Generator/Electricity: The generator suffered from a bad oil leak during the entire rotation. The generator needed to be checked daily for oil, and it has been estimated that it has consumed 45 qts (11 gal.) of oil during of 15 days here. On the last day, Don Foutz came to change a valve, so we may have time to notice an improvement just before leaving the station. Besides that leak, the generator worked perfectly.

Computers / Networking: The network has been working fine, except for a fried power supply near the end of our rotation. Apparently this problem is recurrent and could be prevented if a UPS were being used to protect the desktop computer called 'HabCom'.

Also, the current Internet sharing protocol is installed on Win98, on the IBM ThinkPad laptop, and this is no good. Win98 has gotta go and should be replaced by the much more stable and user friendly WinXP. Without a UPS, running the internet sharing from the laptop doesn't really make any sense since the satellite modem will be down as well if the power is down.

Water: Here are some statistics about our water consumption

Total Avg / day
all day 455 / 35.0 gal
before noon 154 / 11.5
after noon 177 / 13.5
night 125 / 9.5
Showers 112 / 8.5

Showers: avg. 3 showers / day
everyone 3 gal / shower
females 2.5 gal / shower
males 3.0 gal / shower

GreenHab: The GreenHab was dead when we arrived. We actually tried to revive it, but it was pointless. We eventually drained the tanks and left it unused.

Spacesuits: Most of the spacesuits are badly damaged at the end of this season, especially in the crotch area. Two backpack boxes have been broken due to some rough ATV riding. The switches that control the fans are not dust- proof and some of them had to be shorted in order to start the ventilation. The switches could be replaced by waterproof switches. The suits are really large, and it would help to have at least some belt loops, and preferably a belt as well. This may also prevent the suits from falling while on EVA, and therefore minimizing the damage to the crotch area. We have changed one previously damaged dome, and broken another one. The rest of the domes have been polished regularly to keep them usable. Those domes could be quite dangerous in the event of an ATV accident, because the plastic shatters in small pieces with sharp edges.