Journalist Report
04/04/2013
Benoît Hespel
Last day in full simulation
Yesterday night was a great one! Indeed we went to the observatory early in the evening to be able
to track the comet Pan-Starr. We had already tried to have it a lot of times the days before but
without success. After a good and quick alignment, we entered manually the celestial coordinates of
the comet. We didn’t see it immediately but after a while we managed to have it in the ocular. So we
instantly plugged the CCD camera and took as many photos as possible. We finally did it! The comet
was well visible: we could distinguish the nucleus and the tail. It was beautiful.
We were so happy that we ran in the station to claim the good news to the other crewmembers. Then we
listed some interesting galaxies and nebulae and we returned to take other celestial photos. We did
it until midnight, then we came back in the hab, we played cards for one additional hour to
celebrate our achievement and then we went sleeping because at 5.00 a.m. we planned to observe the
comet again with M 31 next to it. In fact we didn’t manage to have it so we got back sleeping.
This morning it was very quiet in the station. For our last day of full simulation we decided to get
up early so as to profit of it. We worked on our projects as usual: the astronomer processed the
good shots of the night before in order to have a lot of astrophotos for mission support this
evening. Meanwhile the geologists wrote their science report and the engineers prepare their future
EVA outing.
We notice that we are more and more tired because at the end of the day many among us suffer from
headache. Another hint is that at the beginning it was very easy for nearly everybody to get up in
the morning. But now it is quite more difficult. This is because we are well busy all day long here
in the hab. According to me there is another reason: food. In the station we have nearly no meat to
eat. What we have in big quantity is chili, vegetable proteins, rice and soup. But I don’t think it
gives us a lot of energy contrary to meat. Of course that’s only my point of view (because I don’t
like vegetables very much). Pasta is something everyone enjoys but we only had the quantity for two
meals, we would have enjoyed more.
For lunch we had potato soup but we all agreed that it was awful. Fortunately there was rice left
from yesterday so we filled our stomach with that. Then it was already time for the three engineers
of our crew to go out. They took the ATV’s again for the third times because they had to get far
from each other to test the chip transmission signal. However a few minutes after their leave they
were back at the station. They had forgotten the GPS. On one hand it was an epic fail for our
engineer team. But on the other hand it was very interesting for our simulation. Indeed they had to
make pressurization and depressurization again to get it. It was a waste of time for their mission
but it was compulsory since we have to fully simulate the Martian living conditions. This showed how
important it is to prepare an expedition correctly before leaving. Moreover it is not the first time
such a problem occurs …
While they were gone for their tests, the three scientists of our crew stayed in the hab and decided
to tidy up the hab. Then we made a video of our life in the station. This will be indeed very useful
when we will make conferences or meetings in schools or at our university (UCL). We think it is the
best way to show people in what our mission consisted here at the MDRS. We did two videos: a short
one with the most important points only and another longer with the details of our living conditions
here in the hab. This will also constitute a good memory for us.
It was a beautiful adventure! Despite some small social strains the atmosphere in the station was
very pleasant. We are getting along very well and it helped a lot during our rotation. We sang or
whistled a lot of Nintendo songs (Mario, Yoshy etc.) since there were many fans of video games in
our crew. We also played cards when we had free time. As a conclusion we had a lot of fun and that
was very important to be in good mood and good spirits. It was also very nice for me to share this
experience with my “copain physicien”, the astronomer of our team.
When we arrived at the MDRS we thought that it would be very long to spend two weeks there without
our friends, girlfriends and family. But eventually time flew very quickly and we are now nearly
done with our mission on Mars. Even if personally I won’t do it again because I love my daily
comfort too much, the others would do it again if one day they would have the possibility one more
time.
It was quite late when the engineers came back at the station. Seeing their faces when they were
back, no doubt they had had a lot of fun this afternoon. Their tests consisted in playing
hide-and-seek with the chips to see how accurate their localization system was. That worked well. It
was then time to finalize the daily reports for mission support.
I think this experience was very rewarding for us in a personal point of view. Indeed it was not
easy to accommodate to the arid climate, the lack of water, the freeze-dried food and the
promiscuity with the others. Thanks to it we had learnt and realized some important things about us
and our everyday life.
See you tomorrow for our last day on Mars
Thoughts from Mars.