01x05 - Darkest Days

[bunniefuu]

Javier Delgado: Previously on Mars.

Ed Grann: We at MMC feel that we're ready to go faster.

Hana Seung: Phase two expansion was underway and the Cyngus crew had arrived with experts to oversee our upgrades. Base commander Hana Seung. We had hoped to have the second facility up by now, but we've been running into trouble every step of the way.

Leslie Richardson: Within two months we'll have enough power to double the size and capacity of your facilities.

Marta Kamen: Hana approved this?

Leslie Richardson: I informed her yes.

Joon Seung: It's a little too ambitious right now.

Ed Grann: You don't go to Mars without ambition.

Hana Seung: No matter how hard Ed Grann's team worked to expand Olympus town's infrastructure, Mars worked even harder to tear it down.

Javier Delgado: Oliver!

Hana Seung: And I was caught in the middle, trying to keep us alive.

Ed Grann: Our dream is now a reality.

Hana Seung: They don't know Mars.

Robert Foucault: I don't think we're going to get a chance to get that reactor back online.

[Theme music plays]

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Mae: Pressurization complete, perprolate deposits detected. Please sanitize before entry.

Hana Seung: Seung Hana, mission entry phase 2. We've been in full storm protocol for the last two months, trying to budget the power and resources we have. The way current satellite forecasts are looking it could be anywhere between 5 to 8, 9 weeks before the storm passes. There's no sign of relief. Experiments have been put on hold. All EVA's suspended. The days seem like they go on forever, filled with innane tasks and darkness.

Sam: And no grown-up will ever understand... That this is a matter of so much importance! My grandfather used to read me this book on long blizzard nights. I hope this storm ends before I have the whole thing memorized.

Hana Seung: We never had a chance to bring the nuclear reactor back online after Oliver's accident. The redundancies are gone and we're on backup power. I don't like running like this, it means we're just one complication away from a complete outage. Dr. Leslie Richardson may be overseeing Olympus town's infrastructure now, but I'm still responsible for the safety of everyone in it.

Paul Richardson: Two brothers.

Leslie Richardson: Nick.

Paul Richardson: Twins.

Leslie Richardson: That grow light can you just take it out.

Paul Richardson: And their father king.

[Mumbles]

Hana Seung: Doctor.

Leslie Richardson: This is not a good time, sorry.

Hana Seung: We have to start rationing power.

Leslie Richardson: These lamps were inadequate to begin with and now we're only utilizing fifty percent of their potential output.

Paul Richardson: We barely have the power to keep the feed systems running. I'm struggling to keep the crop yield as it was 2 months ago.

Hana Seung: I know. The solar arrays are useless in the storm. We have to reserve power for critical systems. If we hadn't taken the nuclear reactor offline before the storm, I've instructed Robert to dial the greenhouse power down to one-quarter output.

Paul Richardson: Please. They're only babies.

Hana Seung: I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do.

Paul Richardson: Would you leave me alone, please?

Hana Seung: Of course.

Paul Richardson: I'm sorry... Truly sorry.

Hana Seung: With Robert squeezing every last bit of energy out of our reserves, we were all just hanging on, as we tried to weather the storm.

Jim Green: We've been studying the dust storms on Mars for quite some time, and there's a particular season where some of the dust storms can actually go global. Not just regional, but global. Dust storms on Mars can be absolutely enormous. They can be 20 to 30 kilometers high, and in fact the dust can get charged and in the case of these really tall dust storms, lightning can strike.

Andy Weir: These dust storms are huge. They can cover the entire planet, and they can last for months. They're visible from space. Mars just kind of turns into a hazy, red ball, and we can't see surface features anymore with our satellites. The dust, it's not like sand. It's like talcum powder. It's very, very microscopicly small nasty dust particles. And if they get into your lungs, it's a human safety issue. So you would want to try to keep it out as much as possible.

Stephen Petranek: There's a lot of dust on Mars. You know we've learned from our rovers on Mars that they're constantly getting covered in dust. And one of the problems with solar panels is that dust would cover them almost instantly, or they would simply block out the Sun so much that they don't work. If you've got a dust storm that lasted for a month on Mars, and you were relying on solar power you'd be in big trouble.

Paul Richardson: We have no energy and I can't keep my plants alive.

[Thunder] This storm has been raging for months. They call it a season. I can't do my job.

Board member: You told us that we were sending the best minds on earth, doubling the power, expanding the infrastructure, these people have been trapped in a dust storm for two months with a third of the power they had before you had your prodigy shut it down.

Ed Grann: This storm is just a bump in the road. We have the world's leading agronomist working around the clock. He's getting hybrids producing, and that will make Olympus town self-sustaining. That means Mars will have the resources to feed thousands of people, and those people are going to need rockets to get there. We own the hybrids, and we build the rockets. We just have to play the long game.

Paul Richardson: She left, she left, but not you. It's gonna be ok. These are the times that try men's souls.

Amelie Durand: Paul Richardson please report to the medlab. Paul Richardson please report to the medlab.

Ava Lee: But this storm.

Amelie Durand: I know. Dr. Richardson, please come in.

Paul Richardson: Look, if this is a bad time, I've got a lot of work to do.

Amelie Durand: No, no, no. We'll talk more at next week's session, and I'm here in the meantime whenever you need me, okay? Come in. Just a quick examination and you'll be on your way. This storm, it's getting to everyone. How are you holding up?

Paul Richardson: I'm fine.

Amelie Durand: You prepare for everything you can, but there are some things you just cannot train for. Are you missing home?

Paul Richardson: No.

Amelie Durand: That would be okay, you know. To miss home. It would be normal, even.

Paul Richardson: I'm okay.

Amelie Durand: And your wife, how are things with you and her?

Paul Richardson: We're working mostly. Look, I could really.

Amelie Durand: And how is the work? The hybrids, how are they coming along?

Paul Richardson: They're trying. They're really trying.

Amelie Durand: Hey. I know it's hard especially now, but maybe the best thing is to take a little time away from the work and refill the well.

Paul Richardson: Okay, thank you.

Amelie Durand: Thank you.

Paul Richardson: I couldn't save them. They weren't strong enough. They d*ed so that you could live. It's all on you. It's all on you. We're going to be strong. Just remember, we have it in our power to start the world over again.

[Lightning strikes] We have the power.

Robert Foucault: God bless Mars.

Stephen Petranek: Mars sounds like a terrifically romantic idea, what could be a greater adventure? The realities of this adventure are almost depressing, and they're significant. There are a lot of challenges involved in surviving in a very small spacecraft with a few other human beings for eight months at a time and then being able to deal with the idea that you're not going back to earth for possibly decades. So that you're leaving everything behind, and maintaining a psychological balance in what is really a vast desert and unfriendly environment is not going to be easy for people.

Neil Degrasse Tyson: It's always wise to test what you're about to do, in advance. You wanna live on Mars isolated? Create some kind of hab module on earth, test that in advance.

Tristan Bassingthwaighte: We've been here just over seven months and we've got just under five to go so it's like 140 something days left, um, it's been a long time.

Kim Binsted: Hi-Seas is a NASA-funded research analog and simulation. It's located at about 8,000 feet on the slopes of Mauna Loa here on Hawaii so the crews we put there are very isolated. The goal of Hi-Seas is to be as close as possible to a Mars mission, so that means we put a lot of constraints on the crew.

Andy Weir: Groups of people living together is what civilization is, we're very good at it. Interestingly the biggest problem is when you have a small group of people.

Andrzej Stewart: So you'll notice there are only four crew members here, and well here are the other, here are the other two.

Andy Weir: You have a small number of people, the, the biggest risk to the mission's success is those people not getting along. And even if they're very, very professional about it, if they're not getting along and they're not communicating enough, there's going to be problems.

Mary Roach: Talk to people that have been in prison, the lack of control over your environment and your life is stressful, to not be able to just do what you want to do when you want to do it is a, a stressor. This is what it will be like to be on a Mars mission.

Andrzej Stewart: I know that we face far less danger than a Mars mission, and that's ok. This is a simulation just like any other simulation but these aren't just simulated effects, these are real. You really are isolated, you really do feel separated from planet earth and this is the part of the simulation that NASA is interested in.

Kim Binsted: What we're concerned with is how resilient are the crew, if you think about it, the human part of a Mars mission is just as critical as the technological part. If the human part breaks, it's just as disastrous as if the rocket blows up.

[Sighs]

Robert Foucault: How's it going Emmanuel? I, I know that I haven't been around a lot. I've been working really hard. Systems are all experiencing losses and moving slowly. We are trying to work together as a team, some days are good, some days are rough and it's ok, you know, I never realized how hard it was trying to hold it together. Just be tough. Just be tough.

Paul Richardson: I can't keep the plants alive at this level.

Leslie Richardson: I know. What do you want me to say? We should have been at twice the power now at least. So I don't know what else to say.

Paul Richardson: And no one anticipated a storm of this magnitude?

Leslie Richardson: Of course not. That storm was moving faster than anything we've ever monitored this early in the season. How could we? The plan was there. There's nothing else we can do at this point. Let's face it. Ugh, god, really? Do you even try to tidy up before you come home? I mean, I did my job. The team's training was impeccable, the plan was bulletproof, it should have worked! We should have had nuclear fully up and running by now. Before we even got here. Do you think I don't feel awful that Oliver got hurt? It's constantly on my mind. Did you know sometimes I feel as if people are not really looking at me as I pass them in the hall? Paul, darling?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

Amelie Durand: Also showing emotional strain is Dr. Richardson, Paul J. While Richardson reports no psychological issues, his affect and behavior with the crew is, I request psychiatric consultation and review of prior and current mental health testing. Please send all records via private med link. Thanks.

Robert Foucault: The lightning strike must have blown a junction box between Olympus and the reserve power station.

Javier Delgado: Every second that passes we're draining batteries just keeping air breathable and heat running.

Sam: I've got Mae back online in the main terminal.

Hana Seung: Mae, what's the status on critical systems?

Mae: Climate recycling rate decreased to 75% nominal. Current rate of temperature decline three degrees celsius per hour.

Robert Foucault: I have to make repairs.

Hana Seung: There's no way I'm sending anyone out there, it's way too dangerous.

Amelie Durand: There's no visibility, you'll be completely blind.

Javier Delgado: We'll take the Rover, get as close as we can.

Robert Foucault: It'll be slow going, but it's the only sh*t we have.

Javier Delgado: It is.

Hana Seung: All right, good luck.

Ed Grann: Hey, I've been calling.

Joon Seung: I'm sorry, I've had my hands full, two and a half months in a dust storm means clean-up down here too. Walk with me.

Ed Grann: I want to talk to you about increasing freighter launches, our assembly line can handle it.

Joon Seung: I'm still doing damage control after losing power in the middle of a dust storm, and you want to talk to me about freighters? The nations are getting cold feet, Ed. This is a public relations exercise, and the public sentiment is as low as it's ever been. China is talking about pulling out.

Ed Grann: Don't worry about that. As long as the U.S. and E.U. stay on board, no way China risks missing out on the glory down the road.

Joon Seung: Olympus town was ready for this storm; the nuclear reactor was operational before you gambled on an accelerated schedule. Your expansion plan was science fiction.

Ed Grann: The money doesn't come without expansion. No money, no MMC; No MMC, no mission. It was the right play.

Joon Seung: This isn't some lush frontier land. They are fighting for every step of the way. If we push too hard too fast, something's going to break.

Mae: Interference detected in all navigational systems.

Javier Delgado: The electrostatics are whacking guidance to hell. I can't see anything.

Robert Foucault: We can triangulate that down to a seven and a half meter-discrepancy.

Javier Delgado: Good thing I came to help.

Robert Foucault: When I was a child, the Harmattan wind would blow into Lagos from the Sahara. Sand storms would cover the whole city, sometimes all the way to the ocean. People would lose their way, turn up kilometers out, skin raw from sand burn, lungs filled with dust. You'll have plenty to do when we find that junction box just making sure I don't get lost out there. Believe me, I am grateful for the company.

Javier Delgado: Do you still think about it, the ocean?

Robert Foucault: Every day. Trouble is, every time it's like the waves are getting a little quieter.

Javier Delgado: Like someone's turning down the volume.

Robert Foucault: Yeah, last week I realized I couldn't even remember what the ocean sounded like.

Javier Delgado: Yeah.

Robert Foucault: We're going to be okay.

Javier Delgado: You sure about that?

Robert Foucault: Well, I hope so.

[Laughter]

[Mumbling]

Paul Richardson: Let's talk of groves of warmth, look at you, look at you. You are so strong. Oh, well done, you clever, clever thing. How about I introduce you to your brothers? For god's sake let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings. How some have been deposed, some slain in w*r, some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed. Some poisoned by their wives and...

[Inaudible] You are gonna love this. This is going to be a treat just for you. Botanist, my ass.

Amelie Durand: Leslie!

Leslie Richardson: Oh, look, I'm up to date on weekly so if this is supplemental, I can save you the trouble: I miss home, but I'm not homesick; I don't ever think of hurting myself or anyone else; I'm not experiencing any more stress than anyone would under the circumstances, and the only voices in my head are the ones telling me to get back to work.

Amelie Durand: I'm not worried about you. I spoke to Paul and he seemed, distant.

Leslie Richardson: He's just focused.

Amelie Durand: I checked his ration allotment and he's hardly eating.

Leslie Richardson: He forgets sometimes. Look, he lives for his work and he can't do it. What do you expect? Can I go now?

Amelie Durand: Yeah, sure.

David Dinges: We don't think it's a trivial thing to send people off to Mars and just assume that intelligence and motivation and getting along before they go is going to be enough. We actually have to understand who is going to have a real problem with prolonged exploration in an extreme environment. Not everyone can tolerate the isolation, the loneliness, the risk. To life and limb. Some people disintegrate psychologically and behaviorally and you look back at many of the explorations where humans moved where humans moved across thousands of miles you typically will see dysfunction occur in crews. It happened on shackleton's mission to the south pole. He puts his men off at elephant island and tries to get to South Georgia island, 800 miles in heavy seas. But he's got a very dysfunctional carpenter, psychologically sick, so he has to take him along cause he can't leave him with the crew because it's going to create chaos. On Mars, just like the nineteenth century explorers, you might see fragmenting of the crews and you find these dynamics in these historical records and you see how problematic they are for the success of the mission.

Marta Kamen: Someone wrote this at the end of the fourth century, St. Augustine. My memory contains my feelings. Not in the same way as they are present in the mind when it experiences them, but in a quite different way. That is in keeping with the special powers of the memory. For even when I am unhappy I can remember times when I was cheerful. And when I'm cheerful I can remember past unhappiness. I can recall past fears, and yet not feel afraid and when I remember that once I wanted something, I can do so without wishing to have it now.

Amelie Durand: Marty? Look at me in the eyes.

Marta Kamen: Sometimes memory can induce the opposite feeling.

Amelie Durand: Jake, are you still taking your antibiotics?

Marta Kamen: For I can be glad to remember sorrow that is over and done with.

Amelie Durand: Alex, feeling better?

Alex: Yes, yes thank you.

Marta Kamen: And sorry to remember happiness that has come to an end.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

[High winds]

Javier Delgado: Anything? Okay, just a second. Okay, I got your signal. Junction box should be less than five meters out, six degrees north-east. Anything?

Robert Foucault: Negative.

Javier Delgado: You should be seeing the cable now.

Robert Foucault: I have no visual.

Javier Delgado: Robert it's...

[Static]

Robert Foucault: You're breaking up, Javier. I can't hear you.

Javier Delgado: What?

Robert Foucault: Storm's interfering with the signal. Javier, Javier?

Javier Delgado: Robert, do you copy?

Robert Foucault: Hello, Javier?

Javier Delgado: I said it's dead ahead, dead ahead.

Robert Foucault: Copy that. [Wind gusting] Damn it.

Javier Delgado: You okay? Robert, you okay? Robert?

Robert Foucault: I'm out of room on my tether.

Javier Delgado: Okay, Robert. You need to come back to the Rover. I can't move the Rover any farther forward because of the terrain. It's too dangerous out there with this storm. So we can't risk it. Come back. Robert, you need to come back.

Robert Foucault: I'm going to unclip.

Javier Delgado: No, no, no, no, Robert, do not unclip. Do not unclip, Robert. Come back. Robert, Robert, do you copy? Do not unclip Robert! Robert, answer me. Robert, do not unclip. Can you hear me Robert?

Robert Foucault: Where are you?

Javier Delgado: Robert, come on. Robert! Come on, Robert. Robert, I need you, come back here. Robert, Robert!

David Dinges: The challenge people face when they do exploration is that they're used to handling conflict or disagreement or dislike with each other by separating, and being apart for awhile. With spaceflight, or any exploration that involves intense confinement, where you can't get away from the other people, and you're all in a very tiny space. The whole idea of individual territoriality becomes a problem. This sounds astonishing. Billion dollar explorations and yet it comes down to the little things that will often determine what happens. These things definitely occur, they occur in the antarctic, and they occur in other analogs. The Russians created something called a Mars 500 Mission which was a 520 day full simulation of a crew of 6 to Mars and back.

Man: They will live as if they were in an interplanetary spaceship. They will eat, sleep, and train as if they were real astronauts.

David Dinges: They sealed the crew in the chamber and isolated them so you couldn't have social contact, and then they held the crew to not only the time delays, but to a full simulated mission to Mars so there was a landing on the martian surface simulated, and it was many, many months, and to go to the bottom line, out of 6 crew members, 2 managed to maintain stable activity levels and were psychologically healthy. Four other crew members experienced problems with mood, emotion, impulsivity, insomnia. These were people who were astronaut trainers and physicians so they knew about space life. Even with that kind of a skilled and analog crew that is close to astronauts, you find the crew is suffering. We don't understand why people equally trained and equally intelligent, equally capable as astronauts will have different rates of vulnerability. We actually have to understand who is going to have a real problem in space flight because ultimately there are some people who are going to have a really hard time.

[Gusting winds]

Javier Delgado: Robert, come on Robert, talk to me.

Robert Foucault: Where are you?

Javier Delgado: Come back here. Robert do you copy? Robert, please, talk to me Robert, do you copy? Robert, do you copy? Robert, Robert!

[Mumbles in spanish]

Robert Foucault: Found it.

Javier Delgado: What, you found it?

Robert Foucault: I found the cable.

Javier Delgado: Jesus, yeah, man. You scared the hell out of me.

[Mumbles in spanish]

Robert Foucault: I'm here.

Javier Delgado: How bad is it?

Robert Foucault: Looks like my ex-wife's cooking.

Javier Delgado: The chef?

Robert Foucault: The lawyer.

Javier Delgado: Yeah, I can imagine, man. Can you fix it?

Robert Foucault: The junction box is gonna take some work. But I can do it, I can fix it.

Javier Delgado: Good job, good job.

[Laughter]

Joon Seung: Hana, you doing ok? We spend all this time looking for something greater than us, something that'll bring us all together, but what if it's not even there? I used to think the struggle was enough. But lately, I'm having a hell of a time imagining sisyphus happy. Hana, I'm "running out"; I miss you so much. I want you to come home. Okay? I want you to come home.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

[Cheering and applause]

[Cheering and applause]

Hana Seung: Finally, when we thought it could only get darker, there was light.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

Mae: Power restored. Solar power back online.

[Cheering and applause]

Mae: Eastern section systems fully online. Environmental systems restored. Thermal control restored. Recycling systems restored. Central section systems fully online. Western section systems fully online. Greenhouse systems fully online.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

Oliver Lee: Commander Seung, please come to the facility monitors immediately. Commander Seung, please come to the facility monitors now.

Hana Seung: Oliver, what's going on?

Oliver Lee: It's Paul Richardson.

Hana Seung: What is he doing?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

Leslie Richardson: Paul!

Mae: Greenhouse airlock compromised. Imminent danger.

Hana Seung: Sam, get to the pressure door immediately! Evacuate the west section now!

Mae: Imminent danger, imminent danger.

Hana Seung: Sam, seal the door.

Mae: Imminent danger.

Sam: There are people in there!

Leslie Richardson: Move!

Hana Seung: Sam you have to seal the door.

Mae: Imminent danger.

Hana Seung: Seal the door!

Oliver Lee: Shut the door!

Mae: West section jeopardized. Imminent danger.

[Screams]

[Alarms]

Mae: East wing pressure stabilized.

[Quiet sob]