29 July 2000: Marc Boucher’s Personal Journal: Base Camp, Devon Island
Note: Information on the current field season, as well as past seasons can be found here.
Simulation, Day 1
Crew:
Pascal Lee, Commander
Robert Zubrin, Chronicler
Frank Schubert, Engineer
Charlie Cockell, Biologist
Bob Nesson, Discovery Channel
Marc Boucher, Communications Officer
We woke up after out first night sleeping in the habitat. It was a very peaceful uneventful night. A sense of isolation
permeated the habitat. We knew then that the simulation had started. The first sounds I heard as I woke up was Frank Schubert playing
a new Mars song called “I want to go to Mars”. For those of you who don’t know it, Frank, other than being a master construction
engineer, is a musician and was in the band Devo. Listening to him create a new song was the best way to wake up in the morning.
After breakfast we then headed out on a short traverse to an area northeast of the habitat. It was a wonderful ride and we ended
up at a small “Martian” canyon. A larger rock outcrop at the bottom of the canyon was renamed “Devo Rock”. (See picture below.)
Unfortunately that was the end of the simulation for the first crew. Frank Schubert and Robert Zubrin were scheduled
to head back to “Earth”. The rest of the day was spent working on the habitat, both the interior and exterior. I tried in vain
to work in the habitat on my journal and web work. There was just too much noise.
One interesting happening at the habitat during the day was a test of the Hamilton Sundstrand Mars prototype suit. Peter Kinsman
of Hamilton Sundstrand put the suit on in the habitat then eva’d to the surface for a leisurely stroll followed by a drive
on the “rover” (atv). The suit is here as part of the Haughton-Mars Project. The test is the first in an effort to explore
future collaborations between the Mars Society and the NASA led Haughton-Mars Project.
In the evening new crew members moved in replacing Robert Zubrin and Frank Schubert. They included Samson Ootoovak as engineer and
Bill Clancey as chronicler. We then communicated with “Mission Support” in Denver for a little over an hour requesting
some science data from the 1997 Pathfinder mission and help with a lighting problem we are having. We ended the day
watching the movie “2010, The Year We Make Contact”.
For daily updates on the NASA Haughton-Mars Project click here.
Photo Gallery:
