2022-2023 Field Season (#22)

[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

Crew 227 Journalist Report 3 April 2022
Sol : 7
Name of the person filling the report : Sirga Drouet

Today we got up early but slept late, for some of us, after a surprise game until 11 pm. Team mechanics against team the "Others" Ignacio against me the astronauts will be able to return on earth, good news even if Ignacio remains the best of the apprentice surgeons although we all evolve!

This morning breakfast of quality, good pancakes with syrup, bleuberries and even chocolate!
We ate in two seconds our good meal because a very precise goal and a mission para commando to realize was of setting.
Return to Tharsis canyon, to go as far as possible in three hours by counting the way in rover. We clearly made the fastest preparation of EVA since we are here. At 9:16 am sharp we were in front of the tricky canyon entrance. Euphorically we set off, plunging into what would turn into a wall of rock. The walk was fast, I admit it was clearly military for me with my little legs. We went two and a half times faster than the day before ! The team was composed of Julie, Jean, Cyril, me and Cheyenne. The easiest way to advance was to go along the ridge to have a better view.

We were higher and higher, we felt so ridiculous in front of these strata which are and will be there before and maybe after the humanity. A funny feeling, it pushes us to question ourselves on our place in this world and on our so small trace in the rocks in front of us. We stayed there a moment to contemplate from the top of the 40 meters the river dry in the bottom of the valley. Some shots of drone and in spite of the fact that we were in 2/3 of our objective it did not remain us enough time and the half-turn arrived.
To finish this canyon we would have to run at each negative drop, make a quick hello at the origin and run back without forgetting our 10 Kilograms of space suit. We are proud of what we have accomplished so far and maybe the origin of our goal will remain forever blank. An ideal to be reached like the utopia of making humanity live on Mars. But I am sure that the echoes of our hopes will plausibly solve terrestrial problems useful to our future.
The secret in this adventure is to not give up and despite the many failures to stay united and face the challenge.
The return journey was less sportive but the sun was shining and the thirst was felt. On the way back we got the antibiotics from Audrey who was exposed.

Once back, the routine : The decompression chamber, undress and eat. Today no insects of the day to take a break, everyone seems to be in heaven ahaha.
The afternoon activities started and Audrey’s first surgical match took place, against me, she did very well for a first.
Then a little manipulation of Audrey’s bacteria and Cheyenne’s plants are growing wonderfully !

During this time it was the church in the Hab to pray of Saint-Computer because an accident happened… We almost lost the computer of Ignacio because of an attack of coffee. We were three reconverted in monk while Father Cyril with his hands of electrical engineer handled the multimeter to try to find the cause of the murder. The machine was making big beeps, which is very worrying in the microscopic computer world… Finally, our prayers were partly heard and the only collateral damage was to remove the battery.
A good day passed, tonight card tournaments are on the program to blow.