Month: January 2025

Stepping Stones

“A hero is one who knows how to hang on for one minute longer.” – Norwegian proverb

It is no secret that colonizing Mars is hard, but despite that, the idea of a Martian settlement has been discussed for a little while now. Mars One was perhaps the first organization to seriously propose a permanent human colony in the Red Planet. From its announcement in 2012 to its bankruptcy in early 2019, it is estimated to have received tens of millions of dollars. But maybe even more impressive is the number of people that applied for a one-way ticket in a journey that would last several months: 165,000 candidates. What, then, draws so many hopeful dreamers towards this collective vision?
For us from Crew Montes, Mars is a more than a dream. It is a testament of the best of our abilities, and Sol 7 was an illustration of why that is the case. Today, Mr. Fix It, Genie and I set out on an EVA to the same spot that others from the crew explored yesterday: Eos Chasm. This 4h30 EVA tested our mental and physical capabilities to their fullest, where we conducted five flight tests with the drone, sampled plenty of geodes and analyzed the subsurface soil for magnetic activity. Such an abundant and stunning region convinced us that we were in the right place, but we had already been warned by our crewmates that Mars wouldn’t be kind in this journey.
As we hiked further in the Chasm looking for more precious data, the path got progressively more appealing, making us not want to turn back until we got to the very end. Unlike yesterday’s EVA, the three of us could see the sight of magnificent pyramid-like structures on the horizon, and much like a mirage, for an entire hour we were hypnotized by the idea of reaching them. Meanwhile, the sun on our faces, the weight on our back, and the poor radio comms on our chest were all slowly draining our energy. The way back would not be easy, but Montes has no quitters.
After reaching the pyramids, we got an unexpected gift: an active flowing river would welcome us offering an unexpected break to the desertic dryness that surrounded us for hours. Our stop there would be short, though. After collecting our samples, we would have a mere 1h30 to get back to the hab. A time window that could be used for an entire Disney movie suddenly fell into our laps like a humongous challenge. No time for breaks anymore.
The arduous experience of hiking back was something that we all from Crew Montes shared. More specifically, one question seemed to have independently haunted each and every one of us: Why do it? Why keep going? After each step, we all asked ourselves the question of why we even bother with this laborious task, and why becoming an astronaut would appeal to anyone in the first place – let alone dozens of thousands of people.
One could argue that the many perks of becoming an astronaut – exploring the unknown, experiencing otherworldly moments like the overview effect, seeing what no one else saw before, or even being the first person to kick a soccer ball in a different planet – would be enough reasons to make it all worthwhile. These expectations, though, can quickly fall short in an environment where nothing works your way. The process is always a lot slower than it seems when you don’t have the equipment, internet, dexterity, human support, food, and many other catalysts to your success. Add that to the fact that messing up once might not have an escape route, and you might well be left with no motivation in a tough situation. There must be another reason to keep going.
I think the answer is actually hidden in plain sight. In other words, the experience IS the motivation. All it takes to beat the hardest, most demanding challenges a person can ever undertake is to take one more step. A step after another, little by little – but no stopping. One cannot stop moving forward. On Mars, refusing to stop can not only be the difference between life and death, but is also a representation that you are rising to the occasion, and preparing to what is coming next. In my own personal view, that is the secret recipe to becoming the Martian Ubermensch – the ultimate superhuman concept idealized by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the 19th century. If such an idea truly exists, taking the next step is the only way to achieve our wildest dreams.
We made it back just in time to the comfort of our hab – or, more precisely, with a 2-minute delay. Next time, we need to be better prepared so those minutes are not a concern. Lucky for us, this entire experience is already the preparation we needed. If one thing should be remembered from today, is to stand up and walk. Keep moving forward. You’ve got two good legs, so use them. In the words of Paul Carus, "No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."
Hermit out.

From Analysis to Catalysis

““Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it.” – René Descartes

We all have experienced moments in our lives where a problem makes us feel trapped, confused, or lost altogether. In fact, more likely than not, this might have happened to you today, yesterday, or the day before, and the feeling of discontentment is commensurate to the difficulty of the issue at hand. The most straightforward path to circumvent the situation is illustrated by an acronym present both in aviation, safety and mindfulness literature: STOP. In aviation and safety, STOP stands for Stop, Think, Observe, Plan, while the mindfulness technique indicates, very similarly, Stop, Take a breath, Observe, and Proceed. One word, however, is a suitable representation for these steps in both cases: analysis.
The word itself comes from the Latin ana- ‘up’ + luein ‘loosen’, literally meaning "loosen up" (or, in today’s generation slang, "take a chill pill"). The analytical process, much valued in the world of STEM (not to be confused with STOP!), is associated with breaking down and deeply understanding the constituent elements of the subject at hand. This usually requires the student or the scientist to take a step back, give themselves a moment’s worth of peace, watch the problem from an unattached, bird’s eye perspective, and finally come up with a game plan for a solution. Conversely, the catalysis takes place in the final implementation, which regularly is found to be a smoother and less stressful counterpart to the analysis stage. This is a process that can take up to months or even years, but Mars is not fond of waiting patiently. We need to move fast.
In Sol 10, Crew Montes reassessed our strategies with respect to multiple of our research projects. First, the DRONE team (Spy, Mr. Fix It and I) went out on an EVA to Barranca Butte to collect more data and samples for the electromagnetic frequency detector, the iron-rich energy generation project, and, of course, the DRONE. Even though we faced more technical challenges with the software for the DRONE, we were able to collect plenty of data for the other two experiments.
Once back to the hab, we started by fixing the remote hotspot connection to the DRONE, which is now running as smoothly as the finest rock on Mars. Moreover, having two electrical and computer engineers in the team felt like a gift from the heavens as Spy and Mr. Fix It assisted me with analyzing how the GPS and IMU sensors could be better integrated with the on-board Raspberry Pi computer. Instead of writing the script from scratch without internet connection – which at times felt like a blindfolded astronaut in the middle of a sandstorm -, the two of them patiently instructed me about the beauty of tech datasheets, which we are now using to reconfigure the code. With this, we hope to get the necessary data for all sensors to successfully create the mappings of the terrain accordingly later on.
In the meantime, Messiah worked on improving the methodology behind gathering iron-rich samples for crafting solar panels. As he worked on the samples, however, the process of analysis kicked in: Messiah realized that his approach was successful in generating an amazing 0.5 V of electrical voltage, but the sensitivity to light was lower than expected. This suggested, however, an interesting pivot in the research: instead of crafting a solar-panel like structure, Messiah’s idea is now to use the Martian soil as a source of energy for a chemical battery, which is yet another promising avenue for improving in-situ operations on Mars. And hopefully, with this power we could also increase the temperature downstairs up a notch – it’s starting to get chilly in the bathroom.
Finally, Murph kept working on her mycoponics research, discovering unexpected pitfalls and planning accordingly. She found that, exposed to low gravity and the environmental conditions at the hab, water sticks to the mycelial tube, and this stagnant liquid is a breeding ground for bacteria that slows down mushroom growth. This means that the mushroom chambers need to be under pressure to mitigate contamination and allow the liquid to fall more smoothly. With this discovery, she quickly devised a strategy to use a valve that will allow for the easy removal of the tubes from air inlets. This new chamber design will be conducted back at Purdue, but the last few sols will be valuable for testing out ideas and troubleshooting on-site. Don’t worry though, Murph – these test subjects are not going to be cooked after we’re done.
Overall, our experiences today demonstrate not only an essential step in the scientific process, but also a fundamental part of problem-solving. Developing new solutions for complex problems more often than not involves reiterating on the most basic level, requiring us to re-examine what we either took for granted or used as a baseline for all subsequent steps of our project. Maybe even more important is the representation of how this analytical process can be valuable in our own lives, to solve everyday problems that frequently mess up our mood and distance us from feeling like a "chill guy".
Next time you find yourself troubled by an impossible situation, taking a step back and looking for the threads you ignored can be the solution you needed all along. In the words of Carl Jung, that which we need the most will be found where we least want to look.
Hermit out.