Seven days! Time goes fast when you are having fun and keeping busy, and I think for most of us, both have been the case.

Leslie began her study of how well the GreenHab processes graywater. She also did an ergonomics test of the EVA suits, measuring William's range of motion in everyday wear, in the MDRS EVA suit, and in his own MarsSkin suit.

Peter continued work on the tunnel project, getting the rest of the pieces cut and preassembled.

We took time out after lunch today, first for a bit of show and tell, then for crew photos. The show and tell consisted of a small amount of Minnesota Lunar Simulant 1 (MLS-1), a piece of the titanium rich basalt from which it was ground, a piece of black glass, and a piece of AAC (autoclaved aerated concrete.) AAC can be described as a sort of fine-grain foamed concrete. It floats on water, can be cut with a hack saw or a wood saw, drilled with a metal cutting drill bit, and even with a wood spade bit. You can drive a screw into it by hand, and pound a nail into it. Artists are using it for sculpture, and it could be a craft material on the early frontier. There was also a 4" long scarab beetle carved out of a piece of solid basalt in Egypt. Basalt on the lunar surface will be mostly pulverized, of course, but solid pieces could be carved from lavatube walls or mined and might be another favorite early lunar frontier craft material.

William then took photos of the crew members: together and separately, in mission patch wear and in EVA suits, and with other props. I got to hold a pick and shovel to symbolize the Moon Miner.

Beautiful weather continues. As it is impossible to find relaxation time in our busy schedules, we will be taking off tomorrow or Monday, depending on the weather, and just relaxing, watching a movie, playing games, writing, whatever. Pacing ourselves is important and it will be vital on the frontier.

Laurel is still not up to par, but made an excellent Camp Lasagna for supper tonight. Steven continues to watch over our well-behaved utility systems with not much to do but worry about some impossible readings.

Peter Kokh
Commander, MDRS Crew 45
Artemis Moonbase Sim 1