My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Mission Log – Solar Day 437

Over the past few days, I took out my camera and recorded a lot of footage in living areas and caves. Today I took another step forward - or to be precise, I advanced ten kilometers.

After unloading the 4.5 tons of Martian rock that we used to simulate the weight of the giant battery in the trial operation, and bringing two residential area hydrogen fuel cells, the endurance of the No. rover is completely sufficient to travel from the residential area to the e-zone. Crossing Area E (a mountain ten kilometers away on the other side of Area E) and returning the same way. This time I was accompanied by Cherry Berry, partly because she had not seen the valley from the other side, and partly because I planned to take her outside the Cave Farm to get some air today.

Now that we had plenty of power, after we drove up to the observation deck and shot some footage, we drove a few kilometers along the southern edge of the mountain. The valley here was formed by the widening and deepening of one of the crisscrossing ravines on Asidaria for some reason. I suspect it was caused by the gradual influence over the years of the rare water seepage phenomenon similar to the rare water seepage we witnessed when we first came here. We were not able to observe running water today, but the photos we took were quite beautiful. The landscape looks a bit like some flat area in northern Arizona.

It was during this outing that I suddenly realized that we had never thought of formally naming the features surrounding our settlement. I asked NASA and found that they are still using the temporary naming used in the mission briefing.

So after some discussions between me and the aliens, we decided to fill this gap on our own. Why not? After all, we had named a valley after Commander Lewis on our way to find Pathfinder.

Then let's sort out the surrounding terrain landmarks, starting with the five geological areas where we trained. Area a is the flat land where the residential area is located. In fact, this place already has an official name, but except for Lewis, we have never used it: Fertility Base. (Asidalia means "named after Venus" and is the goddess of love and fertility in Roman mythology. As a botanist accompanying the team, I will be conducting a series of experiments using living organisms on the surface of Mars for the first time. Biological experiments on plants. Some guys above thought that the name went well with Tranquility Base (Tranquility Base), so it was decided. But none of us were very interested in the name, so except Lewis announced the abundance on the evening of Sun Day 2 Except for the announcement that the base was officially put into use, we usually just call it a residential area.)

Zone β is the nearest ravine from here. The problem is that the eight ravines that cross the road between the residential area and the cave farm are basically the same and have no characteristics. The ravines we passed through before entering Chris Plains on our way south to find the Pathfinders were equally boring. The ponies and I don't think it's worth naming them, but if we don't take the naming opportunity, someone else will grab it. So we decided to officially name them after dwarves: from the residential area to the e area in order from west to east, they are Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful, and Sleepy. Sleepy, Happy, Dopey and Tyrion. If there are other ravines that need naming, there are plenty of names to pick from, whether from The Lord of the Rings or Terry Pratchett's works. My only request is that the particularly wide ditch be called Pangbo. The rest is up to you, okay?

The γ zone is the crater behind the residential area - in fact, theoretically it is both a γ zone and a δ zone. The gamma zone is the outer edge of the crater, while the delta zone is the sand dune in the center of the crater. On Mars, such a crater wouldn't be worth mentioning at all - it's only a few hundred meters wide. There are countless similar craters on this planet. However, this is our pit, so we still have to have a name. The ponies didn't think much of it, so I named it Martinez Crater, in honor of our pilot who used this crater as a reference for a perfect landing.

So what's left is Area E, the ancient volcano where we discovered the Crystal Cave. I gave the naming rights here to Xiaoma, and they decided to name this place Friendship Peak in honor of their spaceship. In fact, they asked me to give it a Latin name like Acidalia; I remembered that "friendship" in Latin should be a word like amicitas, so after we left, Area E would be named Amicitas. The name of the mountain will forever be recorded in history. The cave also has its own name: the Redemption Cave, because it definitely saved our lives.

The last turn is the mountains across the e-zone. Since we had previously referred to the top of the mountain as an "overlook," I decided to name it Mount Johnson. And the weather-beaten mass on a rocky outcrop overlooking the valley is called Vogelberg, after our rock-silent German man. In order to simply complete my task of "naming everyone with the team members' names" at once, the valley overlooked by the observation deck and Vogel Peak is called Baker Canyon.

Tomorrow I will send out my naming request, along with the Ares Mesa flood channel I last named after Lewis. Then it depends on how much approval NASA and the astronomical community will give. My guess is that the names named after members of the Ares 3 task force are unlikely to be approved. Naming landmarks after wives and children is occasionally allowed, but bureaucrats always frown when we name things after ourselves. Not to mention that NASA would definitely tremble with fear when meeting Disney or George R.R. Martin’s team of lawyers.

But if they reject the Amicitas Mountain proposal, we will definitely fight to the end. The ponies are very keen on this, and I'm firmly on their side; apart from the existence of the cave, friendship is the key to our long-term survival here. Friendship deserves a place on the map.

No matter what, it is at least worth remembering in this way.