Month: March 2022

Posted on

Operations Report March 20th} MsoNormal style=”margin:0in 0in style=”font-size:12pt;line-height:18.399999618530273px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif”>[status draft

Crew 264 Operations Report 20-03-2022

SOL: 1

Name of person filing report: Joel Vaughan

Non-nominal systems: None

Notes on non-nominal systems: None

ROVERS

Spirit rover used:

Hours: 159

Beginning charge: Did not note- will note next time

Ending charge: 72

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used:

Hours: 88

Beginning charge: Did not note- will note next time

Ending charge: 65

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used:

Hours: 174

Beginning charge: Did not note- will note next time

Ending charge: 63

Currently charging: Yes

Perseverance rover used:

Hours: 230

Beginning charge: Did not note- will note next time

Ending charge: 68

Currently charging: Yes

General notes and comments: None

Summary of Hab operations:

WATER USE: 40 gallons (26 people)

Water (static tank): ~400 gallons

Water (loft tank): 52 gallons

Water Meter: 156636.2 units

Static to Loft Pump used – Yes

Static tank pipe heater (on or off): Off

Static tank heater (On or off): Off

Toilet tank emptied: No

Summary of internet: Working well

Summary of suits and radios: All working well

Summary of GreenHab operations: N/A per

WATER USE: gallons

Heater: On or Off

Supplemental light: On or Off

Harvest:

Summary of ScienceDome operations: N/A

Dual split: Heat or AC, On or Off

Summary of RAM operations: N/A

Summary of any observatory issues: N/A

Summary of health and safety issues: See HSO Report. No other active issues.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None

Posted on

Operations Report – March 21st

Crew 264 Operations Report 21-03-2022

SOL: 2

Name of person filing report: Joel Vaughn

Non-nominal systems: None

Notes on non-nominal systems: None

ROVERS

Spirit rover used:
Hours: 159
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 75
Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used:
Hours: 88.4
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 85
Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used:
Hours: 174.5
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 89
Currently charging: Yes

Perseverance rover used:
Hours: 230
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 87
Currently charging: Yes

General notes and comments: None

Summary of Hab operations:

WATER USE: 40 gallons (26 people)
Water (static tank): ~360 gallons
Water (loft tank): gallons
Water Meter: 156711 units

Static to Loft Pump used – Yes
Static tank pipe heater (on or off): Off
Static tank heater (On or off): Off

Toilet tank emptied: No

Summary of internet: Connected to the world wide web

Summary of suits and radios: All working well

Summary of GreenHab operations: N/A not in use

WATER USE: gallons

Heater: On or Off

Supplemental light: On or Off

Harvest:

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Rocket assembly bay for today’s EVA

Dual split: Heat or AC, On or Off

Summary of RAM operations: N/A

Summary of any observatory issues: N/A

Summary of health and safety issues: N/A.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None

Posted on

Sol Summary – March 21st

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-21-22

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Rocket Recovery!

Author’s name: Ben Easter

Mission Status: We are a slightly different crew of 20 students as well as instructors from the University of Colorado. Our time at MDRS is part of a CU-Boulder course on Medicine in Space and Surface Environments. The students have learned Wilderness First Aid and CPR, and they will be learning how to provide this care during medical contingency simulations on Mars. The group arrived yesterday and erected a dome for our classroom space (see pictures).

Sol Activity Summary: Rocket launch successful. Sent supplies to other explorers in need. After a few technical issues, we were able to launch to 10000ft. We then tracked and recovered the payload successfully. Some minor damage to medications was involved but overall we provided care to a crew in need.

Look Ahead Plan: EVAs tomorrow to repair faulty weather balloon

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Gusty off and on and worsening throughout the day

Crew Physical Status: Crew passed Physical Readiness Test

EVA: Rocket launch and recovery

Reports to be filed: HSO, Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Posted on

Supplemental Operations Report March 16th

Supplemental Operations Report 16 Mar 2022

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Reason for Report: Routine

Non-nominal systems: Outpost water supply

Action taken for non-nominal systems: We shocked the system with bleach, drained as much as could be pumped out and refilled it halfway. It is not clear and there is additional material floating on the top. We are letting it settle overnight and will reevaluate tomorrow.

Generator: Still being manually run at night.

ScienceDome Dual Split: Off

Solar—Charge controllers off at night.

Solar— Nominal

Notes on power system: Nothing to report

Propane Reading, station tank – not noted %

Propane Reading, director tank— not noted %

Propane Reading, intern tank— not noted %

Propane Reading, generator— not noted %

Ethanol Free Gasoline – not known gallons.

Water (Outpost tank) – 50 gallons

Sojourner rover used: yes

Hours: not noted

Beginning charge: 100

Ending charge: 100

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: Still using Percy as well as Soji.

ATV’s Used: (Honda, 350.1, 350.2, 300): Honda and the 350 that runs (I always forget to note which one it is)

Reason for use: maintenance

Oil Added? No.

ATV Fuel Used: 0 gallons

# Hours the ATVs were Used: 0.25 hours

Notes on ATVs: The headlights on the Honda to no work at all. I don’t know when this occurred but I only just noticed and confirmed it today.

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, to town for garbage and water runs

CrewCar used and why, where? No, it is parked in Grand Junction

Luna used and why, where? Yes, to town and for school field trips

Campus wide inspection, if action taken, what and why? Poop and MOOP patrols continue.

General notes and comments: Propane was delivered today, but I didn’t check the tank levels because of mud after a short storm this afternoon. The propane driver had run over the conduit in the narrow space between the campus and the outpost and I had put a barrier around it so I could move and rebury it, but he ran over the barrier and the conduit shattered. I will need to find a way to replace the pipe and protects the wires and move it in the next few days.

Summary of general operations: We are hosting two school groups this week. Each is here for two nights.

Summary of internet: I have not used the Starlink enough to evaluate it yet but my HughesNet account has no more data and three days until recharge, so Starlink will be my only internet until then and I will get a good look at it.

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: There was some water leaking from the toilet on Monday, but it was limited and has not continued. It happened when the tank was full, so maybe that was the cause, although it appeared to be fresh water. No idea what happened.

Summary of Outpost operations: Intern trailer is being occupied by TMS ED James Burk.

Summary of GreenHab operations: The Supaero crews left a small growth chamber, which I cleaned and will install in the ScienceDome to grown microgreens for the remainder of the field season.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: ScienceDome has been used a lot this week for science experiences. We have been using the oven.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Repairs will be done on Friday.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

[end]

Posted on

Supplemental Operations Report March 13/14th

Supplemental Operations Report 13/14 Mar 2022

Name of person filing report: Shannon Rupert

Reason for Report: Routine

Non-nominal systems: We had a brief power system failure on Saturday morning. It may have been the result of the crew accidently leaving a rover on, and the SOC fell the 3% before I noticed it and turned on the generator. We were fine overnight but about a half hour after I turned the generator off, the SOC spiked at 100% before 9 am, which never happens. I went to town around 10 am to secure the crew’s 3D printer and when I got back the power was out.

Action taken for non-nominal systems: I’m currently (and it seems like forever…) troubleshooting the system.

Generator: Still being manually run at night. I did not use it on Saturday night and the SOC fell from 93 to 29 overnight. I unplugged the suits, radios and rovers on Sunday night to see if I could further reduce the load and the SOC fell from 91 to 37. This was even with an extra hour of sunlight. This suggests that the batteries are no longer at their peak performance due to the continuous drain over the past months of trying to get the system to work as it should. This is disappointing and potentially costly news.

ScienceDome Dual Split: Off

Solar—Charge controllers off at night except Saturday and Sunday, when I did not use the generator.

Solar— SOC was nominal through Saturday morning and once again after the power was restored.

Notes on power system: As noted above.

Propane Reading, station tank – 60 %

Propane Reading, director tank— 74 %

Propane Reading, intern tank— 78 %

Propane Reading, generator— 60 %

Ethanol Free Gasoline – not known gallons.

Water (Outpost tank) – 50 gallons

Sojourner rover used: yes

Hours: not noted

Beginning charge: 100

Ending charge: 100

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: I’ve been using Percy to do chores. Other rovers are just parked and charging.

ATV’s Used: (Honda, 350.1, 350.2, 300): none

Reason for use: n/a

Oil Added? No.

ATV Fuel Used: 0 gallons

# Hours the ATVs were Used: 0 hours

Notes on ATVs: Nothing to report

HabCar used and why, where? Yes, to town for garbage and water runs (yay, I just love getting water…not!)

CrewCar used and why, where? Yes, crew returned it to Grand Junction and left it at the Day’s Inn. I plan to go to Grand Junction one day next week and get an oil change, tired rotated and wash before the next regular crew arrives.

Luna used and why, where? Yes, to town

Campus wide inspection, if action taken, what and why? Poop patrol and MOOP patrol both happened this weekend. MOOP not completed.

General notes and comments: nothing to report.

Summary of general operations: Nothing to report

Summary of internet: I moved the Starlink equipment to my trailer and will be testing it. The crew found that it worked very well and they were even able to make several phones call at one time on it, so I am intrigued. Early reviews are mixed. Fine for regular emails, etc, but not so great to stream. The jury is still out.

Summary of suits and radios: The suit covers for the one-piece suits were missing through the last rotation but were found in a cabinet and are now back on the suits. Broken helmet is in intern trailer.

Summary of Hab operations: The water leak in the front of the Hab, between the front steps and the water tank, is gone. I suspect it was from the broken part of the toilet or from the toilet seal because once the toilet was replaced it stopped. So mystery solved. The toilet room definitely needs new flooring because the water damaged floor is not at all attractive.

I spent several hours in the Hab returning misplaced items, taking inventory and taking care of small issues that had been ignored. Overall the Hab is in good shape from crew use, but a more serious floor cleaning on the lower deck needs to happen with future crews.

Summary of Outpost operations: Intern trailer getting clean for the arrival of TMS Executive Director, who will be visiting MDRS this week.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Cleaned and organized

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report.

Summary of health and safety issues: No bleach to be found in town so I will shock the water system when it arrives today.

Posted on

Final Mission Summary – Crew 263

Crew 263 – From February 20th 2022 to March 12th 2022

After a year of planning, we were very excited to finally be on Mars. We are members of the Mars Association of our University ISAE-Supaero in France, just like Crew 240 which rotation was right before ours. We went on with some of their scientific experiments as the researchers were interested in having data over 6 weeks or from two separate crews.

Concerning the atmospheric experiment delivered by the French Center of National Scientific Research (CNRS), a part of a device was lost by Crew 240 before their rotation. We successfully handcrafted parts of the device in order to make it work and were able to take it outside by the end of the first week, securing 2 weeks of data. We had a humidity issue on Purple Air during the second week, constraining us to remove it. The LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter) had to be taken in when snow was forecasted, which is the nominal use. All other devices worked nominally.

In addition to scientific experiments consecutively performed by Crew 240 and us, we wanted to have our own experiments, which explains our busy mission planning. Three ultrasound medical surveillance sessions were performed. An Augmented Reality App developed by the French Space Agency (CNES) along with an ultrasound device from Sonoscanner were used to assess an autonomous organ capture by astronauts. All crew members showcased an improvement on their ultrasound performance.

For the ham radio experiment, we had two objectives. Troubles with the statistic study happened because of wind which broke and disoriented our antenna. We fixed it three times during EVAs. However, we managed to listen to a few beacons. For the contact with the other “Martian base”, it did not work as we thought it would. The plan was to contact Toulouse using three modes: Data, CW and SSB. The Data mode was the most promising one but unfortunately, we never received any signal. We managed to decrypt Toulouse’s indicative “F5KSE” in Morse code (CW). We do not know yet whether Toulouse has heard us or not. For the SSB mode, we knew it would be more difficult to have any signal at all and the luck wasn’t on our side this time.

About our gravitropism experiment, we wanted to make plants grow on a rotating platform and make daily measures. It was planned in two parts, the first one with a horizontal rotation (the historical “Knight’s wheel experiment”), the second one with a vertical rotation. But, we did not succeed in making our seed grow. We tried several times different ways. We do not know exactly why it did not work.

The safety protocols experiment had one main educative goal. The three protocols were written along with children from priority education areas to introduce them to space exploration. Two of them were held during EVAs and one in the Hab. The Hab security protocol tested reactions during a small depressurisation. It highlighted how disorganised we were and how difficult it was to communicate efficiently.

 

As for the deep sky astrophotography, two galaxies (M51 and M81) and nebulas (Horsehead and Rosette) have been successfully imaged during the crew 263 rotation. The pictures are currently post-processed by the astronomer to obtain final images. Several attempts to capture other objects have been made during the 3-weeks of the mission but the weather conditions (wind, clouds) and other unknown issues lead to blurry or mis-pointed photos and prevented the obtention of exploitable pictures. Concerning the exoplanet transit detection, one exoplanet transit (TOI 959.01) has been imaged during the mission, the light curve has been traced but no transit can be identified from the comparison of the exoplanet light curve and its comparison stars.

 

If the beginning of the simulation was complicated and frustrating because the weather prevented us from doing the EVAs as planned, it got much better during the second week. Two geological field studies were performed. The first one consisted on identifying and documenting the transition between 2 geological eras -Cretaceous and Jurassic. This study allowed to asses martian field campaigns by human operators using a handheld LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) analyzer, the SciAps Z-903. The second study was the analysis of sulphate deposits in the Summerville formation. Robotic missions on Mars have identified sulphate deposits and hence studying them on Earth to allow comparison was of importance. These studies were successfully performed while following an EVA protocol and wearing spacesuits, gloves and a helmet.

Moreover, a search and rescue experiment were implemented to study the use of drones for saving astronauts on Mars. Three EVAs were necessary for this survey: two with a drone using different speed, and one without any drone. We noticed that even with gloves and helmets, the situations using the drone were quicker, less dangerous and less stressful. Even if the drone’s thermal camera was not as efficient as predicted, the visible camera helped the rescuing team to find the better way to reach the other team.

 

We also took advantage of EVAs to test the emergency protocols. It helped us take the best actions to be found quickly with or without a drone to find us. We also wrote an exhaustive feedback for the children.

 

During the course of the mission, Crew 263 had the chance to test an AR application developed for astronauts’ geological fieldwork. The application required a HoloLens to be used during EVAs. It was difficult to use the HoloLens while wearing a suit, but the crew overcame the issue quickly and provided useful feedback to improve both the hardware and the software. In all, it was a successful first testing of the AR application.

A neuroergonomic approach to cis-lunar operation was also tested by the astronauts. The objective of this experiment was to test the effect of different body positions on performance when teleoperating a rover. Each astronaut performed the task 3 times every week: once sitting, once standing up and once on their side. After each task, they had to report their tiredness and how they had perceived their performance. This experiment was nominal along the course of the mission.

 

The first week of simulation was a bit complicated and the crew was confused a lot. Shannon came back to the Outpost on Wednesday and questioned a lot of our ways. It was stressful for us as we felt like we were doing everything we could according to the Handbook, the Report templates and examples from the two weeks prior to our rotation on the mission support mailing list. Nevertheless, we are very grateful for her advices as they were very relevant: we learned a lot from them. We learned how to redact precise EVA Requests that were also compliant with the Mars simulation. Shannon also highlighted that we may have planned to perform too much experiments and that future Martian missions would probably be more centered on daily life activities.

As we think that like on the ISS, water will be a rare resource on Mars  crewed missions, we were very careful with our water consumption. We collectively decided that only two showers would be allowed for each crew member, using alternative methods for daily hygiene. Nevertheless, two crew members decided not to take any shower and the other five took only one. Moreover, the water consumption was carefully monitored by category of use, in order to see if it was possible to save more water. Techniques were put in place to save water while doing the dishes, cooking or brushing our teeth. Monitoring of sleep status throughout the mission was performed using Dreem headbands. This allowed to take initiatives such as relaxation sessions according to the crew members sleep state.

As for the general engineer operations, the Crew Engineer had work to do with some batteries and fuses that stopped operating in the suits. Of course, he had to do his daily work like pumping water from static tank to loft tank, maintaining the station, the rovers and emptying the toilets. Moreover, we were happy to have a better situation than Crew 240 regarding the toilet’s situation: it was almost not smelling at all and could be emptied every four days.

Given that the GreenHab was only operative for the first 4 days of the mission, we were left with no fresh food, and Elena was left with no plants to take care of. However, the GreenHab emergency was the team’s first Martian emergency and they reacted in a successful way: everyone pitched in and helped emptying the GreenHab as fast and precisely as possible.

Last but not least, the crew has learned to live as a Space Team. Proximity, lyophilized food and EVAs were our routine. We all enjoyed our journey on Mars!

 

Posted on

EVA Report – March 11th

Crew 263 EVA Report 11-03-2022

EVA # 23

Author: Elena López-Contreras González

Purpose of EVA: AR application testing

Start time: 11:45

End time: 11:50

Narrative: The EVA was non-nominal. The astronauts didn’t leave the airlock due to issues with the software. The testing was then performed indoors, as the troubleshooting time went over the scheduled EVA time.

Destination: Around the hab.

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 518288 E, 4250586 N

Participants: Léa Rouverand and Elena López-Contreras

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: NaN

Mode of travel: Foot

Posted on

EVA Report – March 11th

Crew 263 EVA Report 11-03-2022

EVA # 22

Author: Nicolas WATTELLE

Purpose of EVA: Dismounting of our outdoor experiments’ devices

Start time: 9:32

End time: 10:27

Narrative:

EVA participants checked the rover batteries just in case. The obtained information is:

Perseverance: Usage Duration – 228.6 Battery Charge – 100%

Spirit: Usage Duration – 157.7 Battery Charge – 100%

Opportunity: Usage Duration – 87.1 Battery Charge – 100%

Curiosity: Usage Duration – 171.1 Battery Charge – 100%

Nicolas, Marine, Elena and Matheo went to the atmospheric experiment location by rover. They arrived at 9:40. They dismounted the different devices, and brought them back to the Hab, using rovers, at 9:57.

Cerise the Habcom, after depressurization, took the devices inside the Hab.

Then, by foot, Nicolas, Elena, Marine and Matheo went to the antenna location. There, they dismounted the antenna.

They were back at the airlock with the instrument at 10:22.

Depressurization ended at 10:27.

Destination: Intersection between Cow Dung Road and Entrance Road. The atmospheric experiment devices are set up in a circle of radius 2 m. Behind the Hab, where the antenna is set.

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 518288 E, 4250586 N

Participants : Nicolas Wattelle (EVA Leader), Mathéo Fouchet, Marine Prunier, Elena Contreras.

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Entrance Road

Mode of travel: Rover (to go to the atmospheric experiments location), Foot (to go to the antenna location)

Used rover: Curiosity, Opportunity

Copyright © The Mars Society. All rights reserved. | Main Site