Journalist Report
04/05/2013
Benoît Hespel
Goodbye Mars
Yesterday night the astronomer and I tried to observe the sky. But after we had made the calibration
of the telescope clouds began to fill the sky so that we were forced to stop. We spent the rest of
the evening talking about our adventures and the return to civilized life. After getting out of here
our team will separate in two groups. We had planned to spend some days more in the USA before going
back home. The three scientists will visit Philadelphia while the three engineers will head to Las
Vegas. So we talked about our different trips and what we planned to do there. Then after a short
card game we went sleeping to have energy for our last day in the station.
This morning everyone got up at 8.30 a.m. We ate cereals with milk and dried fruit since it was a
long time we didn’t have it for breakfast. Since we were out of simulation we locked the station and
went all to the dinosaur site located about 6 km far from it. It was 9.30 a.m. when we arrived at
the right place. We hoped to find dinosaur bones.
First we walked in the canyon searching for fossils. Since we didn’t find anything we decided to
climb the hill in order to have a better view of the landscape and maybe find an interesting place
for further research. The environment was very beautiful as usual. After having taken a lot of
photos we went on. About 1 hour of walk later we were back at the entrance of the site but we didn’t
have found bones yet. We were a bit disappointed until one crewmember discovered something just in
front of us. It was so obvious that nobody thought to look there. We are not experts but we thought
it was well dinosaur bones since it looked like small light porous stones. Then we got back to our
car and returned to the station.
It was 11 p.m. when we were back. The timing was perfect because we still had to tidy up all the
station before the Chinese journalists arrived at the MDRS. With the astronomer we cleaned the
observatory because due to the rain we got three days ago, there was a lot of mud inside. We also
checked that everything was at the same place that when we arrived on 23th April. We controlled the
two astronomy boxes and took pictures of them. Everything was ok.
It was then time to make some personalized logos to stick on the door of our respective sleeping
rooms. It is a habit here in the hab to let an imprint when a crew leaves. On the stickers we wrote
our name, our function during the mission and our country. It was moving because it was nearly the
end of our adventure.
For lunch we had rice with cheese. We began to be fed up with rice but it was the last time. Then we
just had time to make the washing up and tidy up the dining room. It was already 2.00 p.m. and the
journalists we were waiting for arrived. They began to film us in EVA suits walking in the desert.
Then they wanted to have a video of the telescope in the Musk observatory. We opened the door and
the dome and then we pointed to a virtual star so that they could see it moving automatically. They
also filmed the engineers with their chips and the HSO in the greenhab watering the plants. Finally
we showed them where we were spending the most part of our days here: the dining room. They were
very interested in freeze-dried food and our sleeping rooms. All this was done quite rapidly. Indeed
they had a long route for Salt Lake City so they left immediately after.
When they were gone it was time for us to make the second test for our project about the influence
of Martian living conditions on the sense of smell. Today all crewmembers underwent it. Indeed by
doing so we had results for people after one and two weeks and we were able to see if time
influenced their smell. A quick analysis of the results showed that drought and dust in the hab
didn’t modify our sensitivity. Indeed results were very similar to the other test. In fact there are
many external factors that we can’t control what makes it difficult to get an objective conclusion.
We will now try to make a list of them to be able to account for our results. This project could be
renewed maybe next year but with fewer uncertainties in the experimental procedure even if we
perfectly know that such an experiment involving people is always difficult to lead.
When the HSO went to the Greenhab he discovered with stupefaction that the seeds of lettuce and
arugula that we planted three days ago had grown. He could discern small leaves. We were very happy
to see we had succeeded in our green mission.
Then as usual it was time for us to write down our daily reports. It was the last time … In addition
our commander had to resume our two weeks of work in the station. After two weeks of daily
journalist reports I had become used to it. I will nearly miss it. I’m satisfied to have kept a
detailed track of our adventure at MDRS.
In the end of the afternoon we began to pack our suitcases because tomorrow morning we will have to
check all the station to leave it in the same state we found it at our arrival. So we won’t have a
lot of time since at noon we have to go to Hanksville in order to welcome the new crew and then to
bring them at the MDRS. We will explain how the station works, what they are supposed to do every
day, how to put the EVA suits, what to do in the greenhab and when, how to use the telescope and how
they can save water. We had nearly become experts of the station and it will be special I think to
be in that position with the successors.
For the last evening in the station we plan to have a party and to play cards. It is the last time
we have the occasion to have fun together until we meet again in Belgium. So we want to enjoy it. If
the sky would have been clear we would have observed galaxies again but it is cloudy so it won’t be
possible.
What I’m sure is that I won’t miss the food, the water restriction, the limited internet connection,
the few cold showers and the narrowness of our sleeping rooms. Though it was a very nice experience
and it has marked us. We will probably never forget it…
Thoughts from Mars
Special wink to our friends, girlfriends, family, followers, CP3 members and sponsors
Special thanks to Mission Support and CapCom
THE END