Journalist Report
03/25/2013
Benoît Hespel
First stage in full Martian simulation
The first observation night was not totally successful as we suspect it would be. It was the first
time for the astronomer of the team and I that we use an automatic telescope like that one. Although
we had followed a training course to use it before coming at the MDRS, as everybody knows there is a
big difference between theoretic and practice. At 11.30 p.m. we went to the MUSK Observatory with
the two astronomy boxes and our own personal computer since we hadn’t received yet the computer with
all the needed imaging programs. So we were not able to take photos of astronomical objects but it
was not a problem because the only aim of our first outing night was to learn how to use the
telescope properly through what is called the “Hand control” and the “go to” system.
After having discovered the dome and how to move inside without breaking anything (it is quite
narrow and so we needed to be careful) we tried to make our first calibration with two big stars:
Cappella and Procyon. This was a bit difficult because of the brightness of the full Moon. Observing
the sky from the MDRS (or equivalently Mars) has a lot of advantages: the sky is usually very clear;
there is no human luminous pollution. But on the other hand the night is very cold and so in the
future we will put warmer clothes because yesterday we were nearly frozen.
The real simulation of living Martian conditions begins today! What does it exactly means? From now
on whenever crewmembers want to go outside and explore the environment, they will have to put the
full EVA suit with oxygen-helmet, boots and gloves as if they really were on Mars where there isn’t
nearly any atmosphere and pressure. They also will have to wait in the air-lock room for
decompression during fifteen minutes for both outgoing and ingoing. They will waste a lot of time
but this is very important to be consistent.
Astronauts are supposed to have a limited quantity of oxygen too, which means that their mission
have to last less than 3 hours maximum, otherwise they would be considered as dead. Every astronaut
is also supposed to take with him a walkie-talkie in case of trouble. There must be at least two
awake persons in the station every time because otherwise there could be issues if the doors were
locked. Another important thing is that we are all supposed to respect the schedule established by
our commander so that we aren’t late in our different scientific projects.
This morning four members got up at 7.30 a.m. whereas the astronomer and I could sleep until 9.30.
a.m. because of our observation project. After the usual sport session and the briefing, the
geologist of the team went out with the health officer approximately two kilometers north from the
station to delimit the section of the dried streambed they had located yesterday. During this, the
two engineers worked in the station on their localization project. They checked if their Arduino
chips were going well and they established the first communication with a laptop. They were quite
happy and they aspired going outside to make the first measurements. The journalist and the
astronomer on their own were writing their reports.
At noon we made chicken soup like yesterday. It’s only the second day we spend in the station but
routine is already set. We decided to add new spices found by chance to change a bit the taste of
the food. Since we didn’t have any more crackers we decided to put some rice in the soup too. The
result was quite mitigated because in the end it was so spicy that our commander finished his cups
with difficulty. For the others it was okay even if they were very warm at the end of dinner. After
that, we really wanted to eat something sweet and that’s why we open a packet of cookies with M&S.
It was our reward of the day in some sense.
Then we had free time before the two engineers went outside for their experiment. There were two
possibilities: either everybody did something alone (like sleeping, reading) or we made a collective
activity. We chose to play cards and more precisely to play to the “rikiki”. We had so much fun that
we planned to do it again the following days if possible.
During the afternoon only the two engineers went outside. Their goal was to measure the power of the
signal’s chips as a function of the distance between the emitter and the receiver. A good place to
do it was near the MUSK observatory so they didn’t need to go far in the desert. The other
crewmembers stayed in the station working on their reports and maintaining the station.
When you aren’t here in the station you don’t imagine how much time it takes to write good reports.
As a journalist I really want to give you an inside of what is the life in such a station so that
you can follow our mission from the outer world. It is also interesting for me and the other
crewmembers of the team to communicate what we are feeling and doing here in this close space
without contact with external people. It helps us to feel better I think.
This evening we plan to make pasta with pesto. After this good meal everybody will work on his
project and prepare what he has to do tomorrow. The astronomer and I will then go to the observatory
as yesterday. We haven’t solved the problem of the lost laptop yet but we will maybe download (if
the file is not too big) the required imaging program on our personal computer so that we can make
our first observation tonight or at least learn how to use this program to take beautiful pictures
of the sky in the following days…
Thoughts from Mars !