Sol 13 – Sweet dreams
Author: Nicolas Wattelle
Against all odds, this morning’s weather has been wonderful. A nice and warm sun was waiting for us to wake up. The wind was slightly blowing, but nothing compared to what was announced. Mars is full of surprises.
So, we were allowed to go out and do the geology outing we could not do the day before, we even took advantage of it to realise maintenance on the HF antenna, change the outdoor batteries, and put the LOAC back on the field (which we took back in to protect it from the potential snowfall). So, at the end of the day, it was a big EVA, especially since the geology study needed us to go to a place named “White moon”, the furthest away we have gone so far. Hence, we had a great breakfast, carefully packed our needed material, and left the Hab for this morning adventure.
We were four, Cerise, Marine, Léa and I, heading to the North, and it went well. We were happy for the geology analysis we made there, and for the new landscapes we discovered…
It did not look like a “classic” Sunday of a Supaero Crew, it was more like a mix between a rest day and a work day (because we already took some rest the day before). Elena went through data analysis of the Teleop experiment (the one where martionauts teleoperate rovers in different positions) and cooked, Valentine tided up the lower deck and spent time drawing, Cerise went on EVA this morning, adjusted mission planning and knitted during the afternoon… To sum up, we worked in a relaxed atmosphere!
Most of us had a (needed) restorative night, the awakening was sweeter than the other days. And our numbers speak for themselves: we have a complete follow-up of our nights using Dreem headbands. These devices are really easy to use and are efficient in the context of our project! We just need to put them before going to sleep (like Cerise does on the photo), and they analyse our brain waves, breath rhythm, heartbeat, and even our detailed movements through the night (you would be impressed discovering how much a person moves during a night…)!
They allow us an access to durations and proportions of sleeping phases: deep, light, rapid eye movement (REM)… What we are interested in, is how all of this data evolves throughout a mission like ours, and also to keep an eye on it and take measures (reorganisation of the planning, relaxation exercises, naps…) if needed. Their data is thus very useful to efficiently keep our mission running.
You might ask yourself if it is possible to sleep correctly with it: do not worry, they are not very invasive, after two or three nights of accommodation (that we did weeks before the mission) you almost don’t feel it anymore. You can peacefully have sweet dreams!