Crew Photos – January 2nd
Sol Summary – January 2nd
Crew 306 Sol Summary Report 02-01-2025
Sol: 11
Summary Title: Last call for science.
Author’s name: Jesus Meza
Mission Status: Active. All systems are nominal.
Sol Activity Summary:
The day began at 7:00. Ryan made crepes for breakfast and we topped them with mango or strawberry frosting that Adriana had made the night before. At 9:00 the team preformed mediation, and at 09:15 the team began preparations for EVA 12, the last EVA of the mission. Keegan, Elizabeth, and Rod went back to White Rock canyon and Barrainca Butte to perform DRONE flights. This time, the team was successful in performing Li-DAR scans of the area. Elizabeth was also able to collect more ambient magnetic data from the area around the Butte. Meanwhile at the HAB, Ryan ran coms while Adriana and Jesus worked to wrap up their research in the science dome. Jesus performed iron extraction from the last set of soil samples collected at Eos Chasma and found that they contained the highest iron yield yet. The hematite solar cells on the other hand seem to not be photo-sensitive, instead acting like chemical batteries, generating charge from the reaction of the hematite with the copper electrode and iodide tincture. Adriana continues to monitor the growth of her mushroom samples and began to pack up some of her experiment. The EVA team returned to the HAB at 13:18. The crew then had lunch together, Ryan and Adriana made lentils and rice. At 15:00 the crew split up to wrap-up research tasks. Ryan ran the last set of VR test for the crew. Keegan worked in the RAM on prototype hardware for a wearable CO2 and Temp sensor for the EVA suits. Rod worked on processing his DRONE data. And Elizabeth work on her EMF data.
Look Ahead Plan:
Sol 12 will be spent wrapping up our experiments, cleaning up the facilities, and packing up our supplies. The crew anticipates being ready to exit our simulation at 16:00, take some photographs outside the HAB, and maybe a traditional burger from Stan’s. The crew is sad that our time on mars is coming to an end… but we are excited to arrive back on earth.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: It was a beautiful day on mars. The skies were mostly clear with scattered clouds. The temperature high was 46 degrees F. Average winds were 2 mph, with gust up to 5 mph.
Crew Physical Status: The crew happy and well.
EVA:
EVA 12 was the last EVA of our rotation. Keegan led Rod and Elizabeth back to White Rock Canyon and Barrainca Butte. This time the DRONE was very co-operative and performed as expected. The team was able to perform a total of nine Li-DAR scans of the two EVA sites. The team also acquired a couple hours of ambient magnetic data for Elizabeth’s project. All objectives for this EVA were completed. No additional EVA’s will be required for the mission.
Reports to be filed:
Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, Crew Photos, EVA Report, and EVA request.
Support Requested: The crew would like to request the crew car for a drive down to Stan’s Burger Shack tomorrow evening. Mission support can come along with us if they would like. Don’t worry, we will try to shower before dinner.
GreenHab Report – January 2nd
Crew 306 GreenHab Report 2Jan2025
GreenHab Officer: Adriana Sanchez
Environmental control (fan & heater): Heater and fan on automatic at 94 and off at 82
Average temperatures (last 24h): 83.05
Maximum temperature (last 24h): 94.5
Minimum temperature (last 24h): 71.6
Hours of supplemental light: 1700 – 2200
Daily water usage for crops: 9.5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None
Water in Blue Tank (200-gallon capacity): 125 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 11:30
Changes to crops: None
Narrative: Sunflower and pea sprouts are looking healthy still. The tomatoes looked like they needed more water again so I gave them about 3 gallons total. I have determined it is from underwater because they look better a few hours after watering. When tomato plants start fruiting they generally need less water but they are in pots that are too small and will need to be transported to 4 – 5 gallon containers. I checked one of the carrots today that was peeking out of the soil. It measured ~ 6 inches and weighed 14g. It was a beautiful purple carrot! In the next few weeks there should be plenty of carrots ready for harvest.
Harvest: 14 g Carrot.
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – January 2nd
Crew 306 EVA Report 02-01-2025
EVA # 12
Author: Elizabeth Howard
Purpose of EVA: The first purpose of this EVA was to collect data for Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt’s DRONE project. Flight tests were planned and carried out for the Drone/Li-DAR system during this EVA. Additionally, this EVA allowed Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard to continue taking EMF meter readings during the time the crew was out.
Start time: 10:02 AM
End time: 13:18 PM
Narrative: After driving over to the EVA location, the EVA crew headed to the White Rock Canyon area, where Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt and Crew Engineer Keegan Chavez made four DRONE flight tests to take data. After this, the crew began walking in the direction of Barrainca Butte. Along the way, Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard set up the EMF meter, took a soil sample for reference, and left the instrument to log data for the duration of the EVA. The EVA crew stopped partway to Barrainca Butte, where five more flight tests were conducted with the Drone/Li-DAR system. Finally, the crew made their way to the base of Barrainca Butte, where they set up for DRONE flight tests; however, after beginning the first flight at this location, the DRONE experienced a hardware failure that terminated flights at this location. Following this, the EVA crew headed back to MDRS, picking up the EMF meter along the way. Crew Health and Safety Officer Ryan Villarreal acted as CAPCOM.
Destination: White Rock Canyon, Barrainca Butte
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): White Rock Canyon (4247500, 520500) and Barrainca Butte (4247500, 519000)
Participants: Rodrigo Schmitt, Keegan Chavez, Elizabeth Howard
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: The team drove south along Cow Dung Road and parked the rovers near (4247500, 520000), between Barrainca Butte and White Rock Canyon. The team first went east to White Rock Canyon, attempted to take Li-DAR scans, then traveled west on foot to the base of Barrainca Butte to perform more scans.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking
Operations Report – January 2nd
Crew 306 Operations Report 01-02-2025
SOL: 11
Name of person filing report: Keegan Chavez
Non-nominal systems: Overflow sensor
Notes on non-nominal systems: overflow sensor remains off
ROVERS
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: (before EVA): 260.6
Beginning charge: (Before EVA): 100
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging): 57
Currently Charging: No
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: (before EVA):
Beginning charge: (Before EVA):
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging):
Currently Charging: Yes
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: (before EVA):
Beginning charge: (Before EVA):
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging):
Currently Charging: Yes
Perseverance rover used: Yes
Hours: (before EVA): 299.8
Beginning charge: (Before EVA): 100
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging): 70
Currently Charging: No
General notes on rovers: none
Summary of Hab operations: Operations were nominal
Water Use (please use both methods to estimate water usage)
Time of measurements: 1/1/2024 1700 – 1/2/2024 1800
1) Per formula: 22.8725 gal
2) Smart Home Dashboard: 25.78 gal
Water (static tank, remaining gallons): 187.3075 gal (per formula)
Static tank pipe heater (on or off): On
Static tank heater (on or off): On
Toilet tank emptied (no or yes): no
Summary of internet: nominal internet usage
Summary of suits and radios: Suits 2,4, 6 were used for EVA today, all radios are charged and fully operational
Summary of GreenHab operations: GreenHab Officer: watered plants and the floor to increase humidity, harvested 1 carrot
WATER USE: 9.5 gal
Heater (On or Off): On, automatic
Supplemental light (hours of operation): 1700 – 2200
Harvest (name, weight in grams): carrot: 14g
Summary of Science Dome operations: GreenHab Officer: fed mushrooms, took temp measurements of mushrooms, began to clean up equipment; Commander: processed last samples from Eos chasma, categorized samples, cleaned dirt from containers and sink, returned volt meters and aluminum tape to RAM, measured 0.2V from cells made on Sol 10, measured 0.7V from cells when placed in series, cleaned up equipment
Dual split (Heat or AC, On or Off): On, automatic
Summary of RAM operations: Engineer: Soldered components to temp measurement board and CO2 sensor/raspberry pi board
Summary of any observatory issues: No issues
Summary of health and safety issues: No issues
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
Journalist Report – January 2nd
Never Tell Me The Odds
““Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will.” – Dr. Robert Anthony
Taking risks often feels scary beyond measure. As biological creatures, we have evolved to be averse to dangerous or stressful situations. In these moments, the sympathetic nervous system activates to speed up our heart rate, deliver more blood to areas of the body that need more oxygen, or other responses to help you get out of danger. Even though this makes complete evolutionarily sense, the situations in which our sympathetic nervous system activates in the 21st century are not exactly the same as the reality of our caveman ancestrals.
For that reason, our crew’s Health and Safety Officer, Spy, has been tracking our vitals since before our mission and we’ve been quantifying stressful, scary and physically demanding situations for months now. That includes delivering important presentations to our labs, taking much-anticipated final exams, and even standing in line without knowing what to order while people are impatiently waiting for us (maybe they could also relax their sympathetic nervous systems a bit!) On Mars, however, our fears are much more real, and our sense of danger is always a valuable ally… Or is it?
In order to better address potential dangers while on an EVA, Mr. FixIt worked today on an integrated assembly of sensors for spacewalk life support. Through a CO2 and a temperature sensor, the readings obtained could be displayed inside our helmets when critical levels are reached, through a blinking LED. Eventually, this technology could even evolve into an hologram-like concept, where the visors tell us about the levels in the form of Augmented Reality. Sign me up for my Iron Man spacesuit, please.
Not every source of stress here, though, is the Roman God of War’s incessant attempt to kill us. Beyond astronauts, we are humans, which means that we are still subjects to the tricks of our biology. That is perhaps one of our greatest weaknesses, where sleep deprivation from overworking (or a lack of showering for many days), for instance, can further boost our inability to think clearly. In an environment like this, then, it is only natural that we doubt ourselves and our capability to complete our mission. After all, no matter how qualified we are, the challenges of Mars can be a lot for anyone.
Our Commander, Messiah, has felt these struggles twice in a row now, as his research pivoted from the one he conducted last year in Crew Phobos. His objective was to create a source of energy from Martian soil, but for the previous crew, his approach was based on Silicon. You already know how science works by now: even though last time his equipment was not powerful enough to craft solar cells from this source, his research now has been showing promising results with iron and hematite. Today, he managed to get another 0.7 V of electric voltage using promising samples from our EVAs, proving once again that his doubts are nothing compared to his capabilities.
Personally, I have felt like my research project on the DRONE has had several complex checkpoints to overcome, before and during the mission: understanding how a LIDAR, drone and Raspberry Pi work; writing software from scratch for each of these systems; assembling together cables and devices while keeping the weight under a mere kilogram; the list goes on. Today in Sol 11, however, I would experience a specially decisive moment, since we would only get one more chance to collect data on our EVA, and the GPS and IMU sensors were malfunctioning until this morning. In fact, as the 9:15 AM deadline approached, the only sensor that I could really feel working was my own sympathetic nervous system.
There are, nonetheless, techniques that we develop to cope with these circumstances. Here on Mars, our morning routines have been an important source of energy through daily sessions of meditation, yoga, and, of course, coffee. And more importantly, a factor that grounds me is the help of the many people who have supported me throughout this journey, without which none of this would have been possible. Yesterday, past midnight, as Spy and I studied datasheets for the GPS, Mr. FixIt volunteered to venture in his personal freezer called machine shop, where he would solder circuit boards necessary for the code to work. With that incentive, during the night and today before the EVA, I managed to set up the GPS functioning and ready to collect the data. We were ready to roll, and the EVA was completed with nine successful flights that collected valuable data.
Sometimes, our fears, however irrational, can feel truly overwhelming, and we might focus on all the paths in which our goal goes south. Nevertheless, there is only one way of making our ambitious goal successful: manifesting the one path in which we accomplish it, even though we might not know the mechanisms behind it just yet. There might be 14 million paths towards an unsuccessful future, but a single path is all we need. After all, any prize that’s worth having usually requires a risk. Dreaming is great, yes… But accomplishing it – you’ll see it’s much better. Believe it: It’s going to be better than your dreams.
Hermit out.
EVA Report – December 27th
Crew 306 EVA Report 27-12-2024
EVA # 06
Author: Elizabeth Howard
Purpose of EVA: The first purpose of this EVA was to collect samples for Crew Commander Jesus Meza’s in-situ resource utilization project and take magnetic readings for Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard’s project. The other goal was so Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt could perform flight tests of the Drone/Li-DAR system.
Start time: 9:40 AM
End time: 13:00 PM
Narrative: The EVA crew headed out towards Skyline Ridge, trying to make good time in order to flight test before the wind picked up too much to fly. About a third of the way down Sagan Street, Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt and Crew Health and Safety Officer (HSO) Ryan Villarreal began setting up the Drone/Li-DAR system for flight testing just off the side of the Sagan street. Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard walked to a spot slightly further down Sagan Street to set up the EMF meter, leaving it to log data. At the first location, the DRONE performed three flight tests before the EVA crew packed up and headed down to the base of Skyline Ridge. At Skyline Ridge, Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard collected and labeled samples for Crew Commander Jesus Meza’s research project. Meanwhile, Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt and Crew HSO Ryan Villarreal began setting up and flight testing the DRONE. After performing two flight tests at the base of the Ridge, the crew had exactly enough time to get back the MDRS by the designated EVA end time.
Destination: Skyline Ridge
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 4251500E, 515000N
Participants: Ryan Villarreal, Rodrigo Schmitt, Elizabeth Howard
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: EVA team left the HAB and traveled on foot towards North Ridge, then took the collapsed road upwards to Hab Ridge (4251500, 517750). Instead of following the trail all the way to Hab Ridge, the crew traveled west along Sagan Street towards Skyline Ridge (4251500, 515000) to place the EMF meter for datalogging and collect soil samples along the planes at the base of the cliff. The Drone/Li-DAR system was flight tested about a third of the way down Sagan Street and at the base of Skyline Ridge.
Mode of travel: Walking
GreenHab Report – December 27th
Crew 306 GreenHab Report 27Dec2024
GreenHab Officer: Adriana Sanchez
Environmental control (fan & heater): Heater and fan on automatic at 94 and off at 82
Average temperatures (last 24h): 82.05
Maximum temperature (last 24h): 95
Minimum temperature (last 24h): 69.1
Hours of supplemental light: 1700 – 2200
Daily water usage for crops: 4.26 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None
Water in Blue Tank (200-gallon capacity): 157.74 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:40 am, 2:50 pm
Changes to crops: Removed 73g of dead cucumber leaves
Narrative: We had our first sunflower bloom! It was very pretty and the other two will soon follow. I pulled a few side shoots off of the main tomato plants. In the future I plan on putting these into small pots to continue the cycle of tomato plants. I pulled off a lot of dying leaves from the cucumber plants. I harvested a lot of arugulas from one of the pots for dinner and made a significant dent in the amount that was growing in the pot. I got busy today with experimental procedures, so I was unable to replant any pea shoots. I have decided I will only change one pot.
Harvest: 189g Arugula, 24g Basil
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – December 29th
Crew 306 EVA Report 29-12-2024
EVA # 08
Author: Elizabeth Howard
Purpose of EVA: The first purpose of this EVA was to perform flight tests on DRONE for Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt’s research. Additionally, Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard took EMF meter readings from Eos Chasma, and a sample was taken from the base of the chasma to bring back to Crew Commander Jesus Meza.
Start time: 10:00 AM
End time: 14:32 PM
Narrative: After heading towards the chasma following the same route that yesterday’s EVA team took, the EVA crew eventually stopped at a flat enough area for flight testing the DRONE system. Here, the Drone/Li-DAR was flight tested twice by Crew Journalist Rodrigo Schmitt and Crew Engineer Keegan Chavez. During this time, Crew Geologist Elizabeth Howard found a location to leave the EMF meter, allowing it to log data for several hours while the crew carried on with the EVA. Along the way to the base of the chasma, the EVA crew stopped at two more locations to flight test the DRONE, flying it for one and two tests respectively. The chasma base proved difficult to reach due to the depth of the (currently dried up) riverbed, which cuts back and forth across the terrain, adding switchbacks to the distance that had to be traveled the closer the crew got to the base. However, the EVA crew was able to get to the base of Eos Chasma to collect a sample for Crew Commander Jesus Meza before heading back. Crew Health and Safety Officer Ryan Villarreal acted as CAPCOM.
Destination: Eos Chasma
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 521750E, 4256000N
Participants: Rodrigo Schmitt, Keegan Chavez, Elizabeth Howard
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: From MDRS, the crew drove north up Cow Dung Road to coordinates (518250, 4253750). The rovers were parked there along the side of the road. EVA crew then walked east along the creek bed that feeds into the entrance of Eos Chasma at (519500, 4254000). They walked along the inside of the canyon, reaching the base of the chasma (521750, 4256000) and taking a sample before heading back along the same route
Mode of travel: Driving and walking
GreenHab Report – December 29th
Crew 306 GreenHab Report 29Dec2024
GreenHab Officer: Adriana Sanchez
Environmental control (fan & heater): Heater and fan on automatic at 94 and off at 82
Average temperatures (last 24h): 84.3
Maximum temperature (last 24h): 98.4
Minimum temperature (last 24h): 70.2
Hours of supplemental light: 1700 – 2200
Daily water usage for crops: 6 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None
Water in Blue Tank (200-gallon capacity): 153.74 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:55am, 5:20pm
Changes to crops: Harvested one Sunflower
Narrative: I watered everything in the GreenHab today. There were no harvestable edible crops. The peas are doing well after the transplant. I cut down one sunflower and I am going to move some sunflower sprouts to bigger pots. I moved a humidifier to the grow tent in the science dome to up the humidity for the mushrooms. The humidity got up to 98% which is ideal. This will encourage mycelial growth.
Harvest: 54.98g Sunflower
Support/supplies needed: None
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