Journalist Report – February 21st

Sol 0 – The day of the firsts

Author: Nicolas Wattelle

Good evening everyone. I am Nicolas, and I will the journalist for Crew 263, performing a 3 weeks analog mission in the Mars Desert Research Station, that has just started.

This day was the day of the firsts. First breakfast, first reports, first dehydrated food, first everything on Mars.

This morning, we finished our MDRS training with our instructor, focused on EVAs and the principles of sim. On the menu: allocation of our spacesuits, presentation of surrounding terrain maps, test of the rovers. This was very exciting, mainly regarding the potential of our outdoor experiments incoming (especially Marine and Lea for their geological field study, and Matheo for the Astronaut Search and Rescue experiment).

Then, the sim concretely began. We wanted to make this moment memorable, so we took the traditional group picture in front of the Hab before closing the airlock, marking symbolically the beginning of the simulation. At this point, we deeply discussed about our personal expectations for this mission, and wishing each other, three amazing weeks of collaborative work.

Then, all the firsts took places.

The first experiments. This was spirited : after working a whole year preparing them, we are now able to perform them! Marine took charge of the Solar Musk telescope, Cerise began her water quality evaluation, Mathéo and I prepared the gravistropism experiment in the GreenHab… Elena literally sent us in the future of space exploration, we served as subjects for her Hololens experiment: an aid for astronaut using Augmented Reality (in fact, these are large glasses projecting information over our own view, and with useful functionalities to help our experiments…). Personally, I was impressed, and I am looking forward to test it during EVAs!

The first meals. We discovered dehydrated food. Against all odds, it was really good, we were ready for much worse! We will see how it evolves through the days, I don’t want to talk too fast… And, regarding food, as proud French people, Léa and Matheo made the first loaf of bread. While I’m writing these words, we didn’t taste it yet, but it will surely be amazing! I will keep you in the loop…

The first reports. You are currently reading one of them, and I hope you are appreciating it. It is a bit stressful and we feel sometimes lost writing our words, but we will get the hang of it!

P.S: One remarkable point of this first day is the weather. This morning, the wind blew so fast that we really struggled taking our crew picture in front of the Hab. Keeping our eyes opened was a painful challenge (you may notice it one the one linked to this report, it was picked out of 20 others pictures!).

Astronomy Report- February 21st

Name: Marine Prunier

Crew: 263
Date: 22 Feb 2022

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one): MLC-RCOS16

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: TOI 961.01 (TESS catalog exoplanet)

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

Sol Summary – February 21st

Crew 263 Sol Summary Report 21-02-2022

Sol: 0

Summary Title: Beginning of sim

Author’s name: Cerise Cuny

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: This morning we went on with the training with Atila. We tried on the suits and everyone was attributed a specific suit number to keep during the whole mission. Then we tested the rovers on the main road from the MDRS to the intersection with Galileo Road. Back in the hab we went threw the maps. We were pleased to see that the points of interest for a Geological experience were definitely accessible. We went threw the sim philosophy with Atila. We tried to take photos in front of the Hab but the wind was too strong and we couldn’t keep our eyes open.

At noon, we enjoyed our last steps on Earth and definitely closed the door to start the sim. I did a quick motivational speech and each one of us expressed its expectations for this three-week experience as a group, on a professional point of view, and individually.

This afternoon we had some experiments to do : we did a tutorial for an Augmented Reality experiment, and some of us had individual experiments to prep for the rest of the sim.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will do our first EVA and get more into the afternoon routine of experiments.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Violent gusts of wind, snow in the evening.

Crew Physical Status: Fine

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Request, Operation Report, Journalist Report, Astronomy Report, HSO Report.

Support Requested: We would need some salt and kitchen clothe if possible.

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