219-JournalistsReport

Journalist Report

02/19/2014

Quentin Cappart

Another day on Mars ! And this one began better than usual ! Indeed, we took a better breakfast this

one (ie. no milk powder) with chocolate, jam and tortillas. We are full of energy for this new day.

What will do today ? Globally the same than the day before : continue the work on the projects and

an EVA in the afternoon.

Let's begin with the spectroscopy project. For this one, we used a spectrometer to obtain the

spectrum of an unidentified body. We thought it was composed of Neon, but apparently we were

wrong... Moreover, we didn't find any matching between the observed spectrum and the ones described

in our documentation. So, we decided to send this spectrum on earth to one of our collaborator

specialised on spectroscopy. Now, for this project, we are waiting his response. In the meantime,

we'll analyse the spectrum of other body like the minerals that we collected previously.

Concerning the balloon project, the nacelle is almost finished. The next step is to attach different

sensors on it. These sensors will be used to record some data, like the temperature or the wind

speed0, when the balloon will float. The launching day is approaching ! It will be probably in the

beginning of the second week of our rotation.

About the EVA, its purpose was double : Continue the work of the day before by measuring data at the

streambed and collecting more minerals for the geology project. Unfortunately the weather wasn't

with us, the wind began to breath very strongly and menacing clouds appeared. To avoid useless

risks and because the conditions were difficult we decide to cancel the EVA. Tomorrow we'll repeat

it, with hope that the weather will be milder. Funny fact (Actually, not so funny...) : The

preparation phase took more time that the EVA itself, but it's one the risks of the astronomer's job !

And let's finish with a good new, the surprise of the day ! The work of Benoît in the Greenhab

begins to pay ! Today, he managed to have a small leaf of lettuce. Let's hope that progress will

continue and that we will have more vegetables the next days !