Category: Journalist Report

From Being to Becoming

““What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau

Going through a transformative experience certainly evokes many feelings. When the experience is positive, a part of us naturally feels grateful for the circumstances that got us there, but another part feels a longing to go back and live it for longer. Perhaps just like life, the journey itself is so meaningful because it ends, and not in spite of its ephemeral character. If the experience is negative, on the other hand, the opposite is valid: circumstances are often blamed, and if we’re grateful about anything, it is the fact that it is finally over. Yet, there is an aspect that both types of experiences share: growth. After the experience is past us, we are reborn to our "everyday lives" like a phoenix.
As we finish our mission in Sol 12, Crew Montes has a lot to show on that regard. Together, we investigated the subsurface magnetic properties of Mars; waste management solutions for space habitats using mushrooms; in-situ fabrication of photovoltaic cells; team performance in isolated and extreme environments, sensor-based monitoring systems for astronauts, and LIDAR- enhanced drone simulations for landing operations. We spent a lot of time performing challenging scientific experiments at the Mars Desert Research Station, and our growth as scientists is commensurate with the difficulty of these tasks. That being said, I personally feel like my development as a person was even more prominent than my technical growth, so I decided to ask each member of the crew, individually, what was the most memorable aspect of their sols on Mars.
Being in a different planet obviously brings about one essential challenge: becoming self-sustaining. In order to survive on harsh conditions, where four walls are all that separate you from unbearable cold and deadly radiation, one needs to become independent. In particular, our Health and Safety Officer, Spy, highlighted that resource management on Mars, such as very limited water and food supplies, was a surprisingly challenging part of the experience, where 7 days separated his first and second shower. More difficult for him, however, was the absence of internet, where unlimited information usually at our fingertips was limited most of the time, requiring us to use our memory, skillset and intellect to the fullest extent. Becoming an astronaut, according to our Crew Geologist, Genie, is a dream that people might hold from their childhoods, but this sort of challenge should not be a negative aspect, but something to enjoy. In other words, unless you are genuinely drawn to something like this, it can take a toll on an average person.
In spite of the importance of independence in the Mars experience, there is a reason why we go to space with a crew and not by ourselves. Many of my crewmates reported being fascinated by the trust and comfort that we developed toward each other throughout the mission. Our Commander, Messiah, emphasized how, since the very beginning of the analog astronaut selection process, people pursuing the same goal are "outed", regardless of their background, meaning that they are drawn to share their true colors with respect to their ambitious dreams. In fact, finding other people passionate about their work, as well as witnessing the lengths to which they will go for their goals, was one of the biggest points that made us get so close to each other so fast, according to many of my crew members. For example, meeting people with similar goals and sense of humor was reassuring for our Crew Engineer Mr. Fixit, who said that maybe it’s this kind of opportunity that draws people of the same type of weird together.
Such kind of mutual admiration quickly developed trust and safety among us. Together with genuine gestures of caring day after day, like the many times when Genie came back from an EVA with lunch ready for her, we matured into a crew that looks out for each other in tough times. In Mr. Fixit’s words, "no one person had to shoulder the weight to keep the crew afloat". Our GreenHab Officer, Murph, also felt like looking at others based on their qualities (Messiah’s selflessness, Genie’s politeness, Spy’s reliability, Mr. Fixit’s goofball nature, Hermit’s listening skills) made it much easier to unite us as a crew, and integrating people’s qualities to herself is a point she will try her best to emulate. In fact, when comparing other analog astronaut candidates with regards to their experience, Messiah was fascinated by the skillsets of our crewmates, who are talented in jobs spanning from biological engineering to geology to journalism. (Thanks for noticing me, Commander!) Our crew members, according to him, are extremely strong and qualified to do what they were supposed to do, and their personalities were carefully matched in selection so that a crew could function as seamlessly as possible.
All these aspects illustrate how a cohesive crew is born and matures, but there are other moments that capture the beauty of this process even more genuinely. Here is a list of the favorite moments from my crewmates:
Messiah (Sol 9): Witnessing the crew enacting the Solar System, a random emergent moment where some of us started to orbit each other with colored hats representing the Earth, the Sun and Mars;
Genie (Sol 4): Sprinting back to the hab after 3 demanding hours in an EVA to Skyline Rim with only a single hour for our window to close;
Spy (Sol 5): Going up to Hab Ridge and looking around towards nothingness, except for the people with him;
Murph (Sol 11): A conversation with Messiah about pursuing ambitions goals as a hispanic in STEM, which made her inspired to teach less fortunate kids that believing in themselves is the first step to achieve great things;
Mr. Fixit (Sol 11): Realizing how far the DRONE project developed in so little time, starting quite rocky with very basic system integration and growing into a streamlined remote data collection system.
As for me, I can attest that these twelve extraordinary days made me feel like our crew really made this our home away from home. And even though the seven (unforgettable, to say the least) EVAs that I went to were very focused in executing the DRONE project I was leading, the moment that stuck to me the most was in our last EVA, after we had conducted some very promising flight tests, when I came back to my crewmates. Right there and then, I found them spontaneously dancing to the most scenic view of a gigantic butte behind them, a monumental wonder of nature staring at their enjoyment within its absurd beauty and the complex operations we dared to conduct on top of it. And at that moment, I knew the words of Ging Freecs were true: You should enjoy the little detours to the fullest. Because that’s where you’ll find things more important than what you want.
Hermit out.

Never Tell Me The Odds

““Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.” – Dr. Robert Anthony

Taking risks often feels scary beyond measure. As biological creatures, we have evolved to be averse to dangerous or stressful situations. In these moments, the sympathetic nervous system activates to speed up our heart rate, deliver more blood to areas of the body that need more oxygen, or other responses to help you get out of danger. Even though this makes complete evolutionarily sense, the situations in which our sympathetic nervous system activates in the 21st century are not exactly the same as the reality of our caveman ancestrals.
For that reason, our crew’s Health and Safety Officer, Spy, has been tracking our vitals since before our mission and we’ve been quantifying stressful, scary and physically demanding situations for months now. That includes delivering important presentations to our labs, taking much-anticipated final exams, and even standing in line without knowing what to order while people are impatiently waiting for us (maybe they could also relax their sympathetic nervous systems a bit!) On Mars, however, our fears are much more real, and our sense of danger is always a valuable ally… Or is it?
In order to better address potential dangers while on an EVA, Mr. FixIt worked today on an integrated assembly of sensors for spacewalk life support. Through a CO2 and a temperature sensor, the readings obtained could be displayed inside our helmets when critical levels are reached, through a blinking LED. Eventually, this technology could even evolve into an hologram-like concept, where the visors tell us about the levels in the form of Augmented Reality. Sign me up for my Iron Man spacesuit, please.
Not every source of stress here, though, is the Roman God of War’s incessant attempt to kill us. Beyond astronauts, we are humans, which means that we are still subjects to the tricks of our biology. That is perhaps one of our greatest weaknesses, where sleep deprivation from overworking (or a lack of showering for many days), for instance, can further boost our inability to think clearly. In an environment like this, then, it is only natural that we doubt ourselves and our capability to complete our mission. After all, no matter how qualified we are, the challenges of Mars can be a lot for anyone.
Our Commander, Messiah, has felt these struggles twice in a row now, as his research pivoted from the one he conducted last year in Crew Phobos. His objective was to create a source of energy from Martian soil, but for the previous crew, his approach was based on Silicon. You already know how science works by now: even though last time his equipment was not powerful enough to craft solar cells from this source, his research now has been showing promising results with iron and hematite. Today, he managed to get another 0.7 V of electric voltage using promising samples from our EVAs, proving once again that his doubts are nothing compared to his capabilities.
Personally, I have felt like my research project on the DRONE has had several complex checkpoints to overcome, before and during the mission: understanding how a LIDAR, drone and Raspberry Pi work; writing software from scratch for each of these systems; assembling together cables and devices while keeping the weight under a mere kilogram; the list goes on. Today in Sol 11, however, I would experience a specially decisive moment, since we would only get one more chance to collect data on our EVA, and the GPS and IMU sensors were malfunctioning until this morning. In fact, as the 9:15 AM deadline approached, the only sensor that I could really feel working was my own sympathetic nervous system.
There are, nonetheless, techniques that we develop to cope with these circumstances. Here on Mars, our morning routines have been an important source of energy through daily sessions of meditation, yoga, and, of course, coffee. And more importantly, a factor that grounds me is the help of the many people who have supported me throughout this journey, without which none of this would have been possible. Yesterday, past midnight, as Spy and I studied datasheets for the GPS, Mr. FixIt volunteered to venture in his personal freezer called machine shop, where he would solder circuit boards necessary for the code to work. With that incentive, during the night and today before the EVA, I managed to set up the GPS functioning and ready to collect the data. We were ready to roll, and the EVA was completed with nine successful flights that collected valuable data.
Sometimes, our fears, however irrational, can feel truly overwhelming, and we might focus on all the paths in which our goal goes south. Nevertheless, there is only one way of making our ambitious goal successful: manifesting the one path in which we accomplish it, even though we might not know the mechanisms behind it just yet. There might be 14 million paths towards an unsuccessful future, but a single path is all we need. After all, any prize that’s worth having usually requires a risk. Dreaming is great, yes… But accomplishing it – you’ll see it’s much better. Believe it: It’s going to be better than your dreams.
Hermit out.

A Three-Dimensional Future in Space

“Don’t ask for a lighter load, ask for a stronger back.”

Yesterday, we talked about the motivation behind climbing the highest mountain. From a personal perspective, climbing the mountain of Mars colonization might be a valuable endeavor for us from Crew Montes, however exploring space is more often than not dealt with public criticism. Why take the risk? And why spend millions of taxpayer dollars in space exploration? My favorite response to that is a short story from astronaut Soichi Noguchi:
I want you to imagine that you are an ant, and you are following a line on the ground. First, imagine that you are a one-dimensional ant who can only walk forward and backward on the line. Now, imagine that I put a stone there. Then, even if the one-dimensional ant wants to go forward, the one-dimensional ant can’t go forward because of the pebble. In other words, it’s the end of their world.
Then a 2D ant, who can go forward, backward, left and right, comes along. "No, you can’t go out", the one-dimensional ant tells them.
"Who decided that?" 2D ant looks at the pebble and says, "Just go sideways, it’s fine, see?" And the 2D Ant is able to go beyond the pebble and continue on. As he continues to walk, he comes across a stone wall. The ant is in trouble again. No matter how far he goes, forward, backward, left and right, he can’t get to the other side of the wall. For the 2D ant, it’s the end of their world. He doesn’t know what to do. Now, a 3D ant who can go forward, backward, left and right, and up and down arrives. Then 3D-ant looks at the wall and says, "No, that’s fine." Then the 3D-ant can overcome the walls that are connected horizontally and proceed to a new world.
On Sol 5, our crew explored the second and third dimensions in multiple ways. During our EVA today, Genie, Spy and I set out to Skyline Ridge, for all purposes an infinite wall of over 1,000 ft blocking our way forward. After a strenuous hike under a load that pounded our shoulders like ground beef, we arrived at Skyline Ridge’s intimidating beauty ready to face up. We successfully launched our DRONE to the third-dimension multiple times, allowing us to remotely explore the badlands covering its base to collect LIDAR measurements on its terrain. Spy also tested a remote hotspot connection to the DRONE that allowed us to collect data from the Raspberry Pi using our phones, making the process much more streamlined within the context of an EVA. This remarkable spot also graced us with rich data in its depths, where Genie explored the underworld’s magnetic properties by digging her instruments for data collection. This new understanding of the magnetic properties of soil can be used to counteract the effect of solar storms, for example, on the electrical grid of not only Mars, but also on Earth.
In the meantime, Messiah, Mr. Fix and Murph crafted their own version of the layers of Skyline Ridge by cooking a Montes Casserole that would leave any geologist digging for more. Murph also continued to explore the depths of the third dimension by optimizing the growth of mushrooms that thrive in the underground. This experiment promises to change the way we recycle materials in space and on Earth using the Mycoponics technology developed by her lab at Purdue.
After lunch, Messiah worked on the samples we collected from Skyline Ridge towards extracting iron and hematite content from the metal-rich soil. Our EVA led us to an astounding 100 grams of hematite, which can be refined together with the iron towards the creation of a 2D thin-film of semiconducting material. The final goal of this research is to prove the use of in-situ resources in solar panels, which are a clean source of energy that has been revolutionizing the way we obtain electricity.
Going back to Noguchi’s story, the moral is very simple. Going to the third dimension and achieving a different perspective, such as looking from above or below, allows us to come up with new solutions. Going into space doesn’t just mean going to a distant planet, but it also means we can look at the problems we’re currently facing on Earth from a new perspective and solve them. Hopefully, what we are doing here as Crew Montes will be remembered and used in the future for all mankind, in space and on Earth.
Hermit out.

Pathfinder

"Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving… you will come to a better place." – Uncle Iroh

In 1997, NASA landed the Mars Pathfinder mission on Ares Vallis, where it would successfully deliver an instrumented lander and the Sojourner rover, the first-ever robotic rover to land and operate on the Martian surface. Pathfinder also returned a then-unprecedented amount of data and outlived its primary design life. At that time, the Internet was still in its infancy, but that is not the main challenge behind missions to the Red Planet.
What most people might not remember about coming to Mars is the fact that we are 12-light minutes away from Earth, meaning that humans are completely blind to current circumstances until 12 minutes after it has already happened. Most of the systems that go to Mars, then, are heavily autonomous, ensuring that time delay will not lead to a critical failure that is only noticed way after. These circumstances make it necessary to operate with a strategy that considers all possible outcomes, much like a game of chess that our Mr. Fix It enjoys playing so much while confined in the hab. Let’s hope that his strategy skills will save us from being permanently stranded here on Mars.
Luckily for him, in Sol 6, he set out in an EVA to Eon Chasma together with Spy and Messiah for a mission through the depths of a narrow opening on the ground. It can be quite intimidating, however, to forge a path forward inside a place where communication with the only human support we can get from the hab could fail at any moment. Genie kept in touch with them as the CAPCOM, although the communication was more often than not obfuscated by the environment around the EVA team. Commander Messiah himself also felt apprehensive with such a long way to go, where following rivers could be the only way towards their goal. After what felt like 4 long hours for us back in the hab, they rushed back home safe and sound in what felt for them as the quickest hike of their lives.
In the meantime, I was working on my own version of an instrumented lander from Mars Pathfinder: our mascot, the DRONE. The research has been challenging, however, since transforming the readings from raw data into terrain mappings is no easy task – especially when there is no internet here to help debug so many scripts. Well, I guess if Pathfinder managed to create a drone no short of magical without internet, there might be a way of finding a path forward here as well.
After lunch, our crew sat together for one of our nemeses here on Mars: the cognitive task puzzles from Spy’s experiment. We quickly found out through these tasks that Crew Montes has many types of people, but no quitters. Time limits mean nothing to us, and we will fight these puzzles to the death if needed. Even if they leave us exhausted, we will keep trying to find a way of solving them until we have absolutely no more ways to go.
Not only time delays and internet connection are our challenges here on Mars, though. Murph’s work in the Science Dome has been complicated quite a bit by the limited humidity available for her mushrooms, given the conditions of their controlled environment. What’s more, quite a bit of work without the option of going out for a run has been leaving her tired beyond measures. Even though she’s been struggling with making this work while also taking care of their feeding, sensors and the plants in the Green Hab, she has already been able to find a path so far multiple times, so I’m sure she will overcome this small barrier in no time.
Now that we’ve reached the halfway point in our mission, we are shaping up to get our research goals done and are more motivated than ever to provide the best we can offer for the next generations of space explorers. Even throughout many challenges, more than anything our hope is that we can leave a path to trace. A path forward so that anyone can find their way to Mars.
Hermit out.

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.

To Build a Home

“I would say that failure to terraform Mars constitutes failure to live up to our human nature and a betrayal of our responsibility as members of the community of life itself.” – Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.

In 2016, SpaceX’s took the spotlight of the International Astronautical Congress by delivering an ambitious speech. Their promise was nothing less than making humanity a multi-planet species by stepping up the space game and colonizing Mars. This prospect inspired generations of space enthusiast to come, but for the average person watching from the outside, one might think that colonizing Mars can be done just by mastering the technology to get there. That has in fact been SpaceX’s focus for the past decades through their launch vehicles, however occupying Mars will take much more than engineering acumen. What we really need to do long-term is to terraform Mars.
In Sol 8, Crew Montes started doing its due diligence of learning more about the complexities of this long-term vision. Here is a succinct and non-exhaustive list of steps on Terraforming Mars according to its homonym board game:
1) Create an ocean covering around 15% of its surface;
2) Raise the oxygen levels towards 14% (compare to Earth’s at 21%);
3) Increase he global temperature of the equator from -30°C to ~8°C;
4) Do all the rest.
However much Steps 1,2 and 3 might seem intimidating, Step 4 is definitely the trickiest. The "rest" here includes, but is not limited to: farming, decomposing organisms, electricity generation, magnetic shields for radiation, autonomous landers, mining operations, photosynthesizing bacteria, fuel production, greenhouse gas production, and, well… doing everything else we already do on Earth. Sounds like a long way to go.
We do, however, need to start from somewhere. Today, our crew went back to Eos Chasm in a search-and-rescue EVA to retrieve a missed piece of equipment. After two sols there, the crew is familiarized with the place, so we successfully found our target and collected some more electromagnetic data. One aspect, however, stood out to our EVA team today: the Chasm seems to transform as you walk down the path towards its depths. The arid desert is slowly rejoiced with life as the presence of water approaches, slowly painting the closest tone of green that we could find on Mars. Maybe there is a solution if we push towards Step 1.
Step 2 doesn’t fall behind in the hierarchy of needs, though. Our Green Hab Officer, Murph, is working diligently into cracking the art of growing plants like a pro, which would allow us to progressively fill the Martian atmosphere with oxygen. But her goals here are even more ambitious. If the Mycoponics technology is successfully demonstrated, decomposing organisms will be our way to recycle any waste using mushrooms. Unfortunately, Step 3 is still an obstacle, since the mushrooms were found to be very sensitive to temperature changes outside their chamber. Step by step, though, she is slowly getting there, by learning how to better manipulate the environment’s condition according to her will. That is, after all, the secret to colonizing a planet.
The dream of terraforming Mars used to be impossible, but now it is slowly becoming progressively more feasible. The research that we are doing here on Mars also envisions many of the incremental tasks from Step 4 that will make us achieve the other goals faster. For example, automating the generation of electricity through Messiah’s in-situ solar panel construction can also ultimately contribute to increasing the temperature of Mars (Step 3). Another example is Genie’s research on Martian magnetism, which could eventually be used by a next generation of explorers for creating a magnetic field that helps shielding the atmosphere from solar wind, resulting in an increase in oxygen levels (Step 2).
More than anything, I believe that creating the impossible is what humans were made to do. We managed to defy all odds, by manipulating electricity, sending probes to space, colliding particles, and even observing black holes. These testaments of human ingenuity make me optimistic that, one day, the vision of building a new home away from home is not as far as it seems. I hope that our crew can carry the legacy of Robert Zubrin and show how the human nature can move mountains. Or, in our case, move Montes.
Hermit out.

Perseverance

“"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.” – Stephen McCranie

If asked what encompasses the job of an astronaut, a suitable definition could be pushing the boundaries of what has yet been explored, defying all odds towards the understanding of the unknown. However, this description (and similar ones in the same fashion) also applies to the role of a scientist, who, perhaps a bit differently, goes beyond the surface in the comfort of a lab with a coffee in their hands. Naturally enough, all of us from Crew Montes are scientists conducting our own experiments – breaching the limits of human knowledge both from the comfort of our workspace and from the dangers of Martian atmosphere.
In Sol 9, however, our crew focused our day wearing our scientist hats, improving our research inside the hab (even though I must point out that these hats were also a celebration of New Year’s Eve). After three exhausting EVA days in a row, this much needed break could well be interpreted as a voluntary choice of prudence and wisdom as we approach the end of our mission – but that is not fully true. In fact, the crew was still (ever so slightly) craving another EVA for more data collection, but science doesn’t really work that way. In reality, our planned EVA was cancelled at the last minute due to technical difficulties with the LIDAR software for our drone project, reflecting an essential part of the scientific process: frustration.
It is a natural step in the research process to reach a point where the scientist feels stuck, unmotivated or straight-up blocked in their entirety. When expanding the domain of their knowledge (and, as a consequence, human knowledge), the scientist must face their own limitations face-to-face, all the while keeping a humble mindset towards their own preconceived assumptions about the area they are exploring. At that point, admitting their ignorance is not only an act of noble sacrifice, but a necessary step in advancing the questions that lead to novel, meaningful contributions to their peers and community in general. The alternative to self-criticism in such circumstances is, instead, an investigation of a problem that is considered too trite rather than intriguing enough, innovative enough, or worth addressing altogether. It is through this procedure, thus, that the scientist can experience the infamous eureka moment, where a "stroke of inspiration" seems to be responsible for an idea that would be considered "brilliant", or ultimately a "revelation" or "breakthrough".
As my research progressed through a deeper level of complexity, integrating more sensors (like a GPS and gyroscope) into the drone data collection software was the obvious choice to obtain quality mappings of Mars. However, I soon realized that this software frenzy would not be an easy task to manage, and what had been an incremental improvement in my research quickly manifested into pure chaos. This chaos usually comes for us scientists in a form that we are all way too familiar with and completely adore: a computer bug. In face of adversity, it is the mission of a scientist to stay resilient and adapt to circumstances, but on Mars, being an astronaut requires a quick turnaround. No time to waste.
Concurrently, Messiah would continue his work on crafting an in-situ solar panel using materials from the Martian soil. Timely enough, though, he faced a major challenge today that could potentially dictate the future steps of energy generation on the Red Planet: the richest soil samples in iron content were found to fall short in a ratio of around 50x less than what was required. That means that, to avoid carrying tons of sand in the EVA, there needs to be a more efficient way to collect the iron present in those samples on-site. By envisioning new methods of collecting these rich samples more efficiently, he plans to contribute to the successful creation of solar panels using in-situ resources that could revolutionize energy generation in the long term.
Similarly, the time in the hab today was valuable to debug the robotics integration software for my research experiment, and a clear path forward was forged. In the next days, my focus will be to demonstrate data collection in the form of GPS, barometric altitude, gyroscopic orientation and LIDAR scans, which can ultimately be blended together for the creation of 2D maps of the terrain. If successful, such method can be used in the future for autonomous landers that will pave the path to future manned missions to Mars.
An astronaut’s job is to keep persevering no matter the circumstances. No matter how dark the space ahead of us might be, our steps must lead to an untapped territory, progressively expanding the map known to man. The scientist and the explorer are tasked with the same goal: shedding light into the chasm of ignorance, starting with their own. And perhaps even more importantly, it is the responsibility of the Martian astronauts, scientists and explorers to bring light into our paths and the paths of all the ones coming behind us.
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.

Rise and Shine, Montes.

"Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst."
Radiation. Freezing cold. Suffocation. Starvation. Thirst. Disease.
Mars, the Roman God of War, is a ruthless enemy to face. In a world where everything is trying to kill you, being prepared is no longer an option. It’s necessary.
As my Crew, Montes, begins their journey in the Red Planet, each of us takes an unprecedented role towards our survival. Starting the mission just two days before his birthday, we have the privilege of being led by Jesus, our own personal Messiah. From this experience and leadership, we’ve been able to know what to do, where to go, and how to exercise our functions. We conducted our first Extravehicular Activity( EVA) under Messiah’s detailed set of instructions, where we drove the Opportunity, Spirit and Perseverance to Marble Ritual. If anything can be said about the opportunity of going as on EVA, it is that it’s no walk in the park – it can take a toll on your spirit if you want to persevere.
In the field, every step can be our last. On our side, though, the Crew Geologist, Elizabeth, is no short of a genius. Genie knows every spot, every route, and – you guessed it – every rock. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be out on Martian soil with a different person… except, maybe, a person who could save my life is an emergency, watching over me as I explore the new world.
Lucky for us, in our EVA, the Health & Safety Officer, Ryan, had our back. In fact, during our entire mission, he’ll be watching over all of us. Some would say that he is our own personal Spy, tracking our vitals at all times through our watches. And what’s more – he cooks delicious burgers that are very much essential to our survival.
A tasty meal in the end of a long, tiresome day can also really make a difference in our morale, which is why fresh produce is another key piece to surviving Mars. Our Green Hab Officer, Adriana, makes sure all our plants survive, but one food in particular fascinates her: mushrooms. Ironically enough, even though her research is tracking their growth, she does not enjoy their taste… at all. Not all of us are this lucky, right, Murph?
Well, of course thriving on Mars also requires tracking all of our life support systems, which is the job of our Crew Engineer, Keegan. Beyond that, he has the skills and training to repair broken pieces, inspect tunnels, and put together sensors, making him the ultimate Mr. Fix It. One machine in particular that he will definitely check, use and give his life to repair is also fundamental to our survival: the coffee maker.
As for me? I’m just a humble Crew Journalist, working in the background on documenting the efforts of our Crew’s survival so maybe when you come after us, you’ll be prepared. Hopefully, my drone will be able to scout the best landing sites for your mission, which I’ve been diligently working in the shadows to accomplish. I’m Rod, but my crew knows me as Hermit.
To you, who is coming after us, prepare yourself the best you can. Mars can be dangerous, but I promise you a humble sunrise here is worth the journey.
And to us, from crew Montes: Rise and shine. Our stay on Mars has only just begun. After all, we’ll need more Sols if we’re going to climb the tallest mountains. Word has it that they have the best views.
Hermit out.

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.