Category: Journalist Report

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

"Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shoveled, drilled into, baked and even blasted." – Ray Bradbury

This Sol 9 has delivered mixed results as the NPS recovery team failed to recover it from an uncertain landing site, while progress with Case was made.

Dave and Matt S. went clockwise around the search area searching for the NPS, while Matt L. moved counter-clockwise. Some of this terrain was very hilly and made movement quite slow. Late into the search we had still not located the NPS and asked for a hint from HABCOM, however due to the high amount of interference it was challenging to make out the exact hint. To expedite the return and maximize search time, we used the extended range of Opportunity to do a short shuttle mission. The NPS was not found, but we have now been given its exact coordinates and an EVA to recover it is planned tomorrow.

Case the robot was driven by crew members Sarah and Sean as Pawel watched on for the final set of trial runs needed to get Case’s confidence up. Sarah explored the area and took gamma-ray spectrometer measurements. She noted that the uranium content here was more than areas further south from the Hab (around Robert’s rocks), but in line with what is expected. Case was also able to maneuver around an obstacle course to gather imagery of a point of interest, but needed some manual input.

This journalist had planned to use AI to help write a report and now is the time and so here it is.

In ChatGPT own words [journalist's edits in brackets]:

"In the vast expanse of the desert, three figures clad in space suits embarked on a seemingly futile mission to locate an air-dropped [NPS]. With each step, their visors fogged with frustration as the relentless sun beat down upon them. The arid landscape stretched endlessly, offering no clues to the elusive container’s whereabouts. Each passing moment heightened their sense of urgency, yet the [NPS] remained tantalizingly out of reach. As the [clock ticked relentlessly onward,] the trio reluctantly conceded defeat, their mission ending in disappointment amidst the vastness of the unforgiving desert."

This journalist (not a professional, nor a good word smith) admits to Chat’s greater than his own ability to compose a compelling story, and with only one sentence of information provided (Create a short paragraph regarding the failed attempt to find an air dropped can in the desert with 3 people in space suits.). It’s as if it were a professional journalist and with the EVA team!

There is no doubt AI will be of use in a multitude of ways for any manned Mars mission. In 1968 this journalist saw the HAL-9000 AGI system in the sci-fi movie "2001:A Space Odyssey", then a marvel for the future. The year 2001 came and passed with no HAL like AI. That future is nearly here though, hopefully without AGI having its own mysterious ways with us.

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

As the Martian sun slowly cast its crimson glow over the horizon, the crew of the Janus 1 awoke to the start of another extraordinary day amidst the barren yet captivating landscape of the Red Planet. With near ideal weather conditions, the EVA team departed the Hab at 9:08 AM and mounted their all electric rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity. The EVA participants were Pawel Sawicki (Commander), Sarah Lamm (Geologist), Matthew Lynch (Engineer), Matthew Storch (Executive Officer and EVA Team Leader)

Team leader Matt S. remarked in detail: "We first did another seek for the NPS Project, by traveling to the coordinates specified by Mission Support, and searching a 300 m radius for the NPS. We then evaluated the robot, excavated a site for placement of the NPS, and explored the surrounding region for geological purposes."

"Crew obtained the NPS search coordinates and proceeded to the search area, which was near the Candor Chasma. We stopped just off Cow Dung road and proceeded on foot along the Gateway to Candor, to conduct the search. The crew split into 2 teams that straddled a ravine. Matt Lynch quickly spotted the NPS and we retrieved it and returned to the rovers. We then proceeded north along Cow Dung Road to Galileo Road and headed east on Galileo until we reached the turnaround limit on battery power. The turnaround point was not deemed suitable for the other mission objectives, so we started to return along Galileo road, stopping twice to evaluate possible sites to cover the remaining mission objectives. Once a suitable location was found, Pawel and Matt S set up the robot, while Matt L scouted for suitable nearby excavation sites and Sarah conducted geological studies of the area. The robot had problems connecting to its network and there was not much we could do in the field to address the problem, so we had to abandon that objective for today. All four EVA crew members then joined the excavation effort, using a variety of tools and working in shifts. In the end we were able to excavate deep enough to properly bury the NPS, but finished just in time to return from the EVA with a suitable time margin. Excavation was much more difficult than in the first location, with the regolith removal rate being about one half of what it was in the first excavation, despite having 4 crew members to work this excavation vs. 2 for the previous one."

Meanwhile, at the Hab, Dave was preparing his first scone with blueberries mix for the oven. Despite the use of freeze dried foods for most of the ingredients, the scones came out of the oven in fine shape and satisfying taste. The fine shape was like a flower pedal.

Today’s featured crew member is Pawel. In his biography he notes that he "is currently a New Shepard Crew Capsule Test Engineer at Blue Origin, where he is responsible for the successful and safe execution and on-time completion of several major launch vehicle tests and pre-flight checks. At Blue Origin, he is also a volunteer Emergency Response Team member. Pawel earned a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where his doctoral research involved computationally investigating amelioration techniques for plasma-induced radio wave blackout, which has historically plagued hypersonic vehicles. Pawel had also obtained an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from New York University. Pawel’s career has also included stints of varying capacities at NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center."

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

One week in, Sol 7, and the Janus 1 Crew has full confidence in completing nearly all research projects before departing Mars, problems or not. Today’s EVAs took one team (Matt and Matt) to the far NW where the "Overlook" (previously the "Moon Overlook" where this journalist once performed an EVA on Phobos). A few km north they reached the "Sea of Shells" where hill side after hill side is covered dense with ancient sea shells. The other EVA team (Pawel and Dave) stayed at home base and spent time with the mobile robot Case in front of the Hab. Dave set it on its automated course and at times manually controlled it from within the RAM while Pawel accompanied it. Case had a mind of its own at times stopping and turning about before proceeding on and then finally losing its azimuth by fixating on 71 degrees east. The final drive of the day up the ramp into the RAM to Dave was a perfect end to an otherwise somewhat troubled afternoon. Our goal was to evaluate for ease of use and note any problems and so one should consider the event a success. In the Hab whole wheat raisin bread was baked and for dinner jambalaya with Red Lobster brand muffins.

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

"Mars is there, waiting to be reached." – Buzz Aldrin

EVA 11 team, Pawel and Sarah, did some reaching to Mars in sim today, driving as far as rover Oppy would take them and still make it back to base on one charge. They arrived at the grey unit and took gamma-ray measurements of it, looking for uranium content and comparing to previously measured units. Later they walked to the overlook and then to south of the Sea of Shells. Finally, they hid the NPS for tomorrow’s morning EVA team to search for. Those remaining at the MDRS campus worked on a variety of odds and ends throughout the day.

Today’s featured crew member is Sean Marquez, our GreenHab Officer. In his biography he states: "Sean has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in design of mechanical systems, from the University of California, Irvine. He worked as an associate mechanical design engineer for Max Q Systems – formerly an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the aerospace industry. In his spare time, he contributes to FPrime, an open-source flight software and embedded systems framework used on the NASA/JPL Mars Ingenuity helicopter and university CubeSATs. FPrime is currently undergoing implementation at the Mars Desert Research Station to automate monitoring of plants in the GreenHab. Sean also works with a working group with the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) and the Mach 30 Foundation to develop open standards for the medical/aerospace industry, as well as methodologies for developing open-source hardware (OSHW) like open-source software (OSS). Sean is currently studying permaculture design to develop a means to becoming multiplanetary without the need for interplanetary supply chains, using permaculture as its guiding principles."

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

Our fourth EVA on Sol 3, taken on this beautiful Martian day by three of the crew, found the hidden nuclear reactor mockup (a 20-gallon capacity cylindrical metal container). Crew members of yesterday’s third EVA provided a simulated landing site for the nuclear power system. Sarah, the EVA Crew Leader, Pawel and Dave were given an approximate landing site via GPS coordinates, which was within 1000 feet from the actual location. The terrain here was like a maze of short hills, any of which could hide the reactor. Fortunately, we were headed in the correct direction from the start and Dave found the reactor within 15 minutes. Afterwards, the EVA crew was tasked to find a location where it could dig to bury it. In this Martian terrain it is common to immediately be stymied by loose chunks of sandstone. The team drove further south on Cow Dung Road and then parked the rovers. Digging near the road quickly revealed sand stone slabs. Dave, having been in this area before, suggested an area 60 meters further west from the road where Pawel found loose regolith with his shovel. He quickly dug down a half meter in one location and then another. This area is likely where it will be buried and later retrieved. Burial is required to help reduce radiation exposure to humans with an active installation.

Sarah had this to say about today’s highly successful EVA, "Today was the first EVA with the Gamma Ray Spectrometer. We measured the natural amounts of radioactive potassium, uranium, and thorium in the regolith 1000 m south of the Hab, as well as conglomerates at Robert’s Rock Garden, and sandstone and regolith at a location that from orbit looks redder that some of the surrounding rocks. Ratios of these different elements can tell us about predicted mineralogy, changes in lithology, and even if Redox conditions has been pervasive in this area."

EVA Crew Leader Sarah is currently a Geology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kansas, focusing her research on analog materials for Mars and Ocean Worlds using Raman spectroscopy. She worked on developing a chemical calibration for chlorite minerals using Raman Spectroscopy, which also has implications for Mars research. Sarah also interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Origins and Habitability Lab in the summers of 2021 and 2022. Sarah was an active member on the ChemCam Instrument Team on the Mars Curiosity Rover and spent three summers at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sarah is currently a Geology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kansas, focusing her research on analog materials for Mars and Ocean Worlds using Raman spectroscopy. During her graduate studies, Sarah also interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Origins and Habitability Lab. In 2018, Sarah graduated from Kansas State University, with three bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry, Geology, and Geography. Throughout her undergraduate years, Sarah spent three summers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

Janus 1’s first double EVA on Sol 4, taken on another beautiful Martian day by two teams of two. One team manned by both Matts worked on burying the nuclear reactor in regolith, while at the same time Pawel and Dave got practice with the robot system provided by Nicholas Conlon of CU Boulder.

The two Matts took turns digging until after 54 minutes of toil they had a hole big enough to hold the entire mock reactor. A few issues came up along the way including Matt’s (does it matter which one?) communications head piece that slid of his head until repositioned. That’s part of the learning in sim experience. Afterwards, they removed the reactor and covered up the hole. We will hear more about the reactor in future reports.

Meanwhile Pawel and Dave set up the mobile robot, named "Case", after a robot from sci-fi movie "Interstellar". The process was long, due to our not having done it before, but it worked the first time. Pawel did the driving from a laptop while Dave walked along with his new friend Case, while watching for obstacles. Case can be programmed from the laptop to drive a particular course, but sometimes Pawel had to manually drive it from his laptop computer.

The main goal of the study with Case is to understand how future astronauts, in current real-world robotic applications, where users rely heavily on telemetry, map data, and intuition in order to infer how competent a robot will be in a given environment. Telemetry can consist of a variety of data, however in our experiments, telemetry will include the robot’s position, heading, velocity, battery level, and other state information. Map data consists of a displayed map with iconography indicating features such as positions of the robot, waypoints, hazards, and other relevant information. This information, while valuable, can be confusing for non-expert users whose mental model of the robot’s competence is incomplete or inaccurate, tedious to follow and monitor, and can lead to poor human decision-making. Instead, this research focuses on developing more human-centered approaches to convey robot competency.

In an unusually productive day, Sean and Matt S. also gave the rest of the crew an introduction to their software based "Toolset for Shared and Long-term Document Management and IT Operations". More on this in a later journalist report.

Today’s person of interest is Executive Officer Matthew Storch. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from UIUC. He has worked as a software engineer and has held various engineering management positions for 35 years He is currently acting VP Engineering and CTO of a small (30 person) company that is building a specialized physical infrastructure management product (target audience is large corporations and government institutions). Outside of work, Matthew has a long-standing passion for adventure, technical achievement and unusual experiences that has led him to becoming an airplane pilot, a gyroplane pilot, sailboat & powerboat operator, and a submersible pilot.

Crew 297 – Janus 1 Journalist – David Laude

Today’s two EVAs were simply to seek, find, "hide and seek" again, the mock nuclear power system (NPS). Mission support provided a simulated landing site for the NPS. The Crew Commander (not on requested EVA) gave an approximate landing site, which will be within 1000 feet from the real location. This EVA utilized known searching methods to find the NPS. The morning’s EVA team with both Matts and Sean, sought and found it in less than 10 minutes! Once found, it was collected and a new simulated landing site was selected and recorded for the next EVA crew to recover.

Just after 1PM, Pawel, Dave and Sarah headed north on Cow Dung Road on rovers Opportunity (Oppy) and Spirit. The longer drive than usual allowed more time to indulge one’s vision upon a stark, but remarkable landscape of shapes and Marian soil and rock tones. Lacking was any sense of green, except for an occasional small green patch of mineral tainted regolith sometimes found while on foot.

Reaching our destination, we departed our separate ways to cover a broad section of ground, all of us heading south while spreading out and believing we were at the most northern perimeter of the search area. After about 25 minutes of what seemed like a scenic hike where no person had been before, Pawel discovered the NPS. Once found, the crew continued to explore the region for geological interests.

During the afternoon EVA, Sean had gotten a design for a funnel printing on the 3D printer. A funnel was one item of kitchen utility that we didn’t have. The usefulness of such a printer can not be understated for a moderate to long-term space mission. A funnel is only one of a very large variety of objects that are possible to print.

Crew 297 Journalist – David Laude

The long anticipated soft landing on the surface of Mars occurred today for MDRS Crew 297. Six people with their own research projects from various scientific disciplines have come together to form this crew. Future journalist reports will focus on these projects and their progress. Sol 1 included training on MDRS systems that included water, GreenHab, comms, and EVA suits. Sim started at noon followed by the highlight of the day: certification for use of EVA suits and rovers with two EVAs to nearby Marble Ritual. Marble Ritual appears as an alien culture’s artwork, consisting of three narrow posts upon which three bowls are perched. Symbolic marbles or rocks can be found within the bowls. EVA1 was comprised of crew members: Commander Pawel Sawicki, GreenHab Officer Sean Marquez and Geologist Sarah Lamm while EVA2 consisted of crew members: Executive Officer Matthew Storch, Crew Engineer Matthew Lynch and Journalist/Engineer David Laude.

After an intense previous day of readying for touchdown and today’s Sol 1 training and certification, the crew earned a delicious formal dinner. The dinner of ceviche (consisting of shrimp, crab, cilantro, onion, tomato and avocado) was prepared by Sean and Sarah. After dinner, discussions regarding the next day’s meals flowed into a period of report writing and then finally relaxation near bed time. Tomorrow’s dawn will signal the start of our first full sol on Mars.

Crew 297 Journalist – David Laude

Our third EVA, taken this Sol 2 afternoon by three of the crew, was our first research project EVA. The purpose of the EVA was to perform the first EVA for the nuclear power project (no nuclear materials present). Nuclear electric power is vital for a human presence on Mars where there is little wind and solar energy to harvest. Mission support provided a simulated landing site for the mock garbage can sized nuclear power system. Matthew L., the EVA Crew Commander, Matt S. and Sean were given an approximate landing site via GPS coordinates, which was within 1000 feet from the actual location. However, due to a GPS unit malfunction, for a currently unknown (to our crew) reason, a few hours were spent in the wrong area. After the error was detected, and correct GPS coordinates were realized, the EVA crew quickly found it.

After being found, it was collected and a new simulated landing site was secretly selected and recorded for the next EVA crew to recover. Tomorrow, crew members Pawel, Dave and Sarah will have their chance to find the mock reactor.

EVA Crew Commander Matt is a 4th year PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, where he studies nuclear engineering. His academic research focuses on developing novel materials for advanced nuclear reactors and extreme conditions, as well as utilizing new methods to use machine learning in assisting electron microscopy material analysis. His PhD is supported by a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO), this is his first experience as an analog astronaut.

At the Hab Dave conducted the first test on his ultrasonic range finder device. It is to be used to measure distance from the top of a fluid tank to the liquid surface with the purpose of determining the amount of fluid left within the tank. It was used on the static tank and GreenHab tank where it successfully determined the distance. However, the tanks are nearly full and thus the test was very limited. Continued testing as water is being depleted will be required to calibrate and completely test it.

Crew 296 Journalist – Alba Sánchez Montalvo
SOL 10 started calmly since there was no EVA planned. Everyone could sleep enough to recover their energy and face the last sols to come. During the morning, the last crew members recorded their videos about their experiments at the MDRS for our social media and our collaborations. Again, our non-acting skills shone brighter than us, but we managed to have decent videos.
Loriane cooked meatballs with mashed potatoes for lunch, joining Imane in doing magic when cooking with lyophilized food. Right after, Maxime and Romain went on an EVA to explore and look for fossils. Under the hot sun, they climbed West Ridge and discovered that the ‘rocks’ they were walking on were actually fossilized shells! They collected some and then they could also find some fossilized wood. After that, they returned to the station and shared their discoveries with the rest of the team.
To conclude the sol, the team worked on the daily reports and prepared dinner before playing their new addiction: ‘undercover’. We will go to bed soon since tomorrow will be a busy sol!