jburk

December 10, 2017December 20, 2017

Operations Report – December 10th

Crew 184 Operations Report 10/12/2017

SOL: 9

Name of person filing report: HuntJ

Non-nominal systems: Generator non-functional, repaired and returned to operations in afternoon. (Operational Again!!!)

Notes on non-nominal systems: Mission Support found a solution with the generator today. It turns out that the ground and positive connectors to the battery were loose. Tightening them and a voltimeter check proved the battery was just fine. One more attempt at using jumper cables and the generator is back and running! Forward plan now is to leave it on until tomorrow morning (with fingers crossed that it stays on through the night). A decision will be made tomorrow morning on whether to turn the generator back off or leave it running.

Generator (hours run): Back on around 2:00pm. Running 3 hours and still going!

Solar— SOC @ 4:00pm: 99%

Diesel – 100%

Propane – 70 Percent Volume

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 1.5 Gallons

Water (trailer) – 600. gallons

Water (static) – 250 gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – no

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

Water Meter: 47 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: No

ATV’s Used: None,

Oil Added: No

ATV Fuel Used: None

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 00:00 Hours

Notes on ATVs: No ATVs used today but were turned on for status checks. All nominal except for the Yamaha 300 which was determined a few days ago to have a dead battery.

Deimos rover used: Yes

Hours: 01:00 Hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 88.8%

Currently charging: Yes

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 01:00

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 51%

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 01:00 Hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 23%

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 00:30 Hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 59%

Currently charging: Yes

HabCar used and why, where? NO

General notes and comments: Power is back and we’re back in sim!!

Summary of internet: 1.0 GB of Bandwidth

Summary of suits and radios: Radios are nominal after getting charged again.

EVA Suits:

EVA 6: Fan does not turn on.

EVA 8: Latches that secure the back panel are loose. Engaging them again does not change this. Concern is that back panel would fall off during EVA.

We will try to troubleshoot some of these issues and will update with changes.

Summary of Hab operations: Nominal

Summary of GreenHab operations: See Greenhab report

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Currently being cleaned

Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational

Summary of health and safety issues: All Healthy

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:

Request more ATV Fuel. Can probably get through 2 more EVAs before exhausting remaining reserves.
Non burnable trash in airlock ready for pickup.

December 10, 2017December 20, 2017

GreenHab Report – December 10th

GreenHab Report
Trisha Randazzo
December 10, 2017

Environmental control: (Choose with is appropriate and explain further if needed)

Ambient (no heating or/cooling)
high: 44
low: 21

Ambient with window/door open

Heating

Cooling

Both heating and cooling

Shade cloth on/off: On

Average temperature: (N/A until new sensor is delivered) N/A

Changes to crops: Note all emergence of seedlings, death of seedlings, etc

New seedlings in the planter beds are doing well!
Yesterday five of the tomato plants that were thinned were doing badly, today two of them are in good health, two of them are on the mend, one is still doing poorly.

Daily water usage for crops: 2 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 15:57

Morning research observations: (Currently not operational)

Changes to research plants: N/A

Daily watering and amount of water used:

Aquaponics: (Currently not operational) N/A

Narrative: Any other information you want to share
Tomorrow

Continue to thin tomato plants
Finish planting herb seeds
Install CO detector and alarm
Changed automatic heater turn on temperature to 10 C
Plugged lights back in

Support/supplies needed:

Awaiting more soil and nutrients

December 10, 2017March 12, 2018

Sol Summary – December 10th

MDRS Daily Summary Report for Sol 9

Summary Title: Return of the Sim!

Mission Status:

Yesterday and today has been been primarily ‘out of sim’ due to the numerous HAB failures, including our evacuation last night due to a loss of power. We spent the morning today working to repair the generator and appear to have gotten it in working order, though further work is necessary to ensure it’s long term successful operation (see Shannon’s email for details). The solar array system is still misconfigured so power problems may yet pop up during the rest of our sim but we will take them as we go and troubleshoot, as a real martian crew would.

This afternoon we took the rovers out to drain the batteries per Mission Control request, once returned to the HAB we re-entered SIM at roughly 5pm.

It’s been a rough first week, but we are looking forward to getting back into sim and finishing out our mission successfully.

Sol Activity Summary:

1. Out of SIM maintenance work

2. General HAB cleaning / reports

Look Ahead Plan:

Matryoshka EVA Site #5
‘Bricks’ communication experiment
Solar Observation
CPR Techniques
Exercise
General HAB Cleaning / Maintenance / Reports

Anomalies in work:

1. HAB Leak from under EVA door continuing (per Mission Control leak is expected and has been present for months, presumed to be from Kitchen piping)

2. Power System Misconfiguration ongoing

3. 2 EVA suit fans were non-functional during HAB check today, which may be related to power issues and resulting in them not being charged. We have connected the suits to power and will assess tomorrow.

Weather: Cold, but temps are above freezing in mid-day

Crew Physical Status: All crew in good physical health.

EVA: N/A

Reports to be filed:

Greenhab

Operations

EVA Request

Sol Summary

Support Requested:

1. ATV Fuel

2. Food Re-Supply

1. 1 Box Raisin Bran
2. 1 Box Powdered Milk
3. 24 packs Instant Ramen
4. 3 Boxes Pasta (any type)
5. 2 Box Granola Bars
6. 1 Box Saltine Cracker
7. 1 Box Cracker (any type)
8. 1 Box Hot Chocolate
9. 1 Box Red Lobster Biscuits
10. 1 Box Earl Grey Tea
11. 1 Pack Chocolate Chips
12. 1 Pack Tortillas
13. 1 Pack Sour Cream\
14. 1 Can SPAM
15. 2 Can Chicken

December 7, 2017December 20, 2017

GreenHab Report – December 7th

GreenHab Report

Trisha Randazzo

December 7, 2017

Environmental control: (Choose which is appropriate and explain further if needed)

Ambient (no heating or/cooling)

Ambient with window/door open

· Below freezing for most of the day

· Opened door at 10:20 for 10 minutes

· Inside temperature high 42 Celsius; Low: 15 Celsius

· Humidity: 16%

Heating

· Functioning nominally

Cooling

· Not available

Both heating and cooling

· Nominal

Shade cloth on/off

· On

Average temperature: (N/A until new sensor is delivered)

· N/A

Changes to crops: Note all emergence of seedlings, death of seedlings, etc

· The same tomato is still doing poorly

· Everyone else is growing quite well!!

· More new seedlings popped up in the two big garden beds! Around 20 now!

Daily water usage for crops:

· Complete with no issues

Time(s) of watering for crops:

· 10:20

Morning research observations: (Currently not operational)

· N/A

Changes to research plants:

· N/A

Daily watering and amount of water used:

· 2 gallons used for all soils

Aquaponics: (Currently not operational)

· N/A

Narrative: Any other information you want to share

· N/A

Support/supplies needed:

· Mission Control Requests:

o Items to begin a compost bin in the greenhouse

§ Need a large compost container for the GreenHab

§ Need a small compost bucket for the kitchen in the hab

§ Need insects and bacteria to eat the food scraps and turn into soil

o Is there more soil to plant new plants in the greenhab? If not, please deliver some with the next resupply

o Request to execute replanting plan for tomorrow:

§ Thin out about 7 tomato plants

§ Replant the new seedlings in the two garden beds into smaller containers

§ Plant the herb seeds, in one or both of the garden beds

December 7, 2017December 20, 2017

Operations Report – December 7th

SOL: 6

Name of person filing report: Thomas Horn

Non-nominal systems:

1. Generator – see previous ops reports for details

2. Batteries – After turning off the generator batteries ran from 100% to 25% overnight. Per Mission Control this is off nominal and implies the batteries have become degraded. We will continue to monitor throughout the day

Generator—

1. Turned on at 9am.

Solar—

29% @ 7am
13% @ 9am
30% @ 10am

37% @ 11am
35% @ 11:40am

35% @ 4pm

100% @ 6pm

Diesel – 45% full

Propane – 71%

Gasoline (2x 5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 2.0 gallons remains

Water (trailer) – 600 gallons

Water (static) – 60% remaining

Trailer to Static Pump used – No

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

Water Meter: 48 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: Yes

ATV’s Used: 2

Oil Checked: No

Atv # Fuel Used Gals: 0.5 gallons approx.

Tires Status: Yamaha ATV #3 Back Right Wobbly

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 1h

Rovers (changed from Deimos to give Rover general status) used: Yes – Spirit

Hours: 1h

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: Yes

HabCar used? No

Notes and Comments:

Summary of Hab operations:

1. CAT construction machine removed by Mission Control

2. Burnable Trash removed. Non-burnable remains in Airlock

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nominal – see greenhab report for details

Summary of Science Dome operations: None

Summary of health and safety issues: None

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:

1. Deliver additional ATV fuel

2. Return Crew 184 Flash Drive

3. Remove Non-Burnable trash from Rear Airlock

4. News Crew absent today – confirm if we will have any external media visits during our mission

December 7, 2017December 20, 2017

Crew Photos – December 7th

December 7, 2017December 20, 2017

Journalist Report – December 7th

Crew 184 Journalist Report

Willie Schumann

07 December 2017

Title Exploring Mars

Narrative I am sitting in my bed in the habitat and writing this report. And I am glad to get a little rest, because today has been physically challenging and we all are looking forward to our first Martian weekend.

We are getting our groove on with the longer days on Mars and yesterday treated ourselves by watching the infamous comedy puppet flick of “Team America”. Being far away from the home planet makes all these international conflicts seem even more ridiculous. Our crew on Mars is multi-national and we celebrate our differences. On top of that, we established fitting nicknames for all crewmembers. Our space doc is Bones, Crew Engineer Hunt is Big Foot, because he is not only the tallest man on Mars, but also has the biggest shoes. Commander Thomas Horn is the major and our Briton Akash Trivedi the royal on Mars. First Officer Randazzo is Wash, which came upon, when the crew assembled the first Martian workout bicycle and needed a lot of washers to make this item work. I am Smurf and I will not comment on how that happened.

Our water supply is doing great, but the generator still has some hick ups. To save the battery set-up we decided with mission control, to turn it off during the night. As a consequence not all life-supporting backpacks for the EVA were completely charged. But we got just about enough, to match our four crewmembers, who went out on the third leg of Science Officer Trivedis Matryoshka project.

For section three we went to URC North, just west of Galileo Road. It was a completely new sector for us and after we had passed some mountains we entered a giant terrain of mountain chains and valleys all covered by red stone. We had a few problems to find the exact location that was indicated by the scientists on earth via satellite imagery, but eventually found our destination.

Although I still have to carry a lot of equipment in two heavy bags with me I was happy with today’s behavior of the crew, because they remained longer in the respective exploration sites. That gave me enough time to get my pictures and I didn’t have to run around as much as in the previous days. Still, carrying the heavy backpack and holding the camera always still is an incredibly intense workout.

The adjustments we made yesterday to my alien space helmet worked pretty well. Only in the end of the EVA it got a bit foggy, but also the other helmets fogged up a little. I guess, with increased exhaustion our breathing got heavier and the sun was pretty strong, too. I will observe this in the days to come and we might apply some changes on the fly to make the helmet even better.

Talking about helmets. On our way back to the habitat we were facing the direct low sun and it was quite a challenge to navigate. It was quite funny to look at our Space Doctor Sczepaniak to drive at snails pace. As he is also the Security Officer he is an example of safety on Mars.

But we thought about a cool feature for the next generation of Martian helmets. Wouldn’t it be cool to have some sort of shades, a visor or a cap on the helmet top to use, when the crew is facing the full solar power? We will think about it a bit more and maybe come up with a new design in the days to come.

First Officer Randazzo discovered the Baking Automat yesterday and it became a tradition, at least in the last two days ( I have heard in America something is already a tradition, when it happened twice) to have freshly baked warm bread with Nutella right after the EVA. The perfect treat after an intensive ride on Martian turf.

But now I have to seize my reporting, because I am back on cooking command. We are soon running out of the last fresh food supplies we brought from earth. Today I will be using our last tomatoes, together with celery and tuna to mix one of my favorite dishes: Pasta with tomato sauce flavored with a cup of extra love.

Personal Logbook Today I was very content with our EVA from the perspective of a filmmaker. At today’s exploration spot the crew remained longer at the various sites and left me more time to get my shots.

I also could run three interviews, which is a high in the past week. Vlogs are coming along better, too and the crew feels more and more comfortably with their role. Maybe they will do it automatically in the next days. That would take a load of me.

Today I took less analogue pictures, but I checked regularly the settings and the camera didn’t fell down. So I am confident, that everything went smooth today. If I will keep this rate I will have a nice collection additionally to the digital exposures I have made.

Thank you very much for your help and attention.

Willie Schumann, Journalist, Crew 184

December 7, 2017December 20, 2017

Sol Summary – December 7th

Crew 184 Daily Summary Report 06 Dec 2017

MDRS Daily Summary Report for Sol 5

Summary Title: Back on schedule!

Mission Status: The past two days have been hectic due to getting in to the swing of things on Mars and the numerous failures we have encountered. As a consequence, our schedule fell by the wayside and we were largely winging it. Yesterday we sat down, came to a stable configuration, discussed our lessons learned from our stay so far, and prepared to jump back onto our schedule.

We are still dealing with our power system failure, but today has been a day of focus where our team is efficiently moving from task to task and completing our assigned activities.

We’ve learned today that the low battery SOC we’ve been seeing since our mission started is likely due to a misconfigured battery panel. Mission Control is seeking help to reprogram it and return our power system to nominal. In the meantime we will continue to minimize power usage. Due to SOC ~ 35% it is possible we lose power tonight, our team has prepared for this eventuality and everyone is prepared to handle the cold if necessary, and all team members have light sources on hand overnight. We have also filled reserve containers with water due the expectation that if power is lost pipes will freeze overnight.

Power system is still smart enough to accept power from generator once SOC starts dropping overnight. System Nominal!
Power system swaps to generator power. Generator Failure overnight due to the cold. Expected loss of power overnight
Power System misconfiguration prevents accepting generator power. Expected loss of power overnight.

In the meantime, activities!

This morning we have completed Anesthesia training for all crewmembers. On a long duration mission it is critical crews know how to treat any injuries or other problems that arise, as part of this devising methods of training for crew on a long duration mission is critical. Our Dr. has devised a mold that simulates arteries / nerves / and veins in a leg that allows crew to practice using ultrasound equipment to identify and isolate specific body parts. With the training complete crew will be able to complete trial runs where we see how effective this is a training device and how crew performance increases over time.

We also completed our third Matryoshka EVA to SIte #3. We continue to collect geological samples from our target sites, though this is the first day that our crew is starting to feel the fatigue from EVA, which is hard work!. Today’s site was exceptionally rocky which gave a very ‘martian’ feel.

Our crew is looking forward to the weekend which we have schedule as ‘light duty’ days to allow ourselves to recuperate from a very busy week!

Sol Activity Summary:

1. Matryoshka EVA Site #3

2. Observatory Operation

3. Anesthesia Training

4. Reports and general HAB maintenance / checks

5. Food inventory transfer to excel and submission to

6. Exercise

7. Brick Experiment

8. Power System Monitoring

9. Receipt and stowage of supply drop

10. CPR techniques (ME-3)