2022-2023 Field Season (#22)

Sol 4: Rocks + Stars = Rockstars!
The Mangalyatri crew woke up to a cool day with a hint of sun peeking through the clouds, and, mercifully, very little wind. Perfect EVA conditions! Our Marstronauts had a quick breakfast of blueberry pancakes to fuel their journey, and then it was off for a 1000 start.
Everyone got into their EVA suits quickly, with a minor hitch along the way. One of the suits hadn’t charged (which we later realised was our fault as the fan hadn’t been switched off), meaning a change of suit for one of the crew. The crew were still out the door relatively on time (in the airlock at 1002), and were off to try and find some gypsum, concretions, and any possible evidence of microbial life. This was a fairly long EVA for our fresh Marstronauts, and they managed their time and energy extremely well, and even brought back some great samples of lichens, soil, and rocks for testing by our crew biologist, Daniel.
The rest of the crew at home were focused on more domestic tasks like sweeping, how to bathe using the least amount of water possible, and cooking lunch so that the EVA crew had a hot meal as soon as they got home. Great successes on all three fronts, I’m pleased to say!
The crew was spread out this afternoon with some people in the Hab, some in the Science Dome, and some in the GreenHab, all focusing on different tasks. Mehnaz took care of the plants and began planting some more radish seeds for both us and her experiments, Annalea continued her drawing and painting, Bharti and I had a lengthy geology and geoconservation discussion, Daniel helped in the GreenHab and baked a banana bread, and Rajvi continued doing her stellar work as crew engineer.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Aditya was quietly working away in his room, processing data from the robotic observatory leading to one of Sol 4’s biggest successes – a beautiful image of NGC5904 (a globular cluster 24,500 light years away from Earth)! Aditya even showed us a publicly searchable image of NGC5904 for comparison, and his was extremely similar. His image of NGC5904 was met with a chorus of oohs and aahs from the rest of the crew. We were (and still are) incredibly impressed with the quality of his image. The crew can’t wait to see what you image next. Well done, Aditya!
Mangalyatri truly is a crew of rockstars, both metaphorically, and in terms of actual rocks and stars (well globular clusters, really).
Keeping our head in the stars,
Clare Fletcher (292 Mangalyatri Journalist)

Sol 5: Snow Worries
We had two EVAs planned for today (pending good weather), so when my alarm went off at 0700, I hurried out of bed to start preparing breakfast and getting ready. When I walked out of my room, I was sad to see a very grey sky, but that quickly turned to delight when I went over to the window and saw a blanket of snow covering everything in sight. I knew it would mean no EVAs, but a childlike glee took over and I spent the next half hour taking photos until others began to wake up. One by one the Mangalyatri crew started to get up, each to be told in turn “go look out the window” until all the crew members had woken up, seen the snow, and had their turn gasping “Wow, is that snow!?”, only for it to be followed by “so no EVAs?”.
The crew was definitely disappointed with not being able to go on our EVAs today (as confirmed by Mission Support an hour prior to our planned start time). Instead, we all turned our hands to whatever research we could conduct indoors. Our GreenHab still needed attending to, and our plants are coming along nicely, including a big harvest this afternoon! Mehnaz continued her research work in the GreenHab, as well as starting to work on calculations and data analysis with the help of Aditya.
Our Science Dome had a workout today, with Daniel beginning DNA extractions, Bharti getting lots of geology reading done, and Annalea continuing her art project and research. Thank goodness we have enough research to be going on with while we can’t go outside. The rest of our crew spent the day at our computers, planning and writing, as well as discussing geology, study targets, and how to go about our EVAs to ensure we meet all our goals in the limited time we have left here (and pending more bad weather).
On the non-work side of things, we made two loaves of bread, though only one of the chefs ended up covered in flour. We also spent much of the day peeking out the windows to watch the snow melt away from the east side of the hills through to the west side as the sun went overhead. The crew also spent a few minutes this evening laughing at snow puns, wishing that all reports could be funny.
Feeling glad that most reports don’t contain puns,
Clare Fletcher (292 Mangalyatri Journalist)