Astronaut for Hire

The FMARS crew is back in the relative metropolis of Resolute Bay now after having spent nearly a month in near-isolation in the Mars analog environment of Devon Island. We spent our final two days at FMARS going through the Hab shutdown procedures, mainly inventory and winterizing. That includes cleaning, organizing, flushing the water lines, wrapping the generators, burning the trash, taking exit photos, and a million other tasks. The majority of my time those days was consumed burning trash in our incinerator and ferrying loads of stuff to the air strip. We ended our formal simulation period after EVA 16 on the evening of July 26 just in time to have dinner with our neighbors at the HMP camp. It rained on us as we drove over, and two of our ATVs died due to the water. We arrived at HMP soaked and hungry. I was amused by how we all put on our best clothes and combed our hair to "go out" on our first meeting with outsiders in a month. The food and company couldn...

For my last EVA, Christy joined me in retrieving the seismic station we had installed earlier at Marine Rock. We left the Hab on an overcast day between rain showers and managed to stay dry for the duration of the EVA ( #15 ). A quick 15-minute drive later, we were at Marine Rock.   

I'm very tired from just having completed five EVAs over five consecutive days (July 19-23). One of these EVAs was to Gemini Hills to find gypsum , and the other four were all related to to my second geophysical research project. Recall from a previous post that I successfully installed a seismic station for my first geophysical project. This new experiment is even more ambitious. I'm trying to find groundwater using the time domain electromagnetic ( TDEM ) method. Before diving into this experiment, I'll share my next video blog entry #6 with you. It's all about water usage at FMARS:

July 20 was going to be a day off for the crew, both because we needed it and in honor of the 40th Apollo 11 and 33rd Viking 1 landing anniversaries. However, we awoke to beautiful weather conditions, and Vernon presented a compelling argument that motivated the crew to embark on a long-distance EVA to Gemini Hills in order to collect gypsum samples. Our 22.6-mile traverse was full of adventure, a wild hare encounter, and healthy dose of getting lost. Before I describe the trip to Gemini Hills, I'd like to share my latest FMARS video blog entry #5 . This one is all about our space suits and how we prepare for EVAs.

Hello from FMARS ! Would any of you like to receive a postcard from "Mars?" Donate to my chipin fund , and I'll send you a postcard all the way from Mars (well, Canada - close enough). If you give at least $60, I'll send you a patch too. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. You can preview the card, courtesy of Keplinger Designs below:

Recall my post last week on the Haughton Crater Run . Now that the FMARS mission is fully underway, I can no longer go outside to exercise. Instead, I must work out inside the FMARS Hab. My latest FMARS crew video blog episode highlights the exercise facilities here:

40 years ago yesterday Apollo 11 blasted off from Earth on its way to its historic July 20 landing on the Moon. NASA has a big celebration campaign underway in honor of the anniversary. They recently released very nice partially restored Apollo 11 video footage in HD. One of the interesting things NASA is doing to commemorate the anniversary is replaying the mission audio in real time just as it was recorded from July 16-24, 1969. The NASA Apollo 40th website has all kinds of other goodies like lost audio and transcripts that are worth checking out too. For more blast from the past nostalgia with a modern twist, the website "We Choose the Moon" is also broadcasting the mission audio with other rich multimedia treats, including "live" twitter transmissions from the Apollo CapCom , spacecraft , and lander . I have ambivalent feelings about the Apollo 40th anniversary. One one hand, I think this celebration to commemorate one of humanity's most signif...