Walden5

The MDRS Hab has 6 rooms. Each room has its idiosyncrasies and no room can really claim to be the best. Some rooms are too cold, some too hot, some are smelly, some are visited by mice, some have tall bunks, some are noisy, etc. etc.

The door to each room is “tagged” by its past inhabitants. Each crew member leaves behind a patch or badge of sorts which is taped to the door containing their name, crew number and perhaps a graphic or picture or quote etc.

I stayed in room 5.

I thought that I might initiate a new ritual and in this spirit left a binder behind. I hope that it might act as an archive or capsule for thoughts born in this room. In thinking about the future of space travel and possible (inevitable ?) settlement of other planets and moons, I hope that we as individuals and we as a civilized people will look backwards to history as we look forwards to the future. In addition to designing new habitats and new EVA suits, we will also have the opportunity to rethink and design new laws, advance human rights and implement better ways of governing.

What do you think Martian society should look like? What can we learn from history?

To kick things off I included in the binder the story of Biosphere 2 (a cautionary tale - watch those CO2 levels), the UN Declaration of Human Rights, some NY Times crossword puzzles and bar of chocolate.

I hope that you will continue to add to this binder (and comment on this website) in any way that you like: jokes, thoughts, stories, data, pictures, artifacts, recipes, etc. are all welcome.

On to Mars!!!

#