Today was a big day for the three adventurous martionauts that went on EVA. 5 hours was planned for Marine, Léa, and Valentine. The longest so far!
To tell you more, they were even free of the usual sport session, in order to be in shape all morning long. And according to their sayings, and also their afternoon naps (not for all of them), it was useful! Especially since they reached the goal of the outing: finding sulfate deposit veins! If like me, you did not know what it looks like, they brought you a picture of it present in the daily pictures!
They left the Hab an hour before the usual one: at 8 am, they first made some maintenance on our devices around the Hab, and then took two of the rovers (cleverly named Curiosity and Opportunity, two of the real Mars “geologists”), heading to North East. They stopped after half an hour driving, and then, searched for (not without any difficulty) the entrance of a place named Candor Chasma.
The EVA was planned in Candor Chasma because it is a place where we might easily observe Jurassic outcrops. It took place in the second part of the geology field study: now, the crew (to be honest, mainly Léa and Marine who are in charge of it) is focused on documenting the presence of Jurassic sulfate deposit in the region. We are not focused on the transition between the two geological eras anymore. It is good to see this experiment moving forward!
Hence, as planned, it was a sporty one, but it went well. They came back to the Hab with precious samples and a big hunger! Fortunately, Mathéo and I were expecting them with a huge dish of Bolognese pasta that we cooked! They told us the whole story, and we had a great lunch.
The afternoon was calmer than previous ones in the Hab, to allow the ones who needed it to rest a little. The “unlucky” ones had to perform human factors experiments, the others went through data analysis.
The event that woke up the atmosphere a little was a tasting of the famous “crêpes Bonne-Maman” made by Valentine. The crew enjoyed the acrobatic cooking as much as the tasting!
I asked my crewmates around me a new question:
What are your “small pleasures” here during this mission?
For Mathéo, cooking bread makes him proud each time he does it!
Léa appreciates very much eating his freshly cooked bread! Along with Cerise and Valentine, they pointed out the evenings after sending our reports, when we gather to discuss, to watch movies…
And, during our work, we all agreed with Cerise, on the fact that working in front of the desert in the Science Dome is something unique. We will miss seeing Mars through this window!
Nicolas Wattelle
