Author: jburk

Dear Atila,

This is our journal from today. We hope all you enjoy it.

Thanks

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 17DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 3] – Response time

Interplanetary communications are extremely complex and need large earth stations; the hardest part to cope with is the delay to receive the information. We can see this phenomena happening on Earth when a remote station communicates with a satellite and its teleport, delay can be frustrating when compared to a terrestrial network. This happened too with our commander and our jokes (terrible jokes).

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

This rotation was special for all because we had a birthday boy. On Earth, Chilpo would be turning 27 today, but in Mars, we still have another 300 days to get ready for his Quinceañera. How do you celebrate a birthday on Mars? Well, you dress as an astronaut, you check life support systems, work with actuators, cables, and computers without any OS. A few surprises for him though, we had a par of Wrappizas (a delicatessen unique to Mars) which we named Phobos and Deimos.Cake? We got that covered. It is a little hard to do with the limited combustion on our hab (and an oven we didn’t know how to use). Our chef, as per usual, had a plan b to make it all work. Juan Carlos was the support MARSter chef of the night and dinner was on point.

Meanwhile, at the Repair and Assembly Module (MRE in Spanish) crew members were working on the installation of a 3d printer that will allow our VSAT and rovers to be ready. Mars needs specific sets of tools and the ones provided from Earth are big, heavy and we really don’t have a place to spare. We print our tools here as earthlings would do in very remote locations where people cannot get them easily.

Astronauts have to keep sane during their missions and our psychology team has been a pro at making us activities to know that we are still ok. The crew worked with a few activities to get to know each other better, this in fact help us to act as a unit and perform as best as possible. As per our mission doctor, we are keeping data of our water consumption and we verify that the crew is having nutritious meals. A healthy crew is an efficient crew. A mentally sane crew has good humor and is prepared to help the commander to enjoy our horrible jokes even with her satellite delay.

Happy birthday Chilpo! You are now amongst the stars you love.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Crew 201 Journalist Report 17-Dec-2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 2] – Clear out before entering the Hab.

¡Tururú Tururú! Don’t push too hard man, my spacesuit is big and heavy and I am learning how to move around! What will we find outside? Will adventure find us today? What hardships may we find while conquering this wild world? This are some of the questions we pondered while setting for the first time our astronaut helmet and venturing into Mars…

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Life in other planets is exciting. You prepare mentally and physically for whatever you may find and tackle all problems that can occur without being scared. And so, this is exactly how we start our days on Mars, talking about the different activities we planned the night before with a delicious breakfast.

We had our briefing on how to survive and upkeep the station, the basic needs for a first time Martian. We covered from the use of our space bathroom to the delicate care of the GreenHab, every part of the Hab and the mission needs to be carefully checked to avoid accidents within the crew members or worse.

Life in other planets is pretty regular. You have to wake up at a set time, cook, have clean clothes and wash your dishes. You also want to sweep your back deck so the Martian dust doesn’t ruin your clean hab. Our five-star chef Walter has the support of one of the crew members every night in something we called MARSter Chef (Pat Pending), this certainly helps to keep the morale of the crew. Last night dinner was shelf stable Chili con carne, yummy, it’s really hard to find a better dish in the Fourth planet from the Sun.

Today we had our first EVA training with spacesuits. Every crew member had to experience the hardship of getting ready, depressurize and to drive the rovers. We originally planned to go out in groups of four; however, due to a problem with Spirit and Opportunity, we had to do a plan B, three EVAs of two crew members. The result was madness in the airlock entrance that reminded us of rush hour at Mexico City’s subway.

We visited Marble Ritual, a simple location near the base but with all the difficulties of having suits with limited mobility but the beauty of Mars. We tested both spacesuits kinds and had the chance to understand which one was more efficient for the tasks ahead. Boots and flight suits covered in Martian dust helped us understand what the 200 crews before us experienced on their first days.

I have to tell you, dear reader, the EVAs were exciting but not fun, knowing the limitations of the suits now we are concerned about a few things: How will we use tech with buttons designed for Earth? How can we make tools that are not ill-suited for our gloves? What will we need to do to not die trying?

Life in other planets is rigorously planned to minimize risk and maximize the efficiency of the crew ensuring their safety. This testbed is our readiness poll to become a true multiplanetary species.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Genaro Grajeda López, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist