Category: Journalist Report

Sol 9 – Aluminum foil and zip ties are an astronaut’s best friends

“The rain fell. The great black lid of sky cracked in six powdery blue chips, like a marvelous crackled glaze, and rushed down. He saw ten billion rain crystals, hesitating long enough to be photographed by the electrical display. Then darkness and water.”

– – Chapter 9 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

If not a green morning, let us have a red one! The colors of the sky over the Martian hills were especially beautiful when we awoke and started our day. Our upper body muscles being sore from Sol 7, Corentin had prepared a leg workout for us to do in the Lower Deck. The objective of this morning’s EVA was to perform more tests and retrieve the MegaAres antenna, as well as placing the last atmospheric physics experiment, the LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter). Everything went very smoothly: the situation with MegaAres wasn’t as bad as we initially thought, and Alexandre has already found a solution to fix the conductivity problem using aluminum foil. After deploying the aerosol counter, we had some time left to briefly explore the area and take some pictures. I feel like I am gradually getting used to moving around in my spacesuit and using tools during EVAs; we know which movements can be impeded, what communications problems can arise and how to solve these problems effectively.

After we returned, we noticed a change in the Hab. Something was off, the Hab was unusually noisy. We quickly realized it was the wind blowing and whistling around the Hab, carrying with it heavy cloud coverage. Alexandre started constantly checking the weather station, afraid the humidity levels would rise, effectively damaging the newly installed LOAC. Today’s quote, taken from the chapter titled “The Green Morning”, in which the protagonist witnesses heavy rainfall followed by the overnight sprouting of a thousand trees, is Alexandre’s greatest nightmare…

Today, we also started taking the cognitive assessment tests as part of the KTHitecture experiment. All crew members are given a series of psychometric tasks designed to see how our concentration, cognition and performance evolve during the mission and are affected by the different environments of the station: this is why you might see us taking the test in places such as the Science Dome, the Hab, and even the GreenHab. Alice and Quentin also prepared Corentin and I for tomorrow’s photogrammetry experiment: we were given a 2D map of North Ridge and a scenario to contextualize the exploration EVA, both of which we had one hour to study.

As the evening progressed, the wind started blowing harder and harder, to a point where we had to secure the corridor tarps and both airlocks to make sure they didn’t get blown away. Mars has hit Crew 275 with everything it had: snowfall, a penetrating cold that nearly got the best of our heating and alarm systems, and high-speed winds. Everything, except for rain… at least, not until now.

Sol 8 – Exploring the 8th continent

“The men of Earth came to Mars. They came because they were afraid or unafraid, because they were happy or unhappy, because they felt like Pilgrims or did not feel like Pilgrims. There was a reason for each man.”

– – Chapter 8 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

The members of today’s EVA crew definitely felt like explorers, if not pilgrims, unafraid to take on an unexplored Martian area! We were very excited this morning to launch the photogrammetry experiment by sending out the first of six EVA crews. Alice, the EVA leader, followed by Quentin and Adrien, headed out to North Ridge to begin 3D-mapping a specific area for other EVA crews to visit later during the mission. The objective is to compare how performance during an EVA (for example, how fast an astronaut can find a designated spot in unknown Martian terrain) is affected by showing the crew members a 3D map of the area beforehand. After today’s “reconnaissance EVA”, two other crews will go to the same location: one will have been given a 3D-map generated thanks to drone imagery, and another will only be given a 2D map. After arriving on-site, the crew members had to immerse themselves in the space to determine the best place from which to launch our Parrot drone. It was then flown over the chosen area by Quentin while Alice decided which spots would be the target areas for the next crew.

Since I will be part of the next EVA returning to the same location, I was therefore not allowed to see the photogrammetry render for myself, but was told it turned out amazing! Quentin was surprised to see that the generated map extended far wider than expected, beyond the area actually explored by the astronauts. The landscape is well-defined, with all rocks more than a meter high detected and rendered with great precision.

This EVA’s other objectives were also completed: Alice gathered some samples for her geology experiment, and the crew ran some more tests on MegaAres and retrieved data from the weather station before heading to North Ridge. In sum, apart from a few communication issues, the EVA was successful!

After debriefing the EVA during lunch, Alexandre reviewed the schedule to find time to solve a problem with MegaAres: after today’s tests, it was confirmed that part of the metallic sphere is not connected to the rest of the electrical circuit; tomorrow morning’s EVA will be necessary to retrieve the spherical part of the antenna to “debug it”.

It felt good to find ourselves all working together in the Upper Deck of the Hab as the afternoon progressed; I feel like we are becoming more and more accustomed to life as a crew, and considering each other as team members and co-workers, but also as friends.

Sol 7 – Winter is over, time for a Spring cleanup!

« “We won’t ruin Mars,” said the captain. “It’s too big and too good.”

“You think not? We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.” »

– Chapter 7 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

After dancing, laughing, and singing our hearts out and playing card games over hot chocolate on the night of Sol 6, we allowed ourselves to sleep until 8:30 on this beautiful Sunday morning. Corentin had prepared an intense workout session to drain us completely and give us a fresh start for the incoming week. We had a lot of fun pushing ourselves close to and beyond our limits for activities such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups; it had been a while since our last truly exhausting and body-resetting workout.

Sunday at MDRS also rhymes with cleaning: after eating freshly baked pancakes for breakfast, we were set on giving the Hab a real makeover. After two very technical EVAs, the Lower Deck was in need of tidying, and the Upper Deck’s kitchen top gave us the opportunity to complete the second workout of the day. We were very proud to have used only 4 liters of water to do the dishes today, given the number of pots and pans left uncleaned after last night’s dinner and the pancakes! Since the beginning of the mission, we have managed to keep our water consumption relatively low, using about 8 liters per day per crewmember (compared to about 150 for the average American!). By 3pm, the Hab looked like it was brand new. Afterwards, Quentin and Alexandre played chess, Alice set her mind to making a new jump rope for our morning workouts, and Corentin and Jérémy installed two flags in the Hab: The United Nations flag and the flag of Humanity. Next to the latter, we placed the whiteboard on which we’ve been writing down quotes for the entire crew to read since the beginning of the mission. Today’s quote read: “Dreams are not what you have when you sleep. The true dreams are the ones that don’t let you sleep.” Food for thought!

In the unusually quiet Upper Deck of the Hab, with only a few muffled voices and music coming from our rooms, Alexandre stood looking out of the window and voiced how beautiful Mars was at this hour: a light pink hue tainted the mountains, reverberating on the last lingering patches of snow. It reminded me of what I have temporarily left behind to join in on this month-long mission: a damaged, mistreated, and disrespected Earth. Let this mission and Bradbury’s quote be a reminder to me and to all of us that protecting and healing our planet must be our top priority!

Sol 6 – If the Moon is made of cheese, let Mars be made of brownies…

“He stood looking at the rocket. The ports were open and his crew was streaming out, waving their hands. A crowd of people had gathered, and in and through and among these people the members of the crew were hurrying, talking, laughing, shaking hands. People did little dances. People swarmed.”

– Chapter 6 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

We awoke this morning to a perfectly well-warmed Upper Deck, indicating that the generator had made it through the night and won against the cold! After two days of unusual mornings, we were grateful to go back to our regular schedule, with a full-length workout session devised by our Health and Safety Officer focusing on proprioception, and a smooth daily health check. Jérémy told us tales of his previous missions in Antarctica over breakfast, before getting ready for the weather station EVA. Quentin, Alexandre and Jérémy suited up and headed out with their equipment, took the rovers, and went back to the MegaAres EVA site.

Sitting in the Upper Deck, working as HabCom for today’s EVA crew, I chose today’s quote from The Martian Chronicles in hopes that we would be able to give our EVA crew the proper greeting when they came back to the Hab! With this in mind, Alice prepared a brownie, and Adrien and Corentin returned from the GreenHab to prepare tortillas.

Thanks to Jérémy, Quentin and Alexandre, we now have an up and running weather station. The EVA went smoothly, leaving extra time to run field tests on MegaAres which were mostly successful. We debriefed during lunchtime, before Alice and Jérémy returned to the Science Dome. Alice worked on her project to recreate a 3D geological map using photogrammetry, starting running tests to correctly identify different types of rocks, to then be able to recognize them on the 3D map. “To identify different types of sandstone, you have to look at the grain size,” she explained to me. “I wanted to use the Science Dome microscope to measure them, but had trouble scaling the image I obtained. That will be something to work on next week.”

Meanwhile, in the Hab, Corentin worked on extracting the data from the Polar chest bands we wear at night and during the day. These measure our heartrate and heartrate variability, and also contain an accelerometer to measure our activity. Yesterday, they even allowed us to see how our heart rates were affected by stress related to the power outage. Quentin and Alexandre also had their first EchoFinder session, during which we experienced the same difficulties as yesterday. As I was also in the Hab, I kept switching between touching up photos, trying to capture a timelapse of a Martian sunset and offering them some help.

Tonight, after the com window closes, we plan to celebrate our first week at the MDRS by dancing together and playing some games!

Sol 5 – “Mission Support, we have a problem…”

“He wanted to go to Mars on the rocket. He went down to the rocket field in the early morning and yelled in through the wire fence at the men in uniform that he wanted to go to Mars.”

– Chapter 5 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

So, you want to go to Mars? Are you sure?

After a very intense Sol 4, and for some of us, staying up late preparing the weather station for the next EVA, our commander noticed a power outage at 5:27am. As we all began to stir and emerge from our sleep to the sound of the comms radio, we noticed that, like yesterday, the temperature had dropped on the upper and lower decks of the Hab. When the power came back, immediately the propane alarm went off on the Lower Deck. Corentin and Quentin rushed to the RAM to get gas detectors and evaluate the situation. After a careful check of every possible source, they concluded that there was no gas leak, and that the alarm was either deregulated by the extreme temperature, or that when the power went out, the furnace valve was not closed right away, and a small amount of gas was expelled and accumulated close to the Lower Deck floor. While no one was put in danger, it was a very stressful experience. Later in the day, we were even able to retrace the events by looking at the data from the chest bands we wear at night.

Our heartbeats skyrocketed when Jérémy called Mission Support with the Hab radio and when the propane alarm went off. After the power came back, temperatures started to slowly rise again, and we shed some layers. Thank the Martian gods, Adrien’s aquaponic fishes are still alive and well!

Given how our night had been drastically shortened, and because we risked another power outage, we decided to cancel today’s EVA and reschedule it to tomorrow morning. As a result, instead of staying up and starting the day normally, many of us went back to bed… According to our commander, it felt like a Sunday morning at MDRS: some of us sleeping, some working, some cleaning the Hab.

By late morning, it was once again all hands on deck: Adrien in the GreenHab, Quentin working on the environmental sensors, Alice writing an article on meteorites. Today was also official launching day for EchoFinder: Jérémy and I, then Adrien and Corentin took turns being subject and operator, to detect specific, pre-scanned organs during a session at CNES, the French space agency.

After this strange day, we are ready and rested for our rescheduled EVA: building the weather station near the MegaAres antenna. We hope that tonight, the power generator will take its revenge and win the fight against the cold!

Sol 4 – “HabCom, do you copy?”

“You are a Martian!” The man smiled. “The word is not familiar to you, certainly. It’s an Earth expression.”

– – Chapter 4 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

This morning, Mars offered us clear skies and biting cold: the weather station read -17°C at 6:45 when we woke up! As we were beginning to complete our daily surveys and health check, still half asleep, the power suddenly went out. Jérémy immediately contacted Mission Support, who responded quickly, and the power came back a few minutes later, though enough time passed for us to start to feel the cold seep through the Hab walls… and give us a taste of what awaited out there in the Martian atmosphere! The EVA to install MegaAres being scheduled in the morning, we regularly checked the temperature as we got ready. By 10am, we had reached -10°C! Warmly dressed and equipped with our spacesuits, Alexandre, Corentin and I stepped into the airlock for depressurization, led by Quentin, our HabCom.

This was the crew’s first high-stakes EVA science-wise, and we were all aware of the importance of this experiment: the MegaAres antenna is supposed to stay in place during the entire mission to collect data on the electric field of the Martian atmosphere. After collecting all the parts and tools in the engineering airlock, and loading everything into the rovers, the unexpected happened, as always. Alexandre, our EVA leader, lost radio contact with us. Fortunately, we were still close to the Hab and could return to the airlock, pressurize, and re-equip Alexandre. We then headed to the chosen site and worked as hard as we could to make up for the lost time. I started feeling more intensely what we had all noticed during our training EVA: exertion arrived much more quickly when performing the simplest actions required by the installation of the antenna, such as kneeling, standing up, even grabbing a tool… Every single movement was impeded by the thickness of our gloves, the impreciseness of our movements, the weight of our equipment. It took us half an hour to insert two screws and adjust the correct nuts…

Nevertheless, we succeeded! The antenna is upright, sitting on its four “legs” on the metal mesh serving as the electrical system’s ground. We can even see it from the Hab! And to the Hab we returned, exhausted but quite content. After debriefing the EVA over some lunch prepared by Alice, a nap was deemed necessary, and approved by our Crew Scientist who had even thought of including it in the original schedule. But there was no time to waste : tomorrow, another EVA to the same location is scheduled to set up a weather station! Quentin, Jérémy and Alexandre spent their afternoon preparing, while the others worked on their various tasks in the Hab. In the persisting cold, the generator is struggling to keep some of the appliances up and running. We are currently running the Coms window, gathered around scavenged flashlights! Luckily, the heater is still working miracles…

This first week, on which rests the correct implementation of our main experiments, is stressful for all of us, but we are still in great shape!

 

 

Sol 3 – Waiting for a Martian spring;

“It was quiet in the deep morning of Mars, as quiet as a cool and black well, with stars shining in the canal waters, […] the moons gone, the torches cold, the stone amphitheaters deserted.”

– Chapter 3 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Me and my fellow Martians awoke this morning, some of us not as well rested as they hoped, and looked out the Hab window to find that the sky had not cleared, possibly impacting the EVA planned on Sol 4 to install MegaAres and LOAC. After the daily health status check session and a forcibly shortened workout session, we went to work: Corentin, Alexandre and I practiced building the Mega Ares antenna, with a few mishaps and unexpected breakage. Meanwhile, Alice made our first batch of bread (!) while Quentin started mounting the environmental sensors.

The test session for the EchoFinder experiment, designed to aid astronauts in performing ultrasounds using an AI and augmented reality, was a bit chaotic: The support arm used to maintain the tablet was not usable, and one of the two QR cubes used to track the device was wrongly positioned. We will make some adjustments before the first actual session takes place later this week.

After a very active morning, eating Alice’s freshly baked bread for lunch was the perfect fixer upper. A few laughs and a good meal gave us the energy to continue plowing through the day. In the afternoon, the Hab went somewhat quiet as everyone went their separate ways to complete their tasks, and took turns completing cognitive tests and posture analyses. By 6pm, thanks to Alexandre, the MegaAres antenna was ready for tomorrow’s important EVA!

In sum, a quiet Sol, in anticipation and preparation of the next.

 

 

Sol 2 – Journey to the Poles

“It was like those days when you heard a thunderstorm coming and there was the waiting silence and then the faintest pressure of the atmosphere as the climate blew over the land in shifts and shadows and vapors. […] The sky was stained and coloured; the clouds were thickened; the mountains took on an iron taint.”

– Chapter 2 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

Snow! This morning, Crew 275 realized that their rocket has landed too close to the poles: a thick layer of frozen carbon dioxide started covering the station in the morning. Our solar panels were also covered, preventing us from using certain appliances such as the oven: no bread for us today…

Preparation of atmospheric experiments continued: Quentin started pre-mounting the weather station while Alexandre prepared the batteries to power the LOAC and MegaAres. However, the decision was made to confine the crew in the Hab when the temperature in the RAM dropped below 40°F, leaving some activities unfinished. Thankfully, Adrien warmed us all with a carrot broth made with his daily harvest from the GreenHab.

Some crewmates voiced their frustration due to the lack of productivity because of the cold and bad weather, but morale is still high, and thankfully no EVAs were planned for today. Alice, our crew Scientist, has been juggling with the many unexpected events and delays to organize the schedule these past two Sols, and hopes experiments will be in place quickly! She expressed her joy to see snow from the Hab windows.

Despite the leaks detected in the RAM and Science Dome, progress was also made in installing the KTHitecture experiment, the objective being to measure the influence that the architecture and environmental characteristics of a Martian base can have on astronauts. Alexandre continued calibrating temperature sensors and Quentin managed to connect them to the local network. A first test will take place during the night, both in the Science Dome and the lower deck.

In the GreenHab, Adrien and I finished installing the aquaponics system, which is now operational. It comprises a water tank housing some fishes and a rack for plants. A pump injects water from the tank into the rack, and thus the water is kept circulating in a closed loop, where the fishes’ dejections help the plants’ roots to develop. During the entire mission, Adrien will be closely monitoring their growth.

Overall, I would say this day demonstrates the crew’s resilience and ability to adapt. Nevertheless, we cannot help but hope for a less cloud-heavy sky for the next Sol!

 

 

Sol 1 – The owl has landed

“The rocket stood in the cold winter morning, making summer with every breath of its mighty exhausts.”

Chapter 1 of The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

I think it is safe to say that this morning, many of us found ourselves waking up before our alarm, set at 6:30 am. Although the night was rather short, we were up and running by 6:45 to begin our routine: our daily sleep diary and surveys, weighing session and physiological measurements (body temperature, heart rate, etc.). Corentin, our Health and Safety officer, then led the first workout session of the mission as we watched the sunrise from the corner of our eyes and through the thick, narrow Hab windows.

After taking our last crew pictures in front of the habitat, we gathered inside the Hab near the airlock, and Adrien officially began the simulation by closing the airlock door without a spacesuit for the last time. The excitement was palpable: we were now on Mars, on a month-long mission, tasked with over a dozen experiments by scientists waiting for us back on Earth.

Coincidentally, the beginning of the mission was marked by our first EVA, designed for us to experience life outside the Hab and get used to the spacesuits and life support system. Quentin, the crew engineer, Alexandre, the crew astronomer, and I stepped outside into the hostile Martian environment for the first time and drove out to Marble Ritual. After a short exploration on site, Alexandre and Quentin looked to find a suitable place to install the atmosphere monitoring instruments, LOAC and Mega Ares.

While we were out on our EVA, Adrien and Alice led inventories of their workspaces, the GreenHab and Science Dome. It was then their turn, along with Corentin and our commander Jérémy, to go out on their training EVA, during which they practiced writing and drawing while wearing their spacesuits.

The rest of the afternoon was very studious due to the two EVAs, everyone worked hard to prepare their daily reports, and had a few laughs while communicating with the GreenHab. Meanwhile, Adrien harvested tomatoes to feed the crew, a perspective which lifted our already high spirits. This first Sol bodes well for the next 26!

 

 

Sol 0 – From one planet to another

Crew 275 has safely arrived at the Mars Desert Research Station! Seeing the Hab suddenly appear from behind the ridge after a year of preparation and anticipation gave the crew the most wonderful feeling: our objective and dream was standing before us, just as we had studied and imagined it.

As we eased into this new environment, Sol 0, the pre-simulation training session, could begin.

Sergii, Assistant Director, and Donald, Site Manager of the MDRS showed us all the facilities (GreenHab, Musk Observatory, Science Dome, etc.) and their specificities, and trained us to prepare for an EVA: reading the map, choosing a destination, suiting up, and operating the rovers. Before sunset, we all drove them out to Marble Ritual for the crew to get the hang of them.

Enjoying our last few moments out in the open, we also had the opportunity to gather some drone footage of the station and record a video to present the facility to our French audience.

Tomorrow morning, we will close the Hab airlock… and officially land on Mars!