Author: jburk

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Operations Report – January 9th

Crew 186 Operations Report 09JAN2018

SOL: 09

Name of person filing report: M. Grande

Non-nominal systems: Generator

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system has run for the past 48 hours due to the cloudy weather. I tried to check the coolant this morning, and noticed it’s a yellow liquid again, instead of being basically butter when I saw it at the beginning of the rotation. (Apparently a previous crew filled it with oil instead of coolantThe coolant seemed to be pretty full, but I did check it when the generator was still hot, and not sure if that makes a real noticeable difference in the fill level. If I am to add more coolant before leaving, I’ll have to schedule some downtime for the generator so it can cool down first, probably in midday, if this cloudy weather persists.

Generator (hours run): 13h

Generator batteries switched at 7:15am

Generator batteries switched at 7:30pm

Solar— SOC

@ 7:15am : 94%

@ 5:00pm : 100%

Diesel: 50%

Propane: 30%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 7.15 Gallons

Water (trailer): 10 Gallons

Water (static): 446 Gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used: No

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes

Water Meter: 129293.0 Gallons

Toilet tank emptied: No

ATVs Used: None

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours

Notes on ATVs: The 300 apparently died today, because the intern took it out and couldn’t get it to start again. Please refer to Shannon for further details.

Deimos rover used: Yes, briefly by Shannon

Hours: 98.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.

Hours: Director discretional hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Maybe

Spirit rover used: No

Hours: 10.5

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours: 5.5

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours: 3.1

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: None, really. Sad, cloudy, snowy day. We watched “Black Mirror” (on Netflix, pre-downloaded) and diffused bombs (on a VR game, not real bombs, come on) instead of our EVA excursion.

Summary of internet: All nominal

Summary of suits and radios: All nominal

Summary of Hab operations: All nominal

Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal

Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal

Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational

Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Coolant might need to be replaced, but I don’t think we have any extra here, that I could find. We do have a bottle of engine oil.

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Sol Summary – January 9th

Crew 186 Sol 9 Summary Report 09JAN2018

Sol 9

Summary Title: Weathering the mild storm

Author’s name: Max Fagin

Mission Status: Spending the day in hab due to a light snow

Sol Activity Summary: We awoke to cloudy skies and a light snow dusting all around the habitat. The snow was still falling by the time we had finished morning yoga and breakfast, so we decided to postpone today’s EVA. The snow let up by the late morning, but by that point, too much time had passed to complete the EVA before our scheduled return time. This will happen on Mars, there is no more a guarantee of cooperative weather there than there is on Earth, and it’s something future crews will have to learn to work around. Instead we broke out our blankets, sleeping bags, and laptops, and spent the rest of the day working on our own projects. We shared an all crew lunch of mac-n-cheese prepared by Melanie (which was a nice departure from routine, as we are usually on our own for lunch due to EVA scheduling). GreenHab is nearing harvest time, and two dinners from now we are planning a green feast of its bounty of microgreen, lettuce, beans and herbs. And we were even happier to receive a radio call in the afternoon indicating a supply ship had delivered us a new bread maker! We have set it up in our kitchen, and are planning to break it in (de-flour it?) at dinner tonight.

Look Ahead Plan: The uncompleted EVA 8, scheduled for today from 1030-0130, will be rescheduled to tomorrow from 1230-0330, which is after the rain/snow is forecasted to have stopped and the temperatures will have risen above freezing. Sam Albert will also be replaced with Mark Gee as the lost astronaut, but the route and objectives of the EVA remain unchanged.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: 3C, Wind N 6MPH, Overcast, Humidity 87%

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, EVA Request, (no EVA report)

Support Requested: The snow and sleet can be heard falling through the vent holes at the escape hatch at the top of the habitat. We have put two old dish towels across the chicken wire to catch it and keep the wooden floor of the attic dry. Is this acceptable as a permanent solution?

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Operations Report – January 8th

Crew 186 Operations Report 08JAN2018

SOL: 08

Name of person filing report: M. Grande

Non-nominal systems: Generator power system

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine. Early morning failures still attributed to the cold.

Generator (hours run): 14h

Switched generator battery at 5:40pm

Solar— SOC

@ 7:15am : 53%

@ 5:40pm : 98%

Diesel: 50%

Propane: 30%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 7.15 Gallons

Water (trailer): 10 Gallons

Water (static): 500 Gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used: No

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes

Water Meter: 129234.7 Gallons

Toilet tank emptied: Yes

ATVs Used: 300, 350.2, 350.3
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 1.5 Gallons

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 01:30 hours
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal. We got the 300 working fine.

Deimos rover used: No
Hours: 98.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.2
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes

Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 10.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 95%
Currently charging: No

Opportunity rover used: Yes
Hours: 5.5h
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 62%
Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: None. Just sitting around in the hab this sol, trying to figure out my VR training module with very limited internet help. It was a cloudy day, so the generator ran all day. We also received a water resupply, yay!

Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Propane resupply is requested, please.

Regards,

Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer

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Greenhab Report – January 8th

GreenHab Report
Mark Gee
08Jan2018

Environmental control:
Heating

Shade cloth on

Working Hour: 05:45PM
Inside temp at working hour: 18 C
Outside temp during working hours: 0 C
Inside temperature high: 25 C
Inside temperature low: No Data
Inside humidity: 35 %RH
Inside humidity high: 61 %RH
Inside humidity low: 23 %RH

Hours of supplemental light:
For the crops 05:00 to 11:59 PM

Changes to crops: Kale plants are developing true leaves. The sky has been very cloudy and the plants used very little moisture today.

Daily water usage for crops: 4 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 09:30AM, 04:00PM

Research observations: For the moringa experiment, the plants sprayed with moringa extract seem to be taller. The microgreens are not growing well. I will fertilize them tomorrow.

Changes to research plants: None.

Aquaponics: Not in use.

Narrative: Today I served as the communications officer for the EVA and did not spend much time in the Green Hab.

Support/supplies needed: None.

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Science Report – January 8th

Science: Geology

No geology was performed on today’s EVA, except for collection of salts and clay samples in the region of the Moons. However, there was quite a bit of good lab work: thanks to troubleshooting with PANalytical, the TREK portable spectrometer is able again to communicate with the geologist’s laptop which will allow for quantitative analysis of the spectra.
In the meanwhile, work on the samples collected in sol 4 show the richness of the Moons region: Yellow Moon yielded sulfates (mainly gypsum, in the form of selenite), clays (montmorillonite/nontronite, and illite), hematite, and even some light volcanic ash (andesite). Beige Moon have similar composition, with an abundance of large layers of very pure gypsum.
Sulfates and clays are present on Mars, and constitute regions of high geological interest, since they can indicate hydrothermal
paleoenvironment. Human mission could make use of certain types of clays, analogous to those here on Earth, for construction. This makes the research on those materials even more interesting!

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EVA Report – January 8th

Author: Max Fagin

Purpose of EVA:

1. Visit the Beige Moon and White Moon areas, which remain unsampled by our previous EVA team during EVA#3

2. Test the Yagi-Uda antenna based navigation experiment by walking back to the hab

Destination: Yellow moon, white moon, beige moon, walk back

UDM27 Coordinates: 516500 E, 4254250 N

Participants: Max Fagin (Commander), Kshitij Mall (Executive Officer), Justin Mansell (Journalist)

Narrative: We exited the hab on schedule and departed north to the Moons region. We started at the western most site, and traveled east, stopping at each site to collect a sample of clay, salt, and a panoramic photo. Despite the cold, not being burdened by sensing equipment was a welcome relief, and we got really good at quickly dismounting, sampling, photographing and documenting a new site. Thanks Cesare for the great geology training! After sampling all three sites, we drove back along Cow Dung road until the GPS indicated we were within 2 km of the hab. We dismounted, set up the radio beacon, and Justin began navigating across the terrain back to the hab, with Kshitij and I following for safety. Inspecting the route on GPS after the fact revealed it was as near to a direct route as could be expected given patches of unnavigable terrain. A great success for the navigation system! All that remains it to duplicate the results with the astronaut’s view of the horizon restricted to remove the possibility of subconsciously navigating by distant terrain features or the sun. We will attempt to do this tomorrow, weather permitting.

After returning to the hab, Justin and Kshitij took three sorties out (one on Opportunity, two on Curiosity) to recover the ATVs that had been abandoned for the navigation experiment and bring them back to the hab.

Note: Another one of our radios gave a low battery signal ~20 minutes into the EVA. Since we were carrying two spare radios as per our decision from yesterday’s EVA, communications were instantly restored. I recommend listing it in the MDRS handbook that the EVA team must always carry at least one fully charged spare radio. It is such a small additional burden, and such a large increase in EVA safety.

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Sol Summary – January 8th

Crew 186 Sol 8 Summary Report 08JAN2018

Sol 8

Summary Title: Back to the moon(s of mars)

Author’s name: Max Fagin

Mission Status: All but one of our target EVA sites have been reached, and we are now revisiting sample sites we weren’t able to hit on the first visit. We are also making sure our individual projects will be finished by the end of the mission (just 5 sols from now!).

Sol Activity Summary: Our last EVA to the Moons region was cut short, so we revisited each of the Moons regions and collected a sample of the clay and salt at each site that we had not been able to get the first time. The color contrast from region to region was remarkable to behold; blues, reds, yellows, greys, all due to just small changes in soil chemistry. After we got within 2km of the hab on the way back, we dismounted and tested the radio beacon system to navigate the rest of the way home. Justin and Kshitij then ran a quick three sorties back on the rover to recover the ATVs. Once we were all back at the hab and warmed up, we did some planning for a media event the entire crew will be participating in 2 days from now for students and faculty back at Purdue. Mark spent the day in GreenHab composing some documents to aid future GreenHab officers, Melanie continued the programming of her VR training module, while Sam and Cesare caught up on their own experiments in the science dome.

When we all were back at the hab, Sam filmed a tour of the entire MDRS facility with each of us explaining our roles as part of the crew, then we settled in for an evening episode of ‘Black Mirror’, which has become our crew’s go-to mode for relaxation (And if you’ve ever seen ‘Black Mirror’ you’ll understand why its success at relaxing us is… mixed.)

Look Ahead Plan: Today was the first completely successful test of the navigation system on EVA, we will attempt to replicate the results tomorrow under more challenging conditions on a shorter EVA. The weather forecast is looking less favorable for the next 48 hours, so all EVA plans will be weather contingent.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: 1C, winds calm, humidity 80%, Pressure 30.20 inHg

Crew Physical Status: Healthy

EVA: Yellow moon, white moon, beige moon, walk back

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Journalist Report, Science Report, Greenhab Report, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested: None

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Science Report – January 7th

Science: Geology

EVA #6 was by far the most exhausting of our first 7 sols, but it was definitely worth it (more details in the EVA report). Our excursion into our little “Noctis Labyrinthus”, which we named “Boilermaker Canyon”, brought us into a quite different geological setting than the Morrison formation around the hab. The region is deeply eroded by Muddy creek and its seasonal tributaries, and forms deep canyons and high-walled mesas. The lowest strata belong to the Entrada Sandstone, dating to the middle Jurassic (180-159 million years ago). The location was slightly further away from the Sundance Sea, therefore it is characterized by an impressive sequence of thin layers of sandstone, at times interrupted by mudstone collars. Green colored layers are indicative of wet conditions that occurred in swampy, stagnant environment (reducing environment). The predominant feature that distinguishes this formation to the far Northeast of the habitat is the presence of layers of finely grained salts, indicators of a shift from wet to dry conditions, in which shallow water produced evaporites. In addition, the whole thickness of the formation is crossed by a large number of clastic dikes, most of which constituted by evaporites.
The EVA crew collected samples of the salts and the sandstone both on the way down and at the bottom of the canyon.
Though the route is rough, I hope many geologists will take advantage of the opportunity to study this breathtaking region, which was to date unexplored by any MDRS crew.

Cesare Guariniello
Crew Geologist – Boilers2Mars
Mars Desert Research Station

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EVA Report – January 7th

Author: Max Fagin

Purpose of EVA: Photography and sampling of the previously identified stratified cut in the canyon wall east of the Maxwell Montes region.

Destination: The canyons just to the east of the Maxwell Montes region.

UDM27 Coordinates: 522500 E 4254500 N

Participants: Max Fagin (Commander), Cesare Guariniello (Geologist), Sam Albert (HSO), Melanie Grande (Crew Engineer)

Narrative: We departed the Hab at 10:45 and arrived at the end of Cactus Rd. at 11:15. The initial descent into the canyon was steep but navigable, and we descended 200 ft east down a ridge line and stream bed before we encountered a cliff in the stream bed that we could not safely descend. Instead, we turned north west to follow an offshoot of the canyon in the general direction we wanted to go, then climbed up onto a dirt embankment that lay beneath the Muddy Creek canyon’s west edge. This embankment allowed us to travel a 0.5 miles north with no obstruction, but ended at the edge of a smaller canyon on the west of the Muddy Creek, still 0.5 miles south of our target. As we now had only 45 minutes left until our turn around time, we elected to descend into this canyon (which we named Boilermaker canyon) and sample the stratified layers on its north shelf.

Returning to the rovers was more difficult as we realized that the final slope we had descended into Boilermaker Canyon from the embankment was too steep to safely climb up again without scrambling. In hindsight, this was a mistake, as it made us completely dependent on our gps for safe navigation. The original intent had been to exactly retrace the same route into and out of the canyon so we could follow our footprints back to the rovers in the event that we lost our GPS. Instead, in order to avoid scrambling back up the south slope of Boilermaker Canyon, we turned down slope to the east and walked towards the Muddy Creek to find a more shallow slope back up to the west embankment that would allow us to rejoin our path. We eventually found a route up a ridge and back onto the embankment, but without the gps, this would have been nearly impossible. Our footprints on the embankment were invisible until we were right on top of them, and had we not had the gps to tell us where our track was, we could have easily gotten turned around in the maze of stream beds and side canyons. During the walk back, we made several wrong turns when we lost our foot prints. Because we had the gps, the wrong turns were noted and corrected within seconds, but had we not had the gps, walk back would have taken much longer, producing a late return. This was not a navigation mode that I would consider sufficiently safe for EVA operations, and I do not intend to repeat it in the future. We will no longer venture into terrain where a safe exit would be impossible without digital assistance, and we intend to carry at least one gps in the future to guard against the risk of failure.

We returned to the rovers at 3:00 and made use of the reserve water supplies through a camelback to avoid doffing the suits. The water had been reserved for this purpose, as a Mars suit would be expected to allow the occupant to drink, so we did not consider this a breach of sim. We returned to the Hab at 3:25.

Notes on comms issue: One of the radios indicated a low battery on the outbound trip. We elected to continue as communications were still possible, but turned the radio off between transmissions to maximize its lifetime. We also implemented the practice of the incommunicado crew member remaining close to another crew member who could signal via hand that they were needed on comm, or relay instructions via simulated helmet contact. The radio lasted until we reached the site, but then could not be used at all. We swapped radios and kept the crew member with the dead radio in the 2nd place of a single file line, ensuring they could not become separated.

As this is now the second time as apparently fully charged radio battery has failed on EVA, we are implementing a new EVA policy where two spare radios will be carried with the EVA team at all times, and swapped in in the event of radio failure.

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Operations Report – January 7th

Crew 186 Operations Report 07JAN2018

SOL: 07

Name of person filing report: M. Grande

Non-nominal systems: None

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.

Generator (hours run): 17h

Generator turned off, charging battery at 8:45am

Generator turned on at 5:40pm

Solar— SOC

@ 8:45am : 87%

@ 5:40pm : 55%

Diesel: 52%

Propane: 31%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 8.65 Gallons

Water (trailer): 10 Gallons

Water (static): 180 Gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used: No

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes

Water Meter: 129182.6 Gallons

Toilet tank emptied: No

ATVs Used: None

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours

Notes on ATVs: None

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours: 98.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 87%

Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.

Hours: 5.2

Beginning charge: 98%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 10.2

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 63%

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours: 4.9

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours: 3.1

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: No

HabCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: Our Journalist and Navigation Officer, Justin, did a wonderful job taking over some of the engineering duties for me today! He switched the generator on this morning while I was preparing a hearty oatmeal breakfast for the crew, and he turned it back on again in the evening as I was essentially passing out into a nap following our strenuous EVA! Many thanks to him! The solar power system was run a tad too long and did drop below 60% (to 55%) when the generator was turned back on, which is my fault for not watching it closely enough! My apologies. Boy, does the solar battery SOC deplete rapidly in the late afternoon!

Justin also did a fantastic job as HabCom today! HabCom and the crew have been helping me each EVA by recording the beginning and ending rover hours and battery state of charge.

Something I have been a little vexed by, however, is the Potable Water Meter. I have been tracking our water usage as the crew attempts to be frugal with water, and I write down the number of gallons indicated on the side of the loft tank each time I fill it, as well as the water meter reading early each morning. According to the loft tank readings, we use around 30-35 G per day, maximum 39 G. Quite to the contrary, the potable water meter says some days that we use about 40 G (not too far off) and some days (like Sol 04 and Sol 06) that we used 50-60 G. I’m really not sure where this discrepancy is coming from, and it makes it really hard to give an accurate number for what is left in the static tank. It’s also hard to give the crew feedback about our water-saving measures.

Summary of internet: All nominal

Summary of suits and radios: All nominal

Summary of Hab operations: All nominal

Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal

Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal

Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational

Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Water and propane are both in need of a refill, please! Additionally, I would love some feedback and support on the potable water meter.

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