SOL 23 : Rocks and Roll
Today, we had a cardio and upper body session organized by our health and safety officer, Adele. On Mars, gravity is three times weaker than on Earth, and it is very important to maintain physical exercise to counteract muscle atrophy. Therefore, we do 30 minutes of sports every morning.
After that, Celia, Adele, Felix, and Gaspard went out on an EVA for stratigraphy at Mellow Mushrooms. Yesterday, they were able to identify an interesting area to study the composition of geological layers. Today, they recognized the rocks they had studied yesterday. They followed all the steps of the protocol: identifying an interesting geological outcrop, going to the site, drawing a profile of the outcrop from a distance, getting close to the outcrop and measuring the thickness of each layer one by one, collecting samples, and studying the granulometry and composition. From all this, it is possible to draw a graphic log to represent in detail the parameters of each layer of the outcrop.
Meanwhile, Lou and Julien continued assembling the rover from SupaeroMoon. It should be finished tomorrow, and we will test it during an EVA in the afternoon. It should be able to move through rough terrain and collect samples with its robotic arm.
This afternoon, Celia and Felix did a calibration session of the Géol’Ex using a Quartz lamp whose spectrum is in the visible and near infrared range. This is where the main absorption peaks of rocks are located, hence the need to use a lamp that emits in this spectrum. Tomorrow, they will study the samples they were able to collect to identify their composition.
Today, we continue filming for the documentary we are preparing.
We are starting to feel the end of the mission approaching.