Day: January 19, 2022

The best cake on Mars!

Today we decided to do some Mars Home Cooking! The selected recipe: Banana cake :D, we started our cooking at 12:00pm and the idea was to get the cake ready before EVA#2 but after checking the required cooking time, it was not possible. Commander Yael, Green Hab Officer Maria Paula Bustos and Crew Scientist Felipe Torres left for EVA#2 while the cake was baking. When they returned, the cake was ready! And we were happy to have some sweet cake after today’s EVAs when we had the first bite. Oh no! D: it was salty, what a letdown! :c Maria Paula then told us that large amounts of cinnamon actually make food salty and that when she had tried a dish like that before, she got a similar result. The dish she made that time was banana cupcakes actually :O so it was like having a flashback for her. After a while, some questions aroused. Did the cookbook say it would be sweet? The answer was… no.

Alright, did the cookbook says it would taste good? The answer was… no. Alright, did the cookbook say it was a cake? The answer was… no! hahaha xD it was actually bread! Even though you can expect the banana bread to be sweet, it is likely to be salty or with very little taste being bread. The whole experience was a funny moment and we had a great laugh. Although it has its salty flavor, I think you can figure out why this is the best cake on mars. If not, think about this, what other cake is on mars right now?

Other activities done today

I got up today and I made eggs for breakfast and for all the crew, Commander Yael and I were prepared for the EVA, we did the depressurization procedure and got out, the EVA was great! I had a little problem with my earpiece, but the rest was awesome, you can see some pictures taken by us in the daily photos we walked around Marble Ritual and saw the hab from far away! When we got back we noticed that one of the ventilation ducts was loose, we’re expecting further instructions about it. And finally, I can also say that the Toilet tank is now empty, hopefully, the experience was not as terrible as I expected it to be!

Journalist Report for SOL2.

Submitted by Carlos Salazar, Crew 226 Journalist

The best cake on Mars!

Today we decided to do some Mars Home Cooking! The selected recipe: Banana cake :D, we started our cooking at 12:00 pm and the idea was to get the cake ready before EVA#2 but after checking the required cooking time, it was not possible. Commander Yael, Green Hab Officer Maria Paula Bustos, and Crew Scientist Felipe Torres left for EVA#2 while the cake was baking. When they returned, the cake was ready! And we were happy to have some sweet cake after today’s EVAs when we had the first bite.

Oh no! D: it was salty, what a letdown! :c Maria Paula then told us that large amounts of cinnamon actually make food salty and that when she had tried a dish like that before, she got a similar result. The dish she made that time was banana cupcakes actually :O so it was like having a flashback for her. After a while, some questions arose. Did the cookbook say it would be sweet? The answer was… no. Alright, did the cookbook says it would taste good? The answer was… no.

Alright, did the cookbook say it was a cake? The answer was… no! hahaha; it was actually bread!

Even though you can expect the banana bread to be sweet, it is likely to be salty or with very little taste being bread. The whole experience was a funny moment and we had a great laugh. Despite its salty flavor, I think you can figure out why this is the best cake on mars. If not, think about this, what other cake is on mars right now?

Journalist Report
January 18, 2022
Felipe Torres, Crew Scientist

We have successfully landed on Mars!

Landing was safe, though a little rough. The crew is excited and some are a little nervous; our Commander had a few tears of joy from having arrived to the red planet. We are all proud of each other and of our mission support team on Earth for helping us get here safe.

It’s amazing the resemblance it has with our planet Earth. Some things look familiar, it even feels like home! We are all eager to start populating this planet.

Most things are still new for us, so today we started our training led by Atila; we started getting familiarized with the different systems on our Hab, RAM, Green Hab, and Science Dome. It’s a shame our Crew Astronomist couldn’t come with us we won’t be able to use our Observatories, fortunately, we’ll still be able to get telescopic images remotely from the Earth.

Time for a break! We had our first lunch together as Martians. Never thought that our crew had such talented cooks; definitely cooking won’t be an issue during our Mission.

We all helped each other jump inside our Spacesuits. We had done it before on Earth, but doing it here in Mars is actually way different. The feeling of being far from home starts kicking in. Spacesuits are on, we turn on and make sure all the systems are operating nominally.

Now the moment to explore has arrived. Let’s go outside! Said Atila. Our first exploration of Mars soil has been thrilling. We traveled a few miles in our Rovers (Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity) just enough distance to be safe and sound during our first EVA; we reached the Route 1104, also known as Galileo Road and then headed back to our Hab as the sun was falling down and the temperature was getting lower.

To end the day, we all studied the Mars map and discussed different zones of interest, which according to our Mission plan will be the best places to explore on our next EVA’s.

Good night.