Today was a little less hectic than previous days. We had a bit more of a schedule we were working from, rather than the frantic radio craziness of the last two days. We had clear coverage of the area we were in, which is probably covered by FRS radio anyway, but we demonstrated that ham radio works there. I'm getting the footage done for the Mars Ed project and we tested the video conferencing software last night. The webcam refresh rate is slow and the image is kind of grainy, but that's acceptable from Mars. I'm really excited about it - as a student group, one of the things we'd really like to do is outreach to younger students. This is a LOT easier when there is an existing infrastructure.

Our other project are also starting to get underway. Curtis and Dean went out today with their geology equipment. Erik's been chatting with some guy in Florida over the HF and saw where some guy transmitted a picture of a really scary-looking spider. I think we're still working on getting our people in Georgia, but I'm optimistic. We've also gotten some functionality out of our robot, Leo (Leopleuridon - named after the crew's long standing and totally incomprehensible fascination/obsession with dinosaurs). He's also a pretty cute robot.

The crew seems to be adapting well to sim. We've decided that the pressurized tunnels are transparent and there are airlocks periodically to allow equipment to pass through. And, finally, the highlight of the day - Jonathan got the toilet back to full functionality! Everyone was very, very excited. One thing future crews need to know - if the toilet starts to resemble a small volcano of gross stuff, it's clogged. I'm not sure the full process of unclogging, but Jonathan does and it may need to be done periodically. Because a fully functioning toilet is crucial for crew morale.

Emily Colvin
Commander, MDRS Crew 60