Commander's Report

April 15, 2008

Henrik Hargitai



A dust storm has hit the hab. The landscape has changed: the sky is
sand colored. The hab is sometimes shaken by the wind. According to the
Hobo weather station, the max gust speed today was 25 m/s.
We could not continue working on our weather station. The EVAs
reported some difficulties because of the wind, which blew sand into
the helmets and cameras, and both EVAs have lost their maps because of
the wind (one pair found it).
In the afternoon we took soil samples and analysed and photographed it
through microscopes. We also took samples of the sand in the air for
later microbiologic analysis.
We have brought some plants from the greenhouse into the hab and placed
them at the windows to make the hab more friendly.
The crew is excited because of the weather, but no more EVAs will be
tried while the wind is so strong, so we are sitting inside and
working, simulating a Martian Dust Storm event. The internet connection
is sometimes broken, which may be due to the satellite-dish-moving gusts.
During the morning hours we had a live audio transmission to a Budapest
Public Observatory: we joined a lecture about life on Mars. Our
contribution was very successful, but has delayed a little our local
working schedule.
The main attraction of the evening is a home-made Hungarian food,
called rakott krumpli, cooked by our astronomer/EVA coordinator.