Month: November 2019

Sun 17 Nov Sol 7
by Guy Murphy

Illustrations of an early Mars landing often show a Habitat, Earth return vehicle, solar plant or a nuclear reactor, supply landers and a small greenhouse ‘for growing the mission’s food’. Usually, the greenhouses shown are way too small to meaningfully grow anything, but a real Mars base is going to need fresh produce to supplement the crew’s diet and to pioneer the growth of large scale crops.

The Greenhab at the MDRS is a good size for demonstrating the range of crops that can be grown in greenhouse conditions, and after a few months should be able to provide something for the crew’s
meal plates at least once a day. I have commenced as Greenhab Officer at the start of the field season. I am therefore planting crops with a time horizon lasting till May 2020. (There are no perennial plants here).

Some crops such as radishes and lettuces will be ready to harvest very quickly. It is best to plant these every month or so in modest quantities, so the crew doesn’t suddenly have more on hand than it can eat or store. Species with long yield times should be planted as soon as possible to allow time to mature. These include tomatoes, capsicums, onions and members of the cucurbit family such as pumpkins, zucchini, cucumbers, and melons. Some of these can be stored as harvested, or dried or frozen.

There are no bees or other insects to pollinate flowers, which means there will need to be hand-pollinated instead. Larger growing plants will need larger pots. Trailing plants are good because they can grow over a much larger area than their soil container, running over the ground or up over frames. The legume family will produce its own nitrogen in its roof system, providing benefits to the soil that can be available to other plants. On Mars, species where all the plants can be eaten (or fed to other edible creatures) will be given preference, as these will help minimize waste.

With these considerations, we now have tomatoes, capsium, cucumbers, snow peas, onions, carrots, radishes, strawberries, spinach and rocket currently growing in the Greenhab, with more to be planted with the next soil delivery. As long as the Greenhab officer in the future crews tends the crops, a bountiful harvest should be possible here.

On Mars, the crew will need larger greenhouses to establish a more reliable food supply and allow for crop failures, including accidental pressurisation. Artificial soils based on the surface regolith will need to be created, with reliable heating, water sources, pressurisation, and lighting. Some argue hydroponic systems might be more efficient.

Future Martian gardeners should not have to worry about insects and rodents at least. We, on the other hand, saw a wild white-tailed antelope squirrel, which had wandered inside from the adjacent plain. Before I leave here I will pot up the bag of narcissus bulbs, like a pot or 2 of these inside the Hab would bring some cheer.

[title Journalist Report – November 16th]

[category journalist-report]

Sat 16 Nov
Sol 6
by Guy Murphy
Nobody wakes up planning on having a life-threatening emergency. This is especially
true on Mars. A similar range of medical events that occurs on Earth can strike on
Mars, but with the added complications of limited medical expertise, supplies and
facilities, and only delayed advice from Earth. Evacuation to your home planet is not
an option. If you are stricken on the surface, whether illness or accident, you will
need to be evacuated to the safety of a pressurised space. Outside you are vulnerable
to death by space suit depressurisation and freezing. In deciding on a rescue, you
colleagues will be subjecting themselves to risk. Knowing Mars is a dangerous place,
crew will have rehearsed emergency procedures many times, so as far as possible they
can protect human life without endangering their own. Last night, we put our rescue
procedure to the test with a simulated emergency and rescue.
Our crew engineer Shane Usher suited up and exited the airlock on a routine check of
Hab systems, including the electric rovers. He was in radio contact with Jennifer Lane.
While examining Spirit rover, he pretended to suffer an electric shock, and was
observed lying apparently unconscious next to the rover. His radio fell silent.
The remaining crew inside the Hab sprang to action. Larissa and I were quickly
nominated to go out through the airlock to bring Shane indoors. The time to put on
space suits, check radios and exit the airlock passed painfully slowly. We waited
through the depressurisation countdown, me holding a heavy duty carry sheet stretcher
and Larissa a board for dragging over up the stairs. At the rover we scanned for
danger, then tried to rouse Shane. He was (playing) unconscious. You can’t check a
person’s pulse or breathing directly through a space suit. We laid him sidewards on the
sheet, and dragged him to the hab steps. Deciding not to use the board, we dragged him
up to the platform by the door, which soon became very tiring. We bent the patient’s
legs to get him inside the airlock before commencing depressurisation. The inner door
opened, I stepped through and the other crew took over dragging our pretend casualty
through to a larger area where our medical officer Steve Whitfield could initiate first aid.
Overall, I think we performed reasonably well under the circumstance. We knew it was a
simulation and that it was scheduled, but it was still a tense experience. It was a
reminder that many emergencies can be planned for, and the extent of preparation can
have a significant impact on the outcome.
This afternoon Larissa, Shane and I returned to the micrometeorite site, collecting the
remaining samples and string grid, and returned to the Hab without incident.