1121-JournalistsReport

Journalist's Report

11/21/14

Anastasiya Stepanova

This night I heard music playing from somewhere far. Then I felt that my bed was shaking. When the morning came everything got back to normal. No trace and no witnesses. The dream was too real to be a dream. Was it just a game of mind, dream or consequences of isolation? The answer has nothing to do with me. The wind was so strong that it did actually shake the hab a little bit. As for the music - my mind interpreted this way the sound of the wind. This reminded me of ancient times when people were giving magical powers to the things that nowadays science can explain. I wish could see what science would be like in 100 years. Would we be able to reach another galaxies or personal communication devices and social networks will trap people on Earth? Setting a human colony on Mars can give you the different perspective of world’s development. For example, today I have walked in a space suit, looked for meteorites and climbed the hills. Inhaling the air in my helmet was harder and gives the realization how vulnerable we are. All space suits have one system – a certain amount of oxygen that can be used. On Mars you will be limited with such a system, only few hours of exploration and back to the station. If our space suits could have a device that would directly produce oxygen from Martian atmosphere, so astronauts will have almost no limitations in exploring the red planet. At the moment such machine would be too cumbersome and heavy to include in a space suit, but this problem might be solve by an engineering project or by a research proposal at Mars Desert Research Station in Utah or at Devon Island. This little example shows how science and engineering can progress by preparing and maintaining human colony on Mars. Moon, Mars or any other planet – this is the challenge for us as hi-tech civilization. My future reports will tell how each crew members contribute to this challenge.