I just returned from my latest trip to Mars - Well, The Mars Society's Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Hanksville, Utah, to be exact. Our crew of Artemis Westenberg, Josh Nelson, Gary Fisher, myself, and James Harris (who joined Artemis after Josh, Gary and I had left) had our work cut out for us, as the "Hab" needed some TLC.
The first day Josh and I spent removing the carpet - Think "sand sponge". The floor was later painted with 2 coats of a medium blue floor enamel with anti-slip additive - Easy to clean, cheap to repair...
The window in the Commander's stateroom needed to be replaced. I got out the Hammer and saw -
And the Hab needed a paint job. Artemis painted the entire lower half, and tried to paint the upper half, but, alas, she's just a little, em, not tall enough...
I, however, am able to reach great heights. Artemis and I made a good team (Please don't forward these photos to OSHA)...
Josh donned "the suit" and posed for some photos with MDRS' latest equipment acquisition - a 6 passenger "Pressurized Rover" - A 2000 Ford Expedition. A real nice addition, and it should proved to be a good asset to the teams visiting the Hab this year and for years to come...
Josh also posed for some photos that may turn into any number of PR/advertising opportunities...
I woke up early on Tuesday morning (3:30 am) and went out to the Hab, I wanted to capture some starry night photos. I think these turned out pretty well.
The constellation Orion was very visible...
As was the Big Dipper. The 3 stars at the top right of center in this photo are the tail of the Dipper. I couldn't far enough away to get the entire Dipper and the Hab in the photo...
And here are 2 other night photos. I had just enough Moonlight to make the photos jump.
For the "photo techies", most of the night shots were taken with an ISO of 2000, F3.5, 25-30 second exposures. The Nikon D300 is amazing!
I don't know how Gary managed to dodge my camera, but he was busy in the Green Hab, getting the Grey Water recycling system up and running. The crews this year "should" have running water and a flushable toilet - An improvement over last year's mechanicals.
Josh also did an outstanding job of configuring all of the electronics - Web Cams, satellite internet, radio telescope, and some other "techie" stuff that was over my head.
I'm looking forward to hearing from all of the 2009-10 crews and the science that they'll all be able to do at MDRS. Many thanks to The Mars Society for allowing me to again visit MDRS and help out.
And a special "thank you" to Mom-in-law Sara for sponsoring me - I couldn't have done it without you!
p.s. - If any of this gets you excited about "Humans on Mars" - do something! Join The Mars Society at www.MarsSociety.org.
On to Mars!
The first day Josh and I spent removing the carpet - Think "sand sponge". The floor was later painted with 2 coats of a medium blue floor enamel with anti-slip additive - Easy to clean, cheap to repair...
The window in the Commander's stateroom needed to be replaced. I got out the Hammer and saw -
And the Hab needed a paint job. Artemis painted the entire lower half, and tried to paint the upper half, but, alas, she's just a little, em, not tall enough...
I, however, am able to reach great heights. Artemis and I made a good team (Please don't forward these photos to OSHA)...
Josh donned "the suit" and posed for some photos with MDRS' latest equipment acquisition - a 6 passenger "Pressurized Rover" - A 2000 Ford Expedition. A real nice addition, and it should proved to be a good asset to the teams visiting the Hab this year and for years to come...
Josh also posed for some photos that may turn into any number of PR/advertising opportunities...
I woke up early on Tuesday morning (3:30 am) and went out to the Hab, I wanted to capture some starry night photos. I think these turned out pretty well.
The constellation Orion was very visible...
As was the Big Dipper. The 3 stars at the top right of center in this photo are the tail of the Dipper. I couldn't far enough away to get the entire Dipper and the Hab in the photo...
And here are 2 other night photos. I had just enough Moonlight to make the photos jump.
For the "photo techies", most of the night shots were taken with an ISO of 2000, F3.5, 25-30 second exposures. The Nikon D300 is amazing!
I don't know how Gary managed to dodge my camera, but he was busy in the Green Hab, getting the Grey Water recycling system up and running. The crews this year "should" have running water and a flushable toilet - An improvement over last year's mechanicals.
Josh also did an outstanding job of configuring all of the electronics - Web Cams, satellite internet, radio telescope, and some other "techie" stuff that was over my head.
I'm looking forward to hearing from all of the 2009-10 crews and the science that they'll all be able to do at MDRS. Many thanks to The Mars Society for allowing me to again visit MDRS and help out.
And a special "thank you" to Mom-in-law Sara for sponsoring me - I couldn't have done it without you!
p.s. - If any of this gets you excited about "Humans on Mars" - do something! Join The Mars Society at www.MarsSociety.org.
On to Mars!