Crew 319
Position: Crew Journalist
Report prepared by: Mackenzie Calle
Date: 13-10-2025
Sol: 2
Crew had a successful evening of Sol 1 and Sol 2! Highlighted by Shriya cooking a magnificent one pot egg pulao, a classic that she makes for herself and her family, and now us here at MDRS! We are starting to adapt to life on the red planet, beginning the mornings with crew meetings that delve into the day’s plans and the necessary experiments. We then drink as much coffee as we feel comfortable rationing at this point (except Ricardo who is going caffeine free!), do some stretching, and eat light breakfasts.
We are missing Elias, our Health & Safety Officer, who was not ultimately able to make the mission. He is absolutely with us in spirit as well as in the form of an incredible green squishy duck that we picked up on our way from Salt Lake City to MDRS. Duck Elias is a very calming presence for the crew and so beloved, as is real Elias. In his absence, Crew Scientist Shriya has stepped up and broadly taken on the role, alongside our Commander Rym Chaid.
The entire crew helped set up Spaceseed today, one of the World’s Biggest Analog (WBA) experiments. It has been a true labor of love and took up most of the day to get it up and running. Well, as I write this it is almost set up and will be completed tonight. Excited to begin collecting this data tomorrow.
Crew Engineer Ricardo J. Gonzalez is now approved to operate the telescopes and our crew is planning astronomy proposals to capture celestial images. We are also planning our first EVA for tomorrow and the crew is excited to begin exploring and familiarizing ourselves with the spacesuits and the Martian terrain!