[08:32] WATNEY: Morning, guys. I’ve been looking at the Whinnybago mods preparing to start stripping out Rover 1, and I’ve run into something I think you’ve overlooked. Right now Rover 1 is acting as radio relay station from Pathfinder to the suit radio antenna we’re using to get signal in the Hab. Once I disconnect Rover 1 from Hab power and start gutting it, we lose that relay. Rover 2 can do the same thing, except whenever we go out to the Hab farm it’ll lose line of sight to the Hab, which means it loses signal from Pathfinder’s low-gain antenna. (The high-gain, of course, stays pointed at Earth or Hermes, whichever signal is stronger.)

Losing two-thirds of the transmission window like that strikes me as a bad idea. Got any better ones?

[08:58] JPL: When we sent that procedure we assumed Rover 2 would be used at most once per week, with the ponies walking to and from the cave like they usually do. Did. Looks like we need to revisit that assumption with Dragonfly not currently in the picture.

[09:28] WATNEY: I’ve been thinking while waiting for your response. It would be a bit more work, but it’s possible to remove the entire pressure vessel intact rather than cutting it off as the existing procedure would have it. We’d have to rebuild the wiring and hose harness mount points to keep them in place when the rover combo makes a turn or navigates a change in elevation, but I can solve that problem here.

The main problem is, the Rover 1 chassis needs to retain most if not all of the power distribution system so it can run its wheels and connect with the Friendship internal power and mounted solar panels. That means I’ll have to build a brand new power system almost from scratch to run the radio inside the discarded Rover 1 hull. That will eat up a ton of my remaining electrical repair supplies, and as long as we have direct contact through Pathfinder I don’t want to risk wasting resources when I can have you guys dump things on tables and tape them together until Sy Liebergott dumps it on the CAPCOM terminal.

Does that help any?

[10:01] JPL: Why not mount Rover 1’s computer and radio inside Friendship? That will have power the whole time.

[10:27] WATNEY: I can’t read the pony wiring charts. I’m not willing to risk frying irreplaceable gear, especially the backup radio. I’d need Dragonfly’s help for that. I don’t think Starlight Glimmer knows enough about electronics to be helpful here.

[10:54] JPL: Okay, Mark, we’ll get back to work on that. For the time being go ahead and pull the seats and the life support except for the emergency O2 tank. That means you’ll have to have a pony suit with you for any IVA in Rover 1 to provide air circulation, but there’s not much else you can pull without compromising the radio.

[11:19] WATNEY: Roger. Going to the cave now; don’t wait up. BTW, is there any software in the Hab computers that strips audio out of video? My suit cam was running in the cave yesterday during k;op’

[11:47] JPL: Sorry, but we never thought you’d need any such thing. Is everything all right there?

[12:13] WATNEY: Just fine. Starlight Glimmer was just clarifying that “we do not talk about x” includes all modes of communication whatever.

[12:14] WATNEY: Correction: all modes except interpretive dance.

[12:39] JPL: We’ll look forward to that log entry. Starlight, sorry if it seems nosy, but it’s for science.

[18:11] WATNEY: Back from the cave, just read your last reply. Learned something new today: an arm gesture the ponies call the “high hoof.” It’s basically flipping the bird for species that don’t have more than one digit. I think I’ll let you all fill in the context for yourselves.

Author's Notes:

I began the day with two half-chapters. I end it with this half-chapter plus a bit passed off as a full chapter... plus a buffer of two.

Of course, the problem now is, I need to do some serious math for the next bit in my notes...

EDIT: For those who didn't see them in the previous day's comments, reader River Babble did a quick a capella singing of the Sol 234 song to her own tune, and I'm hella flattered.

But I couldn't listen to it until I recorded my own, because I might forget my own, so if you can stand it, here it is.