Sol 13: Preparation – How to prepare a Mars mission?

Hi everyone and welcome back! In today’s report, we are going to talk about the preparation for a Martian mission.

I’m not going to talk a lot about what happened during this Sol 13 because:

1. It is Sunday, so it is not a very busy day

2. It is Sunday, so I think I deserve to rest at least this afternoon.

However, I can talk to you a bit about what happened this morning.

Even on Sunday, we still have work to do on Mars. We had to change the battery of the LOAC experiment as every day. This time, Marion and Clément heroically volunteered. They took that opportunity to install two other instruments: PurpleAir and the electric field mill. From the window of the Hab, I watched them doing their job and they did it really well. They managed to successfully install those experiments which was not easy with the gloves and the spacesuits. Now, we will start gathering data for the CNRS thank to them.

After this intense morning, at least for them two, we will finally have the lunch everybody has been waiting for since the beginning of the mission: Martian Burgers. Our Commander has already started to cook the buns and I can’t wait to taste those Martian Burgers. We will make the burger patties with rehydrated beef and add some fresh cherry tomatoes from the GreenHab. Even Gordon Ramsay has never tasted something like that. We hope it won’t become an episode of Kitchen Nightmare but we feel pretty confident.

Now let’s talk about the preparation of this Martian mission.

As some of you may already know, we’ve been preparing this mission for two years now. In fact, it was supposed to be one year, but due to Covid, we weren’t able to take off last year but we managed to delay the mission to this year.

Let’s start by the beginning of this adventure. We were chosen for this mission in December 2019. A jury composed by former crew members and professors from ISAE-SUPAERO, studied our profiles and had us take an interview to determine if we would be part of the crew and for which role.

After the selection, we started the preparation of the mission. There were, in my opinion, three main objectives.

Find sponsors and collect funds to pay for the mission. Indeed, the mission has a cost and we had to collect 20000€ to pay for everything. This part was hard because we had no experience in this domain. But we learned. We sent mails to companies, we called them and sometimes they were ready to come on this adventure with us and financially support us. Here is a list of those who accepted to support us. This list does not include those related to experiments, we will talk about them later.

-CNES is the French Space Agency. We have been working with them for outreach for younger people via the Mars Club.

-Parrot, a French drone manufacturer who also lent us two ANAFI drones which we use for my drone mapping experiment.

-The Student Association of our School which accepted to support the project via the Mars Club.

-The Fondation ISAE-SUPAERO, which is very supportive for student projects.

-Sahut-Conreur, a French company interested by the use of 3D printing for metal working applications

-Acticity, an association that acts for education of young people which is a value we strongly share

-Planète Mars, the French branch of the Mars Society. They help popularise the idea of visiting Mars in the future.

-Société générale is a large French bank partner of the Student Association of our school. They are always interested in students projects.

Find experiments to bring with us on Mars. This is a very important component of the preparation. There is no interest in going on Mars if we don’t have relevant experiments to perform there. So we did our research about experiments that would be interesting for our mission and we contacted companies and labs. It was really interesting to exchange with researchers and create procedures for the mission. Thanks to our work, we have a lot of relevant experiments to talk to you about in our « Focus on » episodes. Some labs have also accepted to financially support us to bring their experiments.

-SacLab, a ISAE-SUPAERO’s lab for which we perform the TELEOP experiment

-CNRS for which we gather data with LOAC, PurpleAir, the electric field mill and soon Mega-ARES.

-The University of Lorraine for which we perform, not without pain, the human factor experiment that includes the terrible « shapes test ».

And last objective, but not least: become a real crew. This includes:

-Get to know each other

-Learn to work together

-Learn to rely on the crew

This is really important when you are planning on going to another planet with 6 other people you don’t know yet. For that purpose, we have been meeting every week for two years. Once again, COVID complicated everything and we had to meet most of the times on Zoom. Despite that, I think we still managed to create a team spirit and I think that now we are all very good friends!

This preparation was like a marathon, you have to stay focused during two years and never lose your motivation. The second year, after the rescheduling, was the worst. It was hard to go back on working on a mission that was already prepared. On top of that, the borders between Europe and the USA were still closed so we were starting to work again towards a mission we still didn’t know if we could do. Yet we persevered, and despite the setbacks we’ve made it all the way there on Mars, and in the end that means all the work was worth it. Sure, we’ve all changed a little after a year of delay, either from our experiences of work and studies, or simply in our outlook of what this mission means to us, but the joy of getting to work on a mission we worked so hard for is still the very same.

Sol 12: Focus on: 3D printing – How to repair or construct things on Mars.

Author : Pierre Fabre

Hi everyone, welcome back for a new episode of “Focus on”! In today’s episode we are going to talk about 3D printing with Maxime. It is going to be super cool!

But, as always, we are going to talk about what happened on Mars during this Sol 12.

First, as today was a Saturday, we didn’t have sports this morning for the same reasons as last week. I think it is worth mentioning it because it felt so good to stay in bed a little longer. Everyone looked happier and smelled definitely better than usual at breakfast.

Then, the day was similar to a week day. On Mars, we work on Saturdays!

We started this day by an EVA. As I told you yesterday, we went back to the Special Region to do drone mapping. This time, Marion and I, who stayed at the Hab yesterday, were part of the team and Maxime was our EVA leader.

We started our EVA, as usual, by changing the battery from the LOAC experiment. Then we made a first stop at the crossroad with Galileo Road. I wanted to map the part of the Hab Ridge situated after the North Ridge for my drone mapping experiment. Everything went well and I will soon have a beautiful 3D map to analyse. I’m starting to be more efficient and confident with the drones and it is very satisfying. Even if I never told you before, I think you can easily imagine that manipulating and operating a drone with a spacesuit and gloves is not easy at all. Next week, we are going to do another round of comparing how my crewmates perform on this terrain regarding whether or not they have the 3D map. The episode of “Focus on: Drone mapping” in which I am going to explain you everything is coming soon so stay tuned!

After this stop, we kept going North with the rovers until reaching the Special Region. It was pretty similar to the description our crewmates gave us, except that in reality it was a lot more impressive and beautiful. We were really amazed by the view we had from the top of the Ridge. I took some really nice drone pictures and videos up there. We will definitely find a way to show you those cool videos when we will be back on Earth I promise, but you can already have a taste with the photos.

It was a 4-hour long EVA, the longest ever made in this crew, and we were very tired when we came back. When we went upstairs after leaving our spacesuits, we had the best surprise you can expect when coming back from an EVA like this. Our lovely crew mates had cooked fried rice, a lot of fried rice. It was the best thing I’ve tasted since my arrival on Mars (yes, better than the famous Martian Pizza). If some of you want the recipe, I can ask my Commander and put it in a next report. (I will probably do it anyway as I will not receive your feedbacks).

This afternoon was a pretty calm one. Some crew members, including me, took that opportunity to take a well-deserved shower. On Mars, we don’t take shower as frequently as on Earth. The average time between two showers in the crew is one week. Now you start to understand why I said before that we usually smell bad at breakfast. As mentioned in the “Focus on: Water on Mars” episode, water on Mars is even more precious than on Earth so we have to use it carefully!

This afternoon, our team of 3D printing engineers, Maxime and François, finally managed to print the piece to assemble the base and the mast of the Mega-ARES experiment. This was a very long journey with lots of ups and downs. Thanks to their hard work, we will soon be able to assemble the experiment during an EVA and start gathering precious data for CNRS.

Talking about 3D printing, it is time to start this new episode of “Focus on” with Maxime! Let’s see what we talked about!

“-Hi Maxime! How are you today?

-Super thank you!

-Maxime, I asked you to do this episode of “Focus on: 3D printing” because you are in charge of a 3D printing experiment. But first let me ask you something. Why is 3D printing relevant for space application?

-As you know, on a space mission we are isolated and it is very difficult to have new objects from the Earth. On Mars, if we break our hammer, we have to wait 6 months before getting a new one. That is why we use 3D printing. We are able to build and replace any objects to optimize our experiments for example. In the International Space Station, there is a 3D printer, and the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet used it to print… a fork!

Moreover, the European Space Agency is working on new printers able to print buildings on the Moon from the lunar regolith. Hopefully, we will be able to see them working at the end of the decade.

-Ok I see, it is very convenient! And now, can you explain what is the objective of your experiment?

-Through the composite repairing in a frugal context we want to demonstrate the relevance of the use of additive fabrication in space applications. This project is held by Pr. Yves Gourinat, professor of Mechanical Engineering and Structures at ISAE-SUPAERO.

In our context of a Martian Life Simulation, we had to choose a printer according to the trio Volume – Mass – Energy, the main parameters of space exploration. Thanks to our school, we are able to use the 3D printer « Creality CR-10 Series V2 » which respects the parameters below.

The first operation consists in repairing an impacted carbon structure. During an EVA, I saw a small impact on our HAB. On Mars, this one can lead to a leak and put us in danger in the station. With the software AutoDesk Fusion 360, I designed a fitting piece and printed it with our 3D-printer with the help of our engineer François. Obviously, we are not allowed to modify the Hab but with this experiment we are able to prove the relevance of a 3D-printer for a space application.

-Ok nice! And do you use the 3D printer for other purposes?

-As I mentioned at the beginning you can use the 3D-printer for many reasons. On our side we used the 3D-printer twice.

Our HSO Julie aka July works on a recycling water experiment and she asked me to participate by printing a specific funnel for her new dispositive named « Dudish » in the memory of our Botanist Raphaël, who couldn’t come to MDRS.

And Clément asked me to print a piece to maintain the mast of the instrument Mega-Ares.

-Wow, so cool! There are so many applications of 3D printing, I’m not surprised that some people want to use it in space application! Maxime, thank you very much for your time, it is a really cool experiment that you have and I enjoyed talking about it with you!”

That’s it for today’s “Focus on” episode I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! I also hope you learned something about 3D printing. If you like this format, stay tuned because another episode is coming soon!

Sol 11: Interview with: Engineer – The man who keeps the station in one piece

Hi everyone! Today is a new episode of “Interview with”. We are going to talk with François, our crew engineer I’ve been mentioning multiple times as our hero. I can’t wait to show you what we talk about but before, let’s talk a bit about this Sol 11 on Mars.

Today, we realised that we are closer to the end of this mission than we are to its beginning. For some members of the crew, it’s good news because they miss their families and friends and are becoming nostalgic about life on Earth. Apart from that, the crew is doing well, everyone is healthy and in good shape. This was mostly for the families who are reading this report, there is nothing to worry about.

For her second time as EVA leader, Julie decided to explore a very mysterious region of the surroundings of the station. This region is located far north from the station and it is called: the Special Region. Even on our map, the zone is partially hidden by red stripes that give it a forbidden aspect. My crewmates decided to go there to find out what was truly there with the idea of potentially going back tomorrow to map the area with the drone if it was worth it. They went as close as they could by the road with the rovers. Then, they climbed on a ridge and were amazed by the view. If you looked to one side of the ridge, you could see a really narrow canyon that would be very interesting to 3D map. If you then looked to the other side of the ridge, the landscape was now made of dunes with beautiful red colours. They climbed down the ridge and started to explore the canyon. I can’t wait to go there tomorrow to map the area with the drone and see this incredible view from the ridge with my own eyes!

In the meantime, Marion and I stayed at the Hab and performed the TELEOP experiment. I’m starting to appreciate to teleoperate this rover on the moon: going to a particular zone, grabbing a sample and docking it to the lander. It is pretty similar to a video game! It is definitely funnier that the « shape test » from the experiment of the University of Lorraine. But they are both really interesting human factors experiments.

Talking about the « shape test », those who were spared yesterday had to do it this afternoon. It is pretty funny to see them walk into their room full of life and joy and leaving it dead inside. I’m not exaggerating (ok maybe a bit), this is really hard when you are as tired as we are. But this was the last day, there won’t be human factors experiments this weekend and that is such good news.

Today we had also good news from the GreenHab. First, the soy beans Julie planted some days ago are starting to grow and we can already see a green thing making its way out of the soil. It was the first thing she had ever planted so she was really excited when she discovered it this morning. She has also recently put the Spirulina in the two solutions I talked about in a previous report. We hope the Spirulina will grow well and that we will see the difference between the two solutions which have, as you already know, two different concentrations of filtered and stabilised urine. It is fine if you don’t remember, we will do an episode of « Focus on » to talk in more details about this cool experiment, so stay tuned!

Maxime, our astronomer, also managed to find time to edit some observations we received from the telescope of New-Mexico during the night. He turned those observations of M-42, the object he made the telescope point at, into a really amazing picture. He will soon be able to explain you better than me his work as an astronomer in the next episode of « Interview with ».

But today it’s François’ turn! Let’s see what we talked about this afternoon in the RAM!

“-Hi François how are you? Can you introduce yourself for those who don’t know you yet?

-Yes sure! I am 21 years old, I am a student in aerospace engineering at Supaero, in France. I am currently doing a double degree in engineering physics at KTH, an engineering school in Stockholm, Sweden. In my curriculum, I also did an internship at the German Space Agency (DLR) on the optimization of rocket trajectories. And apart from my curriculum, I really like climbing and mountaineering.

-Ok cool! So, in the crew you are the Engineer, can you explain what does that means?

-My role is divided into 3 parts. The first consists of daily checks of the functioning of the station. We try to live as much as possible on our own resources or at least in the short circuit which implies having a total trust in the devices that surround us. I therefore check the water level every day in the tanks, the production of electricity, the level of charge of the suits and rovers, the filling of the toilets…
Then I have to fix everything that misbehaves in the station. A poor quality of water or air involves a change of filters… Right now, I work on the batteries of the suits that seem to work badly. I have access to the RAM (Repair and Assembly Module) where many devices are at my disposal to try to adjust these problems (multimeter, soldering iron…). But let me reassure you, most of the time, the station is fully functional.
Finally, and this is the part I prefer, I help other crew members in their personal experiments. I had to repair a 3D printer with Maxime for his experiment, help Julie make a water recycling system…

-Wow this is cool! And what is your favourite part of the job?

-My favourite part is without hesitation the last of which I have just talked to you about, the one where I help the others in their experiments. The repair of the 3D printer is in particular a good memory. We spent 2 days with Maxime to disassemble and repair it, replace defective parts and see it again functioning was very satisfactory.

-And is there something you don’t like in your job?

-What I like the least in my activities may be the repetition of my activities with all the daily checks that are repeated and especially the emptying of the toilet. However, it is necessary so I do it with a good heart (and I especially hope that the crew will get me a burger after the mission for all the times I emptied the toilet). I think that the feeling of being useful to the crew and to a smooth running of the mission is an increasingly important motivation for me, as the mission advances. Indeed at the beginning of the mission, it is the excitement that motivates, realizing new tasks being always enjoyable. But the more the mission is moving, the more important it is to have a lasting motivation for the daily tasks.

-We will definitely offer you a burger when we come back on Earth, you deserve it! On a more personal subject, why did you choose to participate in a MDRS mission?

-I chose to participate in this analogue mission to approach even more the field of space exploration. During the 2 years of preparation, I had to discuss with many researchers, inquire about inhabited flights and Martian exploration missions … It was very beneficial for me. I also think that this mission is a good way to help the research at our level. We participate in experiments of laboratories on human factors which study our psychological and physiological evolution during the mission. I hope the data gathered will be relevant and will help them in their work.

-I hope too! Thank you very much for your time, it was a very cool interview and thank you one more time for the work you do every day in the station!”

That’s it for the interview with our Engineer, I hope you enjoyed it! Remember that next time it will be Maxime’s turn so stay tuned!

Sol 10: A day in a Martian’s life – What do we do every day on Mars?

Author : Pierre Fabre

Hi everyone welcome back! Today is a special report! I am going to describe the best I can what we do on a typical day (or Sol) on Mars! I hope you will enjoy this format !

7:10 – You wake up in your small individual room and turn on the light. On Mars you don’t stay in bed chilling on your phone because your HSO is waiting for you downstairs for the morning workout and moreover as there is no internet there is nothing to do on your phone. So, you get up and put on your sport clothes. You leave your room and say good morning to your crewmates who are little by little joining you at the upper deck. You hydrate a powder orange juice and drink it to give you some energy for the workout. Then you go downstairs where Julie is already installing the mats on the floor and taking care of the music.

7:30 – The workout starts. Some are still sleepy and some others like Julie are already full of energy! You start by a warmup with some running on the spot, jumping jacks, high knees, and butt kicks

Then you start the real workout:

-Legs: squats, squat holds, squat jumps, lunges, burpees… (I’m not going to lie, those exercises hurt but it kind of feels good after)

-Abs and back: crunches, knee to elbow, heels touching, superman, plank, flutter kicks

-Upper body: curl ups with resistance bands and push-ups

-Sometimes you also do some cardio training like air boxing

Then you stretch for a while. You stay with Julie to clean the lower deck while Marion goes to the GreenHab to water the plants and the others go up to start preparing the breakfast. You are lucky, your Commander likes to prepare pancakes for everyone.

8:00 – Breakfast! Everyone has their routine for breakfast. Some eat cereals, others pancakes or oats. You talk with your crewmates about the workout and about the incoming day and in the meantime, you complete the questionnaire about sleep for Marion’s experiment.

8:40 – Breakfast ends. You clean the table with your crewmates and go back to your room to prepare for the day.

9:00 – EVA briefing! The big map of the MDRS is on the table and the EVA leader of the day explains the destination, the objectives, who is your buddy, which rover you will take, who will be the HabCom and finally the timeline of the EVA.

9:10 – The briefing is over and you go to the lower deck with the others to suit up, test your radio, put your EVA shoes on, put what will be needed for the EVA in the airlock and go through the checklist with the HabCom.

9:25 – You step into the airlock with your crewmates. Then you wait 5 minutes until the depressurisation is over. Sometimes your HabCom puts some music in the radio, it makes the waiting funnier.

9:30 – Your HabCom gives the green light, you step out of the airlock, you are outside, on Mars. The EVA can start. You go to the rover you’ve been assigned to and give the battery data of the rover to the HabCom.

The EVA can be an exploration EVA (like the one at the Moons or at Candor Chasma) or an EVA related to an experiment like the one we did today at North Ridge for the drone mapping experiment. By the way, it was really cool and I think I definitely broke the record of number of ascents of North Ridge in 1 hour!

For the sake of storytelling, let’s stay you leaves the station for a 3 hours and a half long exploration EVA.

In the meantime, those who stay at the Hab monitor the temperature in the GreenHab and open the door if it is too warm in it. They also work on their experiments, perform tasks for human factors experiments or start writing their reports. If the journalist is there, he can also take that opportunity to interview the other crew member. They also have to cook something good for lunch to feed the starving explorers.

12:55 – You come back with your crewmates from the long but incredible exploration EVA! Your back hurts a little, you are thirsty, tired and you smell bad but you are so happy because it was an amazing EVA and you can’t wait to tell everything you saw to your crewmates who stayed at the Hab. You ask your HabCom the permission to enter the airlock and finally step into it for pressurisation.

13:00 – Pressurisation is over. You enter the lower deck and your crewmates help you take off your spacesuit and you start telling them about the EVA even if you still have your helmets and they can’t hear a word of what you say. Then you go upstairs where it smells so good thanks to your wonderful crewmates.

13:10 – Debriefing and lunch. The EVA leader does a short debriefing about what went well and what didn’t. Every member of the EVA including you gives a short summary of how they felt and then the crew can finally start to eat! You thank a thousand times the cooks for their job in between two stories of the EVA you just did.

14:00 – The kitchen is being cleaned and you are answering another questionnaire for another human factors experiment. This time the experiment comes from the University of Bourgogne and the questionnaires are between 5 and 15 minutes long. When it is done, you take a break on the couch to talk with your crewmates while others, tired by the EVA, take a short nap in their room.

15:00 – Start of the afternoon’s activities.

These can change a lot depending on the day.

Sometimes, if it is your turn, you will have to perform some tasks for a human factor experiment. Today, it was TELEOP and the experiment created by the University of Lorraine (with the famous « shapes test » which is currently my number one nightmare).

If not, you will be able to work on your experiments or do the job related to your role. On a typical day, on our crew:

-François goes to the RAM to repair things (like our spacesuits) or helps other crew members on their experiments.

-Maxime goes to the Musk Observatory to observe the Sun or stay in the Hab to create beautiful pictures from observations made with a telescope in New Mexico.

-Marion goes to the GreenHab to take care of the plants or to the Science Dome for the Aquapad experiment.

-Julie take care of the spirulina and soja in the GreenHab or goes to the Science Dome to recycle our water.

-Clément manage our planning for the next days or takes and photoshops pictures.

-And I, work on my drone experiment or start writing the report you are currently reading.

18:00 – Relaxation break! After an afternoon of hard work, your HSO organise a relaxation session. You sit on the upper deck’s floor with your crewmates and Julie guides the session while your eyes are closed and you think to nothing but your breathing.

18:30 – Reports time! You write your report for the day and the EVA request for tomorrow because you will be the EVA leader. Some crewmates are also writing their reports while others are debating next to Clement’s laptop on which photos to choose for today. Your journalist is in his room trying to find inspiration to finish his report in time.

19:00 – Beginning of the communication window. One person is behind the laptop exchanging with the MDRS staff and sending the reports. We also send them our questions and doubts. We start to receive their answers and their feedbacks on our reports and pictures. In the meantime, you start to cook a delicious recipe with one of your crewmates!

20:00 – Most of the reports are already sent (sometimes the journalist report takes a little bit longer) and you start to enjoy your dinner! Everyone congratulates you for the food. The person in charge of the communication window keeps an eye on the laptop in case we receive an email

21:00 – End of the communication window. You help your crewmates clean the kitchen while your journalist is translating his report in French for the website and the families.

21:30 – You sit at the table with your crewmates on which Julie is preparing a team-building game. You play, you try to cheat, you laugh and before you realise it, an hour has passed.

22:30 – You say good night to your crewmates and go to bed, tired by your amazing day on Mars. You need to sleep because tomorrow will be another unique day on Mars and moreover, it will be your first time as an EVA leader! You fall asleep really quick and start dreaming about what you saw during this Sol 10…

Sol 9: Focus on: Mars’ Atmosphere – LOAC, Mega-ARES, Purple Air, and weather station

Author: Pierre Fabre

Hi everyone! Welcome back to this new report! Today is a new episode of “Focus on”, our format in which we talk about the experiments we brought with us on Mars. In this episode, we are going to talk about several experiments we perform for the French center of scientific research that aim at gathering data about the air on Mars. This will surely be very interesting!

But before, as usual, let’s talk about what happened during this Sol 9 on Mars!

I have to talk to you about something. At MDRS, the toilet goes directly into a tank. One of the missions of Francois, our engineer, is to empty that tank when it is full. I can assure you that this is not a pleasure at all and for all of us, he is kind of the hero of this station. Since the beginning of the mission, we’ve noticed that he had to empty that tank way too frequently. This morning, the tank was full again and with the help of our Commander, they decided to finally address the problem.

They discovered that there was a solid part (yes, this is disgusting) at the bottom of the tank and that was the reason why the tank was getting full so fast. We will hopefully now be able to find a solution to this issue knowing the origin! We really owe them one on this one. When we will be back on Earth, we will definitely offer them a good Earthly burger to thank them for their courage and their devotion.

The EVA of this morning was dedicated to my experiment of 3D mapping with drones. Without spoiling what will be said in a future episode of « Focus on », this experiment aims, in short, at showing that having a 3D map while preparing your EVA’s itinerary makes you safer during the EVA and less tired at the end of it. Now that we know that drones can fly on Mars thanks to Ingenuity, it can be interesting to question their usefulness. A potential use can be to avoid Marsonauts taking useless risks or losing energy in vain on a hard path if a better path can be found by a drone.

For that purpose, I will compare how my crewmates perform at reaching the summit of North Ridge regarding whether or not they had the 3D map during their preparation. I already said too much but it will be clearer in the « Focus on » episode so don’t miss it!

So, as I was saying, this morning we went to North Ridge and reached its summit for the first time. It was a great moment and we were really happy to contemplate the Hab from the top of the same Ridge we see from the kitchen’s window. Tomorrow, the crew members that stayed at the Hab this morning will do the same ascent of North Ridge and then I will be able to analyse the data from the whole crew.

This afternoon, after all the energy he lost in the toilet’s tank this morning, Francois, our Engineer, and friendly neighbourhood hero, still managed to find the motivation to work on our spacesuits. In fact, some crew members noticed two or three days ago that the air cooling in their helmets was not as strong as at the beginning of the mission.

This can be a huge problem for physically demanding EVAs like the one we did this morning because during the effort the helmet fogs up and you lose your visibility. Losing your visibility means you might fail to see a rock on the floor and fall. I can assure you that falling during an EVA, with a heavy spacesuit on your back and the risk of breaking your helmet, is all you want to avoid!

After some tests, he discovered that the issue came from the batteries. Since yesterday, he has been performing tests on the batteries and on their chargers to find what was the issue and how to fix it. He is exchanging with the staff of the MDRS that gives him advice on what to do regarding the results of the tests he performed. He is getting close and we know he will succeed soon! Francois will soon have the opportunity to talk to you directly about his work at MDRS in an episode of « Interview with » dedicated to the Engineer so don’t miss it!

But now it is time to talk about science, it is time for the « Focus on »!

“-Ok Clément, so first, why did we bring those experiments with us?

-Well, we’re lucky enough at MDRS that the terrain and environment we work in resembles, in many ways, things we can expect to find on Mars. In particular, what we have here is a particularly arid environment, with lots of dust that can be kicked up by winds. So, this is a good testbed for the study of atmospheric phenomena we could expect to see there.

In particular, one of the atmospheric events that can have a big impact on a Martian mission is dust storms. They can get extremely large, and have an effect on the efficiency of solar panels, visibility on terrain, or also long-distance communications. This is why developing tools to study the presence and characteristics of this dust in the air, and the properties of the atmosphere during those events can be very useful for ensuring the safety of the first people to set foot on Mars. This is the main purpose of these experiments.

-Ok that’s cool! What is LOAC?

LOAC stands for Light Optical Aerosol Counter. This is a piece of equipment that was developed in an atmospheric sciences laboratory in Orléans, France, for the purpose of counting particles of dust in the air, their sizes, and the flow – this is very helpful to study the composition of dust storms. It’s been used in numerous campaigns not only on the ground but also in the upper atmosphere on high altitude balloons, and it’s even planned for a launch on a nanosatellite to ensure it is space ready for a potential launch to another planet!

-Ok, that first one is cool! And what is Mega-ARES?

-Mega-ARES is an instrument that measures the electric field in the air near the ground. There are many atmospheric events that can modify the electric field, and dust particles rubbing on one another can create electric charges in the air that can be measured by this very sensitive equipment. In the dust storms of Mars, we’re studying the possibility that large amounts of friction can cause electric currents in the air. So, when particles are heavy in the air and hit each other between the large antenna of the tool and the ground, or hit the antenna directly, it gets detected. While LOAC measures the types of particles in the air, Mega-ARES studies the influence these particles have on the low atmosphere.

Mega-ARES is the bigger, Earth-primed brother of Micro-ARES, which was a payload on the Schiaparelli lander designed by the European Space Agency, and that was scheduled to land on Mars around 10 years ago. Unfortunately, the lander failed when arriving on the Red Planet, and the researchers are hard at work trying to get it on a mission in the future. In the meantime, tests like those done at MDRS help gather data that shows how useful this sort of tool could be on Mars.

-Those experiments were both brought by previous Supaéro crews but this year we have a newcomer. What is Purple Air?

-PurpleAir is a tool for measuring air quality – this means it detects some particles that could be linked to human activity. It’s a very useful extra tool to have all the details we need for the other experiments. Both of them work better far away from human influence and will gain valuable data from knowing more about the composition of some of the particles in the air.

-And why is the weather station so important?

-The weather station is a great tool for double-checking our data – many experiments do their own measurements of temperatures and other data, but getting this specific information twice helps us make sure that there are no issues with the equipment. In addition to this, knowing wind speed and direction are important pieces of data to correlate with the measurements from the tool, for the obvious reason that high winds create dust storms, which are the important things we’re studying with these experiments.

As an aside, the station directly emits data to our receivers in the station, which helps us get live data about the outside conditions – and that’s been particularly helpful for those few times with high winds where, unfortunately, that station got knocked over!”

Okay, that’s it for this episode of “Focus on”! I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something! I can’t wait for the next episode to tell you more about our experiments!

Crew 240 Journalist Report

8-FEB-2022

Pierre Fabre

Sol 8: Interview with: Biologist – Why go on an Analog Mission?

Hi everyone welcome back for another episode of « Interview with ». Today we are going to talk with Marion Burnichon. She is the crew’s biologist but also the crew’s botanist as Raphael is sadly not there to take care of the GreenHab.

But before starting this exciting interview let’s talk about what happened during this Sol 8 on Mars!

After the incredible exploration of Candor Chasma last week, our crew was looking for a new zone to explore, a new destination. Julie, the EVA leader of the day, decided to go for an ambitious exploration: Moon Overlook. Ok let’s make this clear, we are still on Mars, but this particular zone is characterised by a gray sand that makes it look just like the Moon. I said ambitious because it is pretty far to the North of the Hab. They went as close as they could to the zone with Curiosity and Spirit (remember those are the names of the rover we drive at MDRS), but they still had to walk pretty far after that to reach the Moon Overlook. But what they found there was worth the efforts. They discovered the 5 famous Martian Moons: the Yellow Moon, the Gray Moon, the Beige Moon, the White Moon and last but not least, The Moon.

The pictures they managed to take before coming back are awesome and the place looks so cool, but unfortunately, with Marion, we stayed at the Hab to be able to rescue them if something happens. It was the second time for me but it is what it is, I had work to do for my drone experiment and I interviewed Marion so it was a good morning too.

Talking about the drone experiment, this afternoon I trained my crewmates to use the Pix4D software so that they will be able to use the 3D maps of North Ridge for tomorrow’s EVA (as promised in a previous report I will tell you more about this experiment in a « Focus on » episode so stay tuned).

This afternoon, after the training, Julie started her project of growing spirulina. Spirulina is a very interesting algae in the context of space food. Today she created the two solutions in which the Spirulina will grow. In both, she put an additional solution of stabilised and treated urine made by Toopi-Organics, a French startup. But in one of them, she put more than in the other. The objective is to analyse the effect of their urine-based solution on the growth of Spirulina. I personally can’t wait to see the results of that cool experiment which will be the subject of a « Focus on » episode!

In the meantime, Francois and Maxime, as usual, spent some time in the RAM to print a new 3D piece. This piece was needed for the experiment Mega-Ares which aims at measuring the magnetic field of Mars. We were supposed to install this experiment with the LOAC and the weather station but we needed a piece to assemble the mast with the base. At the time I am writing this the 3D printer is still at work and we all hope it will be a success so that we can schedule an EVA this week to finally install this cool experiment!

Ok, I think it is now time for me to show you what we talked about during Marion’s interview this morning!

– “Today, we are going to interview Marion Burnichon. Hello Marion, how are you?

– I’m good, how are you?

– Great thanks! So, Marion is our crew biologist, Greenhab officer and executive officer/vice commander and we are going to talk a bit about each role, about the MDRS mission, etc. Are you ready?

– Yes!

-So first, for people who may not know you, could you present yourself?

-Yes, so previously, I did a bachelor of science in Physics at McGill University and performed research in astrophysics. I realized that I would prefer sending telescopes or humans to space rather than study stars directly. So, I decided to get my Master’s degree in aerospace engineering at ISAE-SUPAERO. During this time, I did my research project in mission analysis for a CubeSat mission to the Moon. This allowed me to do an internship at Airbus in trajectory optimisation for resupply missions to the Lunar Gateway space station. Now, I work on the flight dynamics team at OneWeb, on a satellite constellation in low Earth orbit.

– Ok great! So now Marion, I would like for us to talk about your role on the crew. First, you were given the title of biologist. Can you tell us more?

– Yes, so the role of biologist is not a required role by the MDRS but is still an interesting one in this mission. Since it is not mandatory, the type of projects or experiments done under the umbrella of this role is quite large. In my case, I decided to have four experiments, one on sleep, another on water quality, a third on human factors, TELEOP, and the last one is in collaboration with Spacemedex on human physiology. In my case, with the duality of vice-commander, I interpreted this role as Crew scientist in addition to my experiments. This meant that I spent time with each member of the crew to look at their experiments to check that they were pertinent scientifically, useful for the mission and feasible in the MDRS. After that, I would also help, if they needed, to develop the scientific protocols.

– The role of vice-commander, we will talk about it later so first let’s talk about the role of Greenhab officer that you took up for this mission since our official Greenhab officer Raphael could not make it. How is it going?

– Yes, unfortunately, our Greenhab officer could not come with us due to visa issues and as I explained before, my role as crew biologist was not mandatory, so I officially took up the role of Greenhab officer as this one is required. In a sentence, I take care of the greenhouse and its plants. Every morning, after our sport, I go directly to the greenhouse and check the temperature to know if I should allow for cooler air to come in. I then water the plants immediately. The earlier I can do this, the better. It will allow the plants to absorb more water before it evaporates due to the heat. During the day, I will come back when I have time to harvest some vegetables or herbs for cooking. It gives us something fresh to eat. Generally, I also come back at night to water the plants when the temperature has dropped significantly.

– So, on top of these two roles that you took up for this mission, you are also executive officer/vice commander of the crew. What does this role entail?

– This role was important during the preparation of the mission considering we could not rely on our commanding officer as much during this phase. In this role, I organised different aspects of the mission trying to anticipate the tasks that had to be done and delegating or collaborating on different tasks with crew members. With my role of biologist, I was already very present in many of the experiments of the crew. Since I was treasurer of the Club, I was also present in all of the budgeting and sponsoring aspect of the mission. So it ended up being a role that came naturally before I was even nominated for it. I thought it was a hard role to take up because I often ended up taking hard decisions for the crew when our commanding officer wasn’t there to do it. For example, we had to take the decision to cancel the mission for 2021 because of COVID, this decision came from me and was hard to bring up/discuss during the meeting. The border for coming into the USA was still closed to Europeans and France had just put a ban for leaving the French territory. Some crew members still wanted to show up to the airport and see if we would get through but from the logistical side, that would imply putting ¼ of the budget at risk which was not a good idea. And from a human point of view, I believe that the deception of being turned away at the airport would have been huge and we could not have gone back for another year of preparation to come back in 2022 like we did. It was hard to take up this role and the responsibility it came with…

– It’s true that it was a hard decision to take because we had been working on this mission for a year and most of the crew still wanted to believe that we would make it, that the borders would reopen… But it is true that it was a good idea to stop earlier and to take a step back on this situation to be able to start another year of preparation. It was necessary. Marion, a more personal question, why did you want to participate in an MDRS mission?

– In an ideal world, I would like to work for a space agency to manage human spaceflight, work with astronauts on their journey or even calculate trajectories for human spaceflight. I decided to join the Club MARS and more specifically the MDRS mission because it was a unique chance to put myself in the shoes of an astronaut. It would allow me to try to understand what can be difficult and what can be problematic for crewed missions. It is important for me to understand this to be able to face and solve these problems better.

– That makes sense. Do you see yourself on the other side of the mirror as an astronaut?

– I have asked myself that question many times and I don’t know if I have the courage or the nerves to be an astronaut. These people are so calm under stress and I don’t know if I have that quality. But in the end, I have realised that it’s not as much the part of “being in space” that attracts me to being an astronaut. I would want to be an astronaut for the scientific aspect. I had a lot of trouble choosing between Physics, Chemistry and Biology in school and being able to work with researchers at the top of their field on different types of experiments is what blows my mind. The other part that interests me is communication. Just look at Thomas Pesquet, he has so much impact on the younger generation, on their education and on our world… I find it amazing that it comes from someone with a science background.

– Last question, what is your favourite part of the day?

– My favourite moment is the communications window that takes place between 7 and 9pm where we send our reports and our photos to the MDRS staff. Maybe, this is telling that I miss communicating with the outside world but having feedback on your work and reports is nice! Receiving a “I can’t wait to reading your next report”, “you took some really nice pictures today”, or “you are doing great work” is always nice to hear. Every day, we work and send reports to be put online on our website and our social media but without the MDRS staff, we have no feedback on our work. It is nice to have encouragements or congrats after a day of work!

– I agree with you! Alright so this interview is over, thank you so much for your time, it was really nice!

– Thank you for doing this!”

That is the end of this interview, a longer version will be uploaded on YouTube but I will tell you more about that later! In any case I hope you enjoyed this episode of « Interview with ». I personally really enjoyed doing it and I can’t wait for the next one which is coming soon! See you in tomorrow’s report which will be a « Focus on » so stay tuned!

[end]

Sol 7: Martian food – What do we eat in a day?

Author : Pierre Fabre

Hi everyone! Today we are going to talk about Martian food! I know you readers are curious about what we eat on Mars, so we are going to teach you how to cook some delicious dishes with Martian ingredients! But first let’s talk about what happened during this Sol 7, beginning of our second week on Mars!

First, after two days of rest, we were back at the daily workout again this morning. I think the decision of our HSO took to rest during the weekend was a really good one. Everyone on the crew was in better shape this morning and nobody suffered from the intensity of the workout. When we will come back to Earth, the gravity will be around three times higher so we have to work hard not to lose our strength !

EVAs also made their come back this morning! I personally missed them this weekend as I didn’t participate in the EVA at Candor Chasma Saturday. Today, we went to the Hab Ridge, a ridge on the West side of the Hab. It offers a really cool point of view of the Hab and I was looking for the occasion to go there since the beginning of the mission. We took a path to the left just before reaching North Ridge arriving from the South and climbed our way to the Hab Ridge. The North Hab View was beautiful and we took some really cool drone videos and pictures. Then we climbed down and came home through another path which was easy to find from the top but nearly impossible to imagine from the bottom of the ridge. It was the perfect EVA to begin that new week and I can’t wait for the next ones.

Today was a good day for our astronomer Maxime. For technical reasons, he hasn’t been able to work on his research project of finding supernovae yet (we will definitely talk in more details about that awesome project during his interview which is coming soon), but he can now observe the Sun and monitor its activity each day. Today, he took a beautiful shot of the Sun with a nice flair at the top of the picture. It can be a sign of a potential danger for us in terms of radiations, but according to him there is, for this time, nothing to fear. I really hope that the technical problems will be solved before the mission ends and that we will be able to show you some nice deep sky shots. Stay tuned if you want to have a chance to see Maxime’s art pieces!

In yesterday’s report, I mentioned that we ate a pizza.

But, do you know how to cook pizza on Mars?

Today, just in case you go on Mars some day and you’re dying for a pizza, we are going to teach you how to cook a Martian pizza!

Ok first, what is the difference between food on Mars and food on Earth?

If you open a cabinet in a Martian kitchen, you will find tons of cans of different colours all aligned on each shelf. Those cans contain dried, or dehydrated, food. This means you have to rehydrate the food before it seems like something you would call food on Earth. We have beef, chicken, beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes. Everything you would expect to see in a fridge on Earth. We also have some funny things like orange juice powder or butter powder (I’m not yet used to the smell of the butter powder to be honest, but when it is baked you can’t tell the difference).

So, cooking on Mars is kind of similar to cooking on Earth except every recipe starts with add x cups of water for y cups of dried ingredients.

For those, like me, who are not familiar with the imperial system, here is a reminder: 1 cup is 16 tablespoons or 48 teaspoons. Easy, isn’t it? For those who are more familiar with the metric system, 1 cup is equal to 236 mL.

At first you’re stuck with very basic recipes like rice with rehydrated vegetables and it is not very funny. But then you begin to be creative and you cook some delicious dishes just like the pizza I’ve been teasing you with. Now it is time to release the very famous and secret recipe of the Martian pizza by Crew 240.

First, we made the dough from scratch. This part of the recipe comes from Julie’s friend Lison and it is a very good recipe for dough! We started by adding 600g of flour to a bowl, together with 12g of sugar, 12g of salt, 30g of yeast, 32.5cl of water and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Clement kneaded the dough for a little while before putting it away to rise for about an hour.

Meanwhile, Marion went to the Greenhab to harvest some basil for the pizza, the only real fresh ingredient of this pizza!

Once the dough had time to rise, we set the oven to preheat at 202ºC, we split the dough in two and rolled it out on round trays.

A cup of tomato powder was added to hot water to hydrate it and was then spread on the pizza dough. We then took a cup of dehydrated peppers, a cup of dehydrated onions and a cup of dehydrated beef and added two cups of hot water on top to hydrate all the ingredients. We added the toppings to the pizza.

Finally comes the cheese, it is hard to rehydrate it because it instantly melts with hot water. So we took two cups of dehydrated mozzarella cheese and added hot water to hydrate it, made some small balls and put them on the pizza.

We put both pizza in the oven and waited for about 15 minutes, took them out, added basil and enjoyed them! It was the perfect meal to end this first week of hard work on Mars. We are already waiting for the next pizza, maybe next Sunday!

That’s it for today’s report, I hope you enjoyed it! I also hope you will have the opportunity to taste this delicious Martian pizza one day! See you tomorrow for an interview of a new crew member!

Sol 6: Focus on: Human Factors – Preparing for future crewed mission to Mars
Author : Pierre Fabre

Hi everyone! Today is the second episode of “Focus on”, our format in which we focus on our scientific experiments! In this episode, we are going to focus on some experiments managed by Marion and François, related to the field of Human Factors! I can’t wait to tell you more about those cool experiments, but first, as always, I will talk to you a bit about our Sol 6 on Mars!

Today was definitely not the most exciting day of the mission, but I can still manage to find something to tell you!

First thing, it was Sunday! Sunday is supposed to be a real rest day during the mission, but as we are on Mars, there are still things to do!

This morning Clément and Julie had to perform a short EVA to change the battery of the LOAC, our outdoor experiment I mentioned in a previous report. In fact, we have to change the battery every day when we go on EVA, so Sunday is not an exception. We can’t afford to lose precious data. To give our EVA team strength and motivation, we made pancakes with maple syrup, which is without a doubt the favourite breakfast of the crew!

This afternoon, the tasks were split within the crew. One part of the crew was in charge of cleaning the Hab. It is important to keep the Hab clean as we spend a lot of time in it.

In the meantime, the other part of the crew was performing a human factor experiment created by the University of Lorraine (but Francois will tell you more about that in the « Focus on » part of the report).

I almost forgot to keep you updated about the 3D printing of the custom funnel! They did it! Our amazing team managed to make the 3D printer work and after a stressful afternoon of waiting for the final result, this is it! We are really happy, mostly Julie who will be able to recycle water more efficiently. Our engineers can’t wait to design and print new pieces!

As you can see a Sunday on Mars is not exactly the same as on Earth, we still have to do a bit of work! But it is very pleasant to stay later in bed, skip the workout and work less than during the week!

Moreover, tonight we eat pizza! This will be the first time and I can’t wait to taste it! We will also try to finish our reports earlier tonight to watch a movie all together on the couch, like a real Martian family! We still have to decide which movie and I hope there will be no fight (I personally hope for an extended version of Lord Of The Rings but I doubt that everybody will be down for it).

Now it is time for the part everyone has been waiting for (at least we are going to pretend for the storytelling as I can’t have your live feedbacks). This is what we talked about with Marion and François:

“- Hi guys how are you today?

– We are doing well, got to sleep in today since it is Sunday and have some pancakes for breakfast. So let’s say our day started well!

– Ok, so today we are here to talk about Human Factors experiments. Marion, can you explain why Human Factors are particularly relevant in the MDRS context?

– Human factors experiments are important for future crewed missions to Mars as we need to be able to understand how humans will react to being on another planet, with a particular group of individuals in a confined space for an extended period of time. Being at MDRS is as close as we can get to being on Mars and particularly when it comes to confinement and isolation, it is quite representative. By performing these experiments on crews at MDRS, we can study, analyse the results and draw conclusions that can be applicable to future missions to Mars. If we can predict the adverse effects of being on Mars then we can better prevent them and support the astronauts on their journey.

– François, can you explain what is the aim of the experiment created by the University of Lorraine?

– This experiment was created with researchers from the University of Lorraine and studies the psychological and physiological evolution of crews during their mission. We answer questionnaires that study the evolution of our emotions, the group dynamics and our relationship with our workload. We also perform tests that study our focus, our memory and our attention. For example, one test has shapes of different sizes and colour show up quickly on the screen before our eyes. We have to press a button when the same shape appears twice consecutively. This may seem very simple but this task lasts 15 minutes. It is without a doubt the most rigorous and tiring task. Another test consists in observing a sequence of numbers. When the current number on the screen is the same as the second to last, we have to press the button. This requires a lot of focus as well as good memory. Finally, we cut some hair samples before and after the mission. Indeed, the cortisol present in human hair is telling of the level of stress the person is under. This experiment allows to understand better how humans react to confinement and stress. This will be helpful for future crewed missions or even just prolonged confinement.

– Ok so cool! I can assure whoever is reading this that the “shape test” is very tiring! And what about your experiment Marion? What is Teleop?

– TELEOP is a tele-operated rover experiment created by the human factors department of ISAE-SUPAERO. It is currently also in use in the SIRIUS-21 mission in Russia. The experiment puts its subject behind the joystick of a rover on the Moon. The subject has several tasks to complete in a certain amount of time. These include tasks such as picking up samples from the lunar surface, driving it to the lunar lander and docking with the latter to give the sample for analysis. The subject is not just under time pressure but also needs to make sure that the rover still has enough battery and does not fall or flip as the task will fail. Each task is performed in three different positions, standing up, sitting down and laying on one’s stomach. The goal of this experiment is to study the effect of body position on performance as well as the effect of fatigue on the subject. It is expected that the subject would probably worsen its performance throughout the mission due to fatigue but there could also be an increase in performance as the subject learns to use the rover over time. Only the results will be able to tell us how our ability to tele-operate rovers evolves during an analog mission.

– I truly love this experiment, it is so cool! Thank you for your time, it was really cool to hear about those two really interesting experiments!”

This concluded this second episode of “Focus on”! I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something! Stay tuned for the next episode of “Focus on” and see you in my next report!

Crew 240 Journalist Report 05Feb2022

Author: Pierre Fabre

Sol 5: Interview with: HSO – How to take care of a crew?

Hi everyone! Welcome back in this new report for the second episode of « Interview with ». In today’s episode, we are going to talk with Julie Levita, our HSO about her and her role in the crew.

But first, let me talk to you a bit about our Sol 5 on Mars.

First, I think it is worth to notify that this morning we didn’t workout to, I quote our HSO: « let our bodies rest until the beginning of a new week of workouts ».

I think it was a good call and everyone truly appreciated to sleep a little later. In fact, this week was quite exhausting for everyone and we were all quite tired lately (at least I was).

Moreover, it was important to rest to be ready for today’s EVA, which was long and physically demanding. Maxime, François, Marion and Clément went for an exploration of Candor Chasma, a big canyon in the surroundings of the station. On Earth, someone would probably call that EVA a hike, a hard one maybe. But on Mars, with the spacesuit and all the constraints we have already talked about in previous reports, it was a real challenge. They have spent 3 hours and a half outside, exploring the maze inside the canyon. When they came back, they were exhausted and everyone went for a nap after lunch. Despite all of that, I would have wanted to go with them so bad. I’m sure you will understand if you take a look at the pictures they took there, the canyon looks so good! But there has to be someone at the Hab just in case something happens to them. I really hope I will have the opportunity to see this canyon with my own eyes next time.

This afternoon despite how tired they were, Francois and Maxime spent all their time in the RAM trying to make the 3D printer work. Remember last time I told you that we needed this 3D printer working to print a custom funnel to allow Julie to recycle water. While I was interviewing Julie at the lower deck of the Hab, they worked very hard and at the end their perseverance paid off. They succeeded. They managed to print their first test piece. Tomorrow, they will be able to print the piece for Julie, which will make her task of recycling water way easier.

In fact, Julie has no time to lose, she is very busy creating workouts and activities for the crew as a good HSO. Talking about that, let’s see what we talked about this afternoon:

“-Hi Julie! How are you today?

-Super good, thank you! I’m glad to do this interview with you!

-Me too! Can you introduce yourself briefly for those who don’t know you yet?

-Ok let’s do this. My name is Julie Levita, I’m an engineering student at ISAE-SUPAERO. During my gap year I have performed two internships in the Space Surveillance Awarness domain. I’ve been very fond of team sports for a long time and I’ve played handball at national level. Currently I’m the crew’s 240 HSO (Health and Safety Officer).

-Yes, regarding that, can you explain a bit what is the role of the HSO in a crew?

-For me the HSO role has three main components.

The first one deals with the physical health of the crew. I have to take care of injuries, symptoms and those kinds of things. At MDRS, the motto is “Safety first”. Most injuries occur because of lack of sleep, dehydration or low sugar. A good HSO has to make sure everyone takes care of themselves. Due to Covid I also have to monitor the crew members temperature and oxygen rate.

The second component is related to the mental health of the crew. We live in a station without contact with the outside world, with limited resources in water and food which can be hard for some people to deal with. It is important to implement good habits that make us feel better. Every day, I organize workouts, meditation sessions and team building games. A good HSO also has to listen to his crew mates and be there for them if they feel bad.

And last but not least, safety is the most important task for an HSO. Security is the priority at MDRS, even more important than the simulation. This task is shared with the crew’s engineer who makes sure very often that every alarm in the station is working properly, that we have enough water and enough energy. The procedures are here to avoid dangerous situations as much as possible. I, with the help of the commander, have to make sure that we follow them well. But sometimes unexpected situations occur and we have to decide whether or not break the simulation because the situation is no longer under control. Those are hard questions to answer and we have to agree as a crew on what to do before the situation even occurs.

-And why did you want to be the crew’s HSO?

-They are many reasons.

First, I have a first aid certification and this training taught me how to react quickly in case of an emergency.

At the time I was playing handball, I witnessed many injuries that are typical of what could occur during an EVA. With time, I have learned to evaluate the gravity of an injury and in some cases I learned how to cure it or make it hurt less.

I think the main reason is the human aspect of the job. I care for people and I like to listen to them and try to understand how they feel. Moreover, I feel close to every member of that crew so it is all the more important for me that everyone feels good.

-Ok last question. What is your favourite part of the job?

-As I told you before, my main job is to prepare the activities for the day. I love workouts, it is a good way of starting the day feeling energized. Moreover, it is important to do sport when you have to live in small spaces like in the station. I also like when we do relaxation all together at the upper deck. I definitely feel the positive impact on how I feel and my crew mates make the experience even cooler by taking it very seriously. But what I like the most are the games we play together at night. Those are really pleasant moments and I like to think that the crew is becoming more of a team each time. And to be perfectly honest, the positive feedbacks from my crewmates make me very happy.

-Those feedbacks are well deserved Julie; you do an excellent job as HSO. I love all the activities you make us do and I want to thank you personally for the energy you put in making us feel better each day. “

This concluded this cool interview with Julie. I hope you enjoyed it! The interviews from the other crew members are coming soon so stay tuned!

Crew 240 Journalist Report 04Feb2022

Author: Pierre Fabre

Sol 4: Home tour – The Martian house

It’s been three days since we arrived in the station and I’ve been mentioning some cool names like Science Dome and RAM in my reports. I bet everyone is dying to know what those buildings look like, no? If not, we are going to pretend anyway. Today you are very lucky because we are going to take you with us for a Home Tour of the M.D.R.S. Please fasten your seatbelts and follow us in the corridors of our Martian house.

Ok first thing first. What does M.D.R.S. means? M.D.R.S. stands for Mars Desert Research Station. It is basically the facility in which we will live during those 3 weeks.

Now that the basics have been set, let’s start our tour by the heart of this station, the Hab. There are two decks in the Hab.

I’ve been talking to you about the lower deck because it’s there that we workout every morning with Julie, our HSO (Health and Safety Officer). It’s also there that we have our two airlocks. As a reminder, a airlock is a room that connects the inside (the Hab) with the outside (Mars). So you have to stay in there while the pressure in the room is passing from the inside pressure (same pressure as on Earth), to the outside pressure (the pressure on Mars is approximately a thousand times lower than on Earth). On this deck, we also suit up and do all the procedures before going on an EVA.

The upper deck is basically where we live and spend most of our time (sleep, cook, eat, relax, …). In this part of the Hab we have 6 individual rooms (they are pretty small but we sleep quite well in them). There is also a kitchen, which is perfect to cook some dried food based dishes (I still have in mind that I have to talk to you about the Martian food, don’t worry). On the table we eat, work, and play games together like a real family!

I think that’s enough for the Hab, you get the idea.

Ok now, I told you that there were two airlocks at the lower deck. The front airlock is for going on EVA. The rear airlock is the connection between the Hab and the corridors. The corridors allow you to go from the Hab to the other buildings without suiting up which is very convenient.

But let’s stop talking about corridors, and let’s talk about the second building of the station. I told you before that the Hab was the heart of the station, but in fact the real heart of the MDRS is the GreenHab. It is the unique source of non-dried food on Mars. In there, we grow vegetables, fruits, plants, … On Mars, growing plants have nothing to do with a hobby, it is vital. For example the next crew will have the pleasure to eat the soja that Julie planted today.

This would have been the second home of our Botanist Raphael if he could have come. As he is sadly not there, Marion takes good care of the plants.

If you liked the GreenHab, you’re going to love the Science Dome. First, because of its shape (it is a dome), and then because of the view you have from the window (at the end of the day it becomes truly beautiful). And last but not least, the room is equipped with a lot of scientific instruments to do chemistry and physics which is very useful for the experiments of Julie and Marion. Talking about which, Marion found today with her experiment Aquapad that the water we’ve been drinking is safe to drink!

Now it is time for me to explain what is hiding behind the mysterious name of RAM. The Repair and Assembly Module is the favourite building of Francois, our Engineer. It is there that we repair, construct, and assemble everything. Fun fact: the building is built out of an ancient fuel tank from a helicopter (how cool is that?).

The tour of our home is getting close to its end. But we have a last building to visit. The Musk Observatory hides the jewel of our Astronomer. In there is a telescope that allows Maxime to monitor the Sun. It is really important because in case of a high solar activity we must not go out of the station due to the radiations that could be dangerous even with a spacesuit. Talking about that, Maxime made his first observation of the Sun today and there was apparently nothing to worry about. That was great news!

This ends the incredible tour of our Martian house, I truly hope you enjoyed it! I also hope you enjoyed the aerial pictures of the station we took with the drone during today’s EVA!