Crew #: 335
Position: Crew Journalist
Report prepared by: MatteoCalore
Date: 25APR2026
Sol: 6
Report Title: Returning to Form
This morning, a few of us woke to a rather unusual kind of alarm. A strange little creature slipped into our sleeping quarters, calling us back to the land of the awake. A surreal and slightly disorienting way to begin the day.
Later, three of us set out on a long morning EVA to Somerville Overlook. As always, the landscape was breathtaking. Dave focused on capturing a panoramic sequence, while the filmmakers worked on documenting the terrain, training their gaze and cameras to hold the vastness of these endless red valleys. It became another productive and rewarding day of filming.
We spent the rest of the day in the science dome, working to activate the microwave kiln for Charlotte’s clay project. It required patience, along with several trials and adjustments, but eventually everything came together. We finally witnessed the first clay experiment take form—our “sixth crewmate,” the small desert mouse we encountered yesterday. After about twelve minutes of firing in the microwave and nearly an hour of cooling, the mouse was preserved in the earth collected from the canyons. A small but meaningful transformation—matter shifting state, holding memory.
Our crew engineer also had a very full day. She dedicated significant time to processing Messier 16 astronomy data and continued her rover research.
We ended the day sharing a warm meal and looking at photographs of Fremont culture clay artifacts taken by our commander. A day marked by cycles of observation, transformation, and quiet reconnection.