Crew #: 335
Position: GreenHab Officer
Report prepared by: Lot Brugge
Date: 25APR2026
Sol: day 6
Summary Title: Experimentation
Mission Status: Going fair
Sol Activity Summary:
Some of us started off the day with a very special alarm clock this morning. A peculiar creature entered our sleeping cabin and started rapping. It had a pretty interesting hairdo too. Maybe it was a toy Dave’s granddaughter gave to him, maybe it was an extraterrestrial, we’re yet to find out.
Three of us went on a lovely morning EVA to Somerville overlook. The view was beautiful as always. Dave spent time doing a panoramic shoot, and the filmmakers were busy capturing the landscape. Another successful day of filming!
We spent most of today at the science dome trying to get the microwave kiln to work. It took a lot of waiting and a bit of trial and error, but things finally came together. At one point we could see the small hole in the kiln glowing a deep Martian orange, which was a pretty satisfying sign that it had reached the right temperature.
For this run we used our “sixth crewmember,” the little desert mouse we met yesterday, recreated in clay. After a 12 minute microwave firing and then about an hour of waiting for everything to cool down, we gathered around to see the result. There was a lot of curiosity and honestly pretty high expectations at that point.
When the lid was lifted, we saw that the clay had completely changed. It started as a light greenish blue, but after firing it had turned into a warm orange color, almost the same tone as the mouse. This happens because the heat causes chemical changes in the clay. Minerals inside it, especially ones that contain iron, react with oxygen at high temperatures. That reaction forms iron oxides, which give the clay those orange and reddish tones. At the same time, the particles in the clay fuse together, which is what makes it hard and ceramic. There was no cracking or breakage, so overall it felt like a real success and everyone was pretty stoked.
Our crew engineer had a very busy day too. She spent a lot of time working on M16 astronomy data collection and also on her rover studies. She completed three runs, including ground runs and drone assisted ones. It was a busy day for everyone but with some good results.
Anomalies in work:
Another perfect day for crew 335, no anomlities to report.
Weather:
It was cloudy today and around 70 degrees outside.
Crew Physical Status:
Two of our crewmates woke up with a headache. They continue to struggle with fatigue, though the symptoms have slightly decreased in intensity over the course of our stay here on Mars.
EVA:
Another beautiful day,the crew enjoyed the view and the three of them captured the beauty in their own way, collecting and moving and still imagery.