Sol: 07
Earth Date: 02.05.2017
Written by: Sneha Velayudhan (Crew Biologist)

Each day on Mars for the crew comes in with its own set of tasks, excitement and responsibility. Apart from our tasks on research activity we also have to make sure that the support systems for the hab are also in proper working condition. The day is carefully planned with team briefings early morning ;( The day started at 0700 hrs with briefing of the planned activities for the day. My day’s first task was to water the plants followed by a planned EVA. It was a fun day for the ladies in the crew as they were out for an EVA. The biggest question of the day was that the master chefs (Mamatha and myself) will be away and it had to be decided who will prepare the lunch?? !!! Saroj, our Scientist reluctantly took up the responsibility due to his lack of experience in cooking.

Today’s EVA was planned to be performed by Mamatha, Arpan and myself. The EVA preparation started at 1000 hrs, the first task was to pump water, dispose trash and perform regular checks for healthy operations of the Hab. The team left for one of the most exciting EVAs with the task to perform drone experiment and soil sample collection. We had to drive more than a mile from the hab as there is an airport nearby! The drones have the tendency to create excitement among all age groups, this task was challenging as we were in sim mode and that made the pre-flight checks and navigation trickier. Mars has unfriendly terrain that makes EVAs risky, the idea here was to use drone to get a glimpse of the actual terrain of the planned EVA site ahead. The mission was quite successful as the crew could sense the rough terrain that was not supporting the soil sample collection task and avoided the same for a new location! More such operations will be carried out in the coming week’s EVAs and the results will be summarised during the end of the mission!

During our EVA, Saroj and Arun spent 2.5 hours preparing ‘dal fry’ (Lentils curry) and mixed vegetable curry. This is not an exaggeration but the fact!! Each ingredient added to the curry was rigorously tested by Scientist’s taste buds. Surprisingly the lunch turned out to be tasty and the hard work was much appreciated by others. The tired crew took a short afternoon nap. In the evening, Arpan vacuumed the living space while Saroj made Chai. Rest of the evening was spent preparing documents and planning for the next day’s activities.

Thanks,

Mamatha