For Marina Martinez, Mars is only a 20-hours flight from Frankfurt. OK, it’s not the REAL Mars, but there is a real ground station with all the trimmings, suits for outside, dull astronaut food and cramped buildings.
Goethe@Mars
Marina Martinez from Goethe University spent two weeks as an analog astronaut at the Mars Research Desert Station in Utah
For Marina Martinez, Mars is only a 20-hours flight from Frankfurt. OK, it’s not the REAL Mars, but there is a real ground station with all the trimmings, suits for outside, dull astronaut food and cramped buildings.
Marina is a postdoc planetary scientist at the Schwiete CosmoLab of Goethe University and an expert on Martian and lunar rocks. Together with 6 female colleagues, she spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert on the “Hypatia II” mission.
The “Hypatia II” mission was organized by the Hypatia Mars Association. It is run by women and promotes Martian research and space exploration. Fun fact: Hypatia was a brilliant polymath of the 5th century AD.
During “Mars walks”, Marina wears a spacesuit with an oxygen backpack. She tests a portable X-ray fluorescence gun for rapid analyses of rocks. “It would be annoying if the astronauts only sent geologically boring Martian rocks to Earth – with just under a year of travel time and really little free luggage,” she says.
The Utah desert is very similar to Mars: there are no plants, no water, hardly any life. But lots of dust and rock. The station generates electricity via solar panels, and the wastewater is recycled.
Back in the laboratory of the Mars Desert Research Station, Marina continues with the rock analysis. Here, she uses a tabletop energy-dispersive X-Ray fluorescence device to determine the chemical elements with more precision.
Marina is also responsible for the greenhouse, the GreenHab. Fresh vegetables don’t just make Martian food tastier. Home-grown vegetables are a prerequisite for living on Mars. The reasons: The delivery service from Earth is horrendously expensive and only comes every 26 months – when Mars and Earth fly “close” to each other.
Marina is testing menstrual blood as a fertilizer; it is rich in potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. While female astronauts may suppress their menstruation hormonally on missions to the ISS, this would entail higher risks on missions to Mars, which last many years. It sounds very unfamiliar, but gardeners (on Earth) also recommend blood as an alternative to mineral fertilizers for roses, tomatoes and berries.
Marina is also responsible for the greenhouse, the GreenHab. Fresh vegetables don’t just make Martian food tastier. Home-grown vegetables are a prerequisite for living on Mars. The reasons: The delivery service from Earth is horrendously expensive and only comes every 26 months – when Mars and Earth fly “close” to each other.
Marina is testing menstrual blood as a fertilizer; it is rich in potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. While female astronauts may suppress their menstruation hormonally on missions to the ISS, this would entail higher risks on missions to Mars, which last many years. It sounds very unfamiliar, but gardeners (on Earth) also recommend blood as an alternative to mineral fertilizers for roses, tomatoes and berries.
Harvest time: The tomatoes look almost like the ones grown on Earth 😊
When phoning Earth from Mars, astronauts have to wait 5 to 20 minutes for an answer. Smartphones? Internet? Not a chance! Accordingly, Marina and her colleagues in Utah are almost always offline. Sometimes the view makes up for it. And the sun is the same, seen from Earth or Mars.
Author: Dr. Markus Bernards
Photos: Hypatia Mars Association
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