Passage to Mars Page #4

and exciting place to explore.

But to us,

because we are here on Earth.

Mars is the closest planet where

we might find some answers

about the origins of life

and the possibilities

of alien life.

It has been a very humbling

series of discoveries.

We are trying to understand

why we even exist.

As usual,

when left to themselves

my thoughts turn to Mars

and our search for life there.

To discover signs

of ancient life on Mars

would be fascinating.

But the Holy Grail would be

to find live organisms.

For that, we must find

liquid water first.

Maybe where the planet

is still warm?

How about its volcanoes?

They're not extinct.

Just dormant.

It's almost midnight.

Our slow, cold sunset looks like

those captured on Mars

by the robots.

In New York this morning

It's about half past nine

It's been five days now.

Joe is still weathering

the storm in Resolute Bay.

John has been spending

more time alone.

But he opened up

to me this morning.

To my surprise,

he said it's time

to cut our losses

and to turn back.

Put an end

to an undoable journey.

I was shocked.

John's words carry the weight

of years of experience

survival and wisdom.

On this mission,

he's my anchor and my guide.

He's now recommending an abort.

If I decide to push on

I'll be going against

his best judgment.

My confidence is shaken.

For the first time,

I feel the full weight

of the expedition

on my shoulders alone.

Anyway, hardlock is if you

have tires and you need to..

- Yeah. - go through

sand or snow but..

Jesse regroups.

He knows that when

the replacement part arrives

he'll have his work

cut out for him.

He's tired but happy.

Jean-Christophe, as often

seems to be lost

in his thoughts.

Maybe he's dreaming of Mars

as I am.

We often chat in French

not to exclude

the rest of the crew

but to exchange memories

of our childhood.

Mark talks about his family

a lot back home.

He knows he won't be back

for his kid's birthday.

He still films non-stop

even though

we aren't going anywhere.

Okay, I just wanna take you out

on a little tour of my igloo.

Here's the fuel sled.

John's sleeping over there.

That's the Humvee.

Here.

Come inside.

There's, uh, my sleeping bag.

Got a little snow on it.

And, uh, I finally, uh..

Closed the chimney off

with my GORE-TEX jacket.

It keeps me warm. Kind of.

It's definitely blowing

pretty good out here.

Though it's not as bad

as it's been the last two days.

Let's go look at John's tent.

Okay.

John's tent. He's doing okay.

You can see the snow

is a little deep.

It's up to my knees.

There's Pascal..

And Jean-Christophe.

Whoo!

This is all the camera gear.

It's doing okay.

Good gravy, it's cold.

It's probably, uh,

I don't know, zero.

But with the wind chill

man, it's just, uh,

takes your breath away.

So that's about it.

Uh, gonna climb back

in the Humvee

and get some hot chocolate

or something.

Alright.

So when did you leave, uh,

Resolute? At what time?

- 4:
00 - 4:00?

8:
00 p.m.

Joe was back this evening

with the part we need.

Yeah. That's it.

How do you feel?

Oh, relieved.

Extremely relieved.

The broken hub

wouldn't come off.

It was frozen in place.

We turned our camping stove

into a makeshift blowtorch.

Where are all my tools

going to, man?

Right, Joe today

drove four hours

uh, in this whiteout alone

pulling on the snowmobile

and... and sled.

Uh, this one part that we were

needing to get replaced.

Uh, that was heroic.

Just for him to get... get to us

in time this evening

at... at 8:
00 p.m.

Uh, Jesse, uh,

piled all the training

he got from AM General factory

in Humvees

and did a superb job

replacing the part

uh, with John's help.

John, of course, uh,

was fantastic as usual

and kept us alive

for the past five days.

Uh, and, uh

and you guys

from the Jules Verne's team

were fantastic too,

you were very patient.

Just, uh, never a complaint.

So that's remarkable.

I'm just here

to get everybody in trouble.

7:
00 p.m.

The Okarian is fully

operational again.

We are good on food and fuel.

The weather forecast looks okay.

We are a go.

I know I'm going against

John's recommendation.

But the way I see it

we still have

safe abort options ahead.

11:
00 p.m.

We've reached Eleanor Lake.

There is life beneath us

gasping for light

under the faint midnight sun.

There were once

frozen lakes on Mars.

Maybe like here,

teeming with life.

I've spent years of my life

studying spacecraft images

of Mars

trying to understand

this alien planet.

Everywhere fire, water

and ice have left their mark.

A water-rich planet,

that might have been

for a brief time,

Earth's sister.

I dream of journeying to Mars

not just through space,

but through time.

"The Martians were there"

"in the canal,

reflected in the water."

"The Martians

stared back up at them..

"For a long, long silent time

from the rippling water."

Here

So far away

Another time

and another place

At the edge

of breaking through

Again

I found my sense of wonder

1:
00 a.m.

The coast.

Sea ice looks daunting

as if the raging ocean

had frozen in mid surge.

Devon is in sight

for the first time.

We are so near and yet so far.

We're going to go down here.

We're here right now.

We're gonna go down this way..

Out to the sea here

and then across

the smooth ice this way.

1:
45 a.m.

We follow Joe very slowly.

Beneath the snow, the sea ice

might be breaking up already.

Seventeen.

Joe says the sea ice

is on the verge of collapsing.

The time for slow is over.

We have to make a dash

for Devon.

We're at the point of no return.

If anything stops us,

we won't have enough time

to get any part flown up

from the south again.

We'll have to abandon

the Okarian to her fate

as the ice eventually gives way.

On Mars,

rovers will die in sand.

We're on final approach

to Mars on Earth.

10:
00 p.m.

In one instant,

my dream of many years

has come to an abrupt end.

Definitely not good.

Oh, merde.

- No. Hub and half shaft.

- Huh?

Hub and half shaft.. Which one?

Hub and half shaft..

A hidden block of ice

has ripped off

the rear left track

and destroyed the gear hub.

Our rover is history.

This expedition is a bust.

Keeping our crew safe is the

only thing that matters now.

We have to abandon the Okarian

and get everyone to shore.

The sea ice has begun

to break up around us.

As we began to evacuate

critical gear

Jesse mentioned our camp

on Devon.

- We need a new gear hub.

- Yeah.

- And you have a half shaft?

- Yeah.

A glimmer of hope

popped up in my mind.

The Okarian's only hope

the Mars-1, our twin Humvee,

is based on Devon

at camp, 50 kilometers away.

If we could get to the Mars-1

maybe we could scavenge

its rear left hub

and graft it on to the Okarian.

A mechanical organ transplant.

We have to act now.

It's a long and risky journey.

We have two snowmobiles.

Only two of us can go.

Jesse is best trained

to retrieve the part

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