MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION

Journalist Report – December 22nd

Sol 04
Journalist report to be posted
Authored by Anselm Wiercioch

It snowed for a few hours today. That’s not supposed to happen.

Going to have to put some serious effort into revamping our
understanding of Mars’ climate. Coldest day since we landed. The EVA
crew decided to postpone until tomorrow due to potentially inclement
weather. I’m not on tomorrow’s crew, but we might need to reprioritize
some climate data while they’re out.. Will keep investigating.

Otherwise, today was a slow day. Some progress was made in the
greenhouse, and the network connectivity issues persist despite many
hours of messing with it. Felt like a snow day in elementary school
where you’re off class and can feel christmas around the corner.

Our crew engineer engineered some cinnamon raisin swirl bread and it’s
magical. The freeze dried food stores will probably start to wear on
us eventually, but for the time being we’re living it up. As long as
coffee and tea holds out, crew morale is going to be coasting just
fine.

Connor and I’s sleep schedule is holding out strong. We aren’t being
too strinct about the schedule and we aren’t going too extreme – still
a solid six hours or so per night, spaced into ~3 naps. We’ve been
ever so slightly tired but that’s to be expected on the first day or
two. Generally feel pretty energized though.

The most annoying thing at the moment for me is just being cooped up
in a tin can. Really struggling to understand how all those super
smart engineers on the ground decided a treadmill wasn’t necessary.
Yoga and pushups only get you so far. The hab’s air system isn’t
exactly refreshing either. Meh. It’s all good though. I’m sure we’ll
get used to it. Or at least, we’ll be gone before it really starts to
get to us.

We did find a massive binder of awesome (mostly old and/or super
goofy) movies, so that’s helping the nights pass faster after work is
done each day.

Nothing too crazy. The days are moving by faster as a whole.

#Snowday