Working on Mars

Today I spent a lot of time working on my research project. Most of the reasons that crews come here are research-related. Each crew has a command staff, an engineering staff, and a research staff. Our command staff is here to watch out for us and train us, and consists of two people. One is the Commander, the other is the Executive Officer (second-in-command) and Research Manager. The Engineering staff runs the Hab and keeps things working well for the research staff. We have one Chief Engineer (he handles our fuel, power, and general mechanisms), one Field Engineering Systems engineer (he works with the GreenHab and our water system), and one Surface Exploration Systems engineer (she is in charge of the small vehicles we use to get around on EVA). The research staff does projects. We have a Biologist (she is looking for bacteria that live in extreme environments, like we might find on Mars), a GPS expert (he is examining how well people can use GPS to navigate on Mars), and myself (I am working on logistics, which is tracking and managing supplies for the mission).

All three types of staff members have to work together for the mission to run properly. The command staff is experienced, and makes decisions to keep everybody safe and working well; the engineering staff is capable, and makes repairs to keep all the equipment running well; the research staff is knowledgeable (although often frustrated), and performs experiments to learn more about aspects of life, science, and everything on Mars. All three types of people will be necessary for a mission to Mars. No vehicle will fly long without engineers on board to maintain it, no mission will be called truly successful without researchers to bring back interesting news, and no crew will hold together without a command staff to manage it.