Commander's Report

February 9, 2008

John Thaler



Today we all got the chance to be movie stars. The Japanese film crew
filmed six of us waving to an overflying helicopter early in the
morning on the ridge beside the Musk Observatory. Later several
members of the crew were filmed driving ATVs and they even had to
perform some tricky driving when they were asked to drive over the
camera on the ground without crushing it. It was a lot of fun to work
with the Japanese film crew who were very respectful of the limitations
we have with our simulation. When they were ready to leave they gifted
the crew with beautiful Japanese mouse pads and we gave them mission
patches for Expedition Delta (Crew 66).

The morning EVA was a success with Kerry, Arthur and Mic putting their
knowledge of Field Documentation Methodology (FDM) to use by exploring
UTM 12 S 0519000 4250500. They identified two areas of interest
including a rock formation with a hardened cap of sandstone creating a
table-like plateau and a dry stream bed with small evaporite deposits
along the edges. Lunch was a bit rushed as we were trying to fit in
another filming EVA in the afternoon before Kerry's geology EVA. Kerry
and Arthur were an efficient team covering four sites this afternoon
leaving only 12 more sites to complete his project.

A large supply shipment arrived today which included science equipment
and supplies, water, and the diesel generator fuel pump which allowed
"The Don" to fix Wendy (generator) and we are now back on normal power
systems rather than continuously relying on the emergency systems.
Tomorrow we will unpack the science supplies and hopefully begin
placing the equipment in the lab for future crews to use. The supplies
also included those necessary for an extremophile project which
involves collecting microbial samples from evaporite (salt) deposits,
desert varnish and even the insides of rocks. The microbes found in
salty areas are known as "halophiles" where "halo" is Greek for salt
and "phile" means loving so they are salt loving microorganisms. The
microbes found inside rocks are called "endoliths" where "endo" means
inside and "lith" means rock. This extremophile project is coordinated
through Shannon Rupert and her collaborators.

Tonight we'll enjoy a presentation by Arthur about micrologistics.
Tomorrow we're going to sleep in because we have reached the half-way
point and we've been working hard. The morning will consist of
preventative maintenance on the EVA suits and setting up of the new
science equipment. Kerry will once again go out on EVA and there is
the potential that we will collect our first extremophile sample.