Day: December 27, 2024

The Art of War Against a God

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In a war, every chance counts. One slip and, if your enemy is experienced enough, they will do everything in their power to crush you permanently if you let them. As a warrior, anticipating these moments can represent the difference between life and death.
You can probably imagine, then, how terrifying it would be to go up against the Roman God of War. But we have something that he doesn’t: just like ants, humans thrive from collaboration. I’ll do what you can’t, and you’ll do what I can’t. And together, carrying the collective purpose inherited through generations, it is our responsibility to do what only astronauts can: prepare for a war against Mars on behalf of all mankind.
What do we need, however, to clash against such a veteran, who can counteract our every move with strategic acumen? First, just like any adversary, we need to understand them. One of the most powerful weapons that Mars has in its disposal is radiation, for which we can prepare by studying its magnetic properties. Today, Genie collected mineral samples to understand how much protection humans can get from the Martian magnetic field. By analyzing their electromagnetic frequencies in real time, she could also get readings that will eventually be useful to protect the power grid necessary for human protection against solar radiation.
Moreover, in order to enhance our preparedness with respect to power, today Messiah collected samples in the same EVA in the search for iron content. If enough iron is found, he’ll be able to use in-situ resources to build solar panels, protecting us against Mars ‘second deadly weapon: the cold.
Running a solar grid, however, is not enough. Putting together all life support sensors that can monitor our hab’s health should be a priority to track how much we’re withstanding Mars’ blows. And when things aren’t running smoothly, like today, Mr. Fix can detect damages in our tunnels and take us back to a spot where the Red Planet can’t do anything to hurt us. Mr. Fix also acted as a diligent CAPCOM, taking care of a defective radio that could really put us in a pickle if unattended.
Perhaps the biggest protection that we need, though, is against ourselves. If humans are not at 100%, all else will most certainly fail. Spy ensured that the crew is sharp at all times by implementing Virtual Reality cognitive tasks, which shall measure how astronauts are performing in a pinch. He also assisted the EVA together with Murph by implementing a bounding box in real time to make sure the crew was exploring within limits.
Despite that being an important idea, I really think it would be a shame to go to another planet and not be able to fully explore it. That’s why I, Hermit, started collecting terrain data using the DRONE: Digital Reconstruction and Optical Navigation of the Environment. Today was a solid start, running four test flights that progressively improved its complex hardware integration with the LIDAR and Raspberry Pi. The data collection also improved with the help of Spy, so hopefully we’ll be ready to get some mappings during the next EVAs to aid the next humans on landing and fully exploring this planet.
Of course, the next crews can’t really bring everything with them beforehand. To properly protect against starvation – one of Mars’ sneakiest tricks -, we’ll need effective food growth and recycling systems, which Murph is developing. Lucky for us, today she implemented a water-enrichment method on the floor that has improved the growth of plants. What’s more, she collected some more valuable data on mushrooms that will one day be used to recycle our waste into food, pharmaceuticals, and leather.
Together, Montes is preparing humanity to survive its hardest enemy so far. I’m biased, but if you ask me, after seeing this crew in action, we might have a chance against the God of War himself. And perhaps, even set foot beyond Mars in the near future.
Hermit out.