Month: May 2018

SOL: 31May2018

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Only me! Only me!

Notes on non-nominal systems: This morning I took on the power system again. I changed two settings on the AC controls to what I believed meant the solar took precedence over the generator for delivery of power to the generator. I had been working on this system without any improvement for so long that I didn’t give it another thought except that I would have to keep running the generator as the SOC fell during the day. But it never fell! We are back on solar power. I’m not declaring complete victory yet, but I am hopeful. In addition, the contractor will be here on Saturday to go over the system with me.

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 8 am, will turn back on at 8 pm

Solar—100 % SOC

Diesel – not checked %

Propane – not checked psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) –Not checked

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – not checked gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

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

Water Meter: not recorded

Toilet tank emptied: yes. I intended to flush it again and have no one use it until the tv crew arrives. But people used it anyway. So I have to do it again. Sigh.

ATV’s Used: Yes

Oil Added? Yes

ATV Fuel Used: n/a

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 1

Notes on ATVs: We just used them to block the driveway today so people did not drive up to the Hab.

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Spirit rover used: yes

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: AC to GreenHab completed. AC in Hab not yet installed.

Today was the first full day of the URC and my judging duties kept me from working on the things I had hoped to do. They will have to wait, too tired tonight to do anything more.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Suits in RAM. Six remaining new radios put into service.

Summary of Hab operations: Chaos reigns.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Water was hooked up to the swamp cooler so we now have AC in the greenhouse. URC operations on lower deck.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: URC operations happened today. We discovered that the fridge in the lab is filled with moldy petri dishes. I will clean it out in the morning before we start the URC events,

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

SOL: 30May2018

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System Control

Notes on non-nominal systems: The power system continues to
malfunction. Yesterday it totally crashed and I had to run the generator for several hours and then it stabilized. I was offsite today but understand the problems continued. It is critical as the URC starts tomorrow and with the television show filming next week that I find out what is wrong.

Generator (hours run): not exactly sure as I left at 5 am this morning. Yesterday I ran it for three hours in the afternoon and then turned it back on at dark.

Solar—64 % SOC

Diesel – not checked %

Propane – not checked psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) –Not checked

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – not checked 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: no

Oil Added? no

ATV Fuel Used: n/a

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0

Notes on ATVs: We have a new battery for the 300 but I have not had time to install it.

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Spirit rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

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? Yes, for URC travel

General notes and comments: The power system issue is really upsetting and I don’t know what I am going to do about it.

Yesterday all the drain pipes underneath the Hab were replaced. There were a total od 4 greywater leaks and no blackwater leaks. The largest leak was the one on the shower drain and it was caused by melting of the pipe by the heat tape. Apparently the wrong heat tape had been used on the PVC pipe and we are very lucky we did not have a fire as a result of someone’s carelessness. Because of some issues with contractor personnel, we are not going to reskirt the Hab at this time. There simply isn’t enough people power to do it. Instead, since we removed the wood frame, I will finish raking everything out from under it, and it looks nice, like a lander should. This will also allow us to air it out over the summer, as I had originally planned. We also had a great bonfire last night with the wood.

Also because of contractor personnel issues, the swamp cooler was not installed today. I will find out tomorrow what is happening with it. We were not able to get a contractor to install am AC system for another three months, so the swamp cooler is a work around for the AC requirement for the TV show.

Only two pieces of the tunnel remain to be covered and they will have to wait until the URC is over.

Someone turned the heater on in the Hab today, apparently thinking it was an AC unit. I put a note over the thermostat so it won’t happen again.

Shelves were installed in the storage unit. This should help in the future.

The road is in very bad shape because it has been so dry and all the travel has created the sand pits much earlier this year. I will call the county tomorrow and see if they can work on the worse of the spots.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Suits will be moved to the RAM tomorrow morning. I couldn’t do it today as the RAM was filled with URC materials.

Summary of Hab operations: See above.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report.

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

SOL: May 28, 2018

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System

Notes on non-nominal systems: All three solar charge controllers now nominal. Generator was on overnight and SOC was 100% this am. 41% at 6 pm. It is as if the solar is NOT going to the batteries and if it isn’t then the power we are getting is from the generator only. I’m not sure still what is going on so the troubleshooting continues. In the meantime, we are not running any AC (as in air conditioning) systems.

Generator (hours run): Turned on at 8 pm last night and off at 8 am this morning

Solar—100 % SOC at 8 am, 41% at 6 pm

Diesel – 55 %

Propane – 57 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 7 gallons

Water (trailer) – 50 gallons.

Water (static) – 400 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: No

Oil Added? no

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:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: will be later tonight

Spirit rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, for water

General notes and comments: Trash taken to town today. We also got water and accidently let the pump run after the tank was empty. So we changed pumps to the other new one I purchased when the old one broke and contaminated the water supply. I was not about to have to clean everything at this time!

We removed all the old wood support frame structure from underneath the Hab today in preparation for the all new drainpipe which will be installed tomorrow. The plan was to reskirt the Hab once this was done but I think it looks nice and I would like to keep it open to the fresh air all summer so I will consult with our contractor tomorrow and maybe we will put it off until Fall. We know have plenty of wood for a nice bonfire as a bonus.

The railing on the porch was repaired and MOOP was picked up from all over campus.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Radios were located in the box under the stairs. Only 11 of the new radios remain in operations along with 6 new ones for a total of 17 radios. However we purchased 40 new radios this year so we are missing more than half of them, probably due to them being discarded by crews who determined that they were no longer working. We will have to do a little better next year on taking care of them.

Summary of Hab operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report.

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: Yesterday I thought it was the 26thand it was the 27th. Can someone change the date on the report and if not, let this serve as clarification of my mistake. Time flies when you are having fun on Mars!

SOL: May 26, 2018

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Non-nominal systems: Power System

Notes on non-nominal systems: I believe I have gotten the 3rdcharge controller back online, but I won’t know for sure until tomorrow. In the meantime, SOC remained critical all day. I did forget to turn on the generator last night, but I will run it tonight and see where we are tomorrow.

Generator (hours run): Not run at all in 24 hours. Turned on this evening at 8 pm.

Solar—16-0 % SOC

Diesel – 55 %

Propane – 57 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 7 gallons There are three gas cans now as Ben purchased one during Crew 194. All ATVs were filled with gas this evening

Water (trailer) – 50 gallons.

Water (static) – 180 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, just to do engineering checks (oh, and I did take the Hondo for a spin since it has been sitting for three weeks)

Oil Added? no

ATV Fuel Used: 0.5 Gals

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0.5 hr

Notes on ATVs: The 300 needs a new battery. I am hoping the URC crew can pick one up in GJ. The Hondo had been reported as non-functional but it was just that the kill switch was on. I turned it off and away we went. (I only thought to check the kill switch because this ain’t my first rodeo—I’ve done the same thing thinking it was dead when it really wasn’t.)

Deimos rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: Yes

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Spirit rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: no

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, to move from Shannon’s house to the Hab to deliver water

General notes and comments: I have about 15 bags of trash in my truck that I will take to town and try to dispose of tomorrow.
Unfortunately the last two crews did not separate the trash so very little could be burned.

We gave tours to approximately three dozen folks over the past two days. I love positive outreach and sharing MDRS with people.

Kay and I installed about ½ of the new white cover to the tunnels today. (It was brutal so feel sorry for me!). The covering will be taken down after the film shoot and will be stored until fall, when we will put them back up for the field season.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Our Mission Support Spacesuit
Specialists from the NorCal Chapter have been here for the past two days solid working to repair and maintain the suits for the upcoming Crew 196. They cleaned and repaired all the packs, replaced all faceplates with new acrylic ones and all ten are in prime condition for the film shoot. I will need to deliver them to NorCal at the end of the season so they can upgrade them before next season. Their dedication to MDRS is deeply appreciated because this was a huge task for them to complete in a short time period and they dropped everything to come and contribute to our success. This kind of thing is what makes MDRS so amazing.

On the other hand, there appears to have been an inadvertent theft of all the radios by Crew 195, as they are all missing. I suspect the crew though they were theirs (as they were all new and pretty, so different from past years) and they took them with them. I will be contacting them to get them back. In the meantime, we only have six new ones for the URC so the loss is critical.

Summary of Hab operations: The toilet smells pretty bad and shouldn’t. I’ve flushed it twice now and will do it several more times over the next week. It will be closed to all during the URC.

Summary of GreenHab operations: All of the crops have been removed. I still need to clean the GreenHab to prepare for the plants we will be using for the film shoot. We have 50 producing plants that will be brought in on June 4th.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: All URC packages have been stored in the RAM. The NorCal team used it for their spacesuit work and they really enjoyed working in it. The power was supposed to be installed two weeks ago but it hasn’t. I will be working hard to get power there in the next week.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

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

Crew 195 Operations Report 25.05.18

SOL: 5

Name of person filing report: Dana Levin

Non-nominal systems: Continuing run Diesel generator at night. No service rep for Solar yet.

Notes on non-nominal systems: n/a

Generator (hours run): Overnight approximately 8 hours, on solar until 1600, now back on generator

Solar— SOC 10%

Diesel – Over 50%

Propane – 50 PSI

ATV Fuel (Ethanol free gasoline) – 1 gallon.

Water (trailer) – 485 gallons.

Water (static) – Approximately 90

Trailer to Static Pump used – No

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

Water Meter: 1351243

Toilet tank emptied: No
Date last emptied: 5.22.18

ATV’s (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3): all except Honda and 300

ATV Oil Checked?: No

ATV Oil Added?: No

ATV Fuel Used: Approximately 1 gallon

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 1 hours

Notes on ATVs: Honda and ATV 300 out of service.

Deimos rover used: yes
Hours: 1 hour
Beginning charge: 85%
Ending charge: 80 %
Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 1 hour
Beginning charge: 99%
Ending charge: 85 %
Currently charging: Yes

Spirit rover used: no

Hab Car used?: No
Where was Hab Car used?:
Why was Hab Car used?:

General notes and comments:

Summary of internet: Working well

Summary of suits and radios: working well

Summary of Hab operations: No problems

Summary of GreenHab operations: N/A

Summary of ScienceDome operations: N/A

Summary of RAM operations: N/A

Summary of health and safety issues: none noted

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None.