It rained today. Sometimes it was light rain, sometimes heavy. Sometimes it was just rain, at other times it was mixed with a bit of snow. We hoped for a break in the rain so we could do a brief EVA to retrieve data stored in Bill Clancey’s Campbell Scientific weather station, which is positioned near the airstrip across the valley.
July 12th, 2001
Rehearsing for Mars Inc.
No one will be there to watch, of course, when the latest Mars-bound spacecraft settles into orbit above the Red Planet sometime later this year. But while the Odyssey slips toward Mars, more than 30 scientists and engineers are rehearsing in the Canadian high arctic for a human mission that may be a few short decades away. And they
July 12th, 2001
Dispatch from Mars Society Arctic Expedition – Robert Zubrin – July 12, 2001
We held a morning meeting after breakfast and then set things in motion for a very involved three person EVA. The plan was to deploy Vladimirs’ geophone flute on Haynes Ridge under Mars mission EVA constraints and then fire it up to engage in subsurface seismic exploration.
July 11th, 2001
Dispatch from Mars Society Arctic Expedition – Robert Zubrin – July 11, 2001
Our crew moved into the Flashline Station shortly after 9 PM last night. I had hoped for a celebratory meeting of the two crews as they met during the exchange, but it didn’t happen that way. Instead, the shortage of ATVs made it necessary for us to travel to the station two at a time, so that two of the first crew would return the vehicles for the next two of ours, and so forth. Vladimir and I get to the hab first. Sam Burbank explains to me the electrical wiring system of the hab, making it emphatically clear that the system was Frank Schubert’s creation, not his own. I see his point. The wiring system was clearly designed by someone with a unique sense of humor. Appropriate alterations are planned. Pascal, the departing commander, then gives me a briefing on the overall condition of the station, and wishes me well for our upcoming shift. Then the last of my crew arrives, Pascal departs, and we are on our own. We spend a bit of time stowing the large shipment of food we have brought with us, and then retire for the night.
July 11th, 2001
FMARS Crew Status Report #3 – 11 July 2001 – 10:00 PM MDT
The second phase has begun with new members added to the crew. The new commander is Dr. Robert Zubrin. Other new crew members include Dr. Vladimir Plester a physicist with the European Space Agency, Dr. William Clancey a computer scientist from NASA AMES and Katy Quinn who is just completing her Ph.D. in geology at MIT. Remaining in the hab for Phase 2 are Chief Engineer Dr. Stephen Braham of Simon Fraser University and Dr. Charlie Cockell, biologist from the British Antarctic Survey. Today the crew spent the morning doing some housekeeping in the hab. This afternoon the crew perfomed an EVA on Haynes Ridge. The goal of the EVA was to search for fossils along the ridge. The EVA was quite successful.
July 11th, 2001
FMARS Daily Narrative Reports (Audio) – Pascal Lee – July 11-27 and August 9-11, 2001
Daily audio narrative reports from the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) provided by NASA scientist Pascal Lee. Available in both MP3 and WAV formats.
July 10th, 2001
Dispatch from Mars Society Arctic Expedition – Robert Zubrin – July 10, 2001
Late last evening the report came in that the first crew had completed a four person motorized EVA surveying some of Devon’s canyon systems that closely mimic those found on Mars. Led by Pascal, and including Charles Cockell of the British Antarctic Survey, Rainer Effenhauser of NASA JSC, and Frank Schubert, the excursion was a spectacular success that really illustrated the unique capabilities for wide ranging field exploration over unimproved terrain that human exploration teams will bring to Mars.
July 9th, 2001
Postcard from Mars
When most people go on vacation, they want to forget all about their jobs. But ESA physicist-engineer Vladimir Pletser, who develops ISS payloads and organizes zero-gravity parabolic flights for the agency, is taking the ultimate working holiday. This week, he’s off to Mars. It’s not exactly Mars, of course. Manned missions to the Sun’s fourth planet – currently the brightest object in Europe’s evening skies – will have to wait a while yet. Instead, Pletser will be heading for the Arctic, where throughout the summer crews of scientists will spend ten-day stints in a cramped habitat that closely simulates a Mars lander.
July 9th, 2001
Dispatch from Mars Society Arctic Expedition – Robert Zubrin – July 9, 2001
The day began chill and rainy, and I awoke feeling like a cold might be coming on. I switched into thermal underwear and woolens, and after some hot tea and the onset of slightly warmer and dryer weather after breakfast, I felt a lot better.
July 9th, 2001
FMARS Daily Narrative Report – Pascal Lee – July 9, 2001
We had a great busy day, with hab upkeep and improvement activities, and two simulated EVAs. The hab itself is currently safe and comfortable enough to live in, but it will continue to require work and finishing touches for some time. Steve is still very busy setting up our comms and IT research and support systems and has been allowed the flexibility to break from sim as required.