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MDRS

In January/February 2010, I was Commander for a two-week simulated Mars mission to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah. Throughout the Mars Society sponsored expedition, I posted regular dispatches from the field to my website astronautforhire.com. I've collected all of these "letters from Mars" on this page for easy reference along with the crew's other blog and video posts. Please contact me for media inquiries or to ask permission o use a photo. Thanks to everyone who followed me during the mission, especially those to chipped in to help pay for our expenses. On to Mars!

Blog Posts | Video Posts | Media Stories | MDRS-89 Patch



Blog Posts

Sol Date Astronaut for Hire Crew 89 Blog Mike's Blog EVAs
0 01-23-10 Arrival Last Night on Earth
Sol 0 - Part Deux
1 01-24-10 MDRS Mission Underway Into the Great Outdoors ATVs and EVAs 1,2
2 01-25-10 Patisserie Pyrotechnics
The Painted Desert		 Command and Cake 3,4
3 01-26-10 Settling in on Mars Over hill, over dale
Living on Mars		 Cross Country 5,6
4 01-27-10 Snow day!
Visions of Mars, or lack thereof		 Snowfall 7,8
5 01-28-10 Snowy Days at MDRS Operations out in the snow
Whither do we wander?		 Martian Invasion 9,10
6 01-29-10 Man down!
How far would you go to stay "in sim"?		 Fallen 11,12
7 01-30-10 MDRS Midpoint Mopping on Mars & exploring Radio Ridge
Live action MDRS Crew 89!
Dirt		 Water on Mars 13
8 01-31-10 To the summit of Olympus Mons! Olympus Mons 14
9 02-01-10 Sick on Mars No Road No Road 15
10 02-02-10 Stratigraphy and Clue Viking I 16
11 02-03-10 A Seismic Undertaking Seismic Shenanigans
Mars Dessert Research Station		 HabCom 17
12 02-04-10 Seismic Success at MDRS Nightrider part 1
Nightrider part 2		 Home Stretch
Special Science Report		 18
13 02-05-10 EVA Experience Valles Marineris, Mount Sagewood, & the elusive caves Last Full Day 19,20
14 02-06-10 MDRS Summary Re-entry
Mission Summary

Pre- and Post-Mission

Astronaut for Hire Crew 89 Blog Mike's Blog
08-18-09: MDRS Call for Applicants

10-23-09: "Mars" Redux

12-08-09: Trail Running to Mars

12-11-09: MDRS Mission Introduction

01-19-10: Blastoff to Mars

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03-02-10: LPSC Poster on Mars Analog Geophysics (poster pdf)

03-07-10: Comparing FMARS & MDRS

07-24-10: Lunar Science Forum (poster pdf)		 12-12-09: Meet the crew!

12-27-09: Engineering challenges

12-28-09: Paying the bills

01-04-10: Exercise at the Hab

01-08-10: Musk Observatory

01-19-10: Commander’s Welcome

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02-12-10: MDRS Crew 89 in the press		 08-20-09: The Mars Society

10-25-09: I'm going to Mars

10-29-09: MDRS - Initial Preparation

11-09-09: Luminosity Changes

11-20-09: The Case for Mars

12-06-09: 7 Weeks and Counting...

12-28-09: Not Quite $5 Billion...

01-15-10: Final Preparations

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02-07-10: Earth Return Vehicle


Videos


Media Stories

For more news media articles featuring our crew, see this page.

MDRS Patch

The five icons each stand for one of our science investigations. In clockwise order from the upper left, the camera stands for the automated digital photo geotagging experiment conducted by Geologist/Computer Scientist Kiri Wagstaff. The plane with feet represents a remotely-controlled aerial reconnaissance vehicle (with feet for landing) that Engineer Darrel Robertson planned to use for help in planning Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVas). The string of colored circles stands for the extremophiles and endoliths that Biologist Luís Saraiva sampled and studied. The planet with rings represents Astronomer Mike Moran’s observations; he originally planned to observe exoplanets with the optical telescope, but as it was out of commission he instead devoted his time to upgrading the radio telescope and then observing emissions from Jupiter. The string of triangles on the ground stands for Commander Brian Shiro’s seismic study, which made use of a 55-foot land streamer containing 12 geophones.




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