Journalist Report – December 22nd

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 22DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 7] – The Far Side of the Moons

We are explorers! We humans have broken every barrier we’ve
encountered through our existence. We know no boundaries to explore a little bit more and learn about our universe. We have walked through the meadows, sailed to remote islands, arrived at new continents and re-discover them; all of this to look to the stars and wonder what is there for us to reach. Exploration is part of us and pushes us forward to go where no one has (boldly) gone before. We aim to open our minds to what we think we know and go a step further to explore even more.

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

Today the crew planned a long and complex activity, a visit to one of the farthest locations of the premises of the hab. A location with mountains and canyons that might be hard for the first time hiker. Our boots got dirty while walking to the horizon and wonder what will we find after the next hill. And what did we find? Well dear reader, this area was a bit farther from the charted maps and we could only have had an idea of how the place looked like.

What is the reason for us to explore? Well it is the reason for existence itself: Understand the meaning of life and what is our part in all of it. Additionally, we needed to get more soil samples for the greenhab project. We have realized that understanding the complexity of the terrain at the farthest regions of the hab premises could help us with the extended scope of the Radio Access Network idea for a SmartHAB. What is the reason behind this? Extended network access can support future crews’ safety knowing their location, health status and spacesuit problems. Safety is number one priority.

Due to Mars complex weather conditions, Mission Control mentioned (in several occasions really) that we would have a real hard time hiking. Road conditions were considerably harder than we would have expected and we left our rovers a little earlier than anticipated. We started hiking in a different location than planned and things got quite interesting from the very beginning. We went up and down muddy hills, getting farther away from our starting point making new paths as we went up the mountains. Destination? Copernicus, one of the furthest charted regions in our hab going through a place known as The Moons.

Throughout our hike we were witness of dramatic scenery changes. We were getting far away from our home but closer to our goal. Nothing was more exciting and comforting than finding the road that we were looking for. At that instance we were a bit tired but our morale and our spirit of adventure were as strong as ever. And this is
understandable, we were so far from the rovers that we could not hesitate for even the shortest instant.

It wasn’t until we made it to the farthest location of the Yellow Moon that we realized something exciting: we went to a zone that is not heavily explored and of course new for us. Sure, it was identified in the map but we know not of another crew that walked around it. This was confirmed by our Positioning System that we joyfully checked while getting back at the hab.

Without a doubt, this is one of the most exciting days of the Mex-1 mission. This was the day we discovered The Far Side of the Moons.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Astronomy Report – December 22nd

Astronomy Report
Name: Federico Arturo Martinez Espinoza
Crew: Crew 201 MEx-1
Date: Dec 22 2018

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-WF

Objects Viewed: Andromeda Galaxy

Problems Encountered: None, we really like our first image of Andromeda Galaxy, I used Hapha filter to take five images with an exposure time of 210 s.

Greenhab Report – December 22nd

Greenhab Officer:
Walter Calles

Environmental Control:
Heating

40% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:
Low: 25°C
High: 38°C

Hours of Supplemental Light:
5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:
10 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):
55%

Times of Watering for Crops:
1630

Changes to crops:
Tomatoes growing slow. No significant changes
Baby greens showing good progress
Fennel looked better today. Salad mix in excellent shape.

Narrative:
Changed almost all sticky papers on blue flat.
Medium watered all plants.
Tomatoes still going. Will add some plant food tomorrow.
Spinaches for re-plant still pending.
Cucumbers in terrible shape. Will plant onions instead.

Harvest:
NONE

Support/Supplies Needed:
More sticky papers needed

EVA Report – December 22nd

EVA # 6

Author: Federico Martinez, Crew Astronomer.

Purpose of EVA: Further identify plausible RAN repeater locations with the consideration of 22 dBw antenna power for local cell generation (up to 3 km radius per cell). Additional soil samples from locations within route.

Start time: 10:45
End time: 14:42

Narrative: The crew drove for about 5 km and then stopped aside the road to start walking to our destiny, The Moon. The rovers are having troubles with the battery due to the low temperatures.

We decided to cut the road by walking inside the dunes of Mars, but after a few hours, the crew got confused about the correct way to our destination. Guiding us with the map, we found out that we were on the right direction to The Moons. During this long walk we explored the zone for our EVA objectives. After almost 4 km, the crew finally arrived to the destiny and a little further. We took a couple of pictures and measurements to begin the walk back to the Hab. The total distance of today´s EVA was 17 km, and from this 7.3 were by walking.

Destination: The Moon

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): E515708.2, N4254873

Participants: Commander, HSO, Greenhab Officer, Crew Astronomer\scientist

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: From the Hab through the PEV Road to the north a few kilometers before exit 1572 Brahe Hwy. We walked through White Moon, Beige Moon until we found the road in Yellow Moon. We walked back through Brahe Hwy.

Mode of travel: Driving and walking.

Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): Curiosity & Opportunity

Greenhab Report – November 22nd

Greenhab Officer:
Walter Calles

Environmental Control:
Heating

40% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:
Low: 25°C
High: 38°C

Hours of Supplemental Light:
5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:
10 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):
55%

Times of Watering for Crops:
1630

Changes to crops:
Tomatoes growing slow. No significant changes
Baby greens showing good progress
Fennel looked better today. Salad mix in excellent shape.

Narrative:
Changed almost all sticky papers on blue flat.
Medium watered all plants.
Tomatoes still going. Will add some plant food tomorrow.
Spinaches for re-plant still pending.
Cucumbers in terrible shape. Will plant onions instead.

Harvest:
NONE

Support/Supplies Needed:
More sticky papers needed

Operations Report – December 22nd

SOL:7

Name of person filing report: César Augusto Serrano Baza

Non-nominal systems: Generator Autostart

Notes on non-nominal systems: None
Generator (hours run): 14:49 yesterday until around 8:10 Today started at 16:29

Solar— SOC 41%
Diesel Reading – Around 73%
Propane Reading – 76%
Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A gallons.

Water (Axillary tank) – 0 gallons
Water (static tank) – High Level, around 260 -gallons
Axillary to Static tank transfer– no
Gallons transferred: 0
Water in GreenHab – Medium level (58%)
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water Meter: 01393538

Toilet tank emptied: yes

Deimos rover used: no, still not functional
Hours: 0
Beginning charge: –
Ending charge: –
Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: NO
Hours: 63
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Opportunity rover used: YES
Hours: 44.8
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 58%
Currently charging: YES

Curiosity rover used: YES
Hours: 60.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 62%
Currently charging: YES

Notes on rovers: The batteries of the used rovers are discharging fastly, around 40% in the first 15 min. So, for the EVA to be successful the astronauts had to walk.
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: Unknown. They were ridden about 1 km each. Notes on ATVs : The Honda tire was inflated today in the morning engineering review.

HabCar used and why, where? Not used.
CrewCar used and why, where? Not used.

General notes and comments: – Nothing to report.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report.

Summary of suits and radios: – The 2 Piece-suit number 3 is still showing some malfunction with the airflow, because the helmet still gets foggy.
– The GreenHab radios are marked now in the Hab. Summary of GreenHab operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of any observatory issues: Musk Solar observatory – Nominal. Robotic Observatory – Nominal.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Nothing to report

Thank you!!!

Sol Summary – December 22nd

Sol: 7

Summary Title: Slippery Roads

Author’s name: Tania Robles, Commander

Mission Status: Crew is working correctly. The projects are going well even with some delay because of technical problems. We are still waiting for the antenna so we can install it and for an electronic component for the system of the 3D printed Rover.

Sol Activity Summary: During Sol 7, four of our Crew members went out for an EVA to The Moon. It was long exploration trip. We learnt that sometimes to innovate in the roads you take, can be a bad idea for your legs and back when you use spacesuits. But also that the MDRS maps are very correct and precise.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow at Sol 8 we will continue working with our projects and clean the Hab for Christmas.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny and windy

Crew Physical Status: All good. Tired because of the EVA.

EVA: Crew 201 performed a four people EVA to The Moon (E515708.2, N4254873). We took the rovers from the Hab for 5 km and then walked through White Moon and Beige Moon to Yellow Moon. The destiny was The Moon but we got confused with the roads. Finally we walked back through Brahe HWY to the main road and drove the rovers back to the Hab. The objectives were covered and we had a successful EVA

Reports to be filed: Operations Report

EVA Report

Greenhab Report

Astronomy Report

Journalist Report

Pictures of the day

Support Requested: N/A

Astronomy Report – December 21st

MS, We did some astronomy work.

Astronomy Report
Name: Federico Arturo Martinez Espinoza
Crew: 201 MEx-1
Date: 21- Dec – 2018

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-WF
Objects Viewed: 46P/Witarnen
Problems Encountered: Do not know if the lack of experience using photoshop to give color to images is the cause, but can not find the comet on the picture
.

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