February 20th, 2020
Sol 4 – Crew 222: Precious water
The exploration continues! This morning, the EVA group headed down South to the Kissing Camels, a set of rocks between which the road passes through. Once there, we safely climbed over to the ridge, the hill that surpasses the road. The view up there was beautiful, on one side there was a vast plain with colored hilltops, on the other side there was a snowy mountain in the distance, between the high rock hills.
This afternoon, our crew Scientist, Nina, finished assembling her AeroSpring tower, the vertical culture tower. She also started to cultivate the plants that will grow in this tower, in a special moss that allows faster growth. We are hoping to see some sprouts before the end of our mission, and I will keep you posted!
Our Commander, Benjamin, also started putting together his experiment: the water-consumption control system. Using a camera linked to buttons, once someone wants to use water they just have to press a button before and the device will take a picture of the water-level before and after opening the tap. This monitoring is very important to our mission. Water is a rare resource here, and it has to be used with parsimony. Our biggest source of consumption is drinking: each crew member drinks up to 3L per day, since it is very dry here we are always thirsty. We also use water for cooking, as all our food comes dehydrated and has to be submerged in water before being cooked. The rest of the consumption comes from the dishes, hygiene and the toilet flush. We manage to use only 15 gallons of water per day in the Hab! Of course, in the GreenHab water is used to water the plants, and this system doesn’t take it into account since it is already monitored there.
Once again, Nicolas had prepared a relaxation session, which ended the afternoon well. Tonight is a special night: it’s pizza night! While writing our reports, we can all smell the oven heating up for our long-awaited dinner. Goodnight from every member of this amazing crew!
Author: Marie Bochard, Crew Journalist
