GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
10:05: 75.6 F, 50%
10:30: 75.9 F, 50%
12:18: 76.6 F, 42%
14:48: 75.6 F, 36%
16:19: 67.5 F, 42%
18:03: 71.4 F, 41%
19:39: 71.6 F, 36%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 86 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 10:05 water, 14:48 water, 19:40 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
We’ve reached the last sol. Today was another overcast day, with some rain about, so lots of humidity in the outside air. There were also puddles of water and mud in the walkway, so I wanted to minimize the number of trips I did back and forth to the GreenHab today. Luckily, from yestersol’s readings, I expected that the temperature would remain relatively stable throughout the day. In the morning, I found the moisture meter was showing the tomato plants getting towards the dry scale, so decided to give them a big watering early in the day. This brought the moisture levels back up to nicely moist. I also took down the shade cloth in the morning to give the plants some extra sun during this cloudy day. We officially ended our sim at 2pm today, however I still made trips back and forth to check in on the plants, and giving them a top up of an additional gallon and a misting in the afternoon. As a send off treat for crew 291, we harvested the 3 red tomatoes from tomato #9 that I have been eying off for the past few sols and an additional two smaller tomatoes from tomato #3. Tomato #6 has a nice bunch of yellow tomatoes that should be ripe for crew 292. There was some debate also about harvesting the growing cucumber. Some googling of cucumber harvesting suggested to pick them slightly immature as they become bitter as they turn yellow, and that delayed harvesting reduces the quality of the produce. The current fruit looked to be similar to the reference photo of a ready-to-pick cucumber (though a little smaller – but then this cuke is growing in a pot and not a vineyard). So, the decision was made to harvest the cuke to enjoy with the tomatoes as part of our send off. We are very thankful to the GreenHab officer from Crew 290 for taking such good care of the cukes through their troubling times with the heater issues. We topped off our last harvest with three peas from the vines.
Throughout this mission, the GreenHab has been a welcome escape from the Hab. I feel the greenery has had a noticeably positive influence on the mood of the crew, who have brightened up with each new tomato, cucumber or pea that emerged. I think in a real Mars mission, I would be spending a lot of time in the GreenHab.
So long, and thanks for all the fruit!!!
– GreenHab Scott, Crew 291
Harvest: 5x Tomatoes (36g), 3x peas (9g), 1x cucumber (24g)
Support/supplies needed: None