Author: jburk

[Time is passing so fast] Journalist Report
Crew 227 Journalist Report 4 April 2022
Sol : 8
Name of the person filling the report : Sirga Drouet

Sol 8 of our life on Mars.
A cold night for the inhabitants of the Hab and a premature awakening by a gadget beeping like crazy every 5 seconds. I turned to my neighbor and quickly realized that I was going to have to get out of bed to turn off whatever had woken me up. However, I was lucky enough to be accompanied by the rising sun that pierced the red hills and gradually illuminated our community, a calm and silent moment (luckily no one was snoring). I learned in the morning that several people were awake and didn’t have the courage to turn off the sound that was roasting our poor ears, great I had been fooled like a rabbit !
The day looks hot without a cloud on the horizon and an EVA without rover for a game in exploration condition. The tension rises at the idea of this duel.

Team mechanics versus team "Others", we set off with Julie and the two teams in search of a flat spot on the heights of Mars to carry out the great challenge.
You have to realize the magnitude of this match : on the ground on all fours on the Martian sand, with our helmets on, it was impossible to get close to each other to make a good reduction of the shin, it was impossible to discuss orally and it was difficult to do so with walkie-talkies, otherwise it was a mess as far as communication was concerned, because we were all connected and we didn’t understand each other. It was mentally and physically tiring but we did our best and the fact that we had prepared beforehand as a team helped a lot. We know the steps and the difficult movements of each one which guides us in the manipulation. In the end, we did pretty well, less than 50 minutes of operation and we counted only one dead and the other patient will return to earth…
Thank God that Julie is still in good shape ^^.
We were in a beautiful place a few hundred meters from the station.
We had a sight on big full broken in the distance by mountains higher than skyscrapers. Once the game finished to have a 360 degrees view we climbed North Ridge a mound which overhangs the panorama and which is in front of the station. After a few feet slipping in the sand, deep breaths and a few drops of sweat we were on top ! A breathtaking view, all the reliefs of Mars in front of us, a range of colors, unknown stones and above all the smile on our happy and red faces. Fortunately we had good boots and no sandals, the steep descent could have turned into a sledding race on combination, instead we positioned ourselves on our boots to crouch so as not to lose our balance on the slope ! I admit it to you I smile to the image of this situation a little bit embarrassing and ridiculous but let us not take risks. Safety first !

I have an announcement to make ! Cyril’s experiment finally starts !!!! A 3D model in perspective and a superb drone shot of our EVA. Honestly, it looks like a drone from the Wall-e cartoon as its behavior fluctuates. It was complicated but after the rain the weather is not ?

This afternoon, back to the daily activities. The Anatomy team, since Audrey started her challenges, is dangerously catching up with the mechanical team in the surgery tournaments.
Let’s make a little tour of the Cheyenne plants. The radishes grow earlier than expected and grow with the days in the compost substrate but the Martian substrate does not seem to please them … They germinate slowly, we observe in some pot of radish and a microgreen the radicle. Tadam the culture takes more time but it works. I will keep you informed of their growth. It will be easy to guess when they will show their cotyledons Cheyenne will probably be jumping for joy everywhere.

On Audrey’s side the exposed bacteria seem to have a 100 to 1000 times lower growth rate than the unexposed bacteria. On the exposed AB side, some have no impact on their efficiency but others are significantly less efficient.
More news in a few days when the analysis will have progressed 😉
Julien for his part is starting to catch up on his analysis of the sleep patterns and is becoming more and more efficient at recognizing the different phases.

Tonight it’s applesauce, freeze-dried chicken and mashed potatoes with a touch of insects. The time passes so quickly, we leave the station in 5 days and it seems like we arrived only a few days ago. I feel like singing : Hey hey hey, I’m one vacation, every single day cause I love my occupation !
On that note, I’m going to prepare the meal right now

See you tomorrow!
Sirga