Crew 176 Commander’s Report 17 March 2017
Natalia Zalewska
Commander Report
17 March 2017 – Sol 6

Dear Mission Support,

Today we woke up a bit later than usual, that is around 9:00 am. All crew
starts feeling a bit tired but the mood is still good. We undertook our
morning sport training, as usual, and some of us completed psychological
tests. From the very morning, we continued to use holter monitors.
Afterwards, we had a breakfast together and discussed the agenda for
today.

During the day we cleaned the kitchen and we proceeded with our daily
tasks assigned to each member. In particular, Crew Engineer continued
testing the small robot Gaia for the purposes of the tomorrow’s EVA
and Green Hab Officer did some works in the Green Hab. I prepared tools
for data collection and a preliminary framework for the analysis of the
samples.

In the afternoon the three of us participated in EVA. Each time when we
get ready for EVA we face serious issues with communication setups that
are hard to explain and they cause delays. In the course of EVA, we went
to the Murphy’s canyon and were very excited to find petrified wood,
as expected (I remembered that spot from the previous mission I was part
of). I also found interesting pieces of gypsum and silica and the places I
had visited 12 years ago while being on the mission at MDRS. I was curious
to verify the degree of erosion that occurred over the last decade in
those spots.

We had no problems with the habitat facilities today. Collaboration within
the five-member team is good, just as it was when we were in four.

Best regards,

Natalia Zalewska
Commander, MDRS Crew 176