Crew 290 GreenHab Report 17-01-2024 (Sol 10)
Greenhab Officer: Ben Kazimer
Heater on (set to 72⁰F), fan off, door closed
Average temperatures: 0815: 77.0⁰F, 15%, 1505: 86.4⁰F, 15%
Hours of supplemental light: nominal 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 5 ½ gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: N/A
Water in Blue Tank 131.8 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops:
0815: 4 gallons watering, ½ gallon misting, 1432: ½ gallon watering, ½ gallon misting
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
This sol’s narrative starts on the eve of sol 9, immediately after our taco Tuesday feast ended. I went to check on my plants before I settled in for the night, and upon entering the greenhab I knew I was in for a trip. It was about 20⁰F outside and 41⁰F inside the greenhouse… The heater was not running and the plants clearly wore upset emotions on their yellowing and flaking leaves. After a quick chat with Mission Support, I got the greenlight to open up the heater to see what was going on along with the help of Engineer Roots. We took the side panels off to expose the electrical components to clean things out and check a few connections. After some resets and reassembly, the heater was back to keeping the greenhouse at a pseudo-summer like status. Mission Support informed me that this issue could have been occurring the past few nights during the coldest point (they are still testing out experimental remote monitoring systems that are not fully integrated to the habitat). While the greenhouse was warming, I wasn’t convinced it was stable. I stayed up relatively late and checked on the heater throughout the night. I did not actually visit the facility as that would require waking another crewmate for comms check-ins, but instead gauged the heater status by the motion of Riya’s inventory list which was taped to the water tank, right in the flow field of the heater’s hot output. Fast forward to today, the plants have been happy throughout the sol and I’m hoping the heater can continue nominal operations until it is further diagnosed before Crew 291 comes in.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None!