Category: Journalist Report

Crew 296 Crew Executive officer – Loriane Baes

A final morning EVA kicked off the simulation day. This EVA was dedicated to carrying out Romain’s drone experiment one last time. Directly following the EVA, there was a live broadcast with a major Spanish television channel where Alba could explain all the experiments and Mars living conditions. The team then crossed the main door together as a sign of the simulation’s end. It was a deeply emotional moment, with everyone feeling grateful to have experienced this unique journey. The team then split up, with the biomedical team heading to Grand Junction to send scientific samples. Meanwhile, the remaining crew members conducted a second live broadcast with the Mars Society Belgium before attending to various reports and final clean-up tasks. Upon the biomedical team’s return, the team gathered for a grand aperitif to celebrate the end of this journey.

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo

The sol started with an EVA by the biomedical team (Alba, Arnaud, Imane and Loriane) where the main goal was to explore and to make a reconnaissance of the Candor Chasma area for future EVAs. We took beautiful pictures and we had a little accident in which Arnaud got attacked by a space cactus. Our crew health and safety officer took good care of him and it was solved and disinfected successfully. Despite the inconvenience, everyone had a great time. Meanwhile, Louis spent some time in the RAM preparing some beacons for his experiment with his drone. Maxime took incredible pictures of the sun and made a beautiful composit image of it (we swear the sun looks exactly like that!). We are all very excited because there will be an eclipse tomorrow and Maxime will take care of everyone being able to see it and understand what is going on. It was a sampling sol for the biomedical team so, as previously done, blood and saliva collection, inflammatory cell count in blood and sample processing were performed in the science dome. We thank again our collaborator Dentognostics for providing us with the incredible ORALyzer and YourBio Health for the device used for blood collection. Also, we would like to thank the IREC, specially the LUNS department, for providing us with some of the material needed for the sample collection. On top of that, Centro Sur, and all the sponsors who joined us, for making this project possible. In the evening, we made some bread and enjoyed some time together. In the evening, we made some bread and enjoyed some time together. The rappers are back tonight, the show must go on on Mars.

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo

The sol started very early since it was scheduled to be a busy one. Two EVAs were planned for in the morning to continue with Romain’s experiment to do different maneuvers with the drone, followed by the TapStrap test to assess whether this device facilitates communication between crew members. Maxime has become addicted to making bread (and the rest of the crew to devour it). Around 12h, the crew went to the observatory to observe a beautiful solar eclipse which was taking place this sol, which makes it unique for us! After lunch, it was time to record some more videos for our social media and collaborators. There was time for half of the crew and we talked about the goal, methodology and importance of our experiments. We also made some videos to thank all our sponsors for their support on this mission, it would not have been possible without them! Then, some crew members practiced some sports while others were preparing dinner: it’s pizza night! Time flies, we are now more than halfway through the experience. We don’t want to leave Mars (except Louis, who counts the hours waiting to go for ribs and beers), we have made it our new home!

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo

The Sol started with a morning EVA with some of the crew members (Arnaud, Alba, Hippolyte and Louis) covering the Candor Chasma area for exploration. Louis performed a couple of automatic flights with his drone to make a reconnaissance of the zone for his experiment. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew worked on their own projects in the station. After lunch, there was a second EVA (Maxime and Loriane) to check on Maxime’s weather station and to explore different areas around North Ridge. In the station, the rest of the team played card games and rested a little bit, recovering some energy as the red planet is demanding a lot lately. Imane made some cakes, we cannot understand how this girl makes that magic with lyophilized resources. When the second expedition returned to the station, they shared some of the incredible pictures they took. Some people practiced sports and later, everyone worked on the daily reports together. A little team building activity is planned for the evening before having dinner and concluding the sol 9.

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo
Weather forecast was looking horrible today. During the morning, through the window, we could see a huge dust storm on the horizon! Maxime’s weather station survived (we still wonder how). The girls managed to wash their hair with less than 5L of water for the 3 of them. Washing hair never felt so good! Since the conditions were not ideal, we did not plan any EVAs for today. During the morning, we cleaned every module and worked on the mid-mission summary, to report how our experiments are advancing.

We had lunch together and after that, some crew members had some Spanish lessons, learning the basics of the language. They are already planning their future trip to Granada and cannot wait to practice their Spanish in the warm south of the country.

Early in the afternoon, we spent some time making different videos for our social media, our collaborations and for promoting space exploration and science. We laughed a lot behind the scenes, discovering our non-acting skills after needing 23 takes to get a ten seconds video. We are definitely not made for the camera but for drones, microscopes and research.

To finish the day, as usual, we worked on our daily reports and appreciated having more time to be relaxed and together as a team. We discussed our next steps for the weekend and had dinner together, looking forward to one more sol on Mars!

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo

This sol was expected to be windy in the afternoon, so half of the team (Maxime, Romain, Hippolyte and Loriane) went on an EVA early in the morning. The main goal was to repair Maxime’s weather station because of the strong wind we had in SOL 5 and to explore and discover some fossils. Meanwhile, the rest of the team worked on their projects at the station. The expedition returned to the station with some interesting stones and minerals to have a look at them under the microscope. Maxime could spot some water trapped in some of the minerals, looking cool! Imane cooked a delicious ‘chilli con carne’ and later, some crew members took a nap and some others played board games. We are getting better (not Alba) and more competitive at Shadow hunters. Arnaud, Loriane herself and Alba had their psychological consultations today, so only Hippolyte is missing and will attend to it tomorrow. The rest of the evening was chill, it was very windy and we stayed in the main hab and different modules working on our project.

Crew 296 Journalist report
By Alba Sanchez Montalvo

First day on Mars! This morning, the crew ATLAS had breakfast together after taking their probiotic/placebo treatment and prepared for their morning EVA which was mainly about drones. Half of the crew performed the baseline register for Romain’s experiment and learned how to do different manipulations with his drone. On the other hand, Louis started evaluating the surroundings for his experiment with his drone.
After lunch, Alba, Arnaud and Imane performed blood cell count in a few drops of blood and collected saliva from the crew members for their biomedical research. Right after that, in the afternoon, the other half of the team went on an EVA to do the baseline of Romain’s experiment. Once they were back to the station, Alba collected some blood from the crew members to extract serum and all crew members performed a salivary test for their studies. Maxime went into the Musk Observatory to learn more about how to use the instruments. The crew enjoyed a good time together at the science dome during the analysis.
Later, the crew came back to the main hab and they filled some forms for Loriane and Arnaud’s experiment on the psychological part of the simulation. To finish the day, the crew discussed their next steps and worked together on the daily reports.

By Alba Sánchez Montalvo
The day started with a slow morning today. The team decided not to do any EVAs during this morning to rest and recover from the sleepless and frenetic days they had before arriving at the MDRS. Maxime made pancakes for breakfast and after that, some people worked on their experiments, played card games or had some time to do sports. After lunch, Louis, Loriane, Maxime and Hippolyte went on an EVA to set up Maxime’s weather station and to start mapping our surroundings for Louis’ experiment. They had some problems setting up their experiments, but after some troubleshooting, they managed to reach their goals for today. Arnaud, Romain, Imane and Alba stayed at the station and worked on their experiments and also found some time to relax. When the crew members came back from their EVA, we sat together to work on the reports about daily life and operations at the station. Hippolyte collected a few little tomatoes from the GreenHab which tastes really well! Tonight, the plan is to have some time for team building after dinner as part of Loriane’s experiment and to enjoy our free time.

By Alba Sánchez Montalvo

This morning, Maxime and Alba went on an EVA to x on Max’s weather station and explored the surroundings, going through a few small canyons and sorting out a few little caves on the way. The rest of the crew stayed at the station and worked on their experiments and tasks in the different modules. After having lunch together, Louis, Arnaud and Hippolyte prepared for their EVA to perform an automatic flight with Louis’ drone to study the area between the MDRS, the Hab Ridge and the North Ridge. Meanwhile, the rest of the team listened to some music and worked on their experiments. Maxime spent some time at the observatory doing solar observations getting familiar with following the tutorials on how to take pictures and he captured an image of a prominence and sunspot. Arnaud, Hippolyte, Romain and Alba spent time together doing some sports, regretting not having unlimited water to have a shower… reminding us that we are on Mars now! Later, the team sat together at the main hab to work on the daily reports before having dinner and resting to face one more day.

By Alba Sánchez Montalvo

We started the day early today because it was a very busy one! In the morning, the whole team were on EVA, in two turns, for Romain’s experiment about manipulating the drone. We did it all during the morning because the wind was expected to be strong in the afternoon. They were two fast EVAs. Back at the station, a delicious meal cooked by Imane was waiting for us, so we all had lunch before doing anything else. Later, Alba, Arnaud and Imane collected their samples for their biomedical research: blood, saliva and inflammatory cell count in blood. To continue with our experiments, we followed Romain’s instructions for the TapStrap on how to order the drone to perform a certain action; we had a consultation with our psychologist Loriane to discuss our personality profiles; last, we had a meeting with Hippolyte for his experiment with our developing AI crew mate. But that’s not all. The team also worked on doing some content in the form of videos for our collaborations and visibility of the project, showing around the different modules and their function in the station. Later on, we sat at the main hab to work on the daily reports and to have our regular meeting where we discussed how the simulation was going for each crew member and talked about ways of improving the experience for the whole team. To finish the day, dinner and a team building activity was planned. Successfully survived the windy conditions on Mars!