March 2nd, 2019
Sol 6: Telehope
The return of the rain kept us inside the Hab for the morning. So we decided to clean both the lower and upper decks. The sand and the dust of the desert are our enemies, these particles are everywhere here and difficult to remove, but with courage, and a vigorous vacuum cleaning, we managed to make the Hab almost brand-new.
Cerise prepared a bunch of cookies for dessert. Even if she found that the cookies were “different from those she cooks at home”, they were delicious!
The afternoon marked the return of hope for the TELEOP experiment. The digital version is still unavailable because of the loss of the computer’s charger, but Jérémy managed to correct the connection issues of the rover. We all drove the rover under heart monitoring. This is the second time this experiment is performed here in the MDRS by ISAE-SUPAERO crews; it has also been developed by Simon Bouriat, Health and Safety Officer of MDRS 175 in the Lunares station (Poland) in 2018. This is a special experiment for us and our association. It’s pleasant to see the rover run again and we’re waiting for a charger to continue the digital experiment.
Tomorrow is our first day-off, no EVA, no experiments. We will use this free time to reorganize the Hab and have cohesion activities, like playing cards or board games. This is a tradition of ISAE-SUPAERO crews, like for the astronauts in the ISS, Sundays are off. We consider that this free time is indispensable to the success of such missions, psychology and human factors are important. Astronauts need this time for themselves and for crew cohesion.
Author: Benjamin Auzou, Journalist
