Journalist Report
04/01/2013
Benoît Hespel
“The Martian War”
Yesterday evening as predicted the weather was rainy and stormy so we were not able to observe the
sky like the previous nights. It was the first time we had the opportunity to spend time together in
the evening. Besides we had well worked during the day so we allowed us to have some free time. We
decided to watch the film “Idiocratie”. It was a bit silly but at the same time it was funny. One
thing is certain: we didn’t have to think a lot to understand it.
When the film was over we turned the music on (techno, electro and hardstyle) and we began to dance.
The habits of Louvain-la-Neuve came back. We also planned to do the harlem shake in the following
days … After thirty minutes of intensive dance we reduced the volume of the music because our
commander wanted to work his courses. So we played cards for one more hour and then we went sleeping.
Today it’s Monday. But not a standard one: it is Easter Monday. For this occasion our commander
allowed us to lie abed late. Two of us woke up quite early while the others slept until 10.30 a.m.
They profited it was calm to work their courses. For breakfast it was oatmeal again but with water
this time. It was even worse than yesterday but the positive point is that we had lunch only 2 hours
later. After the usual sport session we looked at our e-mails to get news from the outer world. It
is important to be in good spirits for the day. It also helped us to calm the social strains that
existed in the hab. One major concern is the waking. Because some of us find it difficult to get up,
it is sometimes necessary to use loud music to wake up the last ones. But this doesn’t please
anybody. That was precisely what happened this morning. Hopefully after a while, good mood was back
for everyone and it was already time to have lunch.
For lunch we cooked rice with a cheese sauce. Everyone enjoyed it. We also played cards as usual but
this time our commander lost. In fact he loses more and more often. From the moment we have
suspected he was cheating we were very attentive when he was playing so that he couldn’t hide cards
or make tricky manipulations. That worked well! After this entertaining moment we returned working
on our projects.
In the afternoon the two engineers went out to make additional tests with their chips. Today they
tried to locate one ship thanks to another one. Since it was a very windy day it was difficult for
them to hear the signal or to see the LED. But it worked. During their outing they also searched for
chocolate eggs around the station but they didn’t find anything. We hoped Easter Bells had come on
Mars too but it was not the case and we were all disappointed.
In the meantime the astronomer processed the rest of the images taken during night 7 since he still
had beautiful one of the moon and other clusters. The geologists continued to calculate flows. Much
work has already been done and they hope to have a complete model of their dried river soon. The HSO
decided it was time to plant something new in the greenhab. He needed somebody to help him in his
task so I decided to bear him a hand. After checking and listing what plant could be picked we
followed the instruction and grew new lettuce and Arugula.
The end of our rotation approaches quite quickly: it is already the last week for us here in the
station. Within a few days we will be on Earth again and we will be able to take many showers, go
on internet as much as we want, eat hamburgers and see our family and our friends. So there is not
much time left to work on our projects. If we want to have good results we have to work hard the
three following days.
In the station we usually listen to hardstyle or techno music. Since some of us are not fan of that
sort of music we decided to change it. Instead of club and dance music we switched to classical
music. The transition was a bit special but eventually everyone was happy with that choice. It is
not easy to please everybody when living in community. You need to take into account tastes and
likings of everyone otherwise conflicts could occur and the atmosphere could become bad. For us it
is not a big problem since we are at the MDRS for only two weeks but it could be more difficult to
deal with that sort of issue when having longer rotation periods. In fact I think that the more
important subject of interest to study when sending crew on Mars is psychology. It is a very complex
science and that’s why simulation tests like the one we experience here at the MDRS are compulsory
before sending people on the red planet.
Another important feature for crewmembers is to have various things to do during their free time so
that they don’t get bored. For example here in the station we can watch film, listen to music, make
sport or study our courses. But the most important occupation for us is as you know playing card.
Indeed in addition to have a social role it helps us to fill our free periods. Yesterday we even
invented a new game. We called it “the Martian War”. In fact it is based on the well-known “battle”
card game. Let me give you the modifications we made. First of all we decided at the beginning that
there would be two sorts of trump cards but in fact one was stronger than the other. In addition we
added the joker card with a very special and complicated role. It is stronger than every trump cards
but it is the weakest cards otherwise. Moreover each time the joker card appears we have the
possibility to get rid of one of our card. There are also additional rules but these are still more
complicated and it would be difficult and long to state them correctly. We plan to add other rules
in the future so that it will become more and more strategic, and complex of course. For you to have
an idea we started a game yesterday and we only finished it at noon today. All in all we needed
about 3 hours to know who won the first game. Unfortunately it was not me …
The afternoon was quickly over. Indeed for the astronomer and I to be able to observe a comet we
decided to eat quite early. So at 6.00 p.m. we cooked pasta with mushrooms, broccolis and tomatoes
for dinner. It was a bit flat but when adding salt and pepper it was better. Because we were not
satisfied we decide to make a cake for dessert.
The day is already over but the sky is still cloudy. We hope it will become clearer soon otherwise
our observation session would be canceled as yesterday and we would be stuck with our project.
See you tomorrow for new epic adventures.
Thoughts from Mar