2022-2023 Field Season (#22)

Report title: Journalist Report
Crew #: 330
Position: Journalist
Report prepared by: Adrien Saugnac
Date: 08-03-2026
Sol: 21

Journalist Report Title: International Women’s Day

Yesterday evening, to properly end our rest day, we had a chocolate cake.

Today is International Women’s Day, and through the parity of our crew, we want to encourage diversity in scientific careers. On this occasion, all the female astronauts of our crew participated in the EVA this morning. Adèle, Célia, and Lou therefore went to the Special Region to change the batteries of the atmospheric instruments and do some exploration. On Mars, it will be important to go around the station to study which areas are scientifically interesting. To prepare for future space missions, it is therefore important to develop efficient protocols that ensure the safety of the crew during EVA.

In the afternoon, Célia, Adèle, and Félix revealed the surprise they had been preparing for several days. They organized an « Among Us » in the station. Originally, it is a video game where participants are in a space station and must perform tasks to maintain the base. Among the participants are impostors whose goal is to eliminate others and sabotage the completion of tasks. Everywhere in the station, we had mini-games to complete while avoiding the impostors, whether in the RAM, in the greenhouse, in the Science Dome, or in the HAB. In total, it was 25 tasks we had to accomplish before winning.

After that, Félix and I went to the greenhouse to film an interview for the documentary we are preparing with the Cité de l’Espace. This morning, it was Gaspard who answered the questions, and in the coming days, everyone will have a slot. It took us 2 hours to talk about his expectations for the last days, do a review of the first three weeks, discuss his feelings and the most memorable moments of this adventure.

For the TraceLab experiment, we have daily and weekly questionnaires aimed at understanding our perceptions of interactions with the crew members, their management, and the emotions we have felt. All these data are used to study the impact of isolation on the evolution of our social interactions. It also allows us to reflect on what we did during the day and what we felt, which helps us take a step back.

Report title: Journalist Report
Crew #: 330
Position: Journalist
Report prepared by: Adrien Saugnac
Date: 10-03-2026
Sol: 23

Journalist Report Title: Rocks and Roll

Today, we had a cardio and upper body session organized by our health and safety officer, Adele. On Mars, gravity is three times weaker than on Earth, and it is very important to maintain physical exercise to counteract muscle atrophy. Therefore, we do 30 minutes of sports every morning.

After that, Celia, Adele, Felix, and Gaspard went out on an EVA for stratigraphy at Mellow Mushrooms. Yesterday, they were able to identify an interesting area to study the composition of geological layers. Today, they recognized the rocks they had studied yesterday. They followed all the steps of the protocol: identifying an interesting geological outcrop, going to the site, drawing a profile of the outcrop from a distance, getting close to the outcrop and measuring the thickness of each layer one by one, collecting samples, and studying the granulometry and composition. From all this, it is possible to draw a graphic log to represent in detail the parameters of each layer of the outcrop.

Meanwhile, Lou and Julien continued assembling the rover from SupaeroMoon. It should be finished tomorrow, and we will test it during an EVA in the afternoon. It should be able to move through rough terrain and collect samples with its robotic arm.
This afternoon, Celia and Felix did a calibration session of the Géol’Ex using a Quartz lamp whose spectrum is in the visible and near infrared range. This is where the main absorption peaks of rocks are located, hence the need to use a lamp that emits in this spectrum. Tomorrow, they will study the samples they were able to collect to identify their composition.

Today, we continue filming for the documentary we are preparing. We are starting to feel the end of the mission approaching.