Journalist Report
03/31/2013
Benoît Hespel
Visitors on Mars
As I had suspected yesterday evening the crewmembers had a surprise for me. They made a chocolate
cake while I was observing stars with the astronomer. They called us when it was done and after
enjoying it we played cards during the rest of the evening. We went sleeping quite late (it was 2.00
a.m. I think) except for the astronomer who returned to take photos of the stars with the CCD
camera. What a beautiful motivation. He went home at nearly 5.00 a.m.!
This morning we got up at 8.30 a.m. For breakfast we had oatmeal with dried fruit and milk. We all
agreed that it was not very tasty but that’s part of our food supply and so we have to eat it. While
the geologists were putting the EVA suits on, I quickly made a bit of fitness because then we had to
be ready to welcome the American journalists. We hoped that they will do better than the Chinese
ones that we never saw yesterday…
As usual the two geologists headed to the north in order to continue their measurements of the soil
infiltration in their region of study. Meanwhile I stayed in the hab with the two engineers while
the astronomer was sleeping (he was allowed to sleep until noon because of his long observation
session).
As you know here in the station we have limited water, propane and gasoil. So we have to spare these
resources tightly. For propane and gasoil it is quite easy since the heating doesn’t need to work
hard during the day. Indeed the sky is always blue and sun shines strongly; so it is automatically
very hot in the station. We are all wearing T-shirt from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. in general but we still
suffer from heat in the hab. For the water it is quite more complicated and we really have to be
careful about our consumption. In our everyday life we don’t realize how much water we use (and
waste too). We only dispose of 50 liters of water per day but this serves for many purposes. First
it is the only beverage we have here. Because of drought and heat each crewmember needs to drink
between two and three liters per day. Then we need to water the plants in the greenhab three times a
day. We also use a minimum of water to wash ourselves and finally we need it for doing the
washing-up. So as you can see this is a precious resource here on Mars.
Let’s now speak a bit about the environment in which we evolve. I’ve never been in a desert before
coming at the MDRS. Living here requires some time of adaptation. Indeed we are roughly at 1500 m of
altitude, so the concentration in oxygen is smaller than in Belgium for example. We feel this
whenever we have to climb a hill. Despite we are young and athletic for some of us we get quickly
out of bread when we have to make an effort. As already stated before, the air here is also very
dried and it is a cause of human mucous membranes irritations. That’s the reason why we have to put
cream on our skin. That must also partially explain why we so often have a sore throat. Even if
living in desert have some inconvenience, we have to acknowledge that landscapes are quite amazing
and very similar to Mars’ ones; as you can see on the photos. That’s essential for the simulation.
At 9.30 a.m. we saw a car parking in front of the station. We first thought they were just tourists
coming around the station to take photos of the landscapes. A few minutes later we looked again by
the window to see what they were doing but they were gone. That reinforced our hypothesis. But at
10.30 a.m. they were back and this time they knocked on the door. In fact they were the American
journalists we were waiting for. They have had much difficulty to find the MDRS. After a brief
discussion, we encouraged them to head to the streambed where the geologists used to work so that
they could film them during their scientific mission. They were very interested by this idea, so
they immediately left to meet the two working crewmembers.
One hour later they came back at the station with the geologists but they refused to make the
depressurization. Then they asked a lot of questions about the life here in the hab. They were also
particularly interested about the Mars One project. In fact they had already made some reportage on
that subject and they wanted to know whether we would like participate to such a mission. After a
while we proposed them to visit the dining room. It allowed them to make photos from windows here in
the hab and to see better our living conditions. Then they asked if they could use one helmet to
take a photo from inside. A few minutes after they left and wished us the best for the end of our
rotation.
It was time to eat. Fortunately our astronomer had just got up. Timing was perfect. For lunch we had
cream soup with pancakes as dessert. Our taste buds really enjoyed it. After having played cards the
two engineers left with the ATV’s for their project of localization. During this time the other
crewmembers staying in the station progressed in their respective projects too and began to write
down their reports. We saw other tourists around the station again but they didn’t interact with us
at all so it was not bothering.
Previous night the astronomer was able to take a lot of good shots of the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn.
So he had to process them as best as he could to get beautiful photos of the planets. It took him
nearly all the afternoon because this is quite a tedious work. In the meantime the geologists
continued their simulation of the streambed taking into account the observations made in the
morning. When the engineers came back in the station they had good news: the different tests made
with the chips were very conclusive. So their project could go one step further now.
In the evening big clouds were approaching. It will probably rain this evening. If so we won’t be
able to observe the sky tonight and we would lose one observation night … There is still a chance
that it doesn’t happen but we are quite pessimistic about it. So we plan to eat later than the other
day. For dinner we will prepare tortillas with beef, soar cream and ketchup. Good meal in short.
See you tomorrow for new epic adventures.
Thoughts from Mars