What We Bring to Mars

Hello, everyone! You are listening to the Red Shift - your connection to your piece of the sky. I'm your host, Emma Miller!

Hello, hello, hello! Hi, everyone! Hi, CHRNV! Hello, Illa! Hi, Spoons! Welcome, welcome!

I hope you have all had a great week. Welcome in, it is great to see you all. Thank you all so much for being here. Hi, MaDAleN and Keren and Stephanie! Hi! Welcome in. Alright. I hope you've all had a wonderful week, I hope you're all having a great day.

Alright, so let's hop into this week and chat a little bit. Last week, how amazing was that chat that you all had with that astrobiologist? Wasn't that fascinating? I learned so, so much. And I am sure that Aurore was incredibly happy. I didn't get a chance to talk to her, obviously, but I am sure that she was very excited that you all had the opportunity to chat and listen to somebody who could really tell you about what life will be like, or what life, kind of life we would find on Mars. Very exciting stuff!

Hello, Tronity. Hi, BrickBond. Hi! I just want to really quickly add on top of that, a quick commendation. I have to say, each week you all have been getting better and better and better with your GIF usage in the chat…

This is where the audio cut out, so, to skip me mumbling to myself, let's just cut to where it comes back.

“We were talking about GIF usa–,” oh, perfect, perfect, thank you, Janoots!

So I really loved all of your GIF usage over the last couple of weeks. In fact, Janoots, that GIF up above is fantastic. So, I would love to encourage you all to use GIFs more in the chat as well. I especially loved how you all used the weather GIFs last week when we got to the weather report, so would love to see that again.

I'm basically just issuing you a personal challenge, an Emma challenge, you know? I want a GIF war. I want you to try to make me laugh and distract me while I'm presenting what I have written in front of me because the GIFs are very distracting in the best possible way. So let's see who uses the best GIFs this week. It will be a great time. [laugh]

So I will also preemptively tell you about who our sponsor is this week so that you all get the opportunity to prepare your GIFs before we get there. So, preemptively, the sponsor of this week is the Sydney Flight School where our astronauts get their foundational training! So get prepared for that. It has flight simulations, microgravity... Be ready, be ready. So there's your hint.

ISA Announcements

Now, to transition into our ISA announcement of the week, which is a pretty fun, exciting announcement - the ISA actually announced a new manager of one of the mega power reactors at the Mars base.

As you know, the ISA works because of shareholders like all of us, and so that new manager? You might know them as Teslaz, so very exciting stuff! And they wanted me to pass along the congratulations to that new manager. Very, very exciting!

With that being said, that's kind of it for our ISA announcements this week. We're going to hop right into our astronaut letter, which will be a fun one. Now, I didn't actually get a chance to make the activity this week with the astronaut, and I'll just tell you who the astronaut was. The astronaut this week was Bertram Ruf, who was one of the doctors for Mission Three. So not the first four astronauts, but he came shortly thereafter.

He was a super nice guy, and, honestly, kind of reminded me of my dad, if my dad was German and also, you know, living on Mars as a doctor, which he is not, but he was really, really wonderful and though he and I didn't directly make the game together, I did get to tell him the idea after I received his note, and he really liked it. And it does have to do with what he talks about in his note for this week. So stick around and I'll tell you more about that a little bit later.

First, let's hop into the letter, and I found this fascinating, so I hope you all do, too! Like I said, Bertram is one of the doctors, so this gives a very cool kind of view into what it's like to be a doctor on Mars. And so let's hop into it. Keep in mind, as always, as my disclaimer, these are his words, not mine. I apologize in advance if I butcher any German words. Please, go easy on a girl from Ohio. Thank you. [laugh] So!

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Bertam’s letter

“Hello! I am Bertram Ruf. I am happy to be writing for you this week. Since you did an ISA medical training simulation some weeks ago, perhaps we are colleagues now, yes?
You did very well, you asked good questions, so I thought I could a little more about being a doctor on Mars tell you. There are some very special challenges. 

• At lower G, things stay in the air longer. Dust doesn’t settle as fast. Things get in your eyes. You know what happens when there’s particles in the air? You sneeze. You know what happens when you sneeze? The stuff you sneeze also hangs in the air. Longer.
  

• It’s hard to do CPR. When you do CPR, you count on the weight of your body to help the compression. In 1/4 G, it’s like an 8 year old trying to do CPR on a grown man. You have to be braced against something, hard, and you are going to have to really put your muscles into it.”

Stephanie, that’s a great, that’s a great GIF.

• “So here’s the thing about being born in 1G. Our bodies are made to push blood against gravity. Turn down the gravity, your body still keeps forces–” Or, “still is trying to force blood up, up, up. People tend to be a little flushed, sound like they have a cold, and the pressure on the eyeballs can also distort them. One thing you have to take with you is some way to make prescription eyewear, because the shape of the eye will gradually change. And if eyes get injured, that’s hard to treat. You know how much a head wound bleeds? On Mars, it’s worse - and the blood stays in the air longer, too.

From the beginning of my career, I had a good instinct for diagnosis. It’s a little like a mystery story - there is something wrong in a patient’s body, a crime has been committed, and until you know who did it, you can’t make it right. I enjoy solving this puzzle.

A certain case changed my career. A man came in vomiting. Hair falling out. He said he had once been a spy and that his old employer had poisoned him. His kidneys started to fail. All my instincts said it must be radiation poisoning, but when we checked with a Geiger counter, there was no sign. I went to talk to an expert, to ask if there was some way there could be radiation strong enough to be killing a man from the inside out, and yet no gamma particles for a Geiger counter to measure.

The answer was polonium-210. Almost no gamma radiation, but enormous alpha energy. Unfortunately, even knowing what had happened, I could not save him.

This started me on a new track, learning everything I could about radiation. The expert I had consulted, he was working on reactor designs for the ISA. As we talked, I began to see a way I could take what I was learning and use it in a new way. If I could help solve the problems of radiation for astronauts in space or on the new colonies on the Moon and Mars, that would be work that would help not just one patient, but all mankind.

Radiation is a mysterious topic. Ramsar, Iran, has background radiation levels close to those on Mars without showing elevated cancer risk. But acute radiation can certainly increase cellular mutations. On Earth, our magnetosphere and our thick atmosphere help protect us from radiation. On Mars the atmosphere is very thin, and there is no magnetosphere at all. When does this matter? For instance, a big solar flare has almost no impact on Earth, but on Mars it can cause an acute burst of radiation 50 times normal levels.

For this reason, I am the only person on Mars as interested in lava tubes– tube caves, as Aurore. To me it is obvious that in the long run a bigger colony must live in a cave. The rock will shelter us from radiation, and from the giant swings in temperature from day to night.

But exploring the caves, it’s not so safe.

Last week in the cave, Alexandr punctured his suit. Well, he tore a small piece, very small. It released the pressure, just for a moment. It was patched fast, Gott sei dank, but when you go from pressure to no pressure, it creates a vacuum. It pulls on the skin. Think if you had a suction cup against your arm - the way you can pull your skin up with the suction cup. But this was more than just a suction cup, even for a few seconds.

Alexandr had Aurore with him. He had help. He had a calm thinker there. Alone? Who knows. He may have panicked. It hurts, you understand. It is very painful, your arm in a vacuum like that. When they got back to the hab, he was clutching his arm. He tried to make it look like he is not hurt. It is not like Alex to let pain show on his face, but I am a doctor. I can tell.

I look at his arm. It was red and purple, bruised to the touch. Like a knutschfleck… in English this is a hickey, like from the strong kisses, except much larger and, pardon, less fun. There is not much I can do for the injury outside of give relief. Help with getting the swelling down with heat and cold, help with gentle pain medication. He needs time to heal. Still, it is the best that can be done here. That is all we can do, the best we can.

Here is one big difference between Earth and Mars. When you solve the mystery on Earth, there is much you can do. You have medication, you have tools. The patient has this ailment, they now have this cure. If there is no cure, you still know what best to do to ease their pain and you have access to it. On Mars, it is not so simple. If we don’t have a piece of equipment, I can’t send you to the next hospital for a test. If we don’t have a certain drug, you can’t go to another drug store to pick it up.

On Earth, there are many doctors. Here is only Tetyana or me. To help we have only what they could put in the rocket to bring. So our most important resources are our minds. If we do not have something, we must find another way. Sometimes, we must adapt, try new things, be clever, figure it out.

I am grateful every day for the safety of the crew, for the fact that problems have been not so severe. Alves is always saying this planet is trying to kill us. I don’t disagree, maybe, but I think he looks at it wrong. It isn’t the planet trying to kill us. It is the planet trying to test us. Test humanity. The planet has cold and dust and storms and sharp edges. We don’t have endless resources. But we have our minds. I think we can pass the test - don’t you?”

***

See what I mean? Bertram is very likable. He does really remind me of my dad. I liked him a lot, and I really liked his message. I’m, well, first of all - very glad to hear that Alex is okay. I honestly hadn't even thought about the pain that he would have been in when we heard that letter last week. I– You think about a small cut in a suit, right, or in fabric, and maybe it's not… You know, it’s not the first thing you think of is, “Oh, the pressure.” I just figured, they caught it so quickly, I'm sure it's fine. I didn't imagine the impact that it would have, which I probably should have. I don't know if you all have the thought before I did, but I'm very glad to hear that he's all right.

That being said, this kind of ties into what our game is going to be for the week. And I'm going to give you all a little preemptive idea before we hop into our sponsor message and our weather message, because this needs you all to help me out.

So here's how the game is going to work, and I hope you're listening, because this is going to be a great way to get XP. Now, previous games, if you participated at all, you got that fancy XP boost that Stephanie gave you. Very exciting stuff. I know we love to get that XP. This game is going to be a little bit harder.

So, my game is as follows. I want you to imagine that I am the ISA, me, Emma Miller, the ISA. I get to decide who gets points and who doesn't get points to get points.

This week, the game we are playing is - what are you bringing to Mars? I want to hear what you all would bring with you to Mars. Now, to be clear, this does not have to be very serious and you do not have to think of the spacesuits and the medicine. I don't want those. I want you to think of what you would bring to Mars, and where this is going to come down to you getting points or not getting points, you have to convince me why you would bring that item to Mars. And I will tell you, GIF usage is convincing. So if you can create a compelling reason using GIFs, it might swing me in your favor. I get to decide what everyone brings.

So let me tell you what I would bring before we hop into our sponsor message and our weather message. Start thinking about it. Think about what you'd bring. Don't tell me yet, because you're going to have to explain yourself, and I'm going to call on each of you to explain.

I would bring a video game console. And there are some very obvious reasons why, right? I mean, it's just so clear. So, why would I bring a video game console? You see, I would bring a video game console because video games? They make you happy. You play them, they keep you entertained... It's a great time, right? So there's number one - wellbeing, obviously.

Also, it is a great way to virtually visit familiar Earth-like landscapes if you're feeling homesick. Again, really helps with thinking about everything, making you feel better. Mental wellbeing.

Number three - teachers hand-eye coordination. We all have super fast reflexes in case we get attacked by aliens. You know, you gotta, you gotta be speedy. And of course, it's a really great way for you to train! There are so many racing games that you can play on video game consoles that will teach you perfectly how to drive a Martian buggy, right? Right? And so that's why we are bringing a video game console to Mars.

So with that as my example, and with this great GIF that is showing you exactly what I would look like while playing a video game on Mars, I am going to cut to our sponsor message and our weather. So you start thinking, start thinking about what you'd bring, and I'm going to call on each of you if you post a GIF or your explanation, and if I like your explanation, then you will get it added to our list of what we're bringing to Mars, and at the end of our game, we'll decide who gets points. So with that, let's head on over to our sponsor message!

Commercial break

So you want to be an astronaut? You have the knowledge, you have the training in your discipline, you have the passion - now you need to take the final step. If you’re a bird ready to spring from the nest, the ISA’s “Flight School” is where you can learn to spread your wings and fly.

Located in Sydney, Australia, “Flight School” is the base course that prepares our astronauts for subsequent specialist training in their particular fields. It’s not easy. Long hours in the classroom build knowledge in astrophysics, geology, chemistry, and more - but that’s only the beginning. You will plunge into pool work, flight training, and many hours in our detailed simulations of low pressure and microgravity environments. Understand that many walk in to Flight School, but only the best will walk out as fully-fledged ISA astronauts.  

“Flight School” is where teams are born and friendships forged strong enough to withstand everything the Red Planet can throw at us. The work done in these first years of training will determine the trajectory of your life - and maybe the fate of humankind - for years to come.

Are you ready to leave the nest? Join your fellow prospective astronauts for the flight of a lifetime at ISA’s Flight School.

Weather report

And now for our weather report. With clearing skies, temperatures are undergoing greater extremes, with lows of -95 degrees Celsius, but a possibility of going as high as 5 degrees Celsius. And that's 5 positive degrees.

That positive temperature sounds like a bigger deal than it really is. At Mars pressure, the melting point and boiling points of water are essentially the same, so ice tends to go into gas directly. However, our astronauts will be keeping an eye out for the rare but possible site of liquid water.

Pressure is still quite low, even for Mars. Expected to be steady around 640 Pascal. Winds from about 180 degrees East of North, which is actually our South, and they're ranging from 5 meters/second to 20 meters/second or 20 to 55 kilometer/hour, which is fairly calm.

***

Alright, now is your moment to shine!

Alright, let me scroll back, let me scroll back, let's see. So, Stephanie, you shared a very interesting GIF of... Is that a shoehorn and vaseline? Would you care to explain why you would bring a shoehorn and vaseline, so that I can make the decision on whether or not we're going to include your contribution? I'm going to start taking notes.

If you want to share your– This goes for everybody, if you want to share your ideas, make sure that you also add in some words so that I know exactly what you're talking about bringing and why.

Alright, let's see what else it looks like maybe Sky wants to bring a piano, or a cat? Or a piano and a cat? I want some understanding. What are we bringing here?

CHRNV, Is that a guitar? Is that what we want to bring? Guitar? Sky also has a little violin. The Martian, are we bringing baseball? Broccoli, maybe is bringing ping pong…?

Alright, so Stephanie says, “Those caves seem quite dangerous. Easy to get stuck.” Okay, okay, so that's what we'd use the shoehorn and vaseline for. Alright, interesting. Interesting. That's a good reason. Let me think about it, let me think about it.

“A tennis table,” okay. Why, Broccoli? Why are we bringing a tennis table?

Sky says “I bring a set of musical instruments, including a piano, because music would be great for wellbeing,” oo! “Also, I'm curious about how music would sound in the thinner atmosphere of Mars. Would sound travel better or worse on Mars?” Sky, I think you're going to be my first addition to our Martian packing list, because that is a very good question. If you bring a set of musical instruments, then you can, you know, give everyone something to play with, and I think that's a very good experiment. I like that a lot. So, Sky, we're going to bring a set of musical instruments. I'm typing it up. Beautiful. Alright, there's number one, other than, of course, my video games, which obviously are getting brought.

Alright, the Martian said baseball gear. Tell me more, Martian, tell me more.

Manja says “Golf, gravity experience must be awesome.” Okay, okay, is it only for the gravity experience? I need to know more, I need to know more. Convince me. Why would we bring golf?

“Can I bring a jacuzzi hot tub?” Keren, that's an interesting idea. I would– I mean, what would be the reasoning behind bringing a jacuzzi hot tub? You can convince me, I can be convinced.

“Great for–” Oo, okay, so Broccoli says that table tennis “would be great for team building and keeping astronauts in good shape.” Broccoli, you know what? I like that. I think that that's a good idea for team building and keeping astronauts in shape. Good exercise. “And it's compact,” that's, I think, what sells me here. It is compact, it's something that you can fold up, can fit it into a ship. I like that, bBroccoli.

So, so far we have a set of musical instruments, we have Broccoli's table tennis… Alright. And then my, of course, my video games. Very important.

“So just ignoring the Easy-Bake Oven, then,” well, I need to understand why you want to bring an Easy-Bake Oven. Let's hear, let's hear what your thoughts are.

“Baseball gear to have fun, and also to experience the physics of the game in lighter gravity and also the wellbeing of astronauts and also to remember our roots on Earth.” Interesting, interesting!

Okay, I will add… So, CHRNV, I will add you to Sky’s… You guys can be co-partners on that, because the musical instruments… I like it, I like it. That feels good.

“+1 for Manja. Golf clubs are also replacement antennas, and you can use them to beat down aliens.” Vellum, that's very smart! Okay, okay, so let's give both Vellum and Manja… I'm down. You've convinced me. Alright, we're bringing golf clubs. Especially with the replacement antennas. I mean, that's a big one, right?

“Pets can generate some wellbeing,” ooh, okay, what kind of pet are we bringing? I don't know if… Do we think that there are Martian… Hm… Like, do we think that there are suits for pets yet?

I think I can also be convinced about baseball gear. I think I can add that into Broccoli’s. So we have table tennis and maybe baseball. Or add that into golf, because that's a compact thing. It's just one medal bat. We could always repurpose the metal, too, much like the golf clubs. I feel like that argument gets made for that as well, so let's add golf and baseball. Alright. And we'll give that to Martian as well. I like it, I like it.

“Golf tournament on Mars to raise a profile of Mars settlement.” [gasp] Chris is out here coming up with a whole public affairs plan! I like that!

Hmm… Chris, I think we can add you to that list as well. I like that you guys are… I like that you all are coming together to convince me. I think that this is working out well. We're creating a team! It's pretty great.

“Smashing. Everyone likes that. After a long journey, golf and baseball to decompress.” Yeah, you could smash, like, little balls of dust on the planet. I like it, I like it.

Spoons says, “A deck of cards. Fun and team-building. You can also wager food.” Huh. Now, I do think that there are likely decks of cards on the planet. In fact, I have it on good authority that that's the case. But I like where your head’s at, I like where your head's at. And I also like the ‘you can wager food’ idea, so I could be convinced of that. I'm not entirely sure, though, that might be a little too easy after all these other ones. We need some variation here. We have a lot of stuff just for the sake of… playing games. Maybe that's all we need.

Zadigrim said, “Treats made with love are good for morale and only use the power of a tiny light bulb.” I'm going to be honest with you - I wasn't sold on the Easy-Bake Oven beforehand, but I think you're right. Very, very minimal power usage… That's convincing. Comes with pre-packaged ingredients. I think the only thing you might need to bring are eggs, but I'm pretty sure that they're egg substitutes… Yeah, I mean, I'm hearing you. I think it's important. You know, flavors on Mars are not always the best. You're going to have some pretty standard food. I'm into it. So, let me add this in. So, Zadigrim, I'm adding in our Easy-Bake Oven.

So, so far, we have a set of musical instruments, we have table tennis, we have golf and baseball gear, and an Easy-Bake Oven, and of course, my video game consoles. “Who will play the instruments?” You will have plenty of time to learn, that's very true. “Obvious pet for Mars is a red setter,” oooh, a red setter! I actually thought you were going to say ‘a rock’. For a quick second, I– I inserted the idea of a pet rock to that, which, who knows? 

Love that, love that. “We're going to die on Mars,” no, no, we're going to have the best time, Janoots. “Over time, the use of industrial hemp has evolved into an even greater variety of products, including health foods, organic body care, clothing…” Ooh, interesting. So maybe hemp becomes a product that we use, or a plant that we plant there to use it for a variety of different things. That's an interesting idea.

And we got a GIF... “Sustainable.” I think we'd have to talk to the ISA about that one. ]laugh] I don't know that I can put that into our ISA... I don't know if we can put that into our packing list. Though, I mean, I know, you know, it does get used for a variety of other products. I'll have to check with the ISA on that one, BrickBond, but I like where your head's at. That's some, that’s some good thinking. And maybe a little bit more realistic than an Easy-Bake Oven, but! I like it. “Cats rule Mars.” Alright, we’re bringing a cat to Mars? Is that what we're trying to convince me? “Or a turtle,” hmm….

“Nobody dare bring Monopoly. It will destroy the colony in one night,” Tronity, I like that. That is… That is one of those games that is pretty consistently a friendship ender. You think by, you know, the late 2030s, we would have found a different game that could ruin all of our friendships, but here we are.

“Boomerangs,” oh! That's interesting, I wonder if boomerangs would have the same trajectories on Mars. With the air pressure being what it is, I feel like it likely wouldn't come back. [laugh] There's not a lot of wind. Interesting, interesting, I like the idea.

Alright, I'm looking for one more thing. One more thing to add to our list. Currently we have a set of musical instruments, we have a table tennis setup, we have golf and baseball gear, and we have an Easy-Bake Oven. I'm looking for one more thing to add to our list and one more person to get given that XP.

BrickBond, I'm going to add you as a… I'm going to put you in there. I'm still looking for one more, but I'm going to put you in there so that I can check with the ISA and make sure that we’d be okay with adding that to our packing list, you know? But I like where your head's at.

CHRNV, are you saying fireworks? To bring fireworks to the planet? I'm going to go ahead and deny the request for fireworks just right off the bat, because I think if we bring fireworks to a planet where we have to [laugh] We have to prevent explosions in our habitats, perhaps bringing literal tiny bombs is probably not the best idea.

“The whole collection, please.” Just the Harry Potter book series? Wow, those are… I need more convincing, I need more convincing. Why would we bring the whole series?

“A Hibachi/BBQ grill”? I like where your head's at. You're thinking food and I like that. I like that.

“Swiss Army pocket knife,” hmm… “Martians have got to eat,” that's true. They do have to eat. I need something that's really going to convince me. I need something that's going to blow me out of the water.

[laugh] A punching bag. Cooking pot. Extra underwear... I like it, I like it. Actually, Stephanie, what are we referring to in that? Which of the parts of it?

The Holy Bible? I don't know if… I think that's probably something that the ISA lets the astronauts each bring, you know, whatever their text would be.

“The guy.” [laugh] I like that.

I think… We bring a shifty eyed monkey. I like it. A telescope. Manja, I like where your brain’s at. I'm sure that would be a good one. I like the extra underwear also.

“Excited microwave noises,” we just bring a microwave?

“We need to cook.” [laugh] Okay, Stephanie, you win. Alright, that's our last thing that we're packing, and that's a chef! That really got me. I like that. Alright, Stephanie, you are on it. That's our… A cook, a chef! A Swedish Chef. It's perfect!

Alright, so, at the end, our final list of our items that we are bringing to Mars so that we have the resources that we have all needed, it is: a video game console, a set of musical instruments, table tennis, golf and baseball gear, an Easy-Bake Oven, potentially some hemp plants, and a cook. I think it'll be perfect. We might last a weekend and only a weekend, but we will have had a very enjoyable weekend. I think… I'll be sure to pass this list along to Aurore and to Alex and, of course, John Alves, and all of the Martian base astronauts and find out what their thoughts are on our list and see what they have to say. I'll try to see if I can get some kind of message for you all for next week.

With that being said, thank you all so much for playing our game this week. S,o everyone who is here will get a small amount of XP, but if you were chosen in that list of people who convinced me on what you were going to pack, you'll be getting a little bit of extra XP and that was… That was so fun!

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, BrickBond. I hope you have all had fun. Next week we will, of course, have some more exciting stuff for you, so I look forward to chatting with you all next week.

It's also very nice to see some new names in here and, Tesla, congratulations! That's very exciting, I'm happy to have a new manager.

“Nice work, team,” indeed, Manja, I agree.

With that, I am signing off for the week. It was great to chat with you all and I will see you all next time.

Bye, everybody!

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