Life on Mars is No Picnic

I have been having a lot of fun during the past few days working at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah. Although the temperatures are very “un-Mars like,” 106 degrees F. yesterday, the scenery around the Habitat looks very Martian.  

Let’s see, what went wrong in the first few hours after our arrival? Hanksville had no electricity. The main generator which supplies electricity to the Habitat was broken, and the backup generator was cranky. The toilet in the shower area had not been cleaned, and the water in the main reservoir was going south and needed treatment. And get this, the backup generator just shutdown right as I was writing this, and now I’ve got about 30 minutes of battery life left in my computer before it too “dies.” 

As the commander of the MDRS Musk Observatory Refit Crew, Peter K. Detterline said, “Such is a day on Mars.”  We are at MDRS for 12 nights, and so far we have been able to handle all of the distractions; but maybe the lack of electricity will be our nemesis and force us to retreat to the air conditioned comforts of a Hanksville motel. What a wimp I have become! Here I am complaining after just three days of Habitat living. 

The first crew that goes to Mars will spend some nine months just getting there, perhaps 18 months in exploration, and then another six months squeezed into a very small ship returning to Earth. Going outside to check on anything will require spacesuits, and a whole list of preparatory activities that Earthlings never consider in normal activity.  How about a 20 minute wait in your spacesuit just for the airlock to depressurize?  “Oh, I forgot my screwdriver” becomes 40 minutes of wasted mission time, pressurizing, retrieving the tool, and depressurizing again.  

Yes, all in a day on Mars.  PS…  We did find a fix for the generator and day three ended happily and productively.