MDRS Log, Commander Grieger

Time 2002.0322.0700

We, Crew3, began our Mars Desert Reserach Station rotation with a baptism by fire! But we feel our success clearly demonstrates that the right team of individuals can be successful in reaching their goals, even while operating in an extreme enviroment far from logistical support. We believe these things highlight what makes Crew3 unique:

• Bjöern Grieger is the first non-national to command MDRS, and he commanded all all-american crew.
• We're the first Crew to have at least three women in a six-person crew.
• Almost immediately, we experienced heavy media attention including:
• 3 camera crews and 4 days of continuous filming beginning on our first full day of rotation
• 1 radio journalism crew recording over the course of a day
• print journalism attention for a total of 3 days of coverage. We also had an overnight stay by a print journalist, and we believe we were the first crew to take a journalist out on an EVA in full simulation.
• Early on, we overcame major operational difficulties, many resulting from a strong windstorm with recorded gusts of 93kph (58mph).
• We're a heavily science oriented crew
• We had the first all-female EVA, although it wasn't planned- it just happened which is remarkable in itself!
• Our ages range from 22 to 41 years.
• We range in height from 1.6 to 2 meters (5'2" to 6'7"), a true test of the comfort and function of the Hab and EVA suits.
• We believe our diversity of life experience, from academic to applied and commercial scientific and engineering knowledge, was crucial to our success.
• Luckily, we are all excellent, experimental cooks.
• We had three birthdays on our rotation.

BJÖERN GRIEGER, COMMANDER, PLANETARY SCIENTIST
My name is Björn Grieger; I am a physicist and work at the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie in Germany in the Planetary Science Department. The main topic of my work is the preparation of data evaluation for the Huygens probe, that will descent into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan in January 2005. Besides this, I am also involved in modeling long term climate changes on Mars.

Being born in 1961, I was very impressed when I saw Neil Armstrong walking on the moon in 1969, and my childhood dream was to become an astronaut. It has not completely become true, but I really appreciate how much I am involved in space exploration considering my work on planetary research, a cosmonaut training I obtained in Star City, Moscow, in 1997, and, of course, being at the Mars Desert Research Station in 2002. Having experienced how demanding it can be, I not sure if I really would like to be an astronaut myself, but I am pleased that I can contribute to the Mars Society's effort to pace mankind's way to space.

NELL BEEDLE, GEOLOGIST.
I'm very impressed that our crew, with our diverse backgrounds and experiences, were able to pull together as a team so that we could solve any problem, and have a great time doing it! As a field scientist, I was reminded that I've trained to use all five-senses while doing field work. Clearly, humans will have to make adjustments when exploring Mars where we can't expose ourselves to the hostile environment. I think the work at MDRS will contribute to developing new techniques for successful human exploration of Mars. But the real joy will be in walking up to a rock that has been remotely, digitally mapped at very high resolution from Earth, and simply picking it up and turning it over to see what's underneath!

ERIK CARLSTROM, GEOPHYSICIST
I have done planetary science, optical oceanography, and geophysical research and spent a short stint in the military. I feel that I have never gotten along with a group of people this size so quickly before in my life. I feel that we all have strong personalities and opinions, but we have amazingly been able to mesh these into a coherent working group. Our diverse backgrounds have allowed us to come even closer together than I thought was possible. I feel that I have bonded with my fellow crewmembers to the point that I have found new people that will be my friends for a long time to come. I think that this experience is important in the endeavor to send humans to Mars, because it tells me that the right crew can go through hardship and problems together yet stay close during the duration of the mission.

JONATHAN DORY, SPACE HABITATION ENGINEER
I work as a Human Factors Analyst for SPACEHAB Inc. at the Johnson Space Center. I support NASA by planning the internal layout and configuration of systems, payloads, and hardware to accommodate operations and habitability onboard the International Space Station. Naturally, my interest in the MDRS program has been to better understand how humans live and work in an enclosed volume with specific objectives; how do people share one small habitat in which they must perform science, prepare meals, sleep, and perform all of the routines of daily life? One of the greatest lessons that I'll take out of this program is how important it is to prepare for a mission as complex as a long duration stay on Mars in an integrated fashion like at MDRS. It is not enough to simply study humans in enclosed environments, performing field science, or operating payloads. The difficulty comes in determining the conflicts between these operations in the real working environment. While humans can adapt to just about any environment for a short period, it is critical that a long duration space habitat be designed to accommodate the needs of the crew, both for morale and productivity.

SYBIL SHARVELLE, GRADUTE STUDENT, CIVIL ENGINEERING, CU BOULDER
As I sat in the "living room" of the hab, trying to recollect my thoughts to write this summary, I found it difficult to concentrate because I was too busy enjoying my time with my crewmates. I went into my stateroom to get some privacy and concentrate and the first thing I remembered was the skepticism I had about coming here. Living in an enclosed environment with 5 other people in the middle of Nowhere, Utah, did not exactly sound fun. I could not have been more wrong. Not only has this been the most fun experience I've had in the last year, but also the most valuable. This environment has worked very well for a Mars simulation, both in the sense of a living environment and a physical environment that looks and feels alien and like Mars. The most important and rewarding part of this experience is having worked with an extremely diverse and multidisciplinary group of people to put all of our knowledge together for the goal of understanding and overcoming the hurdles it will take to send humans to Mars.

TIFFANY VORA - GRADUATE STUDENT, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.
I will always carry the memory of cresting Hab Ridge on pedestrian EVA with a media crew. I shuffled up the hill, keeping a sharp eye on my path for sinkholes. The path leveled out, I lifted my eyes ... and gazed across an expanse of mounds stretching to the horizon. My companions vanished; I was transported to the top of a grand desolate world. I surveyed the red and purple hills to the whir of my pack fan. This was not my home, my Earth; this was Mars, a land to explore, understand, and perhaps even shape to our needs. Suddenly I was aware of my companions, and my vision of Mars vanished. I was once again a member of a team, one of many who share a dream. I have journeyed far and still have far to go. We all do. But our feet are on the path, and with perseverance, vision, and yes, fun, we will succeed in our lifetimes. There will be humans on Mars, and we will have contributed to the triumph.

STACY SKLAR, GEOCHEMIST
I am a geochemistry student currently attending NAU (Northern Arizona University) and aspire to be a Mars Vulcanologist. I am active with the Mars Desert Research Station with Logistics, Exploration, and Research. In my spare time I am an avid outdoorswomen. My experience at the MDRS was incredible, learning about the geological processes occurring in this area and imaging that these processes could possible occur on Mars as well as in simulation was the next best thing to actually being on Mars! However, it was the Human Factors issue that leaves the best impression on me. The bonding that occurred between my crewmembers and myself was remarkable. Within a day of meeting each other we realized that in order not only to do basic fieldwork but for survival as well, we must work as a team. Due to a rather unexpected wind storm damage to the hab as well as our generator tripping on/off several times we learned to "work the problem" and most of all laugh about the situation.