Category: Journalist Report

Crew 222 Journalist Report 16Feb2020
Author: Marie Bochard, Crew Journalist
Sol 0
Title: Welcome home!

As we woke up on the red planet this morning, it felt like we were finally home. The sun was up before us and shone brightly on the hills. The Hab was hectic as everyone woke up, and the previous crew was getting ready to leave. After saying our goodbyes, we settled into our rooms. It’s hard to believe we are finally here, after a whole year of preparation! It seems so unreal.

To start off the day, the Director gave us a briefing on the station, and then we prepared our first meal. On the menu: rice with dehydrated green peas and sweet potatoes!

A delicious introduction to Martian cuisine.

But before our mission can truly start, there are still some things to be done.

Today is ‘training day’.

Everything has to be ready to start the sim tonight. This means doing the food inventory, ensuring the suits all work, and most importantly (or at least most fun), this means learning how to drive the rovers and ATVs! We went for a drive on both to get the hang of the vehicles. When we will drive on EVA, it will be harder to maneuver with the suits so everyone got to try. Even our seasoned commander took the wheel!

As the day started to wind down, we started working on our reports.

Clicks of keyboards were the only sounds we heard for an hour. The astronomer sent his photos, the commander wrote his Sol Summary, the engineer went on his last non-sim check of all life-support and transportation systems… and I wrote down these very words.

Tonight, the simulation starts. Tonight, our mission begins. Tonight, we dine on Mars!

Crew 221 Journalist Report 14Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 12

Title: Last Day in Sim!

This morning, Maria and Rawan went on the crew’s last EVA to the moons. They tested the robot, built the antenna, and even took two samples, so an efficient last day on Mars! Commander Grulich unfortunately had a fall and hurt her neck, but then got a lovely massage from Jess and is better now. All day, the crew either cleaned or wrapped up science experiments. This included measuring salinity and pH in the samples, harvesting the blue corn, and cleaning the lesser liked parts of the sink. One last time, we sat together with eggs and amazing costa rican coffee for breakfast. One last time we had soup and intense conversation for lunch. Each meal has been a mix of longing for freshfood and bittersweet memories of hanging out with the crew. We saved a delicious coconut curry for dinner, and are about to jump into that now. Last but not least, we have a special valentine’s day gift exchange after dinner tonight. Signing off for the last time, Crew 221.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 13Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 11

Title: Almost at the End

This morning, we got the program of the rover to function! In the afternoon, the all-girl (Maria, Hemani, Jess) EVA team headed out to test the rover at Candor Chasma. We got some adorable pictures of the rover picking up samples under overhang rocks. After celebrating our last EVA, the crew plans to spend one of our last evenings together with games and good conversation.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 12Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 10

Title: Hilarious Heads Up

This morning, the all girl (Maria, Hemani, Jess) EVA team headed out to complete radio assembly. The team successfully built the radio tower without help from HabCom in two different locations. After the mission objective was complete, the team made some pit stops on the way back to film their dance video, set to the music of “We Are Not Alone” from the move, the Breakfast Club. This will be used for outreach. The music fit perfectly, because we are trying to survive as life on Mars, and we are in a remarkably similar situation to the characters of the breakfast club – six strangers getting to know each other in a confined space.

After a yummy lunch, the girls got back into programming the robot, and with the help of Crew Engineer Luis, solved the software issue! This was such encouraging news, and we are hoping to test it out in the field tomorrow! Then GHO Jess and Hemani planted new crops in the Greenhab – Chamomile, Spearmint, and Lettuce. Before dinner, the crew played a little Heads Up, which lead to some hilarious charades. We are about to sit down to a dinner of delicious German cuisine and cultural night by our very own Commander!

Crew 221 Journalist Report 11Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 9

Title: Corn on Mars (with a little bit of help)

This morning, we tested radio operations outside the hab. Crew Engineer Louis had already successfully built an engineer and got it working inside the hab over the last few days. The test then involved seeing if it could be reassembled with ease on an EVA in a short period of time. It was exciting to see that the radio could be reassembled in under an hour on EVA in two bulky astronaut suits. The second EVA was supposed to test if a team could reassembled the radio with no prior knowledge of radios (this team was Commander Grulich, Hemani, and Jess), however, due to a typo error in the request, the EVA had to be cancelled. We hope to recover this EVA tomorrow. Meanwhile, the rover was successfully built, but the team ran into several issues while trying to program it, and will try again to get the rover running tomorrow. On a happier note, the team spent the day filming various activities, which they will use in outreach videos, and also took some awesome astronaut profile pictures. Also for dinner tonight, we have the luxury of eating tons of leafy greens, all harvested from our very own greenhouse! The sunny, warm days on Mars are keeping our spirits up as we edge closer to the end of the mission!

Crew 221 Journalist Report 10Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 8

Title: Operations EVA Testing

This morning, we started a new Science project. Crew GHO, J Todd, is going to observe the efficiency of EVA teams and assess it according to parameters in the literature. One set of EVAs done today tested the efficiency of sample collection. The next two sets will test radio assembly and rover operations. The EVA teams had difficulty finding the route today, which made the long walk even longer. The view from the top of the ridge was incredible though, which made it all worth it. In the evening, Crew Journalist Hemani introduced the crew to some classic Canadian snacks – jalapeño poppers (which were received well) and pop tarts (which Crew GHO J Todd criticized). Crew Commander managed to create fusion Indian food by spicing the rajma with her sprouted mung beans. She also made a classic north Indian dish for dinner – rajma with rice. The crew worked around the clock on robotics, astronomy, antenna work, and microbiology, so hopefully, Indian-Canadian cultural night will revive everyone.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 09Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 4

Title: A little bit of rest

Yesterday evening, we had another amazing cultural night. We learned so much about Costa Rica and found it is such an impressive country. It voluntarily gave up its army in 1948, it has a literacy rate of 97%, and it currently runs on 98% renewable energy. We’ve now decided to have a reunion in Costa Rica next year, especially because of the incredibly yummy food Crew Engineer Luis prepared last night. We also got the chance to try a rare Costa Rican delicacy, the core of a palm tree! This morning, Crew Journalist Hemani made cheesy scrambled eggs for the crew. The crew was served a second luxurious round of coffee and also finally ate the cookies Crew 219 gifted to us as a treat. It was a morning of deliciousness. After an afternoon of great conversation, the crew got busy with planning our EVA experiments and preparing new microbiology samples. In particular, Crew GHO Jessica is trying to plan EVAs for rover operations testing and emergency response testing. She is also trying to use previously published parameters to test EVA success on our EVA operations to compare the results. Tonight, we are all very excited to do the combined Zumba and Salsa sports session prepared by the Commander and Engineer.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 06Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 4

Title: A day of science!

This morning, we were awoken by our wonderful commander making pancakes and serving the last of the fresh fruit – bananas. Energized by this meal, the crew divided into teams of three. Luis and Jess planted the black corn seeds in the greenhab using martian soil, collected from the EVA done yesterday. Maria and Rawan spent the whole day growing bacteria in the samples also collected from the EVA done yesterday. One of the samples saw signs of bacteria, which caused lots of excitement and a feeling of success amongst the crew. Hemani and Ghanim started to build the robot. After a fun team lunch of good conversation and two-minute Ramen, the teams switched around, and the all girl engineering team (Hemani, Maria, Jess) put together the robotic arm! It started to get cold in the RAM, so the Crew Engineer didn’t have time to get his moisture sensor fully working, but all in all, much progress was made on all fronts. The mini missions made the hours go by a little faster, since the lack of internet and space, usually makes the day feel long and slow. Tonight will be another fun filled evening with sports, meditation, and another crewmember’s cultural exploration.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 05Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 3

Title: Exploring the Moons!

Today, we made good progress on our microbiology and black corn experiments. Early morning, Commander Grulich started the process of testing bacteria growth on Mars by taking swabs of the spacesuit helmet before and after cleaning. We are going to include this sample in our bacteria tests to see how efficiently the suits are cleaned! Then, three crew members went on a long and adventurous EVA out to the moons! They collected samples from the site of an ex-canyon, where many water flow channels were present. Water allows for presence of life, and this made the moons an excellent candidate for our microbiology sample collection. We followed new procedures to prevent cross contamination of samples, and even collected a sample of the air on Mars, to see what was going on there! Lastly, Crewmate Luis collected bags of soil from the Moons, in an attempt to take them back to the Greenhab and grow black corn in martian soil! After this tiring EVA, the crew members rested, and two other crew members expeditioned to North Ridge on a second EVA to collect iron rich samples for the microbiology samples. The samples were then prepared and put into the incubator at 25 degrees Celsius. We are excitedly awaiting the results! Our naps helped us recharge, and we managed to put together a delicious meal of tacos! Good night for now, Earthlings.

Crew 221 Journalist Report 04Feb2020
Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist
Sol 2
Title: Setting up a Weather Station

Today, we started with one of our science experiments: building an in-house crew assembled weather station! It actually ended up being a terrific team building exercise. We all gathered in the science dome early at 10 this morning, to put together 3 elements: a barometer, a rain gauge, and a hygrometer. Everyone put their best DIY skills to use as all of the elements were made of everyday objects found at home. Some of the intricate steps involved straws, sticky tack, cotton balls and lots of masking tape. Oh, and good timing. After this amazing team effort, we sent out two crew members on an EVA to install the 3 elements outside the hab, so that we could take weather measurements twice a day. We were pre approved to attach our instruments on the outside face of the tunnels at the science dome. Unfortunately, using zipties as a fastener was not as successful as we hoped. The EVA crew’s attempts resulted in snapping of most of the zipties. However, we have now found Velcro straps in our equipment, and will try reinstalling the equipment on a later EVA. As HabCom for this EVA, I particularly enjoyed watching the EVA crew at work from our kitchen window, and giving them special instructions for installation. Overall, I would say we had a real “starting a human presence on Mars” experience today. Unfortunately, one piece of equipment did not make it to the hab, so we will have to do without our anemometer’s wind measurements. Fortunately, Commander Grulich’s impeccable baking making skills will distract us. Dinner was made more eventful by Kuwaiti cultural night and a lovely play of “hometowns” to get to know our teammates better. Our conversations are already so much deeper and more interesting than just 48 hours ago!