Crew 245 Journalist report 12 April 2022
Sol: 02
Name of person filling the report: Dr Benjamin Pothier
After the Tempest
Yesterday’s night was quite demanding for the crew as we had to face heavy winds and sand storms that made our habitat almost shake during the night. I think the comfort food that we prepared with Nadia, our Health and Safety Office, helped the crew to stay resilient during this quite unexpected tempest on Sol 1, even though we are very lucky to have such a professional crew of trained individuals who are definitely ready to welcome the unwelcoming.
It is therefore quite an honor to start this first journalist report just after the Tempest, as the Bard would say it.
We started our second day on the red planet with a delicious breakfast made of freeze dried food, and perfect coffee made the Italian way that kept us motivated and sharp during the day. Today was for me my first opportunity to go on EVA with our crew scientist Simone and our executive officer Paulo. The landscape around was beyond my expectations and I documented the team gathering soil samples for a DNA analysis experiment. We are all getting slowly acquaintained to the procedures of the station and the hazards of the planet, sharing with each other’s crew members past experiences that brought us to all end up on this outpost on Mars. I am already convinced that our differences will be our force as a group, considering that we at least also all share three things in common: professionalism, attention to details and a strong sense of humor.
We spent the afternoon working on our research and our health and safety officer Nadia taught us how to use the smart garment with integrated sensors that will record most of our physiological datas in real time during the whole mission including at night. the Astroskin was already tested on the ISS by the Canadian Space Agency so we are very lucky to be able to use it on this Mars mission.
I’m sure tomorrow will bring a fair share of excitement and novelty, and I will close this journalist report for today as I need to get to the kitchen to bring my special touch to tonight’s dinner, and once again earn the surname that the crew already gave me, "Chef Pothier", over and out.