Mars Desert Research Station – Crew328 – Sol 9

Hello from the Hab on Sol 9. A mix of exploration, outreach reflection, and schedule adjustments at the Mars Desert Research Station.
Last night's outreach with the school in India (where Jahnavi attended several years ago) was awesome. The students asked great questions, teachers shared warm comments about Jahnavi, and the excitement flowed both ways—seeing their passion for future space careers boosted ours in turn. The love of space across cultures came through clearly and made the session extra special.
We had two EVAs today. The first—Commander Mariló Torres, Crew Scientist Jahnavi Dangeti, and I—aimed for Somerville Overlook but turned into an unintentional rover range test. Perseverance reached 50% battery (our outbound safety limit) a full kilometer short, in the area labeled Candor Chasma on maps. We stopped to explore and compare it to previous sites.
The terrain differed sharply: much more vegetation, signs of different "Martian life" (we saw only 2 aliens (birds) plus tracks from several deer and one or two large herds of cows). It pushed the rover harder over rough ground than any prior outing. I always enjoy the variety—extremes of dryness alongside spectacular past erosion, deep canyons, cacti everywhere, and a few tiny green-leaf plants straight out of a sci-fi movie.
The second EVA was shorter: Engineer/Safety Officer Aaron Tenner and GreenHab Officer Rebeca Gonçalves suited up to film and inspect the outside of the Habitat and compound for safety checks and outreach. They documented what life looks like here—even in our own "front yard."
In the GreenHab, progress continues. We planted new seeds for future crews (carrots and beans) to help with consumption down the line.
Outreach is ramping up fast. The event now scheduled for Thursday (Sol 11) doubled in size today with 500 additional registrations—many of which are whole classrooms rather than individuals, so the number of kids is MUCH higher. The more participants, the more accurate the experiment!
Daily routines hold steady, teamwork remains strong, and we're all looking forward to tomorrow's session. Can't wait to share how it goes tomorrow.
Reminder of the next two events:

-Wednesday (Sol 10, 1 PM MST): Main Outschool-hosted event. My students will run the Earth side—fielding live audience questions, moderating, and co-hosting—while the crew here answers mission-specific questions with the full 10-minute interplanetary delay simulated. Open to the public (aimed at kids 5-18): https://outschool.com/campaigns/live-from-mars

-Thursday (Sol 11, 4 PM MST): Live-with-comms-delay interaction on YouTube hosted by The Launch Pad. Great live stream for anyone to watch—chat-submitted questions play a key part in the experiment. Join here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUZEnv0fdDU