Dispatch from Mars Society Arctic Expedition – Robert Zubrin – July 17, 2001

After yesterday’s brutal EVA, I decided to set an easier schedule for today. We spent the morning
filling out psychological questionnaires and rejuvenating equipment that had been negatively
impacted by our recent battle with the mud. Only after lunch would we attempt an EVA, whose
mission would be to complete Vladimir’s geophone survey of Haynes Ridge.

The crew filling out psychological survey forms.

The questionnaires were sent to us by human factors scientists from the University of Quebec at Hull (UQAH) and NASA Johnson Space Center. Some of the crew embers object to the forms because many of the questions appear trite. It is obvious that to develop a real understanding of the expedition, the human factors types need to do more than send questionnaires; they need to come into the field themselves. To be fair, the leader of one of the two groups, Judith LaPierre of the UQAH, proposed to do exactly that. She was among the 250 people who applied to be members of the Flashline Crew when our call for volunteers went out last November, and in fact was one of 25 finalists before the final downselect forced us to choose just 12 from the volunteer group. Undeterred, she signed up to work full-time for no pay in Mission Support in Denver for the summer, so that at least she could observe us from that position, (as well as the folks at Mission Support, who are in a very real sense vital members of the crew too, and thus equally worthy of study). People that dedicated deserve to get their data. Everyone fills out the forms.

The mud that encrusted all of our gear had tried by mid m’=ng, and we take stiff brushes to everything that can be brushed, and wash everything that can be washed. By 1 PM, most of our EVA equipment is functional again. The suits are no longer a nice clean white, but they won’t be that way non Mars for long either. Around 2 PM we go EVA.

The crew works up a sweat deploying some wires during the geophone setup.

The afternoon weather is splendid:- 50 F, sunny, and no winds- so we dress lightly under our spacesuits. Even so, the helmets act like greenhouses, and it is not long before Katy, Vladimir, and I are sweating profusely. The gear is not as well ordered as it was when it was first delivered from France, and we are faced with various problems, such as wires coming loose off of spools. But it is a job we are now well -trained for, and we manage to deploy the geophone in a line perpendicular to the position we sounded from several days ago. This gives Vladimir enough information to create a complete three-dimensional picture of the subsurface of Haynes Ridge down to 1600 feet, with all data having been acquired under simulation conditions. He is very happy.

Robert Zubrin and Katy Quinn work to deploy the geophone flute on Haynes Ridge.

The rotation between the second and third crews was set to occur at 9 PM tonight. I will stay on as commander, and Steve as engineer, but Katy, Vladimir, Charles, and Bill will be replaced by a new crew consisting of the French/American geologist and author Charles Frankel, Cathrine Fransen, a physicist and planetary scientist from the Niels Bohr institute in Denmark, Christine Jayarajah, a chemist from the University of Toronto, and Brent Bos, a planetary science graduate student from the University of Arizona. The new crew members are already at camp, and I communicate my wish list to them. The food larder in the hab has been converging towards slim jims, dried fruit, and Tang. I suggest they bring out some better stuff with them from camp. They manage to fill a cooler with canned fish, bread, pasta and pasta sauce, and other essentials. Well done.

The crew change takes place at nine as planned. Some of the new arrivals know the departing members from crew training in Denver, and there are many warm greetings exchanged. The two crews work together to rapidly move the departing crew’s gear out of the station and move the arrivals’ material in. I shake hands with all the departing men and give Katy a hug. You can make good friends on Mars.

Katy Quinn initiating the geophone signal with a sledge hammer blow.

Then they leave, and we, the members of the third crew, are alone in the station. I give them all a preliminary briefing and ask them about the instruments they are bringing. Cathrine has a magnetic dust collector, Brent a sophisticated camera, and Christine an analytical chemistry set.

I tell Christine that I have an instrument for her. She does not understand. So I go up to the storage loft above the bunks and come down with an electrical keyboard. Her eyes light up. You see, I had information from other sources that Christine is a first-class pianist.

She says she is out of practice and this and that, but we all urge her to give it a try. So she steps up to the keyboard, and fills the air with a Mozart Sonata in D Major.

Mozart on Mars!