SOL 0: Into familiar unknowns
“This wasn’t a strange place; it was a new one.” – The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Finally, Crew 293 has landed on Mars! The seven of us have arrived on the Red Planet. After an entire year of preparation and challenges, our interstellar space shuttle driven by Mathurin our Botanist and Lise our HSO made us step on our new habitat for the next four weeks. The travel was joyful and sunny in empty space!
As we arrived at the Mars Desert Research Station, we were truly amazed to finally see the station that we had dreamt of. We had a strong emotion upon seeing our future home, and we met Ben Stanley, the site manager. We spent the rest of the day being taught about how the station works. Ben explained to us details about the Upper Deck, where our rooms and kitchen are. No fight for the rooms, they are all small and look the same… Marie, our commander, has the privilege to have a window in her room, with a unique view on Mars! Then, we visited the Lower Deck, and the different station’s modules: the RAM, that Leo began to tame as our Crew Engineer; the GreenHab, realm of Mathurin; the Science Dome for out Crew Scientist Yves, and finally the Observatory, in which Léa will perform her Astronomy project! We finished off the day by preparing the EVA training, to learn how to use our EVA equipment. We will use it tomorrow for our two first training EVAs!
Despite all the hard work, we could benefit from the hot Martian sun rays, and we took some photos outside as we have not entered the simulation yet. Indeed, tomorrow we’ll close the station’s door and officially enter the Martian life simulation. Then, we’ll be authorized to go out with spacesuits and equipment only!