November 2022 – Page 16 – Mars Desert Research Station

Commander Report
Sol: 6
Summary Title: Everything’s gonna be alright
Author’s name: Marta Ferran-Marqués, Commander and Crew Scientist
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander Report: Our crew woke up this morning at 8.30 am, one hour later than usual, as it is Saturday. For breakfast the crew had some handmade chocolate chip cookies and coffee. Later in the morning, Cristina and Marta went for an EVA around the MDRS Ridge. The purpose of the EVA was to continue the experiments with Lazarus, the visual odometry robot designed by Dronomy – a spin-off from Madrid, Spain. The crew compiled valuable data, making it a successful EVA. The views from the top of the Ridge were spectacular!

While Cristina and Marta were outside, Laurene had her Braided Communication session with her loved one and then helped Paula cleaning the Hab – good job girls! The Hab smells really good now!

In the afternoon, the crew repaired some connections from Lazarus’ robot in the RAM and then they went to the Science Dom to inspect some of the rocks picked at The Overlook during yesterday’s EVA. The crew will prepare a Mars’ map indicating the salinity of the soil in all the areas explored until now. The map will help understand the probability of growing plants in specific areas.

After a busy and stressful day writing all the reports, the crew relaxed and had dinner together – pizza night!

Sol Summary Report
Sol: 6
Summary Title: Stendhal Syndrome views on Mars!
Author’s name: Paula Peixoto Moledo, Crew Biologist and Crew Journalist
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up this morning at 8.30 am. We had some good coffee and some cookies prepared by the crew yesterday! Later in the morning Cristina and Marta went in their first on-foot EVA! They explore the surroundings of the station, a beautiful spot! And they also performed two different experiments with Lazarus, the robot by Dronomy. Both experiments were successful, and the EVA Crew took some amazing pics! Meanwhile, Laurene and Paula cleaned a little bit of the Hab.

Early in the afternoon, the crew fixed some issues with Lazarus in the RAM. Afterward, they went to the Science Building to explore some samples that the crew took from the 2 last EVAs. They came up with an idea to explore the soil around the station.

Later, the crew had a lot of reports to fill so they put themselves hands-on to finish by 7 pm!
Then Paula went to the Green Hab to maintain the plants and to harvest the crew’s first plants! Microgreens!

After a nice day in Mars, the crew cooked together a special dinner – PIZZA with our newly harvested microgreens!

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow Paula and Laurene are planning to explore the spot that Cristina and Marta explored today (Should be amazing). And the Crew is going to have a peaceful day – It is also Sunday on Mars!

Anomalies at work: Some of the fans from the EVA suits are not working properly (Very low airflow).
Weather: Sunny, 13 °C
Crew Physical Status: Good
EVA: 1
Reports to be filed:
· Sol Summary Report from 5Nov2022
· Commander Report
· GreenHab Report
· Operations Report
· EVAs Reports
· HSO Report
· EVA Request
· Weekly Research Report

Support Requested: Thank you Mission Support !

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 — No Crew (Spring Break)

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 11-17 - Summer Closeout Crew

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

Month: November 2022

Commander Report – November 5th

Sol Summary – November 5th