Mars Desert Research Station
Mission Summary
Crew 306 – Montes
Dec 22nd, 2024 – Jan 4th, 2024
Crew Members:
Commander: Jesus Meza-Galvan
Executive Officer and Crew Engineer: Keegan Chavez
Crew Geologist: Elizabeth Howard
Health and Safety Officer: Ryan Villarreal
Green Hab Officer: Adriana Sanchez
Crew Journalist: Rodrigo Schmitt
Acknowledgements:
MDRS crew 306 crew would like to express their gratitude to the many people who helped us put together a successful mission. Firstly, we would like to thank MDRS director Sergii Iakymov, who has been our Mission Support staff here at the station. We are grateful to have a NASA HERA analog astronaut taking care of us in the background. We are also grateful to Russ Nelson for preparing our emergency response plan and taking the time for our orientation; Scott Davis for EVA suit support; Mike Stoltz for his help and guidance on media relations. Ben Stanley, MDRS analog Research Program Director and David Steinhour, MDRS Site Manager; James Burk, Executive Director; Dr. Peter Detterline, Director of Observatories; Bernard Dubb, MDRS IT coordinator. And of course, Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society. From Purdue University we would like to give a special thanks to, Dr. Cesare Guariniello, Dr. Kshitij Mall, Dr. Ariel Black, and Dr. Riley McGlasson for helping us select some of the best researchers that Purdue has to offer, and for advising us on research and mission plans. We would also like to thank the many students that make up the Purdue Mission Support staff; and all of the Purdue educational departments that helped fund this opportunity for crews 305 and 306.
Mission description and outcome:
Crew 306, “Montes”, is the twin mission of Crew 305, “Valles.” Valles and Montes are the eighth and ninth crews invited by MDRS from Purdue University. The team included two women and four men, and represented three countries; the United States, Brazil, and Mexico. The crew was composed of three Aerospace Engineers, one Agricultural and Biomedical Engineer, one Industrial Engineer, and one Electrical Engineer. Crew 306 had three PhD students, two MS students, and one undergraduate student representing Purdue University’s leadership in space research. The crew was able to experience all aspects of space exploration, from mission planning, to field research, to station keeping. The team utilized the analog environment surrounding the station to perform a variety of experiments related to the long-term survival of a manned Mars station. We addressed the need for mapping and scouting terrain using a drone-based Li-DAR system. We addressed the need for sustainable waste management using fungi to break down and upcycle resources that would otherwise be lost. We addressed the need for crew and station health monitoring by implementing both wearable health monitors and environmental sensors placed throughout the station. We addressed the need for in-situ resource utilization by collecting semiconductive materials from the environment and attempting to make photo-voltaic cells. And finally, we performed geological research by measuring the subsurface magnetic properties of the surrounding environment. Montes and Valles are privileged and grateful to MDRS for offering back-to-back crew rotations to Purdue University, allowing us to engage in extended projects and inter-crew collaborations.
Figure 1. MDRS Crew 306, “Montes”. Left to right: JOU Rodrigo Schmitt, HSO Ryan Villarreal, GEO Elizabeth Howard, CMD Jesus Meza-Galvan, GHO Adriana Sanchez, ENG Keegan Chavez
It must be noted that the crew commander is very proud of the way his crew performed during the mission. Everyone on the team showed exemplary skills in performing their duties to the station. GHO Adriana Sanchez took extremely good care of the GreenHab and provided the crew with lots of laughs and fresh produce throughout the mission. JOU Rodrigo Schmitt really put his heart into his daily reports and made us feel like heroes in our story. ENG Keegan Chavez spent many hours on repairs and improvements to the station, including patching up the tunnels that keep the station modules connected and the crew alive. GEO Elizabeth Howard showed great leadership and endurance out in the field during EVAs, leading our science efforts. HSO Ryan Villarreal took the job of monitoring the crew’s health very seriously, making sure the crew was following safe procedures and patching up our small wounds. Thank you all for your hard work, positivity, humor, collaboration, and kindness to each other throughout our mission.
Summary of Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA)
Crew 306 performed 11 total EVA’s. Two EVAs were made to Marble Ritual for orientation. The remaining nine EVAs were multipurpose science EVAs split between three main projects; 1) Digital Reconstruction and Optical Navigation of the Environment (DRONE); 2) Measurements of Subsurface Magnetic Properties (EMF); and 3) Fabrication of photovoltaic cells using in-situ resources (PV). Table 1 has a summary of EVA times and target locations. Figure 2 shows a GPS map of all EVA tracks, markers for sample collection areas, EMF measurements, and DRONE locations. Locations of interest were Kissing Camel, HAB Ridge, Skyline Rim, Eos Chasma, White Rock Canyon, and Barrainca Butte. DRONE Li-DAR scans, EMF measurements, and sample collection for in-situ resource analysis were all performed at these sites.
Table 1. Summary of EVA operations.
Figure 2. Satellite map of Crew 306 EVA locations and tracks. Blue-flag markers indicate locations where samples were collected for Photo-voltaic project, DRONE flights were performed, and EMF measurements were taken. Red-pin markers indicate target EVA site.
Summary of GreenHab Activities
Following Crew 305’s advice, the cucumbers were watered twice daily to prevent wilting. We were able to eat cucumbers almost daily and many tomatoes appeared during our stay. With a little more time, they should be ready for harvesting. The carrots started peaking in our last few days and will be mature in the following weeks. During my stay I transplanted sunflowers, thinning of tomatoes, and replaced a pot of arugula with pea sprouts (after using the arugula of course). The crew was able to enjoy daily use of crops in meals, adding a much-needed splash of green.
Science Summary
Crew 306, “Montes” performed seven separate projects that covered a range of topics. Three of our projects required EVA activities. The other four projects were performed within the HAB, Science Dome, and RAM. Each crew member was responsible for proposing, planning, and executing their own project, highlighting the diverse expertise of the crew. The team utilized the analog environment surrounding the station to perform a variety of experiments related to the long-term survival of a manned Mars station. We addressed the need for mapping and scouting terrain using a drone-based Li-DAR system. We addressed the need for sustainable waste management using fungi to break down and upcycle resources that would otherwise be lost. We addressed the need for crew and station health monitoring by implementing both wearable health monitors, and environmental sensors placed throughout the station. We addressed the need for in-situ resource utilization by collecting semiconductive materials from the environment and attempting to make photo-voltaic cells. And finally, we performed geological research by measuring the subsurface magnetic properties of the surrounding environment.
Research Projects:
Title: LIDAR-Enhanced Drone Simulations for Mars EDL Operations
Author: Rodrigo Schmitt
Objective: Demonstrate the use of drone-based LIDAR operations to perform local mapping of the terrain. Final Status: While large-scale data post-processing awaits more bandwidth and time, initial analyses confirm the potential for drone-based LIDAR mapping to enhance Martian EDL site selection (Figure 3). Despite challenges arising from mechanical vibration, electromagnetic interference, and communications constraints, the project demonstrated a successful synergy of LIDAR, IMU, and GPS sensors on a drone platform. Future work will emphasize advanced data fusion, extended flight tests, and real-time operation, thereby contributing to more robust and detailed EDL planning capabilities for planetary exploration.
Figure 3: (a) Drone assembly with LIDAR sensor and mount; (b) Drone full assembly during an EVA with battery and onboard computing via Raspberry Pi
Title: Subsurface Magnetic Properties of the Martian Environment
Author: Elizabeth Howard
Objectives: Study geological magnetism to develop test procedures for future missions.
Final Status: A satisfactory number of EVAs were completed using the EMF meter for data collection; this data has been plotted and is able to undergo post-processing. This will involve analysing trends in data such as short-term (on the order of minutes) changes in readings as well as overall daily value ranges. Soil types where the instrument was placed were collected and qualitatively logged to consider this as a factor in day-to-day data trends.
Figure 4: Elizabeth Howard and Crew GreenHab Officer Adriana Sanchez setting up the EMF meter and taking a soil sample (right), EMF meter data from EVA 6, with the highest f10.7 index of 258.5 relative to EVAs where magnetic data was taken (left).
Title: Waste Management Solutions for Space Habitats: Utilizing Mycoremediation
Author(s): Adriana Sanchez
Objectives: Advancing the technology readiness level (TRL) of Mycoponics™ technology by accessing transportability, and survivability of blue oyster fungi (Pleurotus ostreatus var. columbinus).
Final Status: The TRL of Mycoponics™ is a presently at 6 and continuous improvements of the chambers will allow us to preform our first prototype demonstration in a space environment. Excaudate samples collected during the mission will be tested for potential contaminant as well as nutrient concertation to determine the rate at which mushrooms were consuming liquid media.
Title: Fabrication of photovoltaic cells using semiconductor material gathered In-Situ.
Author(s): Jesus Meza-Galvan
Objectives: Gather iron fillings and iron-oxide containing minerals from the environment to use as semiconducting material to fabricate a rudimentary solar-cell.
Final Status: Soil samples were collected during EVA to analyze their iron content. Most samples showed only minute traces of Iron. Altogether, only 0.2 grams of magnetic minerals were collected from 9665 grams of soil. This was not enough to perform the controlled oxidation experiments to create semiconducting FeO that was planned for the mission. Devices were made using hematite powder (Fe2O3) processed from concretions found on top of HAB ridge, which produced between 0.2 Volts and 0.7 Volts. However, the devices did not seem to not be photo-sensitive, indicating the devices made were not solar-cells, but instead some sort of chemical battery, perhaps driven by a reaction between the hematite powder, the iodide solution, or the copper electrode. All devices made had lifetimes no longer than 5 minutes, as the hematite layer quickly dissolves into the iodide solution. To improve the devices, a binder must be added to the hematite powder to maintain the layer integrity against the liquid redux mediator.
Figure 5: a) Hematite Concretion collected from HAB ridge. b) Ground hematite powder believed to be composed of primarily Fe2O3, a semiconducting material that can be used for photo-sensitive cels. c) Top electrode of a photosensitive cell using hematite powder as the active layer and a copper strip for electrical contact, and bottom electrode using aluminium as the electrical contact and over the counter iodide tincture as a redux mediator. d) Full device connected to a voltmeter showing the cell produced 0.654 Volts.
Title: Sensor-based Team Performance Monitoring in Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments
Author(s): Ryan Villarreal
Objectives: To take team-level measurements of team dynamics in isolated, confined, and extreme environments.
Final Status: All physiological data and puzzle tasks sessions was successfully completed for analysing team-level physiological response to isolated, confined, and extreme environments. Analysis will begin upon returning to Purdue, where greater computational resources are available.
Title: EVA Crew Monitoring System
Author(s): Keegan Chavez
Objectives: The project will extend the MDRS Monitoring System project to include a network of Raspberry Pi’s to measure and record crew member biometrics while on an EVA, specifically body temperature and CO2 levels.
Final Status: One hardware prototype was developed; however, calibration of sensors is still needed. As monitoring human biometrics, an approved IRB is needed for testing on EVA. Further, a method for fixating the main helmet board during EVA is needed.
Figure 6: Placement of the CO2 Sensor and Temperature Sensor (left). Completed EVA suit CO2 and Temperature monitoring system (center). Wiring schematic (right).
7.
Title: Wearable-Based Autonomic Profiles for Real-Time Cognitive Monitoring in Spaceflight
Author: Peter Zoss, Ryan Villarreal
Objective: This study will longitudinally quantify individual changes in autonomic nervous system (ANS) status via a wearable sensor in MDRS crew members to understand how our autonomic activity is associated with sequential measures of cognitive performance for predictive model development.
Final Status: All physiological data and Cognition Battery Tests were successfully collected and administered for analysis once back at Purdue where more computing resources are available.