Author: jburk

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EVA Report 8 – January 7th

Crew 202 EVA Report 7-Jan-2019

EVA #8

Author: Denys Bulikhov (EXO)

Purpose of EVA: Collection of geological samples and ambient radiation readings

Start time: 10:55

End time: 14:05

Narrative: EVA 8 crew took Cow Dung Road up to the Galileo Rd and then down to the Cactus Rd. Crew came back to the same spot where EVA 6 crew investigated geological samples 2 days ago. EVA 8 crew attempted to find the lost trail since the snow melted down a little. EVA 8 crew drove around 0.5 mile around the plateau looking for the trail without any success. At the farthest point crew left the rovers and walked to one of the canyons where they collected geological samples, ambient radiation readings and took photographs on the rim of the canyon. Later they again attempted to locate the trail collecting the samples on the way. Trail was not found. After Spirit rover reached 60% of charge, EVA 8 crew came back to the hab.

Destination: Cactus Rd, canyons

Coordinates: N520500, E4252000

Participants: Denys Bulikhov (EXO), Kasey Hilton (ENG), Jake Qiu (HSO)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, Galileo Rd, Cactus Rd.

Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Vehicles used: Spirit and Curiosity.

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Sol Summary 9 – January 7th

Crew 202 Sol Summary Report 07-Jan-2019

Sol: 9

Summary Title: Some thoughts to home

Author’s name: Cesare Guariniello

Mission Status: Second week is proceeding according to plans, all research projects working as expected, with much data collected and some more work to do once back on Earth

Sol Activity Summary: After a cookies and movie night yesterday, strong wind caused a noisy night in the habitat, but the morning routine of stretching got all of us ready to go as usual. In the morning and early afternoon, three crew members performed a long EVA, while the crew astronomer worked in the Musk solar observatory and the crew geologist sorted and analyze the rocks collected in the last few days. The late afternoon and evening were also spent in working on research projects.

At the beginning of this week, a though begins to crawl in: we will be back on Earth and outside this habitat at the end of the week. However, there is still much more to do, and while we think of home, school, work, and ice cream, we are still Martians, ready to put our effort into the research we are doing and into the many daily activities that keep our habitat up and running.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will have an EVA towards Skylim Rim to study and collect samples from the Mancos shale layer

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Windy and sunny, with snow melting and muddy trails

Crew Physical Status: The expected amount of tiredness, but morning routines is helping with any soreness

EVA: The Executive Officer, Crew Engineer, and Health and Safety Officer had an EVA to Cactus Road and the Canyon area, where they collected samples for the crew geologist and measurements of radiation

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, EVA report, EVA request, Astronomy Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

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Journalist Report – January 6th

Sol 8 – 01/06/2018

Name the space movie (or show) given the following quote. Answer at the end of the Report:

“Space,” it says, “is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

—

Morning Song: Someone New by Hozier.

Morning Routine: Stretching.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Brown Sugar and Blueberries.

EVA #7: Collect. More. Rocks.

But none of that matters today. The routine, the unbelievably scenic views, the amazing science being done during this mission. None of it… Because today, after eight days… Eight long, dry shampoo filled, wipey scrubbed, hair stiff as uncooked spaghetti noodles days. I. Finally. Took. A. Shower.

While on Mars, water is a limited resource just like anything else. It’s hard to find on Mars; therefore, it must be conserved. Our mission instructions allot us a 2 minute Navy shower every 2-3 days. The instructions for a 2 minute Navy shower: Step 1: Turn on the water. Step 2: Jump in the water. Step 3: Rinse and jump out. Step 4: Turn off the water. Perform Steps 1-4 in under 45 seconds. Step 5: Scrub your body with soap in 15 to 30 seconds. Step 6: Repeat Steps 1-4 to rinse the soap off. It is a stark change from my 45 minute showers back on Earth, and it is not particularly pleasant, but it gets the job done.

But why did I wait 8 days? Our habitat holds enough water for 1-2 people to take a shower per day. Added bonus, our water heater has a mean personality and rarely works, no matter how nicely we ask. Our Engineer caved first. She described her shower has having a brief moment of warmth. Our Commander and Executive Officer experienced the same sensations of freezing water, pleasant warmth, and scalding, burn your skin off, temperature, then back to freezing cold. Our poor Geologist only felt the ice chattering cold. There was one common reaction to taking a shower across the crew, we have been reborn. It is as if you are a new person, slipping into a fresh skin like a recently molted lizard. Nobody particularly smells on this crew (or maybe we have just gotten used to each other’s smells), but in an effort to conserve water, I endured the dry shampoo and baby wipe scrub downs until I couldn’t possibly take it anymore! And I swear my hair has never felt so soft as it does today. In fresh clean clothes. With my fresh clean body.

That’s it for today. That was the highlight. We are always thinking of our loved ones. We hope they don’t miss us too much, and we want them to know that we are having a fantastic time on the Red Planet. We can’t wait to share all of our adventures with them when we return… And take a 45 minute shower. With working warm water. And ice cream.

—

Movie (or Show) Answer: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

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Operations Report – January 6th

SOL: 8

Name of person filing report: Kasey Hilton

Non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Notes on non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Generator (hours run): 17hr 58min; Turned on last night (05Jan2019) at 15:05; Turned off this morning (06Jan2019) at 9:03; Turned on tonight (06Jan2019) at 13:24

Solar SOC – Turned on (05Jan2019) 80%; Turned off (06Jan2019) 80%; Turned on (06Jan2019) 72%

Diesel Reading – 73%

Propane Reading – 43%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – Not in use

Water (auxiliary tank) – Not in use

Water (static tank) – About 70%; 345 gallons

Auxiliary to Static tank transfer – No

Gallons transferred: Not applicable

Water in GreenHab – About 70%; 215 gallons (assuming that the tank is 300 gallons)

Water (loft) – At level marker 12

Static to Loft Pump used – Yes; At 19:33 to refill tank

Water Meter: 01398548

Toilet tank emptied: No

Deimos rover used: No, still not functional

Hours: Not applicable

Beginning charge: Not applicable

Ending charge: Not applicable

Currently charging: Not applicable

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours: Not applicable

Beginning charge: Not applicable

Ending charge: Not applicable

Currently charging: Not applicable

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 65.5

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 55%

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No; Still out of brake fluid

Hours: 45.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 63.7

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 71%

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report

ATV’s Used: None (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3)

Reason for use: Not applicable

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: None

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: None

Notes on ATVs: All ATVs were started and run to prevent the batteries from freezing

HabCar used and why, where? Not used

CrewCar used and why, where? Off site

General notes and comments: Nothing to report

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Batteries in suits #7 and #8 were replaced since each of their batteries had a voltage less than 12V

Summary of Hab operations: EVA airlock light fixed

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report

Summary of RAMM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Nothing to report

Posted on

GreenHab Report – January 6th

Greenhab Officer:

Jake Qiu

Environmental Control:

Heating

Cooling w/ ambient air (1hrs)

40% Shade Cloth on

80% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:

Low: 23.1°C

High: 37.6°C

Hours of Supplemental Light:

5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:

7 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):

74%

Times of Watering for Crops:

0936

1529

Changes to crops:

* Cucumbers starting to look worse

* Sunflowers look ok but some of the leaves are starting to shrivel up.

* 1 pot of the spinach is starting to look worse

* Tomatoes looks the same

* Other plants showing progress

Narrative:

Watered plants throughout the day as needed. Some of the pots were still damp but dryer

in comparison to yesterday. Light watering was done. I am thinking about adding fertilizer (miracle grow)

to plants that look worse.

Experiment Results:

Date: SOL8 Crew 202 (SOL14 overall)

Watered all 21 trays as needed

Watered Crew 201 experiments

Harvest:

Support/Supplies Needed:

Posted on

Astronomy Report – January 5th

Crew 202 Astronomy Report 05-Jan-2019
Crew Astronomer: Cesare Guariniello

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope: MDRS-WF
Objects Viewed: Sending photo of Horsehead Nebula observed on 04Jan2019

Problems Encountered: none

Here is the Leo Triplet (M65 bottom right, M66 top right, NGC 3628 left). Unfortunately I caught an airplane during the exposure with the red filter.

Cesare

Commander, MDRS 202

Posted on

Operations Report – January 5th

Howdy Mission Support,

Crew 202 Operations Report 05-JAN-2019

SOL: 7

Name of person filing report: Kasey Hilton

Non-nominal systems: EVA airlock light

Notes on non-nominal systems: EVA airlock light is out, guessing the light needs to be changed

Generator (hours run): 18hr 5min; Turned on last night (04Jan2019) at 15:02; Turned off this morning (05Jan2019) at 9:07; Turned on tonight (05Jan2019) at 15:05

Solar SOC – Turned on (04Jan2019) 81%; Turned off (05Jan2019) 100%; Turned on (05Jan2019) 80%

Diesel Reading – 73%

Propane Reading – 45%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – Not in use

Water (auxiliary tank) – Not in use

Water (static tank) – About 75%; 375 gallons

Auxiliary to Static tank transfer – No

Gallons transferred: Not applicable

Water in GreenHab – About 75%; 225 gallons (assuming that the tank is 300 gallons)

Water (loft) – At level marker 12

Static to Loft Pump used – Yes; At 19:29 to refill tank

Water Meter: 01398288 units

Toilet tank emptied: No

Deimos rover used: No, still not functional

Hours: Not applicable

Beginning charge: Not applicable

Ending charge: Not applicable

Currently charging: Not applicable

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours: Not applicable

Beginning charge: Not applicable

Ending charge: Not applicable

Currently charging: Not applicable

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 65.1

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 45%

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No; Still out of brake fluid

Hours: 45.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 63.3

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 59%

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report

ATV’s Used: None (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3)

Reason for use: Not applicable

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: None

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: None

Notes on ATVs: All ATVs were started and run to prevent the batteries from freezing

HabCar used and why, where? Not used

CrewCar used and why, where? Off site

General notes and comments: The trash has not been taken out since 02Jan2019 and is starting to build up a bit in the engineering airlock

Summary of internet: Nothing to report

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report

Summary of Hab operations: EVA airlock light is out, I am planning on replacing the bulb in the morning; No change in power system issues from earlier this week, still having to manually start the generator and the SOC is not increasing

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report

Summary of RAMM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Nothing to report

Best,

Kasey

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