MDRS Crew 192 Science Report (We are going to science the sh*t out of this!)
April 11, 2018 (SOL 3)
Richard Blakeman, Executive Officer
This crew has performed magnificently despite the challenges of having all the original science and engineering projects removed from the mission. The crew has pooled their individual and collective talents and shown incredible resourcefulness, creativity, imagination, and teamwork to develop multiple real-world science and engineering research and experiments.
The current list of projects that are being conducted include:
Spacesuit visor fogging study: Using off the shelf cleaning products which are used to develop mitigation strategies to solve the visor fogging issues. These are guaranteed to not scratch, damage or otherwise alter the visibility of the suits.
Hand exercises using hand relief, well-being balls: To measure comfort and hand dexterity during EVA
Crew wellness observations: Questionnaire designed to measure crew well-being during the duration of the mission
Crew weight measurements and analysis (EVA*): Pre and post weight for all personnel designed to measure body fluid loss during EVA
Crew muscle measurements: Physical measurements using tape measure to indicator of skeletal muscle glycogen reserve during mission
Ultrasonic rodent repulsion experiment: Using off the shelf, plug-in ultrasonic transmitter to observe if they deter rodent intrusions.
We noted a squeak at ~0830 today and have no confirmation but suspect there is a mouse about the house. We have also cleaned again and moved stove and frig to more thoroughly clean. What a mess behind both. Manual trap has been set IVO the squeak.
Astronomy discussions and visual observations since the main telescope is non-functional
Geology observations conducted during EVAs
EVA touch screen glove testing: We purchased several different kinds of touch pad sensitive gloves and anecdotally determining which ones are better for use with phone screen cameras.
Water contamination prevention and mitigation procedures
We have rolled the water tank from the trailer into the RAM and are going to do recurring EVAs to clean and sanitize the water tank for use with future crews to ease the requirement to make multiple trips into town for water saving fuel, vehicle wear and tear as well as cost of fuel for the society.
In honor of the achievements of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, we have used a ration of our potatoes along with banana chips, apple slices and water. We heated this and combined it with yeast from the cupboard. The crew anticipates the ability to brew and enjoy a beverage made from distilled dehydrated potatoes on Yuri’s night (12 April).
The crew continues to take both still and video imagery for later analysis.