2022-2023 Field Season (#22)

Rise and Shine, Montes.

"Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst."
Radiation. Freezing cold. Suffocation. Starvation. Thirst. Disease.
Mars, the Roman God of War, is a ruthless enemy to face. In a world where everything is trying to kill you, being prepared is no longer an option. It’s necessary.
As my Crew, Montes, begins their journey in the Red Planet, each of us takes an unprecedented role towards our survival. Starting the mission just two days before his birthday, we have the privilege of being led by Jesus, our own personal Messiah. From this experience and leadership, we’ve been able to know what to do, where to go, and how to exercise our functions. We conducted our first Extravehicular Activity( EVA) under Messiah’s detailed set of instructions, where we drove the Opportunity, Spirit and Perseverance to Marble Ritual. If anything can be said about the opportunity of going as on EVA, it is that it’s no walk in the park – it can take a toll on your spirit if you want to persevere.
In the field, every step can be our last. On our side, though, the Crew Geologist, Elizabeth, is no short of a genius. Genie knows every spot, every route, and – you guessed it – every rock. Personally, I wouldn’t want to be out on Martian soil with a different person… except, maybe, a person who could save my life is an emergency, watching over me as I explore the new world.
Lucky for us, in our EVA, the Health & Safety Officer, Ryan, had our back. In fact, during our entire mission, he’ll be watching over all of us. Some would say that he is our own personal Spy, tracking our vitals at all times through our watches. And what’s more – he cooks delicious burgers that are very much essential to our survival.
A tasty meal in the end of a long, tiresome day can also really make a difference in our morale, which is why fresh produce is another key piece to surviving Mars. Our Green Hab Officer, Adriana, makes sure all our plants survive, but one food in particular fascinates her: mushrooms. Ironically enough, even though her research is tracking their growth, she does not enjoy their taste… at all. Not all of us are this lucky, right, Murph?
Well, of course thriving on Mars also requires tracking all of our life support systems, which is the job of our Crew Engineer, Keegan. Beyond that, he has the skills and training to repair broken pieces, inspect tunnels, and put together sensors, making him the ultimate Mr. Fix It. One machine in particular that he will definitely check, use and give his life to repair is also fundamental to our survival: the coffee maker.
As for me? I’m just a humble Crew Journalist, working in the background on documenting the efforts of our Crew’s survival so maybe when you come after us, you’ll be prepared. Hopefully, my drone will be able to scout the best landing sites for your mission, which I’ve been diligently working in the shadows to accomplish. I’m Rod, but my crew knows me as Hermit.
To you, who is coming after us, prepare yourself the best you can. Mars can be dangerous, but I promise you a humble sunrise here is worth the journey.
And to us, from crew Montes: Rise and shine. Our stay on Mars has only just begun. After all, we’ll need more Sols if we’re going to climb the tallest mountains. Word has it that they have the best views.
Hermit out.

Climb That Mountain

"Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain?" – JFK

In any circumstance, reaching the top has but one constant: it is exhausting. Hours of climbing – literally or metaphorically – can make anyone question why they are even doing it in the first place. What’s more, for outsiders, it is more often than not interpreted as a glorified form of self-torture, where the reason is never logical, and the individual might have reached some sort of high-altitude confusion even before the hike started.
It might sound funny enough for you, then, when I tell you that Crew Montes’ mission was to reach the tallest peaks (aka Montes) from the very beginning. In Sol 4, three of our finest astronauts – Genie, Murph and Messiah – set out to explore Hab Ridge on a strenuous EVA up the hill. If the steep trail wasn’t fun enough, the hike surely got an extra kick from their 30 lb astronaut backpacks. A successful collection of valuable rock samples, as well as in-situ data log via ElectroMagnetic Frequency instrumentation, could be interpreted as the logical motivation behind this journey. But deep down, I am sure that there were more important things that could be drawn from this experience. And I’m not talking about the sick pictures that they took.
While half the crew was out for the EVA, the remaining astronauts from Montes were also doing their part to successfully explore Mars. Spy and Mr. Fix co-led the CAPCOM role, providing all necessary inputs that would lead our EVA team towards success. In the meantime, I worked on fixing our mascot, DRONE, who had its LIDAR mount sharply damaged during yesterday’s EVA. A backup mount was adapted to our needs and smoothly installed, making the DRONE ready for another set of flights tomorrow, where we will go to the same spot for more data collection and drone reckoning. One might ask me if I’m afraid or excited to go on a task that knocked out some of my crewmates for 2 straight hours after the EVA, but if you’ve been following my reports, you’ll know that the answer is obvious.
Well, no one told us exploring Mars would be easy. In fact, they said quite the opposite. To be more precise, we all heard that is about the hardest thing that humans would ever accomplish (if successful). We don’t even have to hike up the tallest mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons, to interpret the Mars endeavor as the highest mountain we set out to climb. But this shared purpose goes beyond time and space. JFK’s speech from 1960, or the collective dream from all over the world proves that colonizing Mars is anything but a fluke. That leads us once again to the question we started with: why climb the highest mountain in the first place?
I believe that the quest to something bigger than ourselves, on Mars or on Earth, is a natural human instinct. Without such a purpose, our lives could end up defined by a boring and cumbersome experience. After all, we’re not in this Earth (or Mars!) on probation – our true responsibility is to make the best of the gift of life, exploring all kinds of mountains in the process. That’s how we improve ourselves and, once what was hard becomes less hard, we can eventually achieve greater and greater heights. A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.
Let’s climb that mountain.
Hermit out.

ChristMARS: The Birth of an Astronaut Crew

“The only way to learn it is to do it.” – Archimedes, "Sword in the Stone"

As humans, day after day, we’re constantly exposed to our limitations. Through mistakes – sometimes many mistakes – we learn how to put our best foot forward and avoid falling into the same pitfalls. But on Mars, we don’t have that privilege. Every mistake can be fatal, so we need to correct them on the spot, with minimal resources available, and under the pressure of life and death… even on Christmas day.
To a lesser extent, going to a challenging environment without the same comforts of everyday life is a feeling we’ve all felt at some point in our lives. It is, arguably, what makes a child an adult – leaving their parents’ wings and conquering the world. The cycle of life we all know too well is also depicted in many stories we tell each other, such as the movie that Crew Montes decided to watch for inspiration last night. In Elf, the protagonist (ironically enough) leaves his home from the remote depths of the North Pole to search for his parents in New York City. In the case of Crew Montes, however, we’re dealing with an even greater quest: conquering a different world, much more remote than New York (or the North Pole, for that matter).
To do so, Montes is diligently working on their scientific experiments that will aid humans in occupying Mars. Preparing for our fourth EVA today, Mr. Fix, Spy and I, Hermit, worked together on ensuring the DRONE – that is, the Digital Reconstruction and Optical Navigation of the Environment – would capture valuable data of Mars’ landscape. First, Spy started working on his innovative concept for remote data capture via DNS, while Hermit and Mr. Fixit integrated the complex assemble of sensors, cables and supporting structures in the DRONE . In the meantime, Messiah was responsible for setting up Spy’s VR cognitive test, and Murph and Genie worked together on a pipeline for carbon dioxide detection in a mushroom chamber. Once it was all set, we were ready to rock and roll.
Of course, Mars had some objections to our plans. Once we left for the EVA, the first flight test of the DRONE faced many unexpected issues. Mars blew its strongest winds against our mascot, which it took like a champ. DRONE’s resilience was truly commendable under such a monstruous attack, but even the fiercest warrior could feel the hit at that point. Its LIDAR 3D-printed mount got seriously damaged, preventing us to safely re-launch it for another flight… or so Mars would think. Montes is prepared for emergencies even in the direst of times. Mr. Fixit, Spy and I quickly responded by repairing our mascot with the DRONE first-aid kit we brought *just in case*. That allowed us to launch it once again in safer conditions, capturing some more preliminary data that will be used for valuable post-processing. Coming back to the hab, we also checked some issues with the external interface of the tunnels, which got damaged due to the strong winds. All of that reminded us that going gentle into that good Martian night could be fatal.
Meanwhile, Messiah would face a major roadblock in setting up the VR device. We all know how us humans can get hangry when we don’t get food for some time. Similarly, electronic devices can be quite moody when they are not fed the proper connection. That was not a critical problem, however, since now we’ve learned how to pre-set our operations even under no service. Take that, Mars.
Finally, Murph and Genie would work on the Green Hab preparing the mushrooms for optimal growth. Unfortunately, minor contamination and leakage have been preventing them to get the most of it so far, and minimal resources would make it even more difficult to improve the growth rate. However, with a spark of creativity, Murph crafted a brand-new CO2 chamber with little to no tools, creating a jaw-dropping pipeline for mushroom growth optimization that any mycologist would envy. Even Mars is starting to think it doesn’t stand a chance against the resourcefulness of this crew.
Now that we have learned our lessons in Sol 3, it is time to celebrate the birth of a legend. I’m talking of course, of Jesus, but you might know him as our Commander, Messiah. Hopefully, this cycle around the Sun provided him with opportunities for optimal growth even in the harshest conditions. Happy birthday, Commander!
Hermit out.