Month: February 2018

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Operations Report – February 14th

Crew IKEA Operations Report 14 Feb 2018

SOL: 4

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System Control

Notes on non-nominal systems: Nothing new to report

Generator (hours run): Due to clouds and contractors, the generator was run all day. The guys needed power for welding and sanding, so even when the sun did come out, we decided to just keep it on.

Solar— 99 % SOC

Diesel – 72 %

Propane – 48 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 0 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 450 gallons (added 80 gallons)

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water Meter: not recorded

Toilet tank emptied: no

ATV’s Used: yes

Oil Added? n/a

ATV Fuel Used: n/a Gals

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0

Notes on ATVs: I started and warmed them up today.

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours: moved to another parking space

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Sojourner rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: Moved to another parking space

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: Moved to another parking space

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, moved to Hab to pump the remaining water into the static tank. My truck is dead (apparently the battery has gone bad as there is battery acid on top) and so tomorrow we will use the HabCar to go to town and get a new battery for the truck and also pick up the packages that are in town.

General notes and comments: Still muddy most of the day but a strong wind later in the afternoon has dried things out quickly.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: The new stairs and ladders arrived! The contractors began installation and one of the two ladders has been put into place. They are currently bare metal only. We will need to decide which looks best, polished steel or paint. It looks like we will not have time to finish them before the crew arrives on Saturday, so we won’t have to decide right away. Finishing them will probably happen in early May.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Atila continued working on the aquaponics set up and the reorganization of plants. We harvested some greens for salads tonight, and eyed the cucumbers. They may not last until the crew arrives! In addition, we doubled up the pots for the plants in an effort to maintain moisture in the soil longer. In the future, potting soil should be mixed with perlite to ameliorate this problem.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Nothing at this time

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 14th

Crew IKEA Sol Summary 14 Feb 2018

SOL 4:

Summary Title: Here comes the sun
Author’s name: Atila Meszaros

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Busy day for everyone. The contractor came and installed the new ladders for the upper deck and just before the end of the week the new lower deck ladder is going to be installed. They look fantastic! I’ll love to be here whit the Ikea project will be complete.

Sadly, the mud persisted due to the lack of wind and warmer weather, so we couldn’t get out and do some field work, tomorrow I bet will be luckier. Instead of going out, I worked all day on the Green Hab on the aquaponics, doing some harvest and organizing everything.

Everything is looking good on Mars, but the wind is sometimes scary, inside the Green Hab, you can almost feel the wind screaming. It’s pretty amazing, though.

Thank you for being with us tonight, Sylvain!

Atila

Look Ahead Plan:

Getting a new battery for Shannon’s car, taking Rovers out and I’m rooting for finally some field work and exploration!

Anomalies in work:

Installation of brand new ladders for the upper deck
Shannon’s car battery died

Weather: Temperature: 6°C

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary
Operations Report

Support Requested: None

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 13th

Crew IKEA Sol Summary 13 Feb 2018

SOL 3:

Summary Title: Ikea and a sea of mud

Author’s name: Atila Meszaros

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

The terrible rain of yesterday, which almost left me trapped in the GreenHab last night, continued almost all night. I was waiting for some snow in the morning, but as Shannon predicted, we only had mud. I’ve only been out a couple of times and I no longer have clean shoes.

We have worked all day and we finished all the measurements and selections of the Ikea project, they have been sent to the responsible designer and we will be waiting for their response and feedback. It was more difficult than I would have imagined, but we are proud of the work.

We could not take the Rovers out to consume their batteries due the bad condition of the ground, it would have been very difficult to drive and I had to clean them after that, so we will just way until tomorrow The weather forecast is much better and will give us the opportunity to start some field work.

Look Ahead Plan:

Finally some field work and exploration!

Anomalies in work:

Mud, just hideous mud

Weather: Temperature: 4°C

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary
Operations Report

Support Requested: None

Posted on

Operations Report – February 13th

Crew IKEA Operations Report 13 Feb 2018

SOL: 3

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System Control

Notes on non-nominal systems: nothing new to report

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 3:30 pm, on at 5:55 pm

Solar— SOC not known %

Diesel – did not check %

Propane – did not check psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 0 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 350 gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – no

Water Meter: not recorded

Toilet tank emptied: no

ATV’s Used: none

Oil Added? n/a

ATV Fuel Used: n/a Gals

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0

Notes on ATVs: nothing to report

Deimos rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Sojourner rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: It rained overnight and was cloudy most of
the day, which was why we kept the generator on most of the day and
did not check some things. Here’s hoping the mud will dry tomorrow.
Everything comes to a standstill in the mud. We did get much work
done on the IKEA project.

Summary of internet: nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: nothing to report

Summary of GreenHab operations: nothing to report

Summary of ScienceDome operations: nothing to report

Summary of RAMM operations: nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: When it is muddy here, it is very
hard to walk. I successfully did go outside and did not fall but I
did not want to go into the buildings and take all the mud in with me.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None at this time.

Posted on

Operations Report – February 12th

Crew IKEA Operations Report 12 Feb 2018

SOL: 2

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System Control

Notes on non-nominal systems: nothing new to report

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 9:30 am, on at 5:00 pm

Solar— SOC 82 %

Diesel – 75 %

Propane – 49 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 0 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 350 gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water Meter: not recorded

Toilet tank emptied: no

ATV’s Used: none

Oil Added? n/a

ATV Fuel Used: 0 Gals

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0

Notes on ATVs: Nothing to report

Deimos rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Sojourner rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge: 100

Ending charge: 73

Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 14.3

Beginning charge: 100

Ending charge: 64

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 12.5

Beginning charge: 100

Ending charge: 98

Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, to town for water

General notes and comments: We continued working on the Ikea project today.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: Nothing to report

Summary of GreenHab operations: Atila continues his work on the GreenHab and will be sending a GreenHab Report tonight. The grow lights were operating on a different schedule than they should have been on, so we are changing the extra hours on the lights from 7-9 pm to reflect the longer days.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report

Summary of RAMM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Okay, mathletes, this is for you:

In the Hab, the kitchen has 111 inches of cabinets and they take up 130 inches of wall space. They are 24 inches deep. The Hab is 30 feet in diameter. Downstairs we want to add 240 inches of cabinets that are also 24 inches deep. How much wall space do we need?

If you are still with me, try this one. The dome is 25 feet in diameter. If we want to put 24 inch deep cabinets on ½ of the wall space, a) how much wall space is that and b) how many inches of cabinetry would we be able to fit in that space?

Extra credit to anyone who can tell us how to calculate countertop dimensions for the kitchen and lab.

We would like our numbers checked. Thank you.

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 12th

Crew IKEA Sol Summary 12 Feb 2018

SOL 2:

Summary Title: Time to come

Author’s name: Atila Meszaros

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

After the active day of yesterday and the night of work in the GreenHab, the morning started a little late. All morning and part of the afternoon, Shannon and I were working on the final ideas of the Ikea project and tomorrow morning we will finish it. I never thought it would be so rough. Never underestimate anything.

Today I took Opportunity and Curiosity to consume their batteries to complete their charging cycles. Opportunity’s battery dropped 9 times faster than Curiosity’s, both have almost the same number of hours of use. We have theorized that the fact of having been constantly connected had a great influence. During Crew 188 rotation, Opportunity was disconnected most of the time. We will verify this theory during the following days. In any case, within this week it is planned to get all the extensions to plug every Rover.

Today I had planned to send a GreenHab Report, but I’m just going to start working in the Green Hab, I plan to send it out tonight, but I do not think I can send it in time. I’ll send it after Coms.

Thank you very much for being with us tonight.

How are you doing, Graeme?

Atila

Look Ahead Plan:

Finishing Ikea plans, keep using the Rovers and starting some field work!

Anomalies in work:

None

Weather: Temperature: 5°C

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary
Operations Report

Support Requested: None

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 11th

Crew IKEA Sol Summary 11 Feb 2018

SOL 1:

Summary Title: Bringing It All Back Home

Author’s name: Atila Meszaros

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Finally, I’m back. After a few days in the snow-capped mountains of
Colorado, you don’t have any idea how much I missed the Hab. I try not
to think about the time I have left. There is a lot of work to do and
I’m very excited about this.

The 188 crew left during the first hours of the morning, I chose my
room, I unpacked my bags and with Shannon, we planned all the
activities that we are going to carry out during this week and we went
ahead with some goals of the internship. We were working on the Ikea
project, we have already chosen several items for the kitchen and the
upper deck rooms, and we have big plans for the EVA room and the
Science Dome.

The rest of the day I’ve been working in the GreenHab. A very
difficult task. Most of the plants were completely dry, apparently
they have not been watered for at least a couple of days and others
are drowning. I will try to rescue most of them, especially the
cucumbers, which were the most damaged. As Shannon mentioned, we are
going to be keep just a few plants. Tomorrow I will be sending a
complete GreenHab Report with aquaponics status information.

Thank you very much for being with us tonight. I hope you’re having an
amazing time!

Atila

Look Ahead Plan:

Finish organizing the Green Hab, take out the Rovers and consume their
batteries to complete their cycles and finish selecting Ikea items.

Anomalies in work:

None

Weather: Temperature: 1°C

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary
Operations Report

Support Requested: None

Posted on

Operations Report – February 11th

Crew IKEA Operations Report 11 Feb 2018

SOL: 1

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System Control

Notes on non-nominal systems: Waiting for contractor to troubleshoot

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 9:15 am, on at 6:15 pm

Solar— SOC 92 %

Diesel – did not check %

Propane – did not check psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 0 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 400 gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – no

Water Meter: not recorded

Toilet tank emptied: no

ATV’s Used: none

Oil Added? n/a

ATV Fuel Used: n/a Gals

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0

Notes on ATVs: nothing to report

Deimos rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: not sure

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Spirit rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: not sure

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes, electrical power was restored to the parking
spot on the east side of the GreenHab

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Not sure

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: Crew 188 left the Hab at 8:30 am this
morning. They did a nice job of cleaning. We are expecting rain in
the next couple of days so will make another trip for water tomorrow.

Summary of internet: nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: The Hab is in very good condition. We
spent much of the day working on the Ikea project and have come up
with some exciting changes that will make the kitchen and EVA areas
much easier to use and maintain. We changed the air filter in the
furnace. We are expecting the new stairs, railing and upstairs
ladders to be installed this week.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Atila spent the afternoon working on
the GreenHab. Most of the large plants were dried out and wilting
while others were overwatered. The greens were well tended. We are
limiting the tomato plants to 10, pepper plants to 5 and removing the
melon plants. This is needed in order to have room for the aquaponics
system. There is a cucumber I have my eye on, and if Atila doesn’t
pick it, we will have a nice salad in a couple of days.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: There was new damage to the floor
while Crew 188 was here. There are several small pits and one larger
one in the floor.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report. We are hoping the
electrician can come soon to connect the power.

Summary of health and safety issues: nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None at this time.

Posted on

Science Report – February 10th

Update information:

The crew who vomited yesterday recovered well.

The crew performed regular work completely.

The crew had enough sleep and rest in the last night.

The crew had breakfast and lunch today as normal. Currently, the crew has an appetite.

There are no adverse symptoms relating to the allergy observed for the crew.

Status:
Recovered

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Tatsunari Tomiyama, AHFP

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 10th

Sol 13

Summary Title: Mars-2-Mars and Breaking Sim
Author’s name: Ryan L. Kobrick, Ph.D., MDRS Crew 188 Commander
Mission Status: The mission is complete and the floors are mopped.

Sol Activity Summary:

The simulation came to a close with a Mars-2-Mars hangout on WebEx where crewmembers form MDRS Crew 188 and Kepler Station AMADEE-18. It was a lively chat about life on Mars as our crew ends our mission and their crew begins theirs. The conversation was recorded with several different cameras and a video will be spliced together with field footage.

Soon after our final task, the crew ended our mission at 10:02 am local time bursting from the Hab front airlock with 5 cameras rolling. The blast of fresh air was refreshing but instantly followed by an intense day of cleaning the entire campus from top to bottom. We helped resupply some of the water tanks and removed garbage.

The crew will enjoy relaxing on their last evening at MDRS. Thank you everyone for your support and for following our mission! I hope you enjoyed our diverse reports and photos. Please check out the photos and videos we have tagged with #MDRS188 on social media and check out our online team accounts:

Website: https://isuonmars.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamISUonMars
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ISUonMars

Spacesuit Up!
Ryan L. Kobrick, Ph.D.
MDRS Crew 188 Commander

Look Ahead Plan:
We depart MDRS tomorrow morning after our 8 am check-out.

Anomalies in work:
None.

Weather:
Calm winds and hazy skies with warm dropping all day.

Crew Physical Status:
There is a mixture of anxiety to get work completed, excitement to return home to loved ones, and sadness to be separating from our Martian family.

EVA:
15 EVAs were completed during our mission.

Reports to file:
1. Ops Report
2. Sol Summary

Support Requested:
None.

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