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Chemistry Summary - August 3, 2005
Andy Wegner Reporting
I had envisioned twenty four hour days of bright clear skies, the sun moving in a slow steady sine wave pattern around the horizon - as you may suspect, my visions are often wrong. I knew it would be somewhat cold, but day upon day of fog, rain, sleet, snow, wind (-- did I say fog?) were more than I had bargained for. To be fair, I came to like the constantly changing precipitation, and the weather toward the end of the rotation did improve considerably, allowing the full beauty of this north land to be seen. I never tired of looking out the portal over the crater's expanse. It always had a soothing effect during some times that were not easy.
After the mad scramble during the last week before the mission to secure a piece of analytical instrumentation, and to obtain a Canadian license to use it, the research that I had come to do went well. The X-ray Fluorescence Spectrophotometer, loaned to us by Niton LLD of Massachussets, performed well and proved - to me at least - that such state-of-the-art analysis equipment will be essential for the exploration of Mars and to the early settlers. Of course, "our" intrepid rovers on Mars already have such gear - better than mine in fact -- and they have used them to good effect indeed, but humans teamed with the right instruments can accomplish so much more.
Now I lie on my bunk at "Ozzie's" comfortable and homey South Camp Inn in Resolute typing this, stranded here for four days - not by weather this time, but by inflexible plane schedules. When we first arrived here it seemed a small remote outpost, so far north it was barely of this Earth. Now after three plus weeks at FMARS, a truly remote place, Resolute represents almost everything that is human civilization. We are almost home! Perhaps this is how those returning home from the surface of Mars will feel as soon as they make Mars orbit. May we soon find out!
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