Day: April 5, 2022

Crew 227 Journalist Report 5 April 2022
Sol : 9
Name of the person filling the report : Sirga Drouet

To the Moon and beyond!

Yesterday evening on ground 8, a delicious Belgian dish revisited, small play of belote, evening discussion and small film not worth the trouble and finally the hypnosis session of Julien towards 2 am.
This morning, on the 9th day of our adventure, the wind was caressing the roof of our cabin and after a pancake breakfast, the EVA team left to get ready. The three people staying in the station as backup are Jean, Julie and myself, joined later by Audrey who will return earlier to prepare for the chirugical challenge that starts at 12 pm. The Moon mission is launched with the aim of using Cyril’s radar to study the dielectric properties of the ground, explore and use the drone if the external conditions allow it

Cheyenne tell me about your adventure after the radar mission on the way home 😉 :
Today’s EVA it was to the moon! After a while, we realized that we had missed the road on the left leading to it and that we were too far away ! So we went back on our steps. For my part, no worries, driving the rovers is a real pleasure ! Once arrived, we parked our vehicles and continued our exploration by foot. Soon, the brownish and reddish regolith of the Martian soil gave way to the more and more whitish and grayish lunar substrate. After having climbed a few hills and slopes, a magnificent landscape of plains and dunes with white tones was offered to us. What a privilege to discover so many stars during this interstellar expedition ! The wind was with us and it was sometimes difficult to hear each other through our radio communications. Nevertheless, we managed to take some pictures and videos. After enjoying the view one last time and collecting some soil, we headed back to the road. Just before returning, we climbed a small mountain, this time a Martian one. It was sporty and steep ! But once again, the sport was worth it : from the top, we had a breathtaking view of the valley and the MDRS. Can our comrades who stayed at the camp see us from here ? Once again, a few shots and we headed back to the mother house, it was already time to go back and in space timing is everything ! Hop hop hop, we were back to the rovers and 10 minutes later, in the pressurization SAS. It was a great EVA, one of the last ones considering our departure which is approaching day after day, but this deadline makes us enjoy these moments even more.

Thank you Cheyenne for this story !

On the way back, the anatomy and mechanics team fought outside for the place of the best surgeon. Last match for Cyril assistant and Ignacio operator. Unfortunately for the anatomy team, Audrey who was an operator fell several times like a turtle back on its shell… I might as well tell you : Ouch for the anatomy team. Well the mechanical team still used a wheelbarrow to compensate the weight of the space suits if they were on all fours on the ground. Very stressful fight in addition to the wind that tried to steal every object made of papers.
You should have seen the scene, a real musical : Audrey on her back not knowing how to get up, the boys sweating to puncture the leg and create a "Gruyère", Julie running after the sheet and the bags, it was only missing that the people remaining inside started to sing "Oh happy Day" and the movie was in the box…

After all these emotions we tasted a soup unknown to any Belgian sitting at the table. A cheese and potato soup ?! Accompanied by a bread with insects, I still don’t know which of these two foods is the most bizarre ^^".

This afternoon the wind blows stronger and stronger and since 4 pm we have no electricity… We are still orphans of power … no electricity means no more gas stove, no more water pump, no more heating. We still have a glass of water and a coffee for 8…
For the moment still no electricity it is 6.40pm.
If you are reading this Journalist Report it means that we are not dead of thirst.
We all hope you will read it.

Farewell. I’m just kidding, we’ll find a solution 😉

[Time is passing so fast] Journalist Report
Crew 227 Journalist Report 4 April 2022
Sol : 8
Name of the person filling the report : Sirga Drouet

Sol 8 of our life on Mars.
A cold night for the inhabitants of the Hab and a premature awakening by a gadget beeping like crazy every 5 seconds. I turned to my neighbor and quickly realized that I was going to have to get out of bed to turn off whatever had woken me up. However, I was lucky enough to be accompanied by the rising sun that pierced the red hills and gradually illuminated our community, a calm and silent moment (luckily no one was snoring). I learned in the morning that several people were awake and didn’t have the courage to turn off the sound that was roasting our poor ears, great I had been fooled like a rabbit !
The day looks hot without a cloud on the horizon and an EVA without rover for a game in exploration condition. The tension rises at the idea of this duel.

Team mechanics versus team "Others", we set off with Julie and the two teams in search of a flat spot on the heights of Mars to carry out the great challenge.
You have to realize the magnitude of this match : on the ground on all fours on the Martian sand, with our helmets on, it was impossible to get close to each other to make a good reduction of the shin, it was impossible to discuss orally and it was difficult to do so with walkie-talkies, otherwise it was a mess as far as communication was concerned, because we were all connected and we didn’t understand each other. It was mentally and physically tiring but we did our best and the fact that we had prepared beforehand as a team helped a lot. We know the steps and the difficult movements of each one which guides us in the manipulation. In the end, we did pretty well, less than 50 minutes of operation and we counted only one dead and the other patient will return to earth…
Thank God that Julie is still in good shape ^^.
We were in a beautiful place a few hundred meters from the station.
We had a sight on big full broken in the distance by mountains higher than skyscrapers. Once the game finished to have a 360 degrees view we climbed North Ridge a mound which overhangs the panorama and which is in front of the station. After a few feet slipping in the sand, deep breaths and a few drops of sweat we were on top ! A breathtaking view, all the reliefs of Mars in front of us, a range of colors, unknown stones and above all the smile on our happy and red faces. Fortunately we had good boots and no sandals, the steep descent could have turned into a sledding race on combination, instead we positioned ourselves on our boots to crouch so as not to lose our balance on the slope ! I admit it to you I smile to the image of this situation a little bit embarrassing and ridiculous but let us not take risks. Safety first !

I have an announcement to make ! Cyril’s experiment finally starts !!!! A 3D model in perspective and a superb drone shot of our EVA. Honestly, it looks like a drone from the Wall-e cartoon as its behavior fluctuates. It was complicated but after the rain the weather is not ?

This afternoon, back to the daily activities. The Anatomy team, since Audrey started her challenges, is dangerously catching up with the mechanical team in the surgery tournaments.
Let’s make a little tour of the Cheyenne plants. The radishes grow earlier than expected and grow with the days in the compost substrate but the Martian substrate does not seem to please them … They germinate slowly, we observe in some pot of radish and a microgreen the radicle. Tadam the culture takes more time but it works. I will keep you informed of their growth. It will be easy to guess when they will show their cotyledons Cheyenne will probably be jumping for joy everywhere.

On Audrey’s side the exposed bacteria seem to have a 100 to 1000 times lower growth rate than the unexposed bacteria. On the exposed AB side, some have no impact on their efficiency but others are significantly less efficient.
More news in a few days when the analysis will have progressed 😉
Julien for his part is starting to catch up on his analysis of the sleep patterns and is becoming more and more efficient at recognizing the different phases.

Tonight it’s applesauce, freeze-dried chicken and mashed potatoes with a touch of insects. The time passes so quickly, we leave the station in 5 days and it seems like we arrived only a few days ago. I feel like singing : Hey hey hey, I’m one vacation, every single day cause I love my occupation !
On that note, I’m going to prepare the meal right now

See you tomorrow!
Sirga