Category: Journalist Report

Sol 1: « It’s a small step for me, a bigger one for Quentin » –

Author – Isolde Louzier-Ricalens

6:30AM: First awakening in the station. After getting out of bed, the crew already get busy, checking their daily morning tasks. We measure our physiological data for the Core Data experiment, that will allow us to transfer data to the researchers needing them. After that, it’s time to follow our first sport session, animated by Célyan. No time to lose for Crew 311: as soon as finished, we clean ourselves (but with wipes, like in the ISS!), we dress up, and we finally close the door of the station. Let’s go for a busy day!

11:19AM: I just came back from my first EVA, an ExtraVehicular Activity. Meddi, Quentin, Robin and I did our first training. We found the perfect place for the atmospheric instruments: Marble Rituals. We will set them up later during the week. The analog Martian desert looked very vast, such as the sky that overlooked it. I had the honour to step on its ground first, and to pronounce our first words: « it’s a small step for me, a bigger one for Quentin ».

During this time, the rest of the crew did our food inventory.

3:00PM: During the beginning of the afternoon, every crew member goes to their business. Meddi waters the plants, Robin takes inventory of the RAM, whereas Somaya takes the Science Dome’s one, and Quentin takes charge of the solar observatory. Everyone got together then, to setup Somaya, Erin and Célyan for their EVA training.

6:50PM: The afternoon was productive. While some of us were preparing Orbital Architecture experiment, some other were managing the building of supports for our atmospheric instruments. The communication window is approaching, and now the whole crew answer their daily questionnaires.

Crew 311 Journalist Report 19Feb2025
SOL 2: “Why do astronauts have laundry problems? Because they are always in space!”
Author – Isolde Louzier-Ricalens

10:06AM: Second day at the station. This day seems more usual; no extravehicular activity is planned. The crew focuses on assembling various experiments that need to be installed throughout the station, and each member attends to their daily tasks. Quentin, Robin, and I assembled and tested the atmospheric instruments. We were very efficient and plan to install them outside tomorrow. Meanwhile, Célyan and Somaya are setting up the Orbital Architecture experiment, which will track our position within the station. Meddi organized the greenhouse to set up Micropouss’, an experiment in collaboration with the startup Neopouss’, which allows us to grow microgreens that will enhance our meals. So far, we have only eaten meals prepared from lyophilized ingredients or long-lasting ones. These plants will have a significant impact on our well-being.

4:18PM: Finally, we got to taste the products from the greenhouse! At lunch, Meddi brought us a little surprise: small tomatoes and radishes collected in the GreenHab. The evening promises to be delicious as well, since Somaya prepared the dough for Moroccan bread that we are eager to cook and taste tonight! The afternoon was productive: our progress on the atmospheric instruments allowed Robin and me to set up AMAIA’s servers, the AI assistant of Spaceship FR. Everything is not yet perfect, but this standalone AI, meaning it works without the internet, could be very useful! However, its humor is unique… The title of the report bears witness to that. In parallel, Erin works on the crew schedules, and Quentin is already developing his first photos of the sun taken in the observatory!

5:27PM: I finished my first cognitive assessment in the HAB, our main habitat. It was pretty difficult to focus among the very animated crew members around. While some of them have already set up the lights or LättaLL experiment in the core habitat, Somaya has cooked her little breads. They are delicious!

SOL 23: The rover has landed

04:17 PM: This morning was a bit different from the others. We struggled to create the map of Kissing Camel Ridge yesterday, despite the 800 photos that Somaya had taken. The schedule was rearranged at the last minute because Robin and Quentin were unable to study the 2D map last night. Everyone was also very tired, so this morning, the crew woke up a bit later than usual, and Robin and Quentin studied the map during the 45 minutes preceding their EVA. They then left with Célyan, who was in charge of observing their performance, and Somaya, who took more drone photos of the area. EVAs with four crew members are rare, and the HAB was quite calm in the morning. Meddi and Erin took advantage of this to plan the organization of our bags to lose as little time as possible on the last day of the mission when we will leave.

At the end of their exit, the EVA crew members returned to the base to take out the rover from SUPAEROMOON, which was ready for this moment. The ISAE-SUPAERO club could not provide us with a robotic arm for the rover, so we won’t be able to test it fully, but this mechanism leaves a perfectly adapted space for… Didier, our mascot!

After taking refuge in the station and taking a well-deserved break, Quentin went to the observatory. I then heard from my room a message coming from the mission support walkie-talkie. It informs us that one of our rovers, which we use to move during EVAs, is no longer operational for the rest of the mission. This rover was really useful as its battery allowed us to reach distant regions of the station, like the Sea of Shells area. Fortunately, this week, we will stay in spaces near the base, and the remaining three rovers will be more than enough. Suddenly, Quentin also called the HAB from a walkie-talkie and informed us that the tunnels are being damaged again. Meddi and Robin went to rescue our movement spaces to prevent their condition from deteriorating, which would cause another emergency EVA rather unwelcome at this busy time.

SOL 24: “Mega-Hassles with MegaARES”

04:52 PM: Once again this morning, Crew 311 adapted its organization to the packed schedule of the day. This time, Meddi and I studied both 2D and 3D maps of Kissing Camel Ridge in parallel. The 3D map covered the reliefs of the area, but the software had a lot of trouble reproducing all the flat spaces in the region, so we couldn’t do without the 2D map to continue our research. The areas for placing beacons on the map were very wide, and after the two beacon search sessions were finished, we realized that both teams had found the beacons in the same amount of time.

The morning EVA was very long, and for good reason: we had problems retrieving data from the atmospheric instruments, which hadn’t been done for a while. The MegaARES interface started displaying illegible messages when retrieving the week’s data, and then the interface crashed. We waited a long time before concluding that we would retrieve the rest of the data once we had put away the instruments.

The morning EVA was very long, but it could have been very short because the wind was blowing very strongly, and if it had increased just a bit more, we wouldn’t have been authorized to continue the EVA.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew tested the rover that we had assembled in the previous days, but the results are not conclusive for now. We still hope to make it run in the coming days! Upon our return, some good news arrived: Somaya was cooking batbout (Moroccan bread). Célyan and she went to get a bunch of fresh vegetables from the GreenHAB to enhance the meal. We thus enjoyed delicious vegetarian burgers. Feeling the taste of fresh tomatoes was a pleasure we hadn’t experienced for more than 3 weeks already, and the frenetic discussions at lunchtime gave way to the silence of enjoyment.

06:28 PM: We had little rest in the early afternoon because the day’s schedule was packed, and as soon as our meals were finished, we launched our last daily recording for the Twins2 experiment. We then concluded our discussions about possible architectural improvements in the station with an overall view of it, and everyone returned to their daily tasks.

06:50 PM: Just a few moments before the start of the daily communication window and while everyone was focused on their activities, one of the topics discussed during the brainstorming session became relevant again: part of the tarp covering the newly installed tunnel had flown away. Here, the wind is rising and determined to complicate our last moments in the station! Discussing improvements to the station then takes on its full meaning.

SOL 25: The End of the Mission is Approaching

03:17 PM: Over the past few days, everyone was supposed to perform teleoperation of a rover via a virtual reality headset for the HUMANISE experiment, but it turned out there were persistent issues. The start of this activity kept getting postponed until today, which was the deadline by which we could carry it out. It won’t be possible for Crew 311 to pilot a rover in this way, but to gather as much data as possible anyway, the researcher in charge of the experiment allowed us to try the headset by playing racing games. He collects data such as our heart rate during these short sessions, allowing him to analyze our reactions. Everyone takes turns participating in this new activity alongside other tasks. These racing sessions disrupt the inner ear, and many of us had a spinning sensation when we took off the headset!

Robin finalizes his program for managing “Core Data.” Core Data is an experiment by the MDRS crews of ISAE-Supaero that collects physiological data on crew members. This allows the researchers we work with to use it to achieve results. Meanwhile, Erin writes a detailed document explaining all aspects of the experiment, to execute it better and more easily in the coming years.

The end of the mission is approaching, and with it come many questions. We received questions from students at the French Lycée in New York with whom we had conducted science outreach sessions. Célyan and Erin are taking care of answering them via video!

The end of the mission is approaching, but the astronomy project has already concluded! Quentin worked hard over the past few days, and he finally finished it. There are still a few details to refine, but it’s excellent news to know the project was completed during the mission. It can serve as a tool for astronomers on future crews, as Quentin’s program allows measuring the movement of solar spots from images of the Sun.

The end of the mission is approaching: this afternoon, Robin and Célyan disassembled the lamps from the LättaLL experiment, took apart the 3D printers, unplugged some of our extension cords… The evening is quite ordinary in appearance; we work on our reports in the HAB with music playing on the speaker, as if we were going to stay here for months more. No one quite realizes yet that the end of the mission is approaching.

SOL 26: This Is Not the End.

04:20 PM: Last day in the station. The entire crew is dismantling the final experiments, tidying up the station, and cleaning the modules… Robin, Erin, and I went out for the last EVA of the mission, which was partly organized by students from Mirepoix, to take down the atmospheric instruments. Everything went as planned—if not better—since we managed to pack up and bring back all the instruments in less than an hour!

Once everything was stored away, we found ourselves in a different station. Suitcases were scattered across the floor, and Célyan asked everyone to return the sensors from the Orbital Architecture experiment, as we wouldn’t be wearing them today. This morning, Meddi and Somaya tried once again to get the SUPAEROMOON rover to move, but without success. Still, the little machine’s wheels had touched the ground of our very own "Mars."

We completed our final cognitive tests and last questionnaires. In less than an hour, at 5:00 PM, we will break the simulation. In less than an hour, we will be free to run through the Utah desert—no longer Mars—to breathe fresh air, to see each other’s faces without the glass visors of our EVA suits.

Of course, the mission is not over. We still have a lot of data to transmit to researchers, documents to write explaining our experiments, and some experiments are still ongoing! This mission has been a scientific experience that we hope will prove useful, but one thing I am sure of is that it has been an incredibly enriching human experience.

It’s time. It is 5:00 PM, the time to open the door leading back to Earth.

7:17 PM : We stepped out, we ran, then we walked, then we climbed a mountain we had been seeing in the distance. It feels good to be free, to go wherever we want, without the constraints of space or time, without the limitations of our rovers’ batteries or our spacesuits’ oxygen supply.

The mission is not over, because we expect results to emerge, because we intend to pass on our experience to the next crew, because we plan to take it even further.

SOL 21: Save Didier!

06:30: PM This morning, the entire crew woke up a bit earlier than planned. Indeed, in Utah, we changed time! After an intense sports session organized by Célyan, the crew calmly has breakfast, and as everyone is about to start cleaning the station, we hear alerting cries: Quentin warns us that someone has taken Didier, our mascot! In fact, Célyan and he have organized an escape game throughout the station! After solving numerous puzzles and freeing Didier, we returned to our chores.

The second half of the day remained rather calm. We just had to continue with weekly and daily experiments, even if our schedule is more flexible. However, we still need to answer more questionnaires than usual. Some of us also have cognitive tests throughout the day, like Erin this morning, and reports or daily tasks to complete. If Meddi didn’t water the plants in the GreenHab, all our reserve of herbs would perish, Célyan still has to prepare our sports session for tomorrow, Robin is writing a report confirming that the station is operational, Somaya manages our retrospectives and I personally have to write today’s report and process all the crew’s photos. This weekend is also special because it precedes the last week we spend in the station, i.e., the one where we must uninstall many operational devices and complete ongoing experiments. We discussed at length how we should arrange the week and whether or not to continue certain experiments next week. Bad news: we will not benefit from the AMI experience during the mission, but we still have the last quarter of the mission to complete as many experiments beautifully.

SOL 22: Our First Last Week

04:24 PM: The last week of our adventure begins normally, but we all know it will become increasingly busy as the days go by. This morning, Erin, Somaya, and Célyan went on an EVA to prepare the final phase of our photogrammetry experiment. This time, Meddi, Robin, and Quentin will look for the beacons instead of hiding them, since this morning’s EVA crew took care of that. They also handled mapping the western part of Kissing Camel Ridge, the new area we are going to explore! If everything goes well, tonight Quentin and Robin will study a 2D map of the area and conclude this part of the experiment.

The EVA crew from this morning isn’t the only one preparing for upcoming experiments: I’ve finished my last preparatory sketches for the discussion sessions about station layout. Now, all that’s left is to finalize the conclusions of our discussions. Quentin is working intensely this week while he can still observe the Sun thanks to the station’s observatory, although the day has been difficult and marked by power outages. Living with seven people consumes a lot of energy, and this kind of interruption is common at MDRS—we are prepared for it. On his part, Robin has finished assembling the SUPAEROMOON rover! We plan to take it out tomorrow for the first time. We have extravehicular activities (EVAs) scheduled almost every day, so we won’t miss the opportunity to test the rover on these occasions, although these EVAs are also planned for other reasons. Erin and he are now correcting the programs we use for the Core Data experiment, while Célyan is preparing small podcasts to answer questions from students at a school where the crew has done outreach.

The upcoming mornings promise to be well-filled because this week we will all try tele-operation using a virtual reality headset for the HUMANISE experiment. Fortunately, we have already concluded some of our experiments like Micropouss’. Meddi is now taking care of growing vegetables that will serve as provisions for future crews.

SOL 17: “The potatoes are on the drop zone.”
11:02 AM: This morning, Erin and Célyan went out on another EVA for photogrammetry, accompanied by Meddi. This time, they used a 2D map instead of taking notes on beacons as they did yesterday. Before leaving the area around our habitat, our three crewmates brought into the airlock leading outside the station a small gift from elsewhere. Indeed, the “cargo ships” tasked with resupplying the station forgot two essential items for our kitchen: potatoes and especially salt. Regarding the salt, the crew will have to wait a few more days, but we had the pleasure of welcoming the potatoes into the station this morning.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew worked in the HAB to the rhythm of music and the sounds of the 3D printer, which is slowly building the pieces of the rover SUPAEROMOON. It has given us a hard time, but we are now able to print very good parts that will constitute a robust rover. We did a blind test of Somaya’s playlist while performing our tasks. Some require little concentration, although they can be rather long. For example, I am transferring numerous audio files for the Evolsan lab with which we are working, and Robin built himself a small shelf. The music is welcome!

04:10 PM: The crew that went on the EVA returned at noon, very tired from this excursion. The beacons were more difficult to find than last week, it seems. The beginning of the afternoon was again quite calm, while Robin closely monitors the prints of our future rover, and Meddi and Quentin do their mid-mission recordings for the Twins2 experiment. I am writing these few lines, reflecting on what I will do next. To be honest, I never thought I would have time to draw during the mission, and here I am sketching every corner of the station for an experience. I believe it’s even time for me to start my evening sketches…

06:20 PM: Meddi and Célyan returned from the GreenHab with plenty of good surprises tonight! They harvested all sorts of herbs there, including microgreens. We can’t wait to eat them; our next meals are likely to be green, even if they won’t be salty.

SOL 18: Sheltering from the Storm

05:14 PM: The weather is in a foul mood today. While the entire crew started their day as usual this morning, the sky darkened and the wind picked up. Quentin and Somaya went to work calmly in the Science Dome early in the day, and by the time they returned, the deafening howls of the wind were already shaking the HAB. The entire crew then gathered to observe what this storm looked like from the portholes. We were impressed by the large sand clouds whipped up by the wind, giving us the feeling of being trapped in the middle of a sandstorm. The walls of the GreenHab shook under the gusts, and the hatch leading to the solar observatory’s sky also vibrated heavily. When we realized this, a question arose for the crew: Should we go out to the observatory to secure it properly, risking that the volunteer for this expedition might see the tunnels between the modules overturn on them due to wind pressure? We therefore organized urgently. It was decided that Quentin would close the hatch, and equipped with the walkie-talkie from the Lower-Deck, he would communicate directly with Erin who would indicate when the lulls occurred so that he could cross the tunnels at the right moment. The sky was in a bad mood, and since the corridors were not perfectly airtight, he felt the gusts while crossing them, but he finally managed to secure the observatory.

For a few hours, we contented ourselves with continuing our activities in the HAB. Robin started assembling the SUPAEROMOON rover, but we must be patient and wait for all the prints to finish before we can finally test it. Meddi analyzed the data from the Micropouss’ experiment, and Célyan even tried his hand at embroidery.

In the middle of the afternoon, the wind blew a little less strongly, and after launching recordings for the Twins2 experiment, Crew 311 headed to the RAM and GreenHab to discuss possible improvements for these modules. The RAM is already very optimized; we quickly turned our attention to the greenhouse, but once there, we struggled to hear each other due to the loud wind. We therefore concluded our little activity in the HAB, where the gusts whisper that they still have things to tell us.

Tonight, Somaya and I were supposed to prepare an EVA for tomorrow morning to search for beacons in the Sea of Shells region using a 3D map, but the weather forecast is not good, and we are forced to postpone it. The desert is not kind to analog astronauts; one must know how to adapt.