|  | Vladimir checking the equipment prior to packing | |
Day 10 - Tuesday 17 July
23 July 2001
Seventh and last day in the Martian Habitat and the last entry in my Mars diary. It is just midnight and I am back in Resolute. The sky is bright blue and the midnight sun is still shining high.
Again, what a day and what a weather! I was told that there is an old arctic saying that goes “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes: it will change”. Well, it has certainly changed, compared to the miserable drizzle and mud we had yesterday. But let me return to yesterday.
After sending our daily report the crew was feeling a little bit down and exhausted after yesterday's disastrous EVA expedition in the mud. It was agreed that we would give our geophysics experiment another try this afternoon, in front of the Habitat then we treated ourselves to a salmon sauce spaghetti prepared by Bill Clancey and sat down to watch the Monty Python film “Holy Grail”.
This morning, on waking up to a blue sky, it was time to fill in our two psychological questionnaires. We started full of enthusiasm but after an hour realised that it would take us far too long to complete them. Furthermore, we were informed by radio that there would be only one plane from Resolute to Devon Island and back in the coming two days and that it would leave this evening at 18:00.
| | HMP Base Camp | |
Isn’t it ironic: bad weather the planes can’t fly; good weather, the planes are suddenly all busy and they can’t come to Devon as they have to serve other arctic destinations. So, as I had to catch a plane from Resolute at 04:30 on Thursday morning I had to be on the 18:00 plane.
So, suddenly it was all rush to pack bags and to prepare for the afternoon’s EVA. We left our questionnaires for later and concentrated on cleaning the EVA suits of dried mud.
Three of us took part in the EVA which lasted 2½ hours: Robert Zubrin, Katy Quinn and myself. We went to Haynes Ridge in front of the Habitat to deploy the geophone flute in a direction perpendicular to the crater rim, to complete the three-dimensional sounding of this part of the rim after last Thursday’s EVA.
It was rather warm, up to 8°C, and again we were sweating and exhausted, but this time from the heat. However, we managed to finish all the measurements in time in front of the CNN cameras. The data were saved and sent that evening by email to my colleagues at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris and the Royal Observatory of Belgium for further processing.
We arrived back in time to pack all the instruments to be returned to France and to prepare to leave the Habitat. The new crew has already arrived on Devon Island and the changeover is foreseen for 21:00.
What a strange feeling to walk outside without the bulky EVA suits and what a mixed feeling of joy and sadness at returning to civilisation and on leaving the Habitat and the crew with whom I have shared this unique experience.
At the base camp I met Dr Pascal Lee, the Chief Project Scientist of the NASA AMES Haughton Mars Project and we discussed potential future collaboration. I shared the evening dinner of Mexican omelettes with green peppers, black beans and salsa sauce with the new crew and we exchanged views on the Habitat experience. Then, suddenly, it was time for me to leave Devon Island.
| | Resolute Bay | |
The plane had arrived and it was time to put all the equipment on board. Scientists, doctors, cooks, camp managers, everybody helped to carry the loads and bags into the plane. We exchanged our goodbyes and took off into the infinite blue sky.
What a beautiful place this is as seen from the plane. There is a breathtaking view of the arctic desert with snow patches and a blend of brown and grey colours. Already the Habitat has been left behind and is a little point on the rim of the huge crater, so similar to Mars and at the same time, so hospitable and unlike Mars.
After 45 minutes we landed in Resolute and were greeted by Aziz and Colleen Lenahan of NASA HMP, the person responsible for logistics in Resolute. The temperature was a summer high of 12°C, nearly unbearable!
I was looking forward to my first hot shower at the hotel and it was even better than I had imagined as there was a Jacuzzi in the room. Yes, I confess, while I was relaxing in the bath tub I did think about my companions who stayed at the base camp and those in the Habitat. The simple pleasures of life can be so great after nearly two weeks of a sleeping bag, camping and sponge baths in the Habitat, and tonight I will even sleep in a real bed!
| | Dr Robert Zubrin, Kathy Quinn and Vladimir Pletser | |
All in all this has been a great experience. I have met so many interesting people and we went through so many different experiences; sometime difficult but always rewarding.
For the next three days I will be travelling as I start my return journey to Europe via Resolute-Yellowknife-Edmonton, then Edmonton-London-Amsterdam, finally arriving on Friday evening. Next week, I travel to Bordeaux for a parabolic flight campaign organised for student experiments. The weightlessness experienced during these parabolic flights will be a little bit like returning from the planet Mars on an interplanetary journey after a stay on Mars.
I am looking forward to returning to Devon Island and the arctic 24-hour daylight maybe next year. But, the final words in this dairy must be “on to Mars”!
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