Category: Journalist Report

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 28DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 14] – Whatever it takes

Our Martian mission is coming to an end and with it the adventure of a lifetime. It comes as no surprise that all the hard work has paid well. We turn back to reflect to life before Mars and what comes next to each one of us. We are explorers and today we have moved a step further into a larger world of exploration. Into reaching the stars and going where none has boldly gone before.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Space has been the final frontier for the latter days of humankind and we have had the chance to go where only a few have seen before. We are called Martians and we are a family who takes care of each other and looks after whoever is coming after you. Today MEx-1 received the next explorers that will take care of our home: Martian Makers. They will carry on some of our experiments and will continue the dreams of so many that have visited the station before us.

Yesterday before bed, we had the time to bond as a team and reflect on the ups and downs of our mission. We had the chance to look back and understand the challenges that will come after we get back to Earth and how will our lives change. We came as a crew and we leave as a family.

Our last day on Mars was as you would expect a last day at a home would be. We cleaned the rooms, we cleared all the shelves, we shoveled Martian snow and we worked to receive a new crew at our base. We had the place ready for the next explorers to begin their adventure like Crew 200 did for us. A brief tour of the hab, life support systems check, report check and all of the regular tasks done at the station. It was a hard moment because we knew our time was about to pass.

We are now readying our way back to Earth, our ship is refueling and our spirits are high. We are coming back home as Martians and we are preparing ourselves for longer missions, harder activities, more training and to do all what is needed to get back to Mars and support the idea of becoming a multiplanetary species.

We will work hard. We will teach the people about the stars. We will prepare the next generation of explorers to go larger lengths than what we have done in our first mission. We will do whatever it takes to get back to Mars and continue exploring.

Ad Astra!

MEx-1 continuará.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 28DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 13] – To the Stars through hardships

It is said that the hardest lessons for a human being come after they have gone through a hardship whatever it might be. Our history of exploration has come at great costs and hard lessons. Some lessons are costly, destroying several million dollar state of the art equipment; some lessons are grave, killing a quite a few; some lessons are demanding, permanently affecting oneself and others. Expanding humankind to the stars without risk and without hardships is impossible to believe and thus, sometimes a brave few have to go to hardships so others may follow the path.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Our mission days are rapidly coming to an end. We are starting to look back and remember the long path that we worked to get to Mars. While on Mars, we have a new set of challenges and setbacks that made the crew use all their wit to solve the problems we have encountered: from a frozen pipe to the complete loss of a resupply mission that was coming with experiments for the station. This hardships are lessons learned that will in fact help us find a balance to what the next Exploration Mission (MEx – 2) will have to work with before making it to Mars.

This days at the station we have been actively making an autonomous rover that later will serve the purpose of building a larger one that will support the crew on exploration missions. This rover, printed in Mars, has been a real challenge. Weather conditions in the different modules have not been ideal for our printer and we have had parts that have collapsed right after they are done. Engineering has been working day and night to figure the best way to solve the issues and have it working before leaving the planet. It has been through rather elegant solution approaches that we have had the skill to overcome this issues and finalize every part of the rover.

We have reflected upon ourselves what space exploration means to us and why did we decided to come to Mars. For the crew, this dream started during childhood where we realized the stars hold a meaning to us and to humanity. How to get there? How to explore? How to pave the way for others to continue our work and make our species go where no other living thing has ever imagined? We have fought through hardships to be here. Whether it be people not believing in us to ridiculing the idea that exploration is part of our needs and space is our next frontier. Looking back to this we understand that the path taking us to the Red Planet has been challenging and exciting; that every crew member has supported a part of the mission and that whatever the future holds for us back on Earth will only be the next step to get back to the stars. To our stars.

Dear reader, this chronicles, mean to reflect our view of the adventure of a lifetime. The passion of a group and the support of families and friends who have cheered every single one of the crew members to the point that we feel much love on everything we do. Hardships then, to us, look like another step in our learning experience; another lesson for us to teach the next generation and most of all; they are part of our personal growth to take the best of us and make a better Earth for humans and all the beings that live on the beautiful blue planet.

We will go boldly to the stars through any hardship in our way. Because all the knowledge of our existence and essence comes from the stars themselves.

Ad Astra Per Aspera!

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 27DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 12] – Mars, the white planet

Mars is still a mystery for us in many ways. First probes, orbiters and landers were sent from earth to the red planet as early as the mid-60s. There are lots of things that we don’t know about our nearest planet. And there are lots of things that we’ve discovered over the past decades that we could’ve never imagined! Mars and the Earth are different in so many ways. But there are some similarities on both planets as well. For example… did you know that there is snow on Mars?

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

We are almost reaching the end of our adventure, and the red planet has one or two more surprises for us. Something that we haven’t talked about is the location of our mission. We know that the Earth and Mars are very different planets. However, there are a couple of things in which they can be very similar. For example, we can find big mountains on both of them. And, believe it or not, we can see snow on the north and south poles of both planets as well. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Well, that was a big surprise for us too! And that’s why we decided to land on the Martian South Pole, in a place known as “Schmidt Crater”. And today, during our morning activities on the HAB, we experienced something amazing and unexpected. Something that Mission Control informed us that only had a 10% chances of actually happening: snow!

It’s hard to imagine a white Martian landscape. We are used to think about Mars as the Red Planet. But let me ensure you, dear reader, that this place has more exciting surprises to offer. It all started just after having breakfast. We didn’t schedule any EVAs for today, and we planned to do some video recordings all around the HAB. On the middle of those activities, we realized that the temperature started to drop pretty quickly. This was not the first time it happened, so we really didn’t care about that. Then, the first weird thing happened; our crew engineer tried to pump some water from the external (static) to the internal (loft) one. And… it was not working. After some troubleshooting, we found out that the water pipes were frozen! To be honest, we got worried about that situation, because our internal water supply was running low at that time. And trust me on this one! Water is something you don’t want to have trouble with (especially when you have six human beings living under the same roof). Fortunately, the crew managed to work with the pipes defroster in order to get things running again. Thank you, engineering!

In the meantime, we started to work on the video shootings mentioned earlier. We suited up, prepared some interesting topics we wanted to cover, and walked through the connecting tunnels from the main HAB to the Musk Observatory. It was freezing in there! Colder than ever before. It got nearly impossible to keep recording. We were just about to pick our stuff and get back to the HAB… when we saw how those tiny and white snowflakes started to fall, little by little, all over the Martian landscape. That was unbelievable! And amazingly beautiful to see. Our beloved red panorama started to change just in front of our eyes. Mars decided to share with us an experience we never thought to have. It was a lovely reminder of home, indeed. A beautiful image that none of us will never forget.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles Glass, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 26DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 11] – Friendship across the stars.

As far as we are concerned, we are alone in the universe. Earth is the only planet where life of any kind exists. Our home is unique in any and all ways. In Earth, we look up to the stars and our neighboring planets wondering if other species exist and if they are anything like us if they love or have meaningful friendships. We humans, when we look up to the sky and search, as sent in the last message to Voyager 1, we offer our universe friendship across the stars. We shout to the universe YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

As crew members, we have been strengthening different skills that we already had. Learning what our strength and weaknesses are an important part of making a successful mission. As friends, we have had the chance to keep on learning more of each one of us and what makes us special. United crews make life easier on the desolated planet Mars. We are fortunate to be surrounded by friends in the most inhospitable location for humans in the universe and that is what makes our trip so special.

Today, we had the opportunity to record a few videos of the activities we perform on the hab. This we will send back to Earth for other explorers that are interested in joining us in our adventures on the red planet and hopefully interest the younger generations to study Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics which are key for the survival of Earth and humans across the universe. Every team member was able to support this opportunity and was happy to contribute with their experience that many at home will enjoy.

Oh, by the way, our in-hab chef was nice enough to make quesadillas to remember our planning nights back at home. We remember the first Mexican astronaut, Neri Vela, who pushed for having tortillas in space. I am sure that he would be proud to know that we are thinking of his near earth tortillas while having a delicious Mars made meal.

Having your ties to home is a good way to maintain the spirits up. New traditions at our new home make up for fantastic stories.

We are closing in on some of the experiments, the rover making with the 3D printer is at picking up speed and should be done in the next rotation. The tools for a special shipment have been completed and we are very eager to work with some of the last of our experiments before having to leave the base.

We are counting up our Martian sols. Rotations come quickly and our time together is coming up soon. Sharing meals, enjoying work and learning from Mars will help us to teach the future generation of Martians what to expect and how to deal with it as a team and as friends.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 25DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 10] – 50 years later…

50 years ago, three brave astronauts witnessed, for the first time in humankind history, one of the most amazing and breathtaking events of space exploration: the “Earthrisig”. On December 25th 1968, Apollo 8 crewmembers Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders spent Christmas inside their tiny Command Module… flying around the Moon. One of the greatest milestones of the Apollo program was accomplished that Christmas day; the path to land on the surface of the Moon was traced that day… what an amazing time to remember them, isn’t it?

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Christmas day has been definitely different for all of us this year. Spending the holidays on Mars is something that none of us expected. However, we couldn’t be happier right now. We’ve been here for 10 days, only 5 more to take-off back to Earth; to re-unite with all our beloved ones. Maybe nothing much has changed since we left. But let me ensure you, dear reader, that we have. I mean… how can you be the same after this experience?

There’s an interesting phenomenon that some astronauts have reported after their spaceflights known as “The Overview Effect”. It’s a change in consciousness caused by the observation of the Earth from outer space, realizing that we’re an entire species living in the same “pale blue dot” in the universe, where the boundaries between nations just vanish in front of our eyes… and makes us realize that we all share a special place among the stars.

During our time, Mars has become the final frontier for human exploration. For our parents (or grandparents) that frontier used to be the Moon. It’s been 50 years since we managed to send the first manned crew all the way to our closest celestial body. And it was on Christmas day, when the Apollo 8 crew made history by becoming the first human beings to travel that far from our home planet. Astronauts Borman, Anders and Lovell set the road that would take us to the Moon less than a year after their mission. And today, we dedicate this entry to those real life heroes. Ordinary people, like you and me, dear reader, that decided to become extraordinary in the most unique and fearless way.

During their mission, the Apollo 8 crew also witnessed an Earthrising. What is that? Well… imagine yourself looking at sunrise on the horizon during a beautiful morning. Beautiful picture, right? Now, replace the horizon with the far edge of the Moon; and the sun is not rising. It is the Earth instead. That was, without a doubt, one of the greatest events in human history. Today, the MEx-1 crewmembers remember this moment with excitement. 50 years later, the only thing we can say to those who took us to the stars and beyond is… thank you. Thank you for being our inspiration. Thank you for giving us hope. Thank you for making us believe. Merry Christmas, planet Earth!

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles Glass, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 24DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 8] – It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

"It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
There’ll be much mistletoing,
and hearts will be glowing,
when loved ones are near.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year"

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Back on Earth, we celebrate Christmas Eve with our families and loved ones. Traditionally we get together and have dinner, share presents and remember the best times of this year. We remember those who passed before us, and how their memories are still with us.

These moments we cherish the most, feel warmth in our hearts and try to make them last forever. In Mars, it could not be any different, we got together to make a tree out of cardboard, paint a few decorations (Thank you Commander Ilaria!) and bring memories all together.

Work today, aside from our holiday, there were several pre-dinner adventures. Some level of success has been shown in the Green Hab experiment where local soil is being used as a testbed for future crop growing. So far, 3 of the 10 different soil combinations have germinated radish. Can you imagine? We have our very first Mars Organically grown Radish! Well, maybe not us but Crew 202 will which to us is quite a fantastic moment.

An extended EVA was performed to the southeast of the Hab where Juan Carlos and Chilpo were working on artificial vision and camera testing for the rover. Traverse to the location was performed on the rover Curiosity but the road was complex and they missed their exit by a few kilometers and had to turn back to the North Pinto Hills.

After completing a walk of around 2 miles some strange footprints were found along the road. Strange noises were heard around the EVA location and the footprints, strange for an inhabited planet, seemed to be from a known earth species that travel with an old man in a red suit. Santa Claus and Rudolph, was that you?

Jokes aside, our Christmas Eve has been fantastic. We miss our families, but in our new home, the warmth of the season is felt by every crewmember.

From the Crew-201 stationed in Mars, we want to wish you all ¡Feliz Navidad!

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 23DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 8] – (Not) any given Sunday

A good day to spend with family and friends is Sunday. A nice cookout on the backyard is always a good idea. In Mexico, going to visit a museum is very common, because most of them are open for free on Sundays. And what about a nice picnic? It doesn’t matter what you do, the important thing is to spend the day surrounded by people you care. Like spending the afternoon with your crewmates on the station’s observatory watching the sun through the solar telescope. Pretty average Sunday, right?

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Wait what? How can this be? It’s been a week since we landed on the red planet and we can yet grab a break in our daily lives. A lot of things have happened since then, quite a few if you ask me. Weather is getting a bit cold, lower clouds in the morning and night and to us it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Mars. It’s exciting we’ll celebrate it more than 50 million kilometers away from home and family! But no spoilers for now; we’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Not every day is exploration day, many things have to be done at home for station keeping. Sweeping the Martian dust off our modules is key for health and safety, so we swept every module, airlock and floor in the station. Nothing brings the best of the crew than cleaning and singing and our lead rapper Chilpo did his thing while we worked around our home. Reconstituted chicken fried rice was up for dinner today and the taste was very similar to what you could imagine Mars China Town could ever taste like.

The afternoon had a fantastic group activity: Solar Observations at Musk Observatory. Federico, our in house astronomer, had great patience and went over the regular procedures to observe our Sun. The Sun you see from Earth is the same we look from Mars which makes living in this Solar System a little more romantic. We pointed the telescope and the corona of the Sun was at sight. When living at another planet that is not shielded like Earth we need to know the behavior of the Sun and we may need to hide from its eruptions.

Continuous learning is also key for survival in another planet. While our communications were installed before arrival, upgrades are always needed to maintain a state-of-the-art system at the hab. With this all being said, the crew today learned more in depth how satellite communications work. Satellite access, frequencies, power and gain are key topics needed in order to upgrade our communications network and by knowing the basics the crew is ready to upgrade this and other habitats that we may inhabit in the future.

Sundays on Earth: we clean, we enjoy ourselves and learn. Why not do the same while on Mars? Sol Ocho was if not the most exciting day in our Mars travels it sure was fantastic family time.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles & Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalists

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 22DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 7] – The Far Side of the Moons

We are explorers! We humans have broken every barrier we’ve
encountered through our existence. We know no boundaries to explore a little bit more and learn about our universe. We have walked through the meadows, sailed to remote islands, arrived at new continents and re-discover them; all of this to look to the stars and wonder what is there for us to reach. Exploration is part of us and pushes us forward to go where no one has (boldly) gone before. We aim to open our minds to what we think we know and go a step further to explore even more.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Today the crew planned a long and complex activity, a visit to one of the farthest locations of the premises of the hab. A location with mountains and canyons that might be hard for the first time hiker. Our boots got dirty while walking to the horizon and wonder what will we find after the next hill. And what did we find? Well dear reader, this area was a bit farther from the charted maps and we could only have had an idea of how the place looked like.

What is the reason for us to explore? Well it is the reason for existence itself: Understand the meaning of life and what is our part in all of it. Additionally, we needed to get more soil samples for the greenhab project. We have realized that understanding the complexity of the terrain at the farthest regions of the hab premises could help us with the extended scope of the Radio Access Network idea for a SmartHAB. What is the reason behind this? Extended network access can support future crews’ safety knowing their location, health status and spacesuit problems. Safety is number one priority.

Due to Mars complex weather conditions, Mission Control mentioned (in several occasions really) that we would have a real hard time hiking. Road conditions were considerably harder than we would have expected and we left our rovers a little earlier than anticipated. We started hiking in a different location than planned and things got quite interesting from the very beginning. We went up and down muddy hills, getting farther away from our starting point making new paths as we went up the mountains. Destination? Copernicus, one of the furthest charted regions in our hab going through a place known as The Moons.

Throughout our hike we were witness of dramatic scenery changes. We were getting far away from our home but closer to our goal. Nothing was more exciting and comforting than finding the road that we were looking for. At that instance we were a bit tired but our morale and our spirit of adventure were as strong as ever. And this is
understandable, we were so far from the rovers that we could not hesitate for even the shortest instant.

It wasn’t until we made it to the farthest location of the Yellow Moon that we realized something exciting: we went to a zone that is not heavily explored and of course new for us. Sure, it was identified in the map but we know not of another crew that walked around it. This was confirmed by our Positioning System that we joyfully checked while getting back at the hab.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most exciting days of the Mex-1 mission. This was the day we discovered The Far Side of the Moons.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 21DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 6] – Érase una vez en Marte…

Los seres humanos somos una especie compleja. La evolución nos dotó de una capacidad de raciocinio que nos ha permitido, a diferencia del resto de las especies, a adaptar el ambiente en el que vivimos para poder asegurar nuestra supervivencia. El cambio es, has sido, y será siempre una constante a través de los tiempos para la humanidad. Pero como cualquier proceso de cambio y revolución, no debemos olvidar que, en algún momento, aquello que alguna vez fue novedoso y sorprendente, se convertirá en un elemento tan normal y cotidiano como la salida y puesta del sol.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

El día de ayer hablábamos de la velocidad a la que las cosas ocurren durante nuestro día a día en la estación. Sin embargo, hemos descubierto que absolutamente nadie se salva de la cotidianidad; ya sea que vivas en un tranquilo pueblo a la orilla de un lago, en una colonia popular de la Ciudad de México, o a más de 50 millones de kilómetros de la Tierra… eventualmente, la rutina aparece y los momentos únicos y novedosos se vuelven parte del día a día. Atención, querido lector: ¡Esto no quiere decir que deje de ser emocionante! Pero, si tuviéramos que ponerle palabras a este sentimiento, tal vez lo más adecuado sería decir que “poco a poco, nos estamos adaptando a la vida en otro planeta”.

Cada SOL que pasamos en la estación, se empieza a sentir menos como un refugio temporal y más como nuestro hogar. Tal vez suene trivial esta aseveración, pero cuando te limitas a los mismos espacios, las mismas personas y las mismas responsabilidades, ciertas actividades que al inicio eran una experiencia totalmente nueva, el día de hoy, son una línea más por tachar en nuestra lista de tareas reglamentarias. En palabras un poco más simples, poco a poco nos envuelve la rutina. Y no tiene nada de malo. Pero a veces, no hay nada demasiado emocionante para comentar, en especial cuando los proyectos y experimentos empiezan a tomar ritmo y tenemos que darles algo de tiempo para poder empezar a ver los resultados esperados.

En algunos momentos, explorar otro planeta puede llegar a parecerse mucho a un día más en la oficina. Solo que en vez de ir por fotocopias o a entregar un reporte, nuestro Ingeniero tiene que equiparse en su traje espacial y salir a hacer sus revisiones matutinas de niveles de agua, carga de vehículos y del generador. Un día más en la oficina, ¿cierto?

Posiblemente para muchas personas el hablar de la rutina les parezca algo negativo o incluso triste. Tal vez para ustedes, queridos lectores, les parezca sorprendente estar leyendo que este fenómeno -tan normal en la Tierra- pueda darse en Marte. Pero para la tripulación de MEx-1, el experimentar estas emociones tan familiares, nos hace sentirnos un poco más cerca de casa. ¿Les parece un poco complicado de entender este fenómeno? Permítanme compartirles algo curioso que nos ocurrió el día de hoy en una breve conversación con nuestra Directora de Vuelo. Después de cosechar una sabrosa ensalada en el Greenhab, surgió una pregunta de lo más trivial: ¿dónde está el desinfectante? Y la respuesta simple fue “no hay desinfectante. Solo laven bien su cosecha”. Y no se ustedes, pero al menos en la Tierra de donde somos originarios (o sea, México), creo que estamos muy acostumbrados a desinfectar las verduras antes de comerlas.

¿Cuál es la moraleja de esta historia? Pues, además de que no contamos con desinfectante en la estación, es que no todos los problemas a los que nos enfrentaremos durante nuestra misión serán los grandes desafíos que la exploración espacial demandan. A veces, serán tan simples como el preguntarnos cómo es que debemos de limpiar una ensalada. Por eso, nos gustaría compartir con ustedes la siguiente reflexión, queridos y fieles lectores: ¿Qué tan lejos estamos de que la vida en otros planetas se convierta en una parte más de nuestra vida diaria? ¿Es acaso este el inicio de una nueva era dentro de la historia de la humanidad? Quién sabe… solo el tiempo lo dirá.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles Glass, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 5] – Traveling through the unknown roads.

Throughout history, explorers have used different tools to venture into the unknown. Tools like a compass and a sextant were part of adventures of a lifetime that lead us to places we never imagined. History however tries to hide the small setbacks that explorers had in their adventures. Especially those in where they have to step back and ask… wait, what’s next?

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Life in the station is going at the speed of light, there are far too many life sustaining activities that are so demanding that keep us busy 24/7. Experiments are moving a little slower than originally intended but moving nonetheless. We will be more than thrilled to see them coming up in the next few days and you guys, will be the first ones to know.

Greenhab is working on its first research. The soil samples from yesterday’s EVA were weighted, divided and combined in different amounts to harvest (I am looking at you Mark Watney). We are ready to know whether we can use this Martian soil to harvest some of our food for future crews that will come to visit us. We think this is the very first step to terraform Mars… or not. The experiment is the first step towards a greener Mars.

At the RAM the 3D printer is having major testing milestones and calibration. We will soon begin using the equipment to print our tools and support the rest of our mission. Our engineers are now working in cables, drivers, plastic and in no time the main communication subsystem of the rovers will be go.

The road to adventure sometimes takes us to places that are not easy to find. Today, our EVA traveled to a rarely traveled path and had a hard time finding its way up the hill. Once there, surprise surprise, a beautiful scenery packed with red martian ridges. No time to explore today, we need to find a suitable location for the antenna that, will in due time change the analog habitat into a smart habitat packed with sensors and asset tracking. In the way back home, we found another forgotten road, a faster way back home. Are we the first ones in year to walk this way? What new roads will cross our path?

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles & Genaro Grajeda, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalists