February 27th, 2019
Sol 3: Martian Excursion
We were born to explore. Since the dawn of humanity, humans have never stopped exploring new places. The first humans settled on all five continents, the navigators of the 15th century sailed all seas, the astronauts of the 20th century flew to space. Today was an exploration day on Mars! The EVA team (Aurélien, Norbert, Gaspard and I) rode the rovers to the Moons area. We walked about an hour on the muddy and slippery slopes of the White and Grey Moons, following the steps of Norbert, our scout of the day, and under the wise supervision of the EVA leader Aurélien.
Once we got back, to avoid fatigue after lunch, I visited Norbert in the Green-Hab and helped him taking care of radishes and carrots while some others were taking a nap. Back in the Hab, Aurélien was waiting for us all to show us his first night observation: Orion’s Nebula.
This afternoon we tested our own analog spacesuit in the MDRS for the first time. This project was born in September 2017, when we first heard about the MDRS and decided to apply to a rotation. We worked since that moment on the conception and fabrication of this spacesuit. That’s why we are happy to see this project finalized here. The prototype is far from what we expected but we are focused on our goal to take some of us in EVA with this suit and we will make all changes and adjustments needed to reach it.
Today we had the first results of our strict water monitoring. And this is a huge improvement compared to the monitoring of crew 189, the last mission of ISAE-SUPAERO students. For Sol 2, the total consumption is 77.4 liters. The Green-Hab is the first source of consumption with 41%, then comes drinking water with 25%, the flushes with 13%, cooking water and dishes water with 5% and 6%. The last 8% are unmeasured and come from leaks or flush volume uncertainties. In comparison, the average unmeasured water for crew 189 was 37% of total consumption.
For more than a year, we worked together on the preparation of this mission. We passed through happy and bad moments, funny talks and long meetings. But now we are here, on Mars, and we are like a family, forged by our common passion for space exploration, our interventions with young students and this mission. What we are achieving now is exciting and fulfilling!
Author: Auzou Benjamin, Journalist
