Author: jburk

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 26th

Hello again Capcom,

Here is today’s sol summary:

Crew 189 Sol Summary Report 26 Feb 2018

Sol 8

Summary Title: Getting the rhythm

Author: Louis Mangin

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:
Today started by a quick EVA, to change LOAC’s battery, followed by an exploration of White Canyon. We spent this afternoon working on experiments and cleaning up the Hab as lower deck was becoming very dirty. The crew is now in good shape and the three of us recording our physical performance this morning scored new records in almost every discipline.
Only some of us lack of sleep, but except from this, everybody is doing great! The only thing worrying us is reduced food’s portions, but we start to adapt to lighter meals.

Look Ahead Plan: Emergency procedures training in the morning, in situ testing during a quick EVA near the hab in the afternoon.

Anomalies in work: Water leak in the Hab Lower deck

Weather: Mostly sunny.

Crew Physical Status: Fine.

EVA: –

Reports to be file:
Commander
Journalist
Engineering
Greenhab Officer
EVA report
HSO report

Support Requested: –

Louis Mangin
Crew 189 Commander

Posted on

Commander Report – February 26th

Hi CapCom !

Here is the Crew 189 Commander Report 26Feb2018

Sol 8

Title: Beginning of our second week on Mars

Dear Earth,

We are currently beginning our second week on Mars. Our Sunday day-off was needed and everyone seemed to enjoy it. As a celebration, Benoit cooked the ideal meal to end at best our first week on Mars: homemade pizzas from our dry food (homemade dough, tomato sauce, cheese, meat, and fresh herbs from our greenhab).

From my commander view, this simulation is a success for now: It is like it started really good and just kept getting better. After the debriefing of our physical training results that Louis gave us yesterday, we are all ready and motivated to meet the highest expectations of our sports coach. Benoit, Laurent and Louis did their best scores (let’s see tomorrow if the other part of the team continues to be as successful).

After our breakfast, I let Jérémy organizing the EVA preparation as he was EVA leader. Because of some backpacks issues, we were 10 minutes late. The EVA team composed of Jérémy, Gabriel, Alex and I went out to the Pooh’s corner place where our two air sensors were deployed last week. Jérémy changed the battery of his experiment. After that, we took two ATVs and a rover to explore and take pictures at White Rock Canyon, which I discovered last year and remembered well. Meanwhile, Laurent explained Louis the emergency procedures he wants to simulate during future EVAs. The EVA team came back earlier and we managed to check and clean all our EVA equipment before lunchtime. We cooked beans with meat and enchiladas sauce (we have beans in large quantity, beside all the junk snacks).

The second week begins with a big concern: the crew is more and more hungry. During the first week, the protein bars have been quickly eaten and we decided today to give everyone the same numbers of the remaining bars: who is going to be the first to eat all of them? (I bet on Benoit or Jérémy)

After a quick break, we “played” again the Human Factors experiment of Gabriel. This week the competition between the two teams is increasing because the better team will win a surprise box with food after the simulation! Everyone seems very excited to take part in this experiment, and we can’t wait for the competition results (and even more because with my friend Louis we will lead the two different teams).

After the delicious meal of yesterday, we are beginning to talk about our food rationing for the next two weeks. The success of our bread competition made the flour stocks cruelly decreasing… I let you guess what will be our future meals (it starts with B and ends with EANS)

Ad Astra!

Victoria Da-Poian

Commander of the beans-eaters Crew 189

Posted on

EVA Report – February 26th

Dear CapCom,

Here is the EVA Report:

26 Feb 2018

EVA #6 Crew members: Jérémy Auclair (EVA leader), Victoria Da-Poïan, Gabriel Payen, Alexandre Martin

Location:

– Near Pooh’s Corner: 12S-518900E-4252000N

– White Rock Canyon: 12S-520200E-4247500N

Time: departure at 09:09 a.m. Duration: 2 hour 13 minutes

Narrative: My first EVA as EVA leader went really well ! We changer the battery that powered the LOAC instrument (the old one was completely empty), we tested the battery powering the MegaARES instrument and confirmed it needed to be changed quickly (tomorrow). Otherwise both instruments are supporting the desert conditions perfectly. We then went to white rock canyon for exploration and photography. The walk went perfectly, the temperature was perfect, our reparations on the back packs prevented the apparition of fog on our helmets. We started to walk inside the canyon and on our way back we walk on the ridge (at a safe distance) to change the point of view. We finished the walk around 11am. Having nothing else to do we went back to the Hab to refill the ATVs and end the EVA. Everything went fine.

Purposes:

– LOAC: Maintenance – replacement of the battery

– MegaARES: Maintenance – Battery level test

– White Rock Canyon – Exploration and photography

Vehicles: 1 Rover (Curiosity), 2 ATVs (350.1, 350.2)

9:09 a.m.: EVA#6 left Airlock

9:15 a.m.: EVA left the Hab using Curiosity, ATVs 350.1 and 350.2

9:23 a.m.: Arrival on the working place

9:25 a.m.: Beginning of LOAC battery replacement and MegaARES battery test

9:35 a.m.: End of maintenance

9:40 a.m.: Beginning of the drive for White Rock Canyon

10:00 a.m.: Arrival at White Rock Canyon and beginning of walk

10:50 a.m.: End of walk and beginning of the drive back to the Hab

11:05 a.m.: Arrival at the Hab

11:15 a.m.: Entry in the Airlock

Best,

Victoria

Commander of Crew 189

Posted on

Greenhab Report – February 26th

Dear CapCom and Graeme,

Here is the GreenHab Report

AUCLAIR Jérémy

26 feb 2018

Environmental control:

(door open around 11am, left closed after 14h)

Heating once the sun was down

80 % Shade cloth on

Average temperatures:

Around 35 °C at 11am, around 28 °C the rest of the day

Hours of supplemental light: from 7pm to 9pm

Changes to crops: Lettuce baby plants planted in bigger pots

Daily water usage for crops: around 12 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 11:30 am and 7:30pm

Narrative: Still achieving the same type work

Support/supplies needed: wooden sticks to support falling plants

Cheers,

Victoria

Commander of Crew189

Posted on

Journalist Report – February 25th

Journalist report – Sol 07

Prepared by : Alexandre Martin (Crew Journalist) – 25 feb 2018

Here is my report of the day

Best regards.

Journalist report, 02/25/18: First day off / Special edition 1: About the LOAC

On day off for the entire team today: no sport or EVA, yet we remain on simulation, and everyone did work a bit on their experiments or on other tasks. Benoît, Laurent and I helped Jérémy transplant carrots in new pots, while Louis finished his work on our encouragements video for our schoolmates preparing their apparition in famous French show “Questions pour un champion”. The rest of the day has been a complete break for the team, before the beginning of our second week of mission: Jérémy and Gabriel have had the luxury to take their first shower today, whereas Laurent and Benoît already took one. Only Louis, Victoria and I still did not have that opportunity. But that does not imply that we are covered by dirt! We indeed wash ourselves daily with disinfecting wipes, which is nonetheless an appreciated comfort.

As I do not have so much more to tell about the crew today, I will explain the purpose of the experience hidden behind the strange name LOAC, as this name has already been quoted several times in my reports. The Light Optical Aerosol Counter (LOAC) is used to measure the air’s concentration in aerosols, which are fine particles in suspension. It gives the size distribution of these particles as well as an indication of their typology (carbon, minerals, salt, liquid, etc.). The purpose of this experiment is to use the instrument in different conditions to get new measurements and analyze their meaning. Two types of measurements will be harvested : outdoor ones, to get information about the airborne dust, and indoor ones, to see how the air quality of a confined space changes according to the activities crew members are having (cooking, changes between day and night, particles brought back from EVA, etc.).

Such particles have indeed an important impact on a planet’s atmosphere, mainly on its climate, but also on human health, the most obvious example being carbon particles, which can stick to lungs and cause severe damages. We have still a lot to learn about Martian atmosphere, its composition and chemistry. This type of instrument has indeed never been used in any space mission before; it would thus give unprecedented science results on another planet’s atmosphere! It is also a great tool to control air quality in a confined space, because of its small size and low consumption as well as the precision of its measurements. Considering a long term space mission, this is an important factor that needs to be controlled; it could prevent disastrous catastrophes and allow a full-time survey of air quality. As you already know if you read some of my reports, we had lots of difficulties in deploying the LOAC, mainly because of its alimentation, yet it is now fully functional!

We would like to thank Jean-Baptiste Renard, research supervisor at CNRS (French main scientific research center) and developer of the LOAC, for having accepted to lend us this instrument, and for his trust in us for its use.

Alexandre Martin, Crew 189 Journalist, with the help of Jérémy Auclair, Crew 189 GreenHab officer, in charge of the LOAC experiment.

Posted on

GreenHab Report – February 25th

Hi Capcom,

Here the GreenHab Report of my colleague AUCLAIR Jérémy

26 feb 2018

Environmental control:

(door open around 11am, left closed after 16h)

Heating once the sun was down

80 % Shade cloth on

Average temperatures:

Around 35 °C at 11am, around 28 °C the rest of the day

Hours of supplemental light: from 7pm to 9pm

Changes to crops: Two carrot pots were planted in a bigger pot to allow them to grow further, I tried to save the cucumber plants by putting wooden sticks to attach them and clean the mess the plants were in (all tangled up)

Daily water usage for crops: around 15 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 11am and 7pm

Narrative: Once again I had to fix the mess the plants were in, the carrot plants were too close to one another, all bunched up in small pots, I moved them to bigger pots and tried to save most of the crops. There is a lot of work to be done in the GreenHab and it will take some time, a lot of plants need to be taken care of quickly (for a good amount of the plants the crops are too many in one too small pot). I ran out of wooden sticks again; half of the tomato plants and all the cucumber plants were falling apart because they weren’t guided with wooden sticks.

Support/supplies needed: wooden sticks to support falling plants

Cheers,

Victoria

Commander of the crew 189

Posted on

Operations Report – February 25th

Crew 189 Operations Report 25Feb2018

SOL: 7

Name of person filing report: Gabriel PAYEN

Non-nominal systems:

-Pipe leak at the low desk

Notes on non-nominal systems:

-It seems that the pipe leak comes from the kitchen faucet.

Generator (hours run): Turned on at 9:AM and turned off at 6:00 PM

Solar— SOC % (Before generator is run at night) : 96%

Diesel – 55 %

Propane – 32 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) –

Water (trailer) – –

Water (static) – –

Trailer to Static Pump used – NO

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – YES

Water Meter: 131 439.1

Toilet tank emptied: NO

ATV’s Used: None

Oil Added –

ATV Fuel Used: Gals

Hours the ATVs were Used today: –

Notes on ATVs:

Deimos rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Opportunity rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Curiosity rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

HabCar used and why, where –

General notes and comments: –

Summary of internet: –

Summary of suits and radios: –

Summary of Hab operations: –

Summary of GreenHab operations: –

Summary of ScienceDome operations: –

Summary of RAMM operations: –

Summary of health and safety issues: –

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: –

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 25th

Crew 189 Sol Summary Report 25 Feb 2018

Sol 7

Summary Title: Rest Day

Author: Louis Mangin

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary:
We decided to declare two rest days this year because all the lack of
sleep we accumulated last year. No fixed hour of wake up for today,
but everybody was busy by 11:00 a.m. This day was supposed to be free
and dedicated to long run tasks or personal time. In the afternoon, we
split in different team, working in the greenhab to rearrange it,
cooking, producing an encouragement video for school’s student
selected for a TV show. It was also the time for a first individual
debriefing about the sport sessions I organize.

Look Ahead Plan: Change of LOAC’s battery, exploration of White Canyon
in EVA. Experiments repair, backpack change of battery, emergency
procedures inside training.

Anomalies in work: Water leak in the Hab Lower deck

Weather: Mostly sunny, cold.

Crew Physical Status: Fine.

EVA: –

Reports to be file:
Commander
Journalist
Engineering
Greenhab Officer

Support Requested: –

Posted on

Commander Report – February 25th

Crew 189 Commander Report 25Feb2018

Sol 7

Title: First day off

Dear Earth,

Last year misadventures made Louis and I declare one day off every week.

Sol7: we have been there for an entire week now, and it was our first day off (really appreciated by everyone). Since our arrival, we had been doing our thirty-minutes physical training every single Sol, at 7 AM before breakfast, and almost an EVA every morning.

With Louis, we decided this year to make one day off per week in order to have some rest, to have fun altogether and then to work better the other days. This morning was supposed to be without any early alarms and each crewmember could sleep as they wanted. Nevertheless, I had quite a noisy and (really) boring alarm at 5am. My dear greenhab officer, who is sleeping in the room next to mine, snored all night long and this horrible noise woke me up. As I could not manage to sleep again, I had breakfast in this quiet station (I have to say living with six men is sometimes really noisy). I spent a really nice moment, looking behind the windows to see the Martian sunset. As Gabriel failed cooking the bread yesterday evening (he used gluten instead of flour in his bread), he decided to cook another one just after and I was the first to taste it: it was an amazing breakfast! Not really awake, I enjoyed this moment and decided to have some rest after this really short night.

I spent two hours in my bedroom, enjoying the blue sky and the sunny light from my window. When the other crewmembers woke up, we talked and spent time chilling altogether. Jérémy and Benoit went to the greenhab in order to re-organize it. Gabriel had his first shower (2,3 gallons) and I filmed again a pep talk video for our fellow colleagues on Earth who will take part into a famous French TV game.

Louis worked on the video-editing all day (hopefully he knows how to do it and enjoys this).

Finally, our Sundays on Mars are made of late wake up, no early workout, kind of brunch and resting activities (reading, watching movies, playing games, cooking…). We are all together on Mars for one week already and I think the crew stays in a good mood and is feeling well on this new planet. (Let’s pray my fellow neighbor will not snore tonight…)

Ad Astra!

Victoria Da-Poian

Commander of the Sunday-chilling Crew 189

Cheers

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