Category: Journalist Report

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 9 – 01/07/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

Astronauts? You mean, sit on top of a rocket and launched into space? Sounds dangerous; when do we go?

As we catapult into our second week on Mars, the crew cannot believe how fast the days have flown by! How is it possible that our time is almost over here on the Red Planet? It seems like yesterday we had just arrived as a fresh, wide eyed and bushy tailed crew. In a mere week, we are old veterans, working through the routine, a family of determined Martians still bent on completing our ambitious mission goals. Making sure every day counts towards our research and our life as a Crew.

It is at this approximate half way point that we reflect on our key simulation question: Would this be done on Mars?

Mars is approximately one tenth the mass of Earth and one third the gravity. Unfortunately, science has not found a way to simulate different celestial body gravities for long durations of time. Get on it science. It takes from 6 to 8 months to travel to Mars from Earth when Mars is near its closest point to Earth (~55 million km away) which occurs every two years. Imagine how Mark Watney felt while waiting for his Crew to make the journey all the way back to Earth and circle back around to rescue him from Mars! We are very thankful to have more than potatoes in our pantry. This equates to a maximum of a 22 minute delay in communication one way, 44 minutes round trip to send a message and receive a response. This will force future Martians to be heavily independent when it comes to all aspects of their life including habitat maintenance, research, and emergency procedures. Here on Mars Desert Research Station, we are given a two hour communication window with our “CapCom”, with whom we transmit reports about the state of our campus, extra-vehicular activity requests, and summaries of our research progress. This is all performed through email and is received spontaneously during these two hours. Not quite like Mars, but we do our best to simulate the communication by having limited internet (~500 MB per day) and transmitting text messages similar to those that would be used on Mars. Mars is desolate, isolated, and magnificent. Check, check, and check. While we cannot simulate the gravity, and the communication isn’t a perfect fidelity, we feel we have truly experienced as close to on Mars as we could achieve in our 2 week mission and could not be more excited about what our last week holds.

While confined in a small space with six people, in a sitcom-like environment, there are several lifestyle debates that have risen from the crew. Two of which we would like to invite our fellow Earthlings to weigh in on: Which way does the toilet paper hang? What is defined as a nap? These seem fairly trivial – It depends on the person. No. Not in this crew. These have been heated topics for several days and we are determined to debate it until we perish and turn to dust with our gravestones eternally making our arguments.

On the toilet paper front, everyone is an over the roll hanger expect our Crew Engineer. She prefers an under orientation… which is wrong. This has turned into a war of flipping the toiler paper back and forth in the small, motorhome sized bathroom for the duration of our mission.

Naps are common on Mars because it is exhausting being a Martian! Carrying 20 lbs backpacks on 2-3 hour extra-vehicular activities typically leads to crashing on the couches in the living area to recharge before continuing the research projects or preparing to cook dinner. Our Crew Engineer has been known to take 2-3 hour naps after strenuous activity. Our Executive Officer feels this is far too long to be defined as a “nap” and considers this “falling asleep”. The Commander has sided with the Executive Officer. The Geologist and Journalist are on the side of the Crew Engineer, defining naps as sleeping during the day for any duration of time. Our Health & Safety Officer is usually asleep during these debates.

We are in a stale mate on both fronts, and would like to hear Earth’s opinion. Should future Martians place their toilet paper over or under? How should naps be defined in the Martian schedule?

Movie (or Show) Answer: The Right Stuff

Sol 8 – 01/06/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

“Space,” it says, “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

—

Morning Song: Someone New by Hozier.

Morning Routine: Stretching.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Blueberries.

EVA #7: Collect. More. Rocks.

But none of that matters today. The routine, the unbelievably scenic views, the amazing science being done during this mission. None of it… Because today, after eight days… Eight long, dry shampoo filled, wipey scrubbed, hair stiff as uncooked spaghetti noodles days. I. Finally. Took. A. Shower.

While on Mars, water is a limited resource just like anything else. It’s hard to find on Mars; therefore, it must be conserved. Our mission instructions allot us a 2 minute Navy shower every 2-3 days. The instructions for a 2 minute Navy shower: Step 1: Turn on the water. Step 2: Jump in the water. Step 3: Rinse and jump out. Step 4: Turn off the water. Perform Steps 1-4 in under 45 seconds. Step 5: Scrub your body with soap in 15 to 30 seconds. Step 6: Repeat Steps 1-4 to rinse the soap off. It is a stark change from my 45 minute showers back on Earth, and it is not particularly pleasant, but it gets the job done.

But why did I wait 8 days? Our habitat holds enough water for 1-2 people to take a shower per day. Added bonus, our water heater has a mean personality and rarely works, no matter how nicely we ask. Our Engineer caved first. She described her shower has having a brief moment of warmth. Our Commander and Executive Officer experienced the same sensations of freezing water, pleasant warmth, and scalding, burn your skin off, temperature, then back to freezing cold. Our poor Geologist only felt the ice chattering cold. There was one common reaction to taking a shower across the crew, we have been reborn. It is as if you are a new person, slipping into a fresh skin like a recently molted lizard. Nobody particularly smells on this crew (or maybe we have just gotten used to each other’s smells), but in an effort to conserve water, I endured the dry shampoo and baby wipe scrub downs until I couldn’t possibly take it anymore! And I swear my hair has never felt so soft as it does today. In fresh clean clothes. With my fresh clean body.

That’s it for today. That was the highlight. We are always thinking of our loved ones. We hope they don’t miss us too much, and we want them to know that we are having a fantastic time on the Red Planet. We can’t wait to share all of our adventures with them when we return… And take a 45 minute shower. With working warm water. And ice cream.

—

Movie (or Show) Answer: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 7 – 01/05/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. (Hal 9000)

—

A folky electronic song by Young the Giant started today’s morning along with meditation and chocolate chip pancakes. Dreams of ice cream are not going away anytime soon, but we’re going to add sweet to everything in a hopeless effort to curb the cravings.

Our 6th Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) was crewed by our Commander, Geologist, Engineer, and Executive Officer. Their mission: Find more rocks (there is a theme through these EVAs). The original plan called for a longer EVA to the East in an area where the canyons open up in search of “fluvial” samples, or rocks often found near former riverbeds or water. Unfortunately, winter has not been kind to Crew 202 and the snow covered most of the trail. No matter. On Mars, you must be adaptable and expect the unexpected. In lieu of the canyon view, the crew stopped along three waypoints on the visible road. The first, a large plain with several short and stout hills. A fairly standard view here on the Red Planet. The second stop was at the base of Mt. Nutella. The mountain has no known affiliation with the delightful hazelnut spread, but it is a good place to collect sand. From our south facing window in the habitat, there is a tall mountain peak in the distance poking out between two hills. While on the trail between Stop 1 and Stop 2, the entire mountain range was in full view. A beautiful sight to behold as the Crew attempted to navigate to Stop 3. Attempted being the keyword here. Have you ever used Google Maps and no matter how many times it says “recalculating”, you still can’t find the location? This was the case with Stop 3. The stop was not a complete loss as our Commander tested various risk scenarios on the crew and the Executive Officer took radioactive measurements over the area. Our Executive Officer is originally from Ukraine and an Army drill sergeant back in the U.S.A. It takes a lot to shake this man. The only comment he made towards this EVA was, “This was the coldest EVA so far”… That means it was absolutely Artic out there. I can’t say I envied my fellow crew members, but it does sound like they found great samples for our geological studies and witnessed beautiful views.

Back at the habitat, our Health & Safety Officer has been hard at work on his own research projects! Jake Qiu is our Health & Safety Officer and our Green Habitat Officer in Crew 202. In short, he keeps the people, and the plants, healthy. Jake is a biological engineering student at Purdue University back on Earth and is working on a project which analyzes how the microbiomes of people affect the microbiomes of the sterilized plants we plan to bring to future Mars missions. A microbiome is a community of bacteria that thrive on both living and non-living objects. When we talk about microbiomes on people, this could refer to the community of bacteria on your skin, in your gut, or various other places on the human body. You are COVERED in “cities” of bacteria. If your body was a bacteria population map, your belly button would be Los Angeles. When we send plants to space, we “sterilize” the plants meaning we kill any existing bacteria living on the plants. Unfortunately, we cannot completely sterilize the humans, so our microbiomes travel with us to space. Jake is growing sterilized microgreens using hydroponics to determine how the crew’s microbiomes will affect the microbiomes of the microgreens. Pretty neat right? Hydroponics is simply a plant growing system that does not use soil. This method is also used on Earth and is a popular system for growing plants inside buildings. Our method uses two gardening trays stacked on top of each other. The plant seeds are placed on top of a cloth made from wicking fabric and laid across the top gardening tray. Water is poured into the bottom gardening tray, absorbed through the cloth, and Wala! Microgreens are sprouted! Microgreens are not only great for this project since they grow quickly, they are also great for Mars! They provide essential vitamins and nutrients that are difficult to find in the shelf-stable “food” that will be the main feature of most Martian cuisine. Additionally, Jake intends to answer whether the interaction of our microbiomes will affect the physical being of the plants (i.e. the size of the plant leaves)? Are there pathogens, or diseases, present in the microgreen microbiomes and could that transfer to humans? This is just one of the many incredible research projects in work by Crew 202. Keep up the great work Jake!

As a final note, Martians should definitely consider bringing Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits. Shelf stable and a wonderful change of pace from the soup heavy Mars diet!

—

Movie (or Show) Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 6 – 01/04/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?

—

Our morning went from 0 to 100 when we chose to start the day with an ab workout. The Engineer and Executive Officer have been betting on whether the other could hold a 5 minute plank which has evolved to various competitions of exercises. While their physical prowess is impressive, the aches and pains of my sore bones are looking forward to leading a meditation tomorrow instead of full blown P90X.

The Geologist (GEO), Health & Safety Officer (HSO), and Commander (CMD) went on the 5th Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) of our mission while the Executive Officer (EXO), Engineer (ENG), and I (Crew Journalist = JOU) stayed behind to work through our own projects and relax after going on the previous two EVAs. This was a big day for GEO and HSO since they haven’t left the Habitat in three days. Three days of living in a two-story Corn Silo. The only relief coming from the sun shining through the four windows in the living room, all no larger than a beach ball. Needless to say, they were excited to pretend to breathe the fresh air through their suits and touch the ground through their heavily padded hands and feet.

It is not the large parts of living on Earth you miss, such as the scenery or restaurants. It is the little things you miss as your brain teases you with cravings and wishes. An innocent thought popping up like “ice cream sounds nice”, and then quickly realizing there’s no possible way to concoct anything even related to ice cream from the dehydrated, shelf stable dust we’ve been given to live off of…. Or standing in a hot shower. Steam filling the room. The water gently rolling down your face without using a wash cloth to place it there…

…

Ok. I’m back. Daydreaming for a minute about that shower. And ice cream. Maybe both at the same time. It’s difficult to plan what to indulge in first once we get back to Earth. As a gentle reminder to the reader, myself, and the crew, it’s our 7th day on Mars, nearly a full week after leaving Earth. We ran out of fruit today. The canned spam is taunting us from the cupboards. Let us hope we never reach that point of desperation.

Speaking of food, our CMD and GEO have never had ramen. You know, the $0.29 plastic packaged sodium bomb that you lived off of in college because you blew what little money you had on Insomniac cookies the night before. So… after a long day of trekking in the Martian snow, boots soiled, and noses red, our EVA crew returned to nice warm pot of noodles in bouillon cubes. Their verdict was “It was better than I expected”. That’s essentially a 10/10 review for ramen.

The second floor of the habitat is always filled with laughter. It’s a good thing we live on a desolate planet because we would wake the whole neighborhood with the joy, conversation, and howling echoing through the walls. Even through the dehydrated food dirt and dreaming of creamier bites and cleaner days, the overall mood of Crew 202 is bright. It’s another wonderful day on the Red Planet as we enter day 2 without a major crisis. Yes, I did knock on the wood planked floors before sending this journal.

—

Movie (or Show) Answer: Apollo 13

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 5 – 01/03/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

So, yes, they let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson, and it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses. Have a good day.

Update on the Great Generator Crisis of Crew 202. It was not in fact the generator, but the power system itself. The main controller’s personality took on a Hal 2000 fashion, trying to freeze us inside of our own home. I am happy to report that our wonderful MDRS Director and Assistant Director have diagnosed the issue and we are no longer in low power mode. Today, we can use the oven again.

Day to day life on Mars is a semi-structured routine. You wake up at 7:30 am to a crew selected song. This morning was “Pina Coladas”, a drink which the crew enjoys, none of which is on Mars. At 8:30 am, we start a yoga/stretching/dynamic exercise session, traditionally led by our Engineer, who is a rowing champion back in her former role at Purdue, and our Executive Officer, who, after the mission, will return to Earth to resume his role as an Army drill sergeant. Once our blood is pumping, breakfast is started by two crew members while the others plan and prepare for the day’s activities. This morning’s breakfast was led by our Geologist and assisted by myself. With a box of oats, dehydrated apples, a hefty spoonful of brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon, the crew enjoyed a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal that rivaled even the best Quaker Oat packets (obviously the dinosaur eggs flavor). The majority of our agendas will involve an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) with 3-4 crew members. Suit up at 10 am. In the airlock by 11 am, and away the crew goes to make a dent into their Martian research.

The Engineer, the Executive Officer, and myself traveled to an area commonly called “The Kissing Camels”. It is these huge hills with brilliant stripes of oranges, reds, and yellows whose sides turn into cliffs and extend in a semi-circle around a plain. Our mission today: Collect various rocks and boulders for our Geologist to analyze, gather radioactive data across the area, and spit in a cup upon our return for a stress study. On a future Mars mission, we anticipate the crew would be trained to identify different rock formations as geological studies are of great interest in Martian research. This is not a future mission and no one on the EVA is a geologist. We had a briefing with our Geologist and our Commander, who was the Geologist on a previous mission, on what to look for in the rocks, all of the different textures, colors, and strengths. They were interested in “fine coarse” shale, sand found near former riverbeds, and different colored boulders, specifically red/brown and green/blue. These objectives seemed easy enough until you start questioning your very understanding of colors. Is this rock truly red? Is this the green our Geologist was talking about? What even is Blue? At one point, we simply switched to the method “This rock looks interesting”, threw it in a Ziploc sampling bag, and continued on our way. Thankfully, our Geologist appeared pleased with our haul.

The Health and Safety Officer (HSO), Geologist, and Commander spent the day making progress on individual research projects. The HSO has been working like a machine in the green habitat. He’s busy prepping his 10 day germination and growth research, sterilizing dishes and hydroponically planting his microgreens. Hydroponics means no soil which is ideal for a Martian environment where the soil may not be suitable for growing and it is a long way to ship from Earth! Our Geologist is continuing a MDRS study from 2014 and is preparing for an EVA tomorrow to collect additional geological samples. Our Commander is commanding, keeping the ship running, and ensuring everyone has what they need, to do what they need to do. With the success of the power being restored and the progress being made on our ambitious research goals, the crew morale is high on our sixth mission day.

Tonight, we settled into a gumbo dinner and plan to indulge in a pineapple upside down cake made from our Mars friendly ingredients. Baking is strange when everything needs to be re-hydrated. It creates an odd spongy texture, but the flavor is still delicious and sweet.

Here at MDRS, we are far from civilization. The closest town is only populated by ~200 people and 30 minutes down an off-road trail through plains and mountains. In our Great Generator Crisis, the low power mode forced us to turn off all unnecessary electricity. The Green Habitat, the Science Dome, and the majority of lights in the Habitat were all shut down to conserve power. This brief inconvenience turned into a beautiful accident by the moonless sky that appeared above us. I’ve never seen so many stars in all their varying brightness and depths. Even the milky way was unveiled, as if someone took a paint brush of white paint from one side of the horizon, across the highest point in the sky, to the other behind the mountains in the distance. It. Was. Breathtaking. It makes us wonder, what night sky will future Martians see from their base? Will they gaze at Earth with as much wonderment and excitement as we view Mars, shining a subdued red in the night? When we gaze at the constellations, viewable from both planets, will future Martians feel comforted or homesick?

Movie (or Show) Answer: Hidden Figures

MDRS Crew 202

Journalist Report

Sol 4 – 01/02/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

If we ain’t out of here in ten minutes, we won’t need no rockets to fly through space!

—

Rejoice! For today, we broke into the Nutella jar, knowing the Great Nutella Crisis of Crew 202 has been resolved by reserves from our wonderful Executive officer. This morning, we carefully spread the Nutella on delicate crepes and topped the dish with a berry syrup made from dehydrated strawberries and blueberries and a dash of sugar. It was a wonderfully sweet start to the morning.

After fueling up, the crew prepared for their first long-duration Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA). The Commander, Executive Officer, Engineer, and I were to trek to an area near the Pleiades Road to investigate geological sites and collect rock samples. We’re in the depths of winter and our EVA suits must protect us from -4 degrees Celsius (i.e. ~25 degrees Fahrenheit); therefore, preparing to shove our heads through the goldfish bowl helmet is a lengthy process.

Each of us bundles up in two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, the flight suit… the flight suit’s zipper is nearly bursting at the seams… our hiking boots, gloves, the radio, the microphone to the radio, the bandana over our mouth to prevent fogging up the helmet and hold the microphone in place, and finally the EVA suit carrying our life support systems.

The EVA suit alone weighs approximately 20 – 25 pounds, similar to the weight of a small dog or 104 blueberry muffins. There are two straps around your shoulders and two straps across your chest to support the military grade frame against your back. This may not seem like an enormous weight, but after 3 hours of hiking, it’s amazing the muscles you discover in your back that you never knew were there!

As a Martian, you must stand in the airlock for 5 minutes to allow for depressurization before exiting the habitat. Here are a few suggestions to fill your time during the wait: Charades, Hangman, 20 Questions, and/or Tic, Tac, Toe. Our Executive Officer is the reigning champion of 20 Questions, but it is still early in the mission.

Our geological sites of interest required a 15-minute rover expedition and a 1-mile hike. The drive nearly froze our fingers, but the hike quickly warmed them up again nearly to the point of sweating. Note to future astronauts: triple tie your shoes before going on an EVA. You cannot reach your boots when there is a giant glass dome limiting your reach, not to mention I cannot touch my toes to begin with. You will be forced to waddle in shame to another crew member, attempt to throw your foot on a rover tire, and have them tie your shoes. Like a kindergartener.

The day was beautiful. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and a vibrant blue, and the snow sparkled rainbows as we drove across the Martian landscape. Our geological site used to be an ocean millions of years ago. The evidence of its waters could be seen in the orange hues of brittle rock, beige slabs of clay, and patches of sand. Smooth rocks spotted the hills, as we arrived at our plateau and found some ideal boulders and pebbles to spectra and thermal image before moving onto the next site. With our bag of rocks so large Charlie Brown would be jealous, we “Mars walked” all the way back to our rovers. Mars has 1/3rd of Earth’s gravity and the Moon only has 1/6th.

This means you’re not quite skipping and leaping on Mars, but you’re not walking normally either. You simply have some extra bounce in your step, doubled by the excitement of the crew. Our lovely crew members working CapCom from home base prepared heated bread and warm tea for our return, ending the main excitement of the day… Or so we thought.

The setting: a casual card game between two crew members. Another laid out on the couch reading a book, silently enjoying a sci-fi world outside of our own. When all of a sudden, a flicker. The lights dimmed and brightened… dimmed and brightened… The radio static could be heard at the press of the director’s thumb. There’s an anomaly with the power generator. There were attempts to diagnose the issue, but the sun was dropping quickly and the cold is a greater threat than the malfunctioning generator. It would have to wait til the morning.

We prepared our home to enter low power mode. With 63% of power remaining, the habitat should stay powered through the night. And so, the Great Generator Crisis of Crew 202 began. It’s headlamps and flashlights until we settle in for the night. On the Red Planet, power is essential for survival. It provides heat. It pumps the water. It preserves our food. We wait to see what new personality tomorrow will bring.

—

Movie (or Show) Answer: Alien

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 2 – 12/31/2018

Name the space movie given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

Now, this is important. Once the battery is removed, everything is gonna slam into emergency mode. Once we have it, we gotta move quickly, so you definitely need to get that last… Or we could just get it first and improvise!

—

Today’s the day! The snow is falling! And we are officially starting the Sim! The sun rose with the symphonic sounds of the Apollo 13 soundtrack echoing through the habitat. It may be the last day of the year, but it is the first day of real Mars living for our crew. Through the white noise of the water pump, crew “singing” (a.k.a. snoring), and the occasional bumps in the night of members discovering different walls and corners surrounding their bed, the crew awoke refreshed and ready. Sleep was especially important last night. Today, the entire crew would perform their first Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs).

The day began with sweeping and shoveling of snow on the porches, tunnels, and solar arrays of our home. This proved fruitless as it snowed again in the afternoon, but at least we were safe from ice for the first few hours. This was followed by our last MDRS training session on how to drive the rovers. Now the real work begins, but what does a “full simulation” entail? Full simulation includes limited communication with the outside world, standing in an air lock for 5 minutes to depressurize the entryway when exiting the habitat, and donning our suits anytime we leave the safety of the habitat. Essentially, it’s continually asking the question “Is this something that would be done on Mars?”.

The EVAs were a wonderful learning opportunity as we explored the capabilities of the rovers and tested the comfort of the suits. Flurries melted onto our helmets as we traversed the “Marble Ritual” landscape. Each member danced among the painted, hanging bunt pans, miraculously not hitting any of the poles with our limited vision in the clunky space suits. We found a rock with holes that looked like a smiley face, crunched over clay and dirt to test the GoPros on the expansive mountain landscape, and quickly returned to the warmth and comfort of the habitat. The crew is as green as can be with only one veteran Martian on board, but we are also excited, hard-working, and determined to make the most of our time on Mars as we learn the ins and outs of performing an EVA.

If you thought the Great Nutella Crisis of Crew 202 was traumatic, you haven’t heard of the even GREATER Tea Kettle Crisis of Crew 202. Today the tea kettle broke… leaving us to boil water on the stove like pilgrims. It’s a true tragedy here on Mars, but I think the crew will power through it.

An exciting end to an exciting day as the crew prepares to celebrate New Years Eve on the Red Planet. The commander is cooking baked ziti which intoxicates the room with smells of tomato, basil, and garlic. It is almost as powerful as the aroma of chocolate brownies by our Crew Engineer emanating from the toaster oven. As we prepare the 2019 tiaras, blow on the noise makers, and pull the tab on poppers, we reflect on the previous year and the new year to come. The meetings, preparations, and packing that has brought us to this moment as a new crew family, and the incredible adventure that awaits us in the new year. When midnight on Earth strikes at 0.5317 Martian years, we will hold our loved ones on the pale blue dot in our thoughts and wish everyone back on our first home a Happy New Year.

—

Movie Answer: Guardians of the Galaxy

MDRS Crew 202

Journalist Report

Sol 1 – 12/30/2018

Name the space movie given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

United States astronauts train for years. You have twelve days.

First and foremost, we would like to thank Crew 201 for their hospitality in introducing us to our new home! We had a wonderful evening with our new friends and wish them the best in their future endeavors.

Our first couple days on Mars have been filled with training. Safety, Sim, Science, Media. A few important takeaways included: EVA suits – treat your life support systems with care, Green Hab – fresh food is essential for happiness, treat them with care, Habitat – our new home is not only a place to work, but a place to live… treat it with care. After going through the initial day of training, we encountered our first crisis: The Great Nutella Crisis of Crew 202. Our commander could not initially find the Nutella jar we had been promised. What else were we going to spread on our fresh made bread? What other spread was going to provide enough energy and cheer in the morning to sustain us through the day? Thankfully, we found it. Unfortunately, it was the standard size of Nutella. A jar our six crewed team could easily scarf down in one breakfast. Rationing will be tough, but it is a reality when living on the Red Planet. The sweet hazelnut spread will be a treat savored, and sorely missed once gone.

The second day, we woke up to send off Crew 201 back to Earth and to their loved ones. Our first sunrise on Mars was breathtaking. Watching it rise above the red plateaus and rolling hills, glistening over the snow, was an incredible sight to see and so began our takeover of the habitat. Breakfast was casual with the crew’s selection of oatmeal and cereal. Turns out, fake milk is better left to the later, more desperate days of the mission. We have several organizations and individuals to thank for launching us on this mission, so part of the day was spent suited up and taking photos to send upon our return. This was the first time our entire crew was suited up, ready for action. Our family photo is all smiles, and they’ll only grow when the real Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVA) begin!

We are blessed with a bread machine on Mars. The French bread today had a warm, crunchy crust and a soft, fluffy interior. It was delightfully paired with re-hydrated butter and olive oil. We are mostly likely to run out of flour quicker than anything else as this becomes a daily ritual.

As the crew sits down for our first dinner, we are left with the testimony that “Everything on Mars has a personality”. We are fresh, optimistic, and looking forward to exploring the personalities of our new home and our new planet!

Movie Answer: Armageddon

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 28DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 14] – Whatever it takes

Our Martian mission is coming to an end and with it the adventure of a lifetime. It comes as no surprise that all the hard work has paid well. We turn back to reflect to life before Mars and what comes next to each one of us. We are explorers and today we have moved a step further into a larger world of exploration. Into reaching the stars and going where none has boldly gone before.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Space has been the final frontier for the latter days of humankind and we have had the chance to go where only a few have seen before. We are called Martians and we are a family who takes care of each other and looks after whoever is coming after you. Today MEx-1 received the next explorers that will take care of our home: Martian Makers. They will carry on some of our experiments and will continue the dreams of so many that have visited the station before us.

Yesterday before bed, we had the time to bond as a team and reflect on the ups and downs of our mission. We had the chance to look back and understand the challenges that will come after we get back to Earth and how will our lives change. We came as a crew and we leave as a family.

Our last day on Mars was as you would expect a last day at a home would be. We cleaned the rooms, we cleared all the shelves, we shoveled Martian snow and we worked to receive a new crew at our base. We had the place ready for the next explorers to begin their adventure like Crew 200 did for us. A brief tour of the hab, life support systems check, report check and all of the regular tasks done at the station. It was a hard moment because we knew our time was about to pass.

We are now readying our way back to Earth, our ship is refueling and our spirits are high. We are coming back home as Martians and we are preparing ourselves for longer missions, harder activities, more training and to do all what is needed to get back to Mars and support the idea of becoming a multiplanetary species.

We will work hard. We will teach the people about the stars. We will prepare the next generation of explorers to go larger lengths than what we have done in our first mission. We will do whatever it takes to get back to Mars and continue exploring.

Ad Astra!

MEx-1 continuará.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 28DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 13] – To the Stars through hardships

It is said that the hardest lessons for a human being come after they have gone through a hardship whatever it might be. Our history of exploration has come at great costs and hard lessons. Some lessons are costly, destroying several million dollar state of the art equipment; some lessons are grave, killing a quite a few; some lessons are demanding, permanently affecting oneself and others. Expanding humankind to the stars without risk and without hardships is impossible to believe and thus, sometimes a brave few have to go to hardships so others may follow the path.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Our mission days are rapidly coming to an end. We are starting to look back and remember the long path that we worked to get to Mars. While on Mars, we have a new set of challenges and setbacks that made the crew use all their wit to solve the problems we have encountered: from a frozen pipe to the complete loss of a resupply mission that was coming with experiments for the station. This hardships are lessons learned that will in fact help us find a balance to what the next Exploration Mission (MEx – 2) will have to work with before making it to Mars.

This days at the station we have been actively making an autonomous rover that later will serve the purpose of building a larger one that will support the crew on exploration missions. This rover, printed in Mars, has been a real challenge. Weather conditions in the different modules have not been ideal for our printer and we have had parts that have collapsed right after they are done. Engineering has been working day and night to figure the best way to solve the issues and have it working before leaving the planet. It has been through rather elegant solution approaches that we have had the skill to overcome this issues and finalize every part of the rover.

We have reflected upon ourselves what space exploration means to us and why did we decided to come to Mars. For the crew, this dream started during childhood where we realized the stars hold a meaning to us and to humanity. How to get there? How to explore? How to pave the way for others to continue our work and make our species go where no other living thing has ever imagined? We have fought through hardships to be here. Whether it be people not believing in us to ridiculing the idea that exploration is part of our needs and space is our next frontier. Looking back to this we understand that the path taking us to the Red Planet has been challenging and exciting; that every crew member has supported a part of the mission and that whatever the future holds for us back on Earth will only be the next step to get back to the stars. To our stars.

Dear reader, this chronicles, mean to reflect our view of the adventure of a lifetime. The passion of a group and the support of families and friends who have cheered every single one of the crew members to the point that we feel much love on everything we do. Hardships then, to us, look like another step in our learning experience; another lesson for us to teach the next generation and most of all; they are part of our personal growth to take the best of us and make a better Earth for humans and all the beings that live on the beautiful blue planet.

We will go boldly to the stars through any hardship in our way. Because all the knowledge of our existence and essence comes from the stars themselves.

Ad Astra Per Aspera!

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist