of rage" for lunch tomorrow"-Jessica
"I'm going to come in your room with no core containment"-Chris
"Chris, Jon Kosh is on your door, but I think he's in woman form"-me

Plans for today:

Check on repeater and battery charge
Mapping EVA's
Senior design paper...

Miss y'all to earth and back,

Jillian
Crew 93-XO

Day 4

Went to bed early last night, as I was pretty tired from being in the sun, and fell into a series of dreams. The last one I remember, was at a party at a friend's lakehouse, and there were bunk beds. Waking up in my bunk bed, I totally thought "I need to go get my towel off the dock" and proceeded to get out of bed. When I realized I was in a tiny cubby in a tin can, I realized I, in fact, was not at the lake, and still at Mars Desert Research Station. Had to laugh. Just to further smack me in the face, I tripped on a bucket in the kitchen that was meant to catch "Snap". It didn't catch the tiny mouse, but it did catch me. Epic fail.

Yesterday was a little bit lazier day, which was welcomed. After breakfast, I settled into my bedroom with my book series, Dead until Dark, and didn't get back up until lunch. Made myself some lunch and was catching up on some work when I heard Dan yell, "WE'VE GOT MAIL!!!" I ran downstairs to find my beloved radio equipment in the Airlock (thank you DG!), which I promptly hugged and sent up the stairs. Billy, Chris and Eric suited up with the help of Dan and Jessica and went out for a "temperature sensitive EVA" to determine what kind of clothes were necessary under the suits to keep warm while on ATVs. After their test, they came back in, reported it was pretty warm out (55 degrees) and they were ready to go on their way. The boys then set off on their more purposeful EVA...mapping the roads by GPS on ATV. Billy noticed when we were out the other day that some of the trails did not match up with his GPS, and being an avid navigator, decided to develop it into an experiment. While everyone was busy, I set up the base station of the radio equipment, and realized two of my antennae and my jpole were missing. Unfortunately, we cannot launch the repeater and get any signal without these. I set up the repeater in a pelican case and set aside; then began charging the radios themselves. Everything is connected, charged and ready to go, minus a solar panel that is attached to the hab. I will go on an EVA today to retrieve this panel and will also start hauling the repeater box out through engineering to get it ready for when the other packages arrive.

When I completed, everyone was either asleep or reading, so I grabbed my book and headed out to the trailer, which is in a pressurized tunnel. Got some sun, and then came up to finish my book. The boys returned from their EVA and I helped them take off of their suits. Cooked dinner, which consisted of rehydrating pasta alfredo with shrimp, as it was a non-cooking day. Needless to say, I look forward to the cooking days where I can actually come up with something creative and tasty. After dinner, Chris taught Jessica and I how to play poker (with paperclips for chips), and I was actually doing very well (beat out four of the crew members), but eventually lost to Dan. The crew played a couple more rounds, but by the third I retreated to my room to write a couple of emails and get some rest.

Quotes:
"This isn't worth my paperclips"-Dan
"Oh you friggin tree, you better not come over here!!"-Eric, playing some game
"I don't like being big blind. I can't see"-Jessica
"You walk outside, and it actually feels like you're wearing clothes"-Billy

Plans for today:
-Mapping EVA
-EVA to launch repeater/grab solar panel
-Cooking!!

Off to enjoy french toast and get a start on the day!

Jillian
Crew 93- XO

Day 3

The crew witnessed an intruder yesterday. Creaking noises, scuttering...and finally..."Squeak" appears. A tiny, fuzzy brown mouse came to visit us. Dan, who isn't as fond of our little friend, argues that my name for the little guy is not valid, and instead, should be "Snap" because that is the last thing his little ears will hear before he dies. You've guessed it...I woke up to traps and stories of the crew trying to trap him in the airlock. He escaped. Run far, Squeak!

It was an extremely windy morning yesterday, and we watched Dan pace back and forth during breakfast worrying about the state of the wind turbine. It is not completely set up yet, and even with the break on, the blades were spinning so fast we couldn't see them. After breakfast, I sat down with my books and hammered out some outlines. Billy posted some more photos and is working to get Day 3 up as we speak. I gave up after a few chapters and settled down to lunch with the crew. We then decided that we were ready to go into sim, and all headed out the doors of the tin can to say goodbye to our beautiful landscape. While out there, we noticed that one of ATV covers had blown away. In a race to get to it, Billy and Eric set off by foot and Chris and I grabbed an ATV. By the time Chris and I arrived, Billy was already back to the hab with the cover. Fail. After all covers were secured with rocks, we set up the camera in front of the hab and took some great jumping shots. Finally, we headed into the airlock to pressurize. After a minute of pressurization, we stepped into our home for the next 10 days.

Dan figured it was about time that we showed the new crew members how to suit up and let the old crew members refamiliarize. We dressed Jessica and an excitement for EVA's filled the air. Billy started mapping an EVA upstairs while I tackled some senior design and Jessica made some pizza dough and sauce. After some relaxing on all our parts, we each made our own individual pizzas...some bigger than others. I'm pretty sure Billy's could have taken over a small planet. Eric had so much cheese that it started running off the pizza...pretty amusing.

Eric picked the movie "Elf" and we all crowded on the hab floor to watch. Of course, I was out as soon as half the movie was over. Some day I'll make it through one...

Quotes:

"Everyone enjoys a good shake, Chris"-me
"Not babies" -Dan

"She's like a self contained, traveling anecdote"-Dan, about me

"She's like MUFASA!" -Jessica

"And you're blushing about this?"-Jessica
"Yeah, my life is pathetic."-me
"yeaaah..."-Eric

Plans for today:
Find parts for turbine test load
EVA to get used to sim
Sacrifice Snap to win the favor of the postal gods

Yes...my radios are still not here...

Off to the first full day in sim,

Jillian
Crew 93-XO

Day 2

Chilly out this morning...high of 49 today...a big change from our sunburned faces and highs of 70. Today we go into full simulation at lunch. That means, no stepping outside the hab and the pressurized tunnels without a space suit and without reason (a planned EVA). We have to be as spare with our resources as possible. As per usual, we tried to do as much as possible yesterday.

After breakfast, we discovered MDRS Clue that Crew 89 had created. All six of us settled down at the table to play...I mean, who wouldn't want to play when the weapons are items like horribly polluted greenhab water and rock hammers? Unfortunately, we somehow failed to reveal a card along the way and no one won. The culprit? Geologist Russet, in the Greenhab with the hydrochloric acid. Guarenteed that game will come out a few more times in our stay here.

Next, we gathered all the pieces of the wind turbine and hiked up the engineering hill to set it up. A mysterious car kept circling the hab...seeing as we are in the middle of nowhere, we all became very curious and nervous. When it started to come towards the hab, I ran down the hill to meet the visitor. Puck, a location scouter for Disney, introduced herself proudly. They will be filming "John Carter of Mars" due east of the Hab and discussed how we could coexist during filming. Unfortunately, our crew will not be here for the filming, but we are making sure not to take the ATV's on the marked area so that the terrain will remain untouched and look realistic. Dan came down to meet the stranger and noted that he was waiting for me to come back up to raise the turbine. Knew I liked you, Dan! We set up the hill and after some work tugging down the supporting ropes with turnbuckles, we raised the sucker. She spun proudly. After a few pictures we headed down the hill, fairly sunburned and hot. It was time for the first shower. I filled a bucket of water by pump from the big trailer tank, grabbed some Oasis, biodegradable soap, and dunked my head in. Washed my hair and shaved my legs out on the trailer and then ran inside to our "zero G" shower for a 90 second wash. I forgot how cold it was, but I was pretty clean and settled in with my book for a couple chapters.

The crew decided we had not had enough outdoor time, so we took the ATV's to Box Canyon. The sites were just incredible. Billy is uploading pictures as we speak. We rode out and back, doing a total of 12 miles from the Hab to Box Canyon and back. Satisfied with our venture, we came back and pumped water from the outside tank to the inside tank for drinking and cooking water. Gassed up the ATV's, checked tire pressure and oil, checked on the generator and settled in for dinner. It was a non-cooking day, so we could only rehydrate freeze-dried food. I made the crew Sante Fe black beans and rice. They seemed content. We all were pretty exhausted from the sun, so after dinner, we chatted for a bit and then all retreated back to our cubbies for some much-needed rest.

Still waiting on my radios to arrive in Hanksville...if they don't, my research plan will be shot. Still keeping very busy out here, nonetheless. Hoping to see them in the next couple of days, along with the rover. CMON, UPS!!

Off to get ready for the first day in sim (and say goodbye to the beautiful outdoors),

Jillian
XO-Crew 93

Day 1

Up early this beautiful morning to watch the sunrise and start on a hefty breakfast for the crew. I somehow assume the role of cook each rotation, and surprisingly, enjoy coming up with creative ways to use the freeze dried ingredients. This morning, which was supposed to be pancakes and oatmeal, will be put on hold until tomorrow due to the fact this is a non-cooking day of the food study. Sadness.

Speaking of the crew members, let me tell you a little about them. The members of Crew 79 (GT's last year rotation) and the Georgia Tech Mars Society asked for applications for this year's rotation in September. By October we selected 10 promising astronauts, 6 of which would actually come to MDRS. The remaining 4, which were not selected for the trip itself, serve as mission support back at home. These members are greatly missed by our team and my best friend, Rebecca, serves as one. She's been keeping me up to date on Earth and we're grateful to have her on the team. (Love you, R!). Now...onto who is at MDRS this year...

First we have Dan, our Commander. Grad student in AE and Crew 69 and 79 veteran. Specializes in Wind Turbine Power and keeps us all in line. He, with the help of others, has been putting together a wind turbine and we will raise it on a nearby cliff today.
Billy, a veteran of Crew 79, is a grad student majoring in Robotics, and is serving as our Information and Technology Officer, in which he will be our photographer and mission support contact. He also is our rover lead, and will do several EVA's testing the Rover that a GT team built. Chris, an undergraduate in AE, our Chief Engineer, assumes the role I did last year...maintaining power to the Hab at all times, keeping all electronic equipment running and taking care of any ATV maintenance. It is more difficult then it sounds. Eric, also an undergraduate in AE, is serving as our Science Lead, where he will take care of the GreenHab, all plants, and the water line that connects from the GreenHab to our toilet, shower and sink. Also a difficult job. Jessica, also an undergraduate in AE, our Health and Safety Officer, is coordinating the food study and making sure we're all practicing safe habits. The food study consists of all freeze dried food and cooking/non-cooking days. More on that later. And finally, I'm serving as the Executive Officer, where I will be Dan's second-in-command, training for the position next year. This just means I'll be coordinating EVA's and making sure everyone is getting ample time to do their experiments. I also serve as the Radio Lead, doing a study on radio range on Mars terrain. Unlike any other crew, we bring our own Amateur Radio equipment and are all certified by the FCC (KJ4JZZ! ftw). We'll set up a repeater on Skyline Ridge, which is at an elevation of 4950 feet, as well as a base station at the hab, and hopefully enjoy stable communication between astronauts during EVA's using handheld radios. You guessed it- I am also an undergraduate at Tech- a super senior in Aerospace, graduating this fall. All said and done, this is a great crew with various talents and I'm looking forward to spending the next two weeks with them.

Onto the more fun stuff...yesterday. We all got up about 9 AM, blasting "Never gonna give you up" into Chris' bedroom to get him out of bed (teehee). After breakfast, Jessica and I started the food inventory and planning meals for the next two weeks. Since we haven't started our simulation yet (will start Tuesday), I am attempting to spend as much time outdoors as possible, without space suits. Helped Dan and Eric a bit with wind turbine assembly and suntanned out on the water talk. I then grabbed Jessica and Billy, the ATV keys, and we headed out for a 2 hour sprint around the mountains. It was truly a gorgeous, relaxing drive. In total we went 12 miles, at an average elevation of 4516 ft, at a highest speed of 36 mi/hr. Came back, did some reading, and I cooked dinner for the crew. Finished the day with watching "Coraline" with the crew...or sleeping through the movie....and off to bed around midnight.

Quotes from the day:

"Ugh, now I have corn sauce on my plate!" -Chris
"We didn't have Wasabi, but we had tabasco, so I put it up my nose. That HURT." -Me
"There's no crying in Mars"-Rebecca

Off to enjoy the last day out of sim,

Jillian
XO-Crew 93

Day 0

Decided to start this blog to document my second stay at Mars Desert Research Station. The Pennyslvania Space Grant Consortium sponsored both Eric and I for this rotation in hopes we could send reports of our stay to encourage NASA to provide more funding for similar student missions. Needless to say, we are extremely grateful. So here we go...

Arrived here in Hanksville yesterday about noon and ventured into the desert. Off-roaded to Mars Desert Research Station in our Toyota Sequoia, windows down and blasting "Let it Rock." Smiles all around. Unpacked our mass of personal equipment next to the Hab and knocked on the door to meet Crew 92, the past 6 astronauts to spend two weeks at the station. After saying hello, since Billy and I had previously been here, we went ahead and went to town to pick up shelf stable food (yuck) while the others became familiar with the hab and our processes. Crew 92, a batch of men and women from the French Air Force, bid farewell, took the car and abandoned us in the desert.

Grabbed our things and headed upstairs to our home for the next 14 days. Fought over the "warmest" rooms, and I ended up in my beloved room from last year that the crew engineer usually stays in, since it is close to the stairs. We have heard that the generators this year are fairly reliable and Chris, the crew engineer, should have much less trouble this year than I had in the past. I will miss the middle of the night adventures to restore power to the hab. He still chose a room close to the stairs...although the space is so tiny, we all are a 5 second sprint to the downstairs lab area. After unpacking, we grabbed a quick bite to eat- leftovers from Applebees, as we are not in sim yet.

Ventured outside to the beloved ATV's. ATV training went well...I always forget how much fun they are out on this terrain...and a little nerve wracking. After Dan, Billy and I got the new members of the crew acquainted with all the equipment out here, we went on a quest to find the dinosaur bones. Apparently the site is is "hush hush" as excavation has not started, and we weren't sent any GPS coordinates- just told they would be found between two well known peaks ("Big Daddy" and Phobos). After three hours of hiking, we still had not found a thing and decided to call it a day. I cooked the crew dinner and we watched the sun set. The stars are incredible out here. We went to bed around 9, as we were all exhausted after the trip from grand junction, crew handover, and hiking.

Not sure why our report page is not up at this time, but you can watch us on the webcams here: http://www.freemars.org/mdrscam/.
Will introduce the crew and our research in the next few posts.

Off to another beautiful day in the desert!

Yours,

Jillian
XO- Crew 93