2022-2023 Field Season (#22)

Sol 2 – A day on Mars’ North pole

Author: Nicolas Wattelle

Today was supposed to be a very busy day, and even if it didn’t go as planned, I will be happy to sleep well tonight.

The EVA program was completely full for the whole morning. Changing batteries for the field mill, putting back the LOAC that we took out yesterday (because it cannot stand too wet weather conditions…), installing the antenna for the HF waves propagation study, first look at Candor Chiasma in order to find a great spot to begin the geological experiment (and use LIBS for the first time!).

But it felt like we moved to Mars’ north pole during the night: when we woke up, there was snow everywhere, about 4cm around the MDRS. At first sight, this was really beautiful to see, but we changed our minds when we understood it was compromising our plans… Doing an EVA as long as we had planned would have been risky, so it was decided that the EVA would just aim to change the battery of the field mill (this was the only thing necessary, waiting another day to change the battery would have put at risk its lifetime…).

Also, the snow completely covered our solar panels. Usually, these work in pair with a generator, and they provide enough energy to endure a day at the MDRS, with a crew living and working. So, we had to cut our electrical consumption for the day, keeping only essential devices plugged. This explains the pictures of preparing for the EVA, only using the light coming through the narrow windows to see.

I think this is what trying to live on Mars would look like, everyone will have to get out of their comfort zone, living day to day with the recurrent hazards… But Crew 263 is here to live this experiment, so we accept our fate and hope for better days!

During the afternoon, we were almost all together in the upper deck of the Hab. We made rotations around different experiments, in which sometimes we are operators and sometimes, subjects. On my side, I was mainly focused on producing the first podcast episode, for curious students (and all other curious!) we collaborate with. We hope people on Earth are interested in our mission.

We tried for the first time the ultrasound experiment using a CNES protocol and a Sonoscanner device. It was really interesting, the method is very smart: with one hand, we handle the ultrasound probe, on the other a smartphone with Augmented Reality software. It shows where to place the probe and is thus like a game: we have to put 4 spheres in 4 cubes, and when it is done, we record the sequence. None of us are doctors, but thanks to this protocol we can manage to get great pictures of our organs! We are really grateful to CNES for letting us participate in the conception of this futuristic device!

On another topic, I have to confess something. We are not only 7 in this station… Since we have arrived, someone is there in the Hab upper deck, looking at us all day. He proudly stands at the window. His name is Tomarsto, and he is always there, during great moments and hard times. We hope he will stay there until the end of the simulation, and even more! Take a look at him in the picture of the day!

Sol 1 – Searching for a routine, or almost…

Author: Nicolas Wattelle

Yesterday was the day of the firsts, now we need to move on, to evolve, to become real analog martionauts. Although we have not discovered everything yet, things are becoming familiar to us.

We all woke up at 6:45am, in order to be ready for the sport session at 7 am. Our first one together! Valentine had prepared a cardio training, which felt a bit rough to all of us, but we will say that it is normal for a first session (Crew 240 reported similar feelings in Pierre’s -the journalist- report a month ago…).

Anyway, this was a good cohesion moment, a great way to begin the day!

Then, the breakfast was in some sort similar to the previous day, carefully prepared by two members of the crew. It was a hearty meal for the four-brand new martionauts who had to prepare for the challenge of the day: the first crew EVA.

This one had multiples objectives: first, to get used to the suits, the communication protocol, the crew member buddy system… It may seem like it is obviously easy but, be aware that this is not the case, even for people who mentally prepared for a year. Second, to check the status of the atmospheric experiment left on the field by Crew 240: the weather station, the LOAC (an amazing aerosol meter), the electric field mill… There, we had some surprises, and we could not do all of what was planned for this phase of today’s EVA. However, we will put things back in order in the coming days. Last, to do a first on-field trial of the Hololens. I was chosen to wear the glasses (during all the outing) for Augmented Reality (AR) testing. But it did not go well. The glasses fell slowly during the EVA, so much that when this phase began, I was almost half blind… I had to let them completely fall around my neck to get my vision back and we shortened the EVA. Note for the future tests: prepare a better mounting to keep the glasses on. A case to follow!

Lunches are always discussion moments. We speak about a lot of things, such as our “old” terrestrial life or our new Martian life. But lately, the food rationing topic came back frequently: we have three weeks’ worth of food already in the station but how do we manage to correctly feed everyone without being too drastic or too neglecting? On top of that, how to make it taste good every day? Some of us are more likely to be cook than others (guess what, that would not be me…), so they lead the discussion about this puzzle (and I thank them a lot!).

The afternoon was quite similar to the previous one. Everyone was focused on personal experiments in different rooms of the station: ScienceDome, GreenHab, upper and lower deck of the Hab… And it went well!

As the crew journalist, I would like you, dear reader, to come to the backstage of the mission with me, and discover more about my mates I am living this journey with. To give you this glimpse, some days, I may ask some of them what are their thoughts about different subjects. My question of the day is:

Why are you here?

Mathéo did not hesitate for a second, he clearly wants to make a first step into astronauts’ life. He took this MDRS mission as an opportunity to get closer to his dream.

To Marine, research is part of her life, and she aims to make a living out of it. This project is a concrete and original way to get a first step into research, so she has get involved in it!

Léa also has a particularly clear idea of her motivations. The operational aspect of crewed flights is what she is keen on, and analogs are an efficient way to understand the full scope of it!

Elena wants to work in human spaceflight, and in order to be a good an engineer and designer, one must think as an astronaut, and she is taking this mission as an opportunity to walk in astronauts shoes!

Sol 0 – The day of the firsts

Author: Nicolas Wattelle

Good evening everyone. I am Nicolas, and I will the journalist for Crew 263, performing a 3 weeks analog mission in the Mars Desert Research Station, that has just started.

This day was the day of the firsts. First breakfast, first reports, first dehydrated food, first everything on Mars.

This morning, we finished our MDRS training with our instructor, focused on EVAs and the principles of sim. On the menu: allocation of our spacesuits, presentation of surrounding terrain maps, test of the rovers. This was very exciting, mainly regarding the potential of our outdoor experiments incoming (especially Marine and Lea for their geological field study, and Matheo for the Astronaut Search and Rescue experiment).

Then, the sim concretely began. We wanted to make this moment memorable, so we took the traditional group picture in front of the Hab before closing the airlock, marking symbolically the beginning of the simulation. At this point, we deeply discussed about our personal expectations for this mission, and wishing each other, three amazing weeks of collaborative work.

Then, all the firsts took places.

The first experiments. This was spirited : after working a whole year preparing them, we are now able to perform them! Marine took charge of the Solar Musk telescope, Cerise began her water quality evaluation, Mathéo and I prepared the gravistropism experiment in the GreenHab… Elena literally sent us in the future of space exploration, we served as subjects for her Hololens experiment: an aid for astronaut using Augmented Reality (in fact, these are large glasses projecting information over our own view, and with useful functionalities to help our experiments…). Personally, I was impressed, and I am looking forward to test it during EVAs!

The first meals. We discovered dehydrated food. Against all odds, it was really good, we were ready for much worse! We will see how it evolves through the days, I don’t want to talk too fast… And, regarding food, as proud French people, Léa and Matheo made the first loaf of bread. While I’m writing these words, we didn’t taste it yet, but it will surely be amazing! I will keep you in the loop…

The first reports. You are currently reading one of them, and I hope you are appreciating it. It is a bit stressful and we feel sometimes lost writing our words, but we will get the hang of it!

P.S: One remarkable point of this first day is the weather. This morning, the wind blew so fast that we really struggled taking our crew picture in front of the Hab. Keeping our eyes opened was a painful challenge (you may notice it one the one linked to this report, it was picked out of 20 others pictures!).