A chat with a martianaut

Yesterday, my students had a chat via Skype with a martianaut. His name is Laurent B. and he is studying engineering in Toulouse where future French astronauts and aeronautical engineers train and study. Laurent is 22 years old, and he is currently in Russia to learn Russian for one year. He participated in the Mars Society Program, and with six others selected students, spent three weeks in the Mars Desert Research Station in the United States. Their aim was to live as if they were on Mars, and they also had a greenhouse in which they could make experiments. Their (I think you mean base) was in Utah because its landscape is quite close to the one we can see on Mars. They lived in a small building of 8m2. They were isolated, and had to learn how to live in a small place together. During their missions, they wore astronaut suits (not the same as the ones the astronauts really wear in space, but rather close in its design)

During the interview, he described his experience and he answered many questions my students had. They asked him about Jovian planets and Mars. How do you have a shower in space? How do you eat and drink? How do you go to the toilet? Will there be someone on Mars one day? What is a black hole? What are the consequences of the lack of gravity on the human body? etc... The interview lasted two hours.

He told us he experienced eating powdered food, such as butter. He had to add some water to eat it. He said that some food was good, and other food was a bit difficult to eat. He also told us that astronauts can't really have a shower in space, but they have to use wet towels to clean their body. He added that the smell within the ISS was rather... strong. He told us he believes that we will have to wait until 2050 before seeing someone go to Mars. It is a long trip, as it takes six months to reach the planet. He also told us that once in space, astronauts' bones grow, they gain nearly 3 centimeters but they also lose muscle, so they have to practice sports every day for two hours or so.

Laurent was really nice, and I am grateful my students participated in the interview over Skype. They were very positive and enthusiastic. A journalist from Le Parisien was in the classroom, and he took pictures and interviewed three of my students. The article was online yesterday, and it was published today

Tomorrow morning, we'll have a Skype meeting with an engineer from NASA who has worked on the robot Mars Curiosity.

Below is a picture from the interview.