Day: January 6, 2019

Sol 8 – 01/06/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

“Space,” it says, “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

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Morning Song: Someone New by Hozier.

Morning Routine: Stretching.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Blueberries.

EVA #7: Collect. More. Rocks.

But none of that matters today. The routine, the unbelievably scenic views, the amazing science being done during this mission. None of it… Because today, after eight days… Eight long, dry shampoo filled, wipey scrubbed, hair stiff as uncooked spaghetti noodles days. I. Finally. Took. A. Shower.

While on Mars, water is a limited resource just like anything else. It’s hard to find on Mars; therefore, it must be conserved. Our mission instructions allot us a 2 minute Navy shower every 2-3 days. The instructions for a 2 minute Navy shower: Step 1: Turn on the water. Step 2: Jump in the water. Step 3: Rinse and jump out. Step 4: Turn off the water. Perform Steps 1-4 in under 45 seconds. Step 5: Scrub your body with soap in 15 to 30 seconds. Step 6: Repeat Steps 1-4 to rinse the soap off. It is a stark change from my 45 minute showers back on Earth, and it is not particularly pleasant, but it gets the job done.

But why did I wait 8 days? Our habitat holds enough water for 1-2 people to take a shower per day. Added bonus, our water heater has a mean personality and rarely works, no matter how nicely we ask. Our Engineer caved first. She described her shower has having a brief moment of warmth. Our Commander and Executive Officer experienced the same sensations of freezing water, pleasant warmth, and scalding, burn your skin off, temperature, then back to freezing cold. Our poor Geologist only felt the ice chattering cold. There was one common reaction to taking a shower across the crew, we have been reborn. It is as if you are a new person, slipping into a fresh skin like a recently molted lizard. Nobody particularly smells on this crew (or maybe we have just gotten used to each other’s smells), but in an effort to conserve water, I endured the dry shampoo and baby wipe scrub downs until I couldn’t possibly take it anymore! And I swear my hair has never felt so soft as it does today. In fresh clean clothes. With my fresh clean body.

That’s it for today. That was the highlight. We are always thinking of our loved ones. We hope they don’t miss us too much, and we want them to know that we are having a fantastic time on the Red Planet. We can’t wait to share all of our adventures with them when we return… And take a 45 minute shower. With working warm water. And ice cream.

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Movie (or Show) Answer: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

MDRS Crew 202, Journalist Report

Sol 7 – 01/05/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. (Hal 9000)

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A folky electronic song by Young the Giant started today’s morning along with meditation and chocolate chip pancakes. Dreams of ice cream are not going away anytime soon, but we’re going to add sweet to everything in a hopeless effort to curb the cravings.

Our 6th Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) was crewed by our Commander, Geologist, Engineer, and Executive Officer. Their mission: Find more rocks (there is a theme through these EVAs). The original plan called for a longer EVA to the East in an area where the canyons open up in search of “fluvial” samples, or rocks often found near former riverbeds or water. Unfortunately, winter has not been kind to Crew 202 and the snow covered most of the trail. No matter. On Mars, you must be adaptable and expect the unexpected. In lieu of the canyon view, the crew stopped along three waypoints on the visible road. The first, a large plain with several short and stout hills. A fairly standard view here on the Red Planet. The second stop was at the base of Mt. Nutella. The mountain has no known affiliation with the delightful hazelnut spread, but it is a good place to collect sand. From our south facing window in the habitat, there is a tall mountain peak in the distance poking out between two hills. While on the trail between Stop 1 and Stop 2, the entire mountain range was in full view. A beautiful sight to behold as the Crew attempted to navigate to Stop 3. Attempted being the keyword here. Have you ever used Google Maps and no matter how many times it says “recalculating”, you still can’t find the location? This was the case with Stop 3. The stop was not a complete loss as our Commander tested various risk scenarios on the crew and the Executive Officer took radioactive measurements over the area. Our Executive Officer is originally from Ukraine and an Army drill sergeant back in the U.S.A. It takes a lot to shake this man. The only comment he made towards this EVA was, “This was the coldest EVA so far”… That means it was absolutely Artic out there. I can’t say I envied my fellow crew members, but it does sound like they found great samples for our geological studies and witnessed beautiful views.

Back at the habitat, our Health & Safety Officer has been hard at work on his own research projects! Jake Qiu is our Health & Safety Officer and our Green Habitat Officer in Crew 202. In short, he keeps the people, and the plants, healthy. Jake is a biological engineering student at Purdue University back on Earth and is working on a project which analyzes how the microbiomes of people affect the microbiomes of the sterilized plants we plan to bring to future Mars missions. A microbiome is a community of bacteria that thrive on both living and non-living objects. When we talk about microbiomes on people, this could refer to the community of bacteria on your skin, in your gut, or various other places on the human body. You are COVERED in “cities” of bacteria. If your body was a bacteria population map, your belly button would be Los Angeles. When we send plants to space, we “sterilize” the plants meaning we kill any existing bacteria living on the plants. Unfortunately, we cannot completely sterilize the humans, so our microbiomes travel with us to space. Jake is growing sterilized microgreens using hydroponics to determine how the crew’s microbiomes will affect the microbiomes of the microgreens. Pretty neat right? Hydroponics is simply a plant growing system that does not use soil. This method is also used on Earth and is a popular system for growing plants inside buildings. Our method uses two gardening trays stacked on top of each other. The plant seeds are placed on top of a cloth made from wicking fabric and laid across the top gardening tray. Water is poured into the bottom gardening tray, absorbed through the cloth, and Wala! Microgreens are sprouted! Microgreens are not only great for this project since they grow quickly, they are also great for Mars! They provide essential vitamins and nutrients that are difficult to find in the shelf-stable “food” that will be the main feature of most Martian cuisine. Additionally, Jake intends to answer whether the interaction of our microbiomes will affect the physical being of the plants (i.e. the size of the plant leaves)? Are there pathogens, or diseases, present in the microgreen microbiomes and could that transfer to humans? This is just one of the many incredible research projects in work by Crew 202. Keep up the great work Jake!

As a final note, Martians should definitely consider bringing Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits. Shelf stable and a wonderful change of pace from the soup heavy Mars diet!

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Movie (or Show) Answer: 2001: A Space Odyssey