Mai Dong reached out and pressed a button on the panel. A window popped up on the computer screen: "Psychological Test."
A few seconds later, the screen displayed: "Please complete the following questions."
The girl took a deep breath.
This was a psychological and mental test. Prolonged and boring confinement would affect a person's mental state. Therefore, every crew member on the Mars landing mission had to undergo a psychological test regularly. In the past, such tests were conducted by the team doctor, Maxwell, but now, Mai Dong was the only one on the space station, so she could only conduct a self-assessment.
Psychological and physical state were equally important. In the first few Mars landing missions, Earth had underestimated this problem. Romenenko had once worked on the Mir space station for 450 consecutive days, orbiting the Earth 5,000 times, and his psychological and mental state was normal.
Therefore, Earth believed that the experience of long-term space station missions was enough to deal with the Mars landing.
But later, it was proven that Earth's space station and the Mars mission were two different things. The psychological impact of space travel on a person was beyond their imagination.
In the first few missions of Orion I and Orion II, the astronauts had psychological problems. The most serious one was during the third flight of Orion I. On the way back, the American payload specialist, John Young, suffered from depression and was unable to work normally. He even tried to harm himself and was hospitalized after returning to Earth.
In John Young's words, "When you completely leave Earth's orbit, you will feel like you are sliding into a bottomless abyss."
Later, the Mars missions began to force the crew to undergo periodic psychological tests. Mental health and physical health were placed on the same level. The team doctor also had to be qualified as a psychologist.
At the same time, people like Tang Yue were more favored in the selection of team members.
Mai Dong's psychological state had always been very stable. Her curiosity about the deep space of the universe had suppressed her fear. This girl had grown up watching the stars. Her father had bought her a 200mm reflector telescope on her tenth birthday. The girl had watched the moon and Saturn from her balcony every night. She had been addicted to the vastness of the universe since she was young. This yearning that had been buried deep in her heart when she was young was the initial incentive for her to participate in the Mars mission.
“Next，youwillseeanimage，pleasefollowtheinstructions.”
Mai Dong tapped on the buttons on the screen and answered them one by one.
There were more than a hundred questions in the test, which involved various aspects. It was not just a simple psychological test. It also included some mathematical and physical calculation questions, which tested the mental state of the passengers, their logical thinking, and even their mental agility.
"Mai Dong, we've mixed the feces evenly!" The voice of one of the workers who was digging out feces sounded in her earpiece. His words were really a killjoy.
"What should we do next?
Are you going to bury the seeds directly? "
"No."
Mai Dong operated the buttons on the panel while answering Tang Yue's question. "This is the last step. Before that, we still have a lot of processes to do … Next, we have to let the fertilizer ferment."
"Fermentation?"
Tang Yue and Old Cat were both stunned.
"Do you know about compost?" Mai Dong asked. "High-temperature compost."
"I have."
"Under normal circumstances, human and animal feces are not directly used as fertilizer. Instead, they have to be processed. The feces and urine are mixed with straw, hay, and silt, and then fermented at high temperatures to kill the harmful parasite eggs and grass seeds. The feces are then decomposed by bacteria and turned into humus."
Mai Dong explained, "So, Tang Yue, your feces also need to be fermented and turned into fertilizer so that the plants can better absorb it."
Tang Yue placed a jar of feces next to the RTG. The RTG continued to release heat, and the temperature around it was the highest. It could be maintained above zero, which was the most suitable for the growth and reproduction of microorganisms.
In fact, Tang Yue could not tell how many bacteria were left in the jar of feces. After dehydration, drying, and cooling, the vacuum-packed feces were actually in a nearly sterile environment. However, one could not say that it was clean. This was the same principle as the feces that had been sterilized by a pressure cooker. Although the microorganisms had been killed, no one was willing to let this stuff get on their clothes.
Tang Yue found something to cover the jar, and then found a plastic sheet to wrap it in layers and cover it tightly. Those who did not know would think that he was hiding some treasure.
If someone really came to steal this treasure, then the moment he opened the jar, there would definitely be a big surprise.
"The normal compost fermentation process takes about half a month. Tang Yue, you can only control the situation on your side," Mai Dong said. "When the fertilizer is fermented, it can be used to plant tomatoes."
The conditions on Mars were simple and crude. It was impractical to compost like on Earth, so everything had to be simplified.
"How do I know if the fertilizer is ripe?"
"You can look at the color and volume. If the color becomes dark brown, and the volume is more than one-third smaller than before, it means that the fermentation has reached a certain level."
Mai Dong replied, "But the temperature on your side is too low, and there is no oxygen. Only anaerobic bacteria can grow. This condition is not suitable for fermentation … So I don't think you need to strictly follow this method. Just wait a few days."
Tang Yue nodded.
"During the time when the first jar of fertilizer is fermented, you can continue to make other fertilizers," Mai Dong continued. "At the same time, you can also start to pre-treat the plant seeds."
"Understood!"
Tang Yue got up and thanked her seriously. "Comrade Mai Dong, agricultural expert, thank you for your guidance!"
Mai Dong smiled silently.
She finished the test, gently pushed the bulkhead, floated away from the control panel, and looked at the screen from afar.
The psychological and mental state test was over, and the test results were quickly shown on the screen.
This was a complicated table, indicating various indicators and data. Mai Dong could not understand these professional characters, so she directly scrolled to the bottom of the page.
At the end was a color bar. The top layer was bright green, and the bottom layer was dark red. The color gradually changed from top to bottom. This color bar was the most intuitive response to the psychological state. The computer drew all the data into this graph. The closer the color was to green, the healthier it was, and the closer it was to red, the more dangerous it was.
Mai Dong's previous test results were in the bright green range. This showed that she had always been an optimistic person.
The girl's eyes swept across the color bar chart. This time, she did not find her pointer in the green range.
Mai Dong slowly scrolled down and finally found that the pointer stopped in the light yellow area.
There was a string of small red words behind it.
"Dear Miss Mai Dong, your psychological and mental state is unstable, and you have a tendency to be slightly depressed. Please consult a psychiatrist in time to avoid the situation from continuing to worsen."