In Austria, I spend summer weekends from time to time in the mountains. Coming from an Alpine country, this is natural, you might say, but it is not necessary. In fact you are often longing for things you don't have, and aiming at changes and different views, if you can. Hence, being surrounded by mountains which stretch into my home city of Salzburg, a mountain tour had never been of any peculiarity to me - until I moved to Italy, where I've been living some miles off the coast in a Mediterranean environment for two years now. I love it. And suddenly I started to appreciate hiking.

Will this become the Executive Officer's biography? No, it wont, no worries. I'm trying to convey to you the fascination of geology. Some would say that's a mission impossible. There's nothing more dead than rocks, and nothing more boring. But in fact, rocks DO speak. Just, and thanks God, not very loud. They do tell their story. Geology is a key scientific subject exploring Mars; the most fascinating pictures of Mars, the stunning images you'll find in any glossary space book: rocks. Geological formations. Rims. Canyons. Mountains. Volcanoes. Sand. Deserts. Craters.

It's (almost) all about rocks, their origin, their formation, their present state and all what can be deducted from it, like the influence of water on the Planet's surface, the history of the Planet itself, its interior. No matter whether rovers or human missions land on Mars: None of them finds books or photographs of Martian history. First and most of all, they find rocks.

That's why the AustroMars mission puts a lot of emphasis on geology, cooperating with the University of Vienna. Many scouting missions have been conducted during the last days, and the sample plastic bags pile up, carefully sorted and described by our Mission Scientist for Planetary Sciences, Christoph Kandler. After having accompanied him (and learning from him) during a six hour EVA recently, I was leading another "GeoMars" EVA today, looking for interesting sites, taking waypoints and recording our activities. Of course all of us have taken a geology course during the extensive preparation and training for our high fidelity simulation; but everyone of us has different backgrounds, skills and interests. Hence we've assigned different posts to the crew members, but that's not to be understood as exclusive. Christoph has told me about the possibility of naming formations and features in the landscape; no matter how many MDRS crews have scouted the land before, you always find something new. And so, indeed, we discovered two spectacular features which had not been marked by a waypoint and a name before. They are from now on officially called "Paul's sand-pit" (Paul is Christoph's 18 months old son) and "Mélanie's Column", to pay tribute to my girlfriend who has endured almost two years of sharing me with this AustroMars mission.

Half a year ago I started my first minerals and precious stone's collection. I guess the popularity of collecting minerals ranges just above collecting stamps. But that's tolerable. This collection is just a minor pass time activity of mine, and whenever I don't have 1000 other programs (like AustroMars or another of the many COOL things in life), I work a bit on it. What has been a good solution to fill the last remaining free minute of a usual week of mine proves to be a good add-on knowledge for the mission, and during today's EVA through the dry river beds of Mars I very much enjoyed the scientific field work.

I wonder how it will be to step out of this Habitat after the end of the simulation. With quite a beard, that's for sure, as the crew decided not to shave during the mission (a tradition from sailing ships of the good old times back on Earth). No, what I mean is something different: The first step into "fresh air" without a helmet and a life support backpack, without an entire EVA suit and a strict ten minutes depressurization sequence. It's a small step for an analogue astronaut... but... I have no idea. The thought of something fresh to eat, something healthy and homemade, something grown in the garden (garden? What's that?!); perhaps an apple. Just a thought, but coming back persistently during the last days.

But then again: I wouldn't mind skipping apples for another week on Mars.