Mars Desert Research Station Mission Plan 22 April 2018
Crew 193 – PHEnOM Gold Crew
Gold Crew:
Commander: Anima Patil-Sabale
Executive Officer: Doug Campbell
Engineer: David Attig
Geologist & Astronomer: Eric Shear
Health & Safety Officer/Geologist: Shawna Pandya
The Gold Crew is composed of a team of Project PHEnOM Citizen Scientist-Astronaut Candidates from the US and Canada. Along with a great passion for space exploration, every member in the crew has a varied skillset in addition to expertise in their specific field. Our Commander is a Software plus Aerospace Engineer, and has worked for NASA while our Health and Safety Officer is a Physician and a Martial Artist in addition to many other things. Our Executive Officer is a Mechanical and Biomedical Engineer, and works in the health care sector, our Engineer is a Mechanical Engineer, a private pilot and a drone pilot, our Astronomer and Geologist is a Physicist/Engineer who’s the first deaf astronaut plus an inventor who’s designed and built a cryogenic CO2 scrubber.
Our Mission Plan:
Research for Mars colonization is in full swing. Research crews have been arriving at Mars and living in the habitat at the Mars Desert Research Station setup at Acidalia Planitia.
The Gold Crew is #193. Originally made up of 6 crew members, the crew lost their first Executive Officer Omar Samra to international bureaucracy. He wasn’t able to acquire a Martian Visa and the crew had to be deprived of his expertise in extreme environment performance. He was kind enough to share his expertise by training the crew virtually to get them ready for the mission.
After their arrival at Mars, the crew plans to get started with research on Sol 1 itself.
They will perform the Marble Ritual site EVA that is mandatory for all new crews arriving at Mars, to practice and test what they have learned in their simulations.
Laid out here are the crew’s planned research objectives while at the MDRS:
1. Emergency EVAC EVA (possibly using a drone depending on the arrival of the shipment): Scout for locations to take shelter during an emergency like a dust storm or fire while inside the habitat or out on EVA.
2. Sunspot and Solar Flare Monitoring: One of the chief threats to a human Mars mission is the sun. Solar flares are giant proton storms that can sicken or kill human astronauts with particle radiation. In this research we will use the Musk Observatory to monitor the number of sunspots on the Sun’s surface, which is thought to correlate to solar flare activity.
3. Shortwave Texting on EVA’s: To open up opportunities for astronauts who may not be able to hear, we are testing a device that allows two users to send text messages over a ham radio link, without cell service. The devices are called Beartooths, and pair with the users’ phones with Bluetooth.
4. GPS Route Measurements: A crew member on EVA will take periodic GPS readings of his location over time as he moves across the landscape. A researcher on Earth will overlap the coordinates of each location onto a terrain map to assess the metabolic efficiency of each EVA.
5. Waterless dish cleaning: Water is also not abundantly available on many locations of mars which make it a valuable resource. Bringing water resources to mars is costly because of the weight and amount needed to sustain life. Therefore, reducing the amount of water used for day to day tasks will be of utmost importance to future colonisations. Using Martian sand and UV light to clean and sterilize tableware.
6. The MAG (Maximum Absorbency Garment) utilization study: Help answer questions like to what extent does the use of MAGs for extended EVA’s help the crew? Ways to mitigate discomfort? Or does it take getting adapted to?
7. Spacesuit Helmet Fogging: After EVA experiences, compile a list of issues faced and suggest possible solutions to improve ventilation and defogging methods.
Thank You!
The Gold Crew
MDRS #193