MARS poem

 Mars is Earth's neighbour

The planet often called The Red.

There is no life there

And all the plants are dead.

Phobos and Deimos are the two moons of Mars

And around them, there are lot of stars.

Astronauts, the people who travel into space,

Come from ISS , a very important place.

On the Mars they have fun,

They drive the Mars Rovers,

Which replace all the cars.

                                                     Zoe Gamulin & Sara Krpan, 7.b 

THE PREPARATION

At the International Space Station, everyone is working: space engineers are testing new circuits, technicians are developing new communication systems; in the research lab, scientists are conducting robotics and technology experiments.

One group of astronauts, being busy programming new engineering applications, is unexpectedly summoned by the captain.

“I have an important communication for you guys! You have been selected for the next mission on Mars!  Samantha, Martim, Seán, Marianne and Nikola: a huge challenge is awaiting for you! Ready?”

A dream was about to come true for our five friends!

Their diversified training programme starts. A variety of simulators and facilities will help them prepare for their work in space. 

The formidable Fives work hard and, once the first phase has been completed, they are ready for the next one! It’s time to focus on activities, exercises and experiments, and to familiarize with the many power tools and special devices: a variety of simulators and facilities will help them for their work in space.

Deep within the pool, astronauts train for spacewalk: it will help them see what it's like to work in microgravity.

 With their long days of training finally complete, the five astronauts enter the space capsule 2.5 hours before lift-off.

They work in collaboration with ground controllers to prepare the rocket for its final launch sequence. Have a good trip!!

THE JOURNEY

As the friends wait in the space ship, there is a great vibe of excitement, happiness and joy. It has been the five friends' life long dream to travel to Mars and, finally, it is about to become a reality. Samantha, Martim, Sean, Marianne and Nikola are wearing their spacesuits and thinking of endless possibilities as to what they will discover on their adventure to Mars. "Only one hour to take-off" Sean shouts excitedly.

They take a group selfie and await the countdown.

It will be a very long journey - 260 days to be precise. 

Suddenly, there is a loud noise followed by the countdown. "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.... Lift-off!.

They pick up more and more speed, soon travelling at 29,000km per hour. 

Martim contacts ESA HQ to inform them that they had safely reached space. They can now concentrate on the journey to Mars which will take approximately seven months. They have enough freeze-dried food on board to last the journey. They prepare the food by putting water into the packaging and eating it once it absorbs the water. They use hot water to make hot meals. The food tastes different, keeping clean, neat and strong is difficult and different also.

They exercise for about two hours daily to prevent muscle or bone loss. They use different gym equipment than we use on Earth. 

Planet Earth appears to get smaller and smaller as they travel.

Finally, after 259 days they are fast approaching Mars. They can see it up close at last. There it is! The Red planet!

THE LANDING

"Ha! We are landing soon! " exclaims Samantha.              

 "Indeed! It’s been eight  and a half months that we have been travelling", adds Nikola.                                                                

 "I’m getting hungry, I will bring food." announces Seán.

The young astronaut heads to the reserve of food and finds that some food is missing, so he returns to the cockpit furious.                             

"Who ate some of our reserves? " shouts Seán. No one answers.

Seán unleashes his anger on his comrades. Meanwhile, Nikola, who does not want to meddle in this dispute, decides to do a thermal scan to get an answer. He discovers that there is a presence in the engine room.  Taking his courage in both hands he head off to the engine room alone.

On arriving there he finds a young girl and quickly races back to tell his friends. The five astronauts rush to the engine room and they discover the sleeping body of the unknown girl. At first they hesitate to wake her up but before long she awakes and utters a cry of fear when she spots the astronauts who jump with fright.                                        

"Who are you? " asks Marianne . "Err..my name is Aina. I’m a technician. " she stutters.

"What are you doing here?" asks Samantha.

"I was making the final checks when I hit a machine and woke up with you in space, " Aina explains.

“ But why didn’t you come to us earlier?“  Marianne enquires.

“ Because of the door of the cockpit that needs a code for entry and also because I was afraid of your reaction“  Aina replies.

“ Without knowing it, you're putting us all in danger, replies Seán, quite upset.

“True, we had planned food for 5 people, not 6, Nikola adds.

“ Yes, but the most important thing is that in a few minutes we'll start landing and all our calculations will not work if she is here.“ replies Samantha.

“I'm sorry“ whimpers Aina.

Suddenly, the rocket speeds up more and more and they all start running towards the cockpit.

“ We're going to crash!“  Seán exclaims.

“ We are going way too fast!“  Nikola shouts with panic in his voice.

Each man takes their place in the cockpit. When Aina asks them one by one to leave they all refuse. However, she doesn't give up and pushes Seán from his chair before taking the controls and managing to slow down the speed of the rocket. The rocket is damaged a little but finally the team manage to land safely.

FIRST PROBLEMS

“Are you all okay? “ Seán asks.

“I think we might have some injuries, but we will be fine “ Nikola answers with an annoyed voice. “  “ You shouldn’t have done that, Aina! “ he roars. “ You have endangered the aircraft and its occupants, you should not have changed the landing procedure the way you did. After settling down, we’ll gather and decide how to punish you. Meanwhile, try to use your knowledge to check for any malfunctions. “

Following Nikola's outburst, the five astronauts make their way to the landing ship door, but they stop suddenly before opening it.

“Shall we all go?“ Marianne asks.

“I think it’s better. We should be able to face the temperature, any storm or natural phenomenon. “ replies Samantha.

“Okay, I think we’re ready to go. Let's do it!“  insists Marianne, “Nikola, you stay here just in case. Some problems may occur.“ .

“Err... Fine, I’ll stay... “ says Nikola with a sad voice.

Seán and Marianne leave the landing ship and step on the Mars surface. The ground is dusty, full of stones, and the gravity is a little bit inferior to Earth’s gravity. They explore the landing place for a couple of hours and find the frame of the Curiosity rover. It seems to have been disabled for a couple of months.

“R.I.P. Curiosity... “ mutters Seán.

At dawn, after a couple of hours sleeping, they begin building a shelter. Each of them has a task: Seán has the research material; Marienne handles the life-support system; while all the others construct the frame and cover it in canvas. It takes the whole day in order to finish it.

Since the average air temperature on Mars can drop to a very cold -62 degrees C, if the shelter is built above ground it would need to use heavy thermal insulation. The thin Martian atmosphere also requires the shelter to be airtight so that a near earth-like environment can be maintained inside. Air locks are also needed to prevent the precious oxygen-enriched breathable air from escaping into the Martian atmosphere as they enter or leave the shelters.

"I am so tired... “ complains Nikola.

“ Aff... me too... “ grumbles Seán, “I need some rest. “

“ We cannot stop now... we need to sit down, and plan our stay here“ adds Samantha. “We are a little bit short of resources. Let’s go inside... “