Day: January 15, 2024

Mars Desert Research Station

Mission Plan

Crew 290 – Project MADMEN

Jan 7th – Jan 20th, 2024

Crew Members:

Commander and Health and Safety Officer: Madelyn Hoying

Executive Officer and Health and Safety Officer: Rebecca McCallin

Crew Scientist: Anja Sheppard

Green Hab Officer: Benjamin Kazimer

Crew Engineer: Anna Tretiakova

Crew Journalist: Wing Lam (Nicole) Chan

Mission Plan:

Project MADMEN is an analog-based proof-of-concept adaptation of Project ALIEN, an exploration class mission concept to discover life on the surface of Mars and to study adaptation of microorganisms to the Martian environment as proposed to the 2020 NASA RASC-AL Challenge. Project ALIEN consists of a two-part plan to study the ability of microbes to adapt to the harsh conditions of the Martian surface, while simultaneously conducting a search for Martian life.

Proposed experiments for Project MADMEN, the two-week analog-based adaptation of Project ALIEN, primarily consist of conducting on-site field tests of geological samples aimed towards searching for life on Martian surface. To do this, a series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) are planned to collect soil samples and test (while on the EVA at the sampling site) for evidence of potential signs of life. Field testing will focus on detection of bacterial energy metabolism based on sulfur cycle, carbon cycle, and ATP synthesis. The entire Crew 290 team will work on Project MADMEN’s scientific goals. Additional Crew 290 studies include psychosocial investigations and the use of ground penetrating radar.

Crew Projects:

Title: Project MADMEN

Author(s): Madelyn Hoying and Rebecca McCallin, with full-crew participation

Objectives: Our mission objective is to identify and characterize microbial life via metabolic assays based on the sulfur cycle.

Description: Soil samples from EVAs will be run through a series of metabolic assays starting in the field and continuing upon return into the habitat. Testing will focus on detection of bacterial energy metabolism based on sulfur cycle, interactions with high salt concentrations, and ATP synthesis. Samples will also be diluted and flushed through a novel microfluidic device to proliferate microbes and concurrently run metabolic assays.

Rationale: Given the highly salt concentrated and sulfur rich surface of Mars, it is assumed that microbes living in the regolith will have adapted to living in such conditions. Metabolic byproducts can be used not only as an indicator of productivity but also as a source of detection. We developed metabolic assays that would induce activity in microbes living in regolith conditions comparable to Mars. Using fluctuations in pH to monitor reduction/oxidation reactions, we will be able to detect the presence of a metabolically active organism and simultaneously characterize it. We have also developed a device to proliferate collected microbes with low contamination risk to crew members performing assessments, preventing potentially adverse interactions.

EVAs: A minimum of 4 EVAs are required, with more targeted.

Title: Evaluating Psychosocial Impacts of Mars Mission Architectures

Author: Madelyn Hoying

Objectives: This project seeks to compare psychosocial interactions among crew and emergency response capabilities between Mars mission architectures. Results from this single-site architecture test will be compared to previous dual-site architecture experiments developed and tested by MIT.

Description: Daily questionnaires will be completed by the crew in analog and compared to a pre-analog baseline questionnaire. These are based on the Ecological Momentary Assessment, a well-established contemporary method for psychosocial research that focuses on the lived moment-by-moment experience of study participants within naturalistic contexts.

Rationale: As commercial high-capacity launch vehicles become available, large-scale space missions present exciting new options for surface exploration. These are notably different from the current 4–7-person mission designs, and as such necessitate testing variations in crew dynamics, governance, emergency response, and unique psychosocial aspects associated with different mission architectures.

EVAs: None (although EVA inputs from other projects are valuable to the study).

Title: Ground Penetrating Radar for Martian Rovers

Author: Anja Sheppard

Objectives: This project is focused on collecting Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and stereoscopic camera imagery data in a Martian analog environment. Post-analog data processing will focus on using this data for machine learning applications.

Description: With our custom Clearpath Husky data collection platform, we will simulate data collection of a Martian rover to determine alternative use cases for camera and radar data. We have already verified our platform in a non-Martian environment.

Rationale: The RIMFAX GPR sensor on the Perseverance rover has demonstrated a science case for using radar on the surface of Mars, primarily targeted at the search for water. GPR reveals a lot of information about surface and subsurface terrain properties. We are interested in exploring new use cases for this sensor modality that is already in use in Martian environments.

EVAs: Requires a minimum of 4 EVAs. We plan to collect data at varied terrain types that are present within a 100 meter radius at each MADMEN EVA site. For EVAs independent of the MADMEN objectives, we will target varied terrain within walking distance of MDRS.

[title  Crew biographies, photos and mission patch – January 8th]

Mars Desert Research Station

Crew Biographies

Crew 290 – Project MADMEN

Jan 7th – Jan 20th, 2024

Crew Members:

Commander and Health and Safety Officer: Madelyn Hoying

Executive Officer and Health and Safety Officer: Rebecca McCallin

Crew Scientist: Anja Sheppard

Green Hab Officer: Benjamin Kazimer

Crew Engineer: Anna Tretiakova

Crew Journalist: Wing Lam (Nicole) Chan

Madelyn Hoying (Commander and co-Health and Safety Officer) is a PhD candidate in the joint MIT and Harvard Medical School Medical Engineering and Medical Physics program, and an M.S. in AeroAstro at MIT. Her Ph.D. research in the Tearney Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital investigates aerospace physiology leading to novel medical devices for long-duration spaceflight. Her M.S. research targets development of planetary exploration architectures. Madelyn graduated from Duquesne University in 2020 with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a B.A. in Physics, where she was a 2020 nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award as a member of the NCAA D1 swim team. In addition, Madelyn designs and leads analog missions to test new technologies, human operations, crew dynamics, and recovery procedures in simulated planetary surface exploration missions.

Rebecca McCallin (Executive Officer and co-Health and Safety Officer) completed her Bachelors of Science in Biology with a concentration in human physiology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. While a student, she competed as an NCAA Division I rower and as the lead biologist of Duquesne’s NASA’s RASC-AL Challenge team. The product of the RASC-AL mission was Project ALIEN, which was enhanced and developed into Crew 290’s MDRS mission to search for life on Mars! In addition to her extraterrestrial research, Rebecca is the lab manager for the Janjic Lab at Duquesne University where she manufactures and develops nanoparticles. In her free time, she volunteers as an EMT with her hometown fire department.

Anja Sheppard (Crew Scientist) is a doctoral candidate in Robotics at the University of Michigan, where her research focuses on autonomous navigation and perception for robots in extreme environments. Anja is passionate about robotic and human spaceflight, as well as establishing ethical and political frameworks for space exploration. In her free time, she DJs at the local radio station and enjoys reading on her porch.

Ben Kazimer (GreenHab Officer) is a research engineer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and a space food enthusiast. At Lincoln Lab, he works on sensor modeling and deployment. Outside of work, Ben is excited about the food landscape in space. In his free time, he enjoys going to see live music concerts and experimenting with new landscapes.

Anna Tretiakova (Crew Engineer) is an undergraduate sophomore student at Boston University, majoring in mechanical engineering. Outside her studies she works at SiLab, an engineering makerspace situated on the BU campus. Here, she not only engages in hands-on activities but also teaches fellow students; guiding them in mastering the intricacies of woodworking, metalworking, and textile machinery. Anna seizes every opportunity for adventure, embarking on camping, hiking, and backpacking escapades whether it’s a single vacation day, an entire week, or even a full month. On these trips Anna does her best to scout for some freshly cut logs to later bring into the shop to commemorate the trip by making bowls, utensils, trays, cutting boards and jewelry boxes – whatever the log allows!

Wing Lam (Nicole) Chan is a senior in Aerospace Engineering at MIT and minoring in Computer Science. She is currently doing research at the MIT Aerospace Controls Lab with Prof. Jonathan How on improving multi-agent autonomous trajectory planner via hexacopter drone flight tests. Nicole is passionate about space autonomous systems and systems engineering in long-duration planetary missions. It is her dream to see one of her robotic creations roam the unknown surfaces of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. This is her first time at MDRS and she is stoked to experience lots of firsts on this Martian adventure. Outside of academics, Nicole is an avid sci-fi reader and enjoys playing a wide variety of videogames with friends.