Astronomy Report – December 3rd – Mars Desert Research Station

Crew Astronomer: Andrew Foster

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-14 [Sent imaging request
46P/Wirtanen & 3C 273]

Objects Viewed: Milky Way & constellation Cygnus (visual only).

Image attached, Cygnus / Milky Way taken with Canon D60 @ ISO 3200 / 20s exp.

Second image w/ light painting by MDRS 200 crew member.

Carried out observational Limiting Magnitude exercise, est. NELM 5.9, clouds moving in from South during exercise.

Problems Encountered:

Poor weather conditions (snow / cold).

Robotic Observatory maintenance carried out, see Operations Report for details.

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: Carried out test of system / visual observation of Sun. No sunspots visible, no major features observed.

Observatory equipment photographs (start of mission) attached.

Notes

Both observatories are clear of snow this evening.

End report.

MDRS Field Season #22 (2022-23)

Oct 1-16— Work Party

(Oct 20-23—TMS Conference in Tempe Arizona)

Oct 24-28—Crew 266-- Spaceward Bound High School

Oct 30—Nov 12—Crew 267—WOMARS

Nov 13—26—Crew 268-- Mars Society All women crew

Nov 27—Dec 10— Crew 269--The Aerospace Corporation Team

Dec 11—17 (one week) —Crew 270 -- NASA Spaceward Bound Utah Cohort 4

Dec 18— 31—Crew 271—Mars Society crew

Jan 1—14, 2023— Crew 272-- Purdue

Jan 15—28— Crew 273--Spanish Language Crew

Jan 29--Feb 11—Crew 274—APUS ARG-1M

Feb 12—Mar 11-- Crew 275—Supaero

Mar 12—18 (one week) — Crew 276-- C.U. MiSSE

Mar 19-25 (one week) - Crew 277—Class

Mar 26—Apr 1 (one week)—Crew 278—Class

Apr 2—15— Crew 279--M.A.R.S. UC Louvain

Apr 16—29—Crew 280—Hypatia

Apr 30—May 13—Crew 261—Transatlantic Mars Society

May 14—27— Crew 281-- Project Possum Alumni

June 1—3—University Rover Challenge

June 4-10 (one week)— Crew 282—Martian Biology III

June TBD—Astronomy Team Summer Visit

June TBD—Trash-to-Gas, NASA Kennedy Space Center

About The MDRS

The Mars Desert Research Station in the Utah desert was established by the Mars Society in 2001 to better educate researchers, students and the general public about how humans can survive on the Red Planet. It is the second Mars analogue habitat after the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station was established in 2000.

Over 200 crews of six-person teams have lived in 1-2 week field visits at MDRS to simulate life on the Martian surface. Researchers and students alike have explored the Mars-like terrain in the area surrounding the station in full “spacesuits”, maintained the station’s systems, grown plants in the GreenHab to support themselves and even recycled their waste water.

Our activities at MDRS are not only about informing the public, but also conducting real research to bring humanity that much closer to the reality of human exploration on the planet Mars.

Annual field seasons at MDRS run approx. October through May. Anybody can apply to be on a crew, and we also need volunteers to help with the project.

Management Team

Mission Support

Astronomy Report – December 3rd

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