Category: Journalist Report

Last night after dinner and report submissions, Monish surprised us with a fixed Grogu, which he has named Andres. Crew members had mixed feelings about it, but we’ve all learnt our ways to be around it, or behind it. The crew members worked for a little bit, before heading out for stargazing while everyone. It was the Geminid meteor shower. Some crew members saw more stars than others, but it was still fun. The crew headed back to the Hab around 11:00 PM, winded down for a little bit before calling it a day. Fun fact: Crew Journalist is mostly the first one up every morning, unless other people are up as well, and don’t make their way into the leaving room. Today, the Crew Journalist got up at 5:00 AM, and read Life of Pi before she started to document her research thus far on MDRS. It’s been a good book so far; I’d recommend reading it 5/10. Very humbly written. Ian made coffee and oats for breakfast. Spruha and Rashi worked during comms. In the morning we played Spruha and Peter’s songs. It was another EVA Day for Ian, Monish, and Peter. It was Peter’s first long EVA! Hunter, Spruha, and Rashi get to stay back in the Hab and focus on their individual research projects. Spruha worked on getting the rover ready for testing. She is working on the software side of it now. Rashi started documenting her research for the mid-simulation update. At 12:50 PM when the EVA crew got back, everyone had left over spaghetti for lunch. Hunter left for the GreenHab to work on the GreenHab to take care of the plants. The mission support team came to the RAM to provide maintenance to the RAM. Afterwards, Monish went to the RAM to work on his sensors and get some more soldering work done. At 5:00 PM, Monish came back, and Hunter started cooking semi-processed alien meat and fried rice. We are all either relaxing today or working on reports and planning or working towards research for the rest of the days.

Today was Day 1 for Crew 305. Crew woke up between 6 – 8 PM. We sent everyone’s top 5 favorite songs to the Mission Commander prior to the mission, so we played one of them this morning and everyone else guessed whose favorite song it was. That was the morning music. Breakfast had cereal with no milk, and coffee with no milk. After breakfast, we prepared for our first two EVAs for the Marble Ritual. EVA 1 had Hunter Vannier, Ian Parmerleau, and Peter Zoss. EVA 2 had Hunter Vannier, Rashi Jain, and Monish Lokhande. Spruha missed her Marble Ritual due to a control’s final—but she will do so tomorrow on EVA 3. EVA Sentiment: Mars was windy today. While EVA 2 was out, Ian and Peter made couscous and chickpeas for the entire crew. We all had lunch together after both EVAs. Afterwards, we helped Peter in his experiment by giving 30 minutes cognition test. Spruha’s exam went well. We all worked a little, preparing for some of the research that we proposed for this mission, and doing some of our own work. At around 6 PM, we started to assemble content for our reports for the first comm submission window. Spruha (main chef), and Monish (sous-chef) prepared dinner: Mac and Cheese. We just managed to get all our reports in, just in time.

Sol 2 Journalist report below:

After dinner last night, the crew headed to star-gaze and captured some cool Martian night view. All crew returned to the hab to wind down, until the lights were turned off for the night and everybody went to bed. We started our day around 7:30 AM. Ian made scrambled eggs for everyone, and Rashi made coffee. Today was Spruha’s day for the morning song with a 4/4 guess from the crew members (yay us!). After breakfast and cleanup, it was time for Ian, Hunter, and Spruha for EVA 3. EVA 3 included the three crew members going to Marble Ritual for Spruha’s initiation to Mars. EVA 3 than left for the Candor’s Chasma for some geological research. The crew took several useful measurements, so much so that Sol 2 was announced “Cool, Let’s Spool!”. The EVA crew then hiked down the valley and collected some cool rocks for research before heading back to the Hab in their rovers. Peter, Monish, and Rashi from within the habitat were on communications and kept checking on the EVA crew. Monish prepped some very stressed lentils for lunch with rice, which were supplemented by last night’s Mac and Cheese. After lunch, we participated in a group exercise by Peter, who gave us two puzzles to evaluate how we work together as a team as a part of his research. Turns out, Crew 305 cannot yet work together (despite no time-limit, the team could not complete the puzzles). Afterwards, the team wound down. Hunter headed to the Green-Hab to check on the crops and set up his research, which is when we experienced our first brownout before we completely lost power. Mission support was on a 2-hour communication break but were able to receive our request and act on it. Power was restored by switching power to the generator. Power came back – but we struggled with the living room light, which continues to flicker despite our best efforts. It’s gotten worse. Rashi and Spruha headed out to the RAM to work on their research: Rashi started documenting the different tools and resources in the Han and took some notes on them, while Spruha set up her rover parts to begin rover assembly. The power went out again. The RAM crew headed back to the Hab, and waited until the power was restored. Once the power came back, Rashi and Spruha headed back to the RAM to clean up the work for the day. Monish joined in later to start the work on sensors for his research until 7 PM when all crew came back to the Hab to report to the Mission Support. From the Crew Journalist, today was a good day; we’re all still alive. Hopefully we continue to stay cool, and spool.

Last night the crew watched Galaxy Quest, prepped for the next day, before calling it a day. In the morning, the commander played two songs: Ian’s and Monish’s. Sol 3 was EVA 4 for Crew 305. Ian got some geology measurements from the streams, Hunter collected some soil samples for his crop growth research, and Rashi evaluated the performance of the OTV rover on the drive through to Candor Chasma. Back at the Hab, Spruha worked mainly on assembling the rover, Peter set up his experiment for cognitive testing, and Monish was able to get the “carbon dioxide” and “air quality” sensors to read and broadcast data. By the time EVA 4 returned to the Hab, Peter prepped up lunch. Today’s special was “Peter’s Personalized Pizzas”. Upon returning to EVA 4, everyone had dinner together. Post lunch, each of us participated in Peter’s cognitive test while the rest of us worked. At around 4:50 PM, near to when the switch happened to the generator, we had a brownout following total power loss. The mission support worked for about an hour on the generator to get it up and running, but that didn’t work. After about an hour and half of work on the generators, mission support decided that it was best to break the sim. Technically, this meant that crew 305 is all dead. The mission support came in at around 6:30 PM to help the crew bring the power back. We took the power generator out from the RAM, and several extension cords which extended to provide power to the Greenhouse space heater, mission support trailers, and the furnace. Mission support made runs to the town to get fuel for the generator, as the generator had no fuel and there was no backup fuel on the site. After some trial and attempt, we got the greenhouse space heater working to keep the plants in good condition, mission support trailers, and Habitat furnace. At the end of the mission support window (9:00 PM), the Hab still doesn’t have power. More to come in the next report.

By Steve Kirsche

Today was crew 301’s first day in the MDRS and the day before we arrive on Mars. Our day began with a morning of training on all aspects of the station to prepare for when we arrive on Mars tomorrow. We learned about safety, how to use the EVA suits and communication equipment, and using the rover vehicles.

After lunch, our resident astronomer, Jason, helped us use the hydrogen alpha telescope so we could observe the Sun. Seeing sunspots and a prominence was one of the highlights of the day.

Later in the day, we took a field trip to the Hanksville-Burpee Dinosaur Quarry, an amazing bonebed of fossils located on BLM land a couple miles north of the MDRS. While there, we looked at pieces of fossilized dinosaur bone, petrified wood, and many different types of rocks.

After dinner, we concluded our day with a virtual visit from Dr. Rupert. She gave us some of the history behind the Spaceward Bound Utah program that we are taking part in. As our Earth-bound expert, she also answered some of the questions that had arisen throughout our day.

We are now settling down for a good night’s sleep so we will be well rested for tomorrow’s adventures on Mars!

Journalist Report
MDRS Crew 301 (Spaceward Bound)
Rachel Johnson, 10.22.24

Today was crew 301’s second day in the MDRS and we woke up in simulation on Mars! The day began with a morning lesson focused on the geology timeline of Mars lead by Dr. Shannon Rupert via zoom in preparation for our first EVA. We were also informed of our mission objectives for the afternoon EVA which was to collect various rock samples for experimentation purposes.

In preparation for the EVA we applied our training from day one on proper spacesuit utilization, ensured all of our comms were in working order and exited the hab in two groups. At 1pm, we loaded into three different rovers: Spirit, Curiosity, and Perseverance , to travel 4-5 km north to our first rock collection site, the intersection of Brahe highway, in search of at least three samples of selenite each. After about 20 minutes, we loaded back into the rovers and headed 2.5 km south to our second location, the mounds near the balancing rock south of dry creek wash, with the objective of collecting at least three samples each of sandstone and sandstone blueberries. After about 30 minutes we departed the mounds location headed south and returned to the hab.

After removing, cleaning and storing our gear we analyzed our rock samples and selected three selenite samples each for use in an experiment. We cleaned the samples and designated one as the control, one to be added to a moving water solution and one to be baked at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. During the set-up, Analog Educator Astronaut Michael Ho, demonstrated the UV reactive properties of selenite which we found to be extremely interesting. We will analyze the results and provide outcomes of the selenite experiment on day four.

After concluding the experiment set-up we enjoyed a delicious dinner of tacos with freshly made tortillas courtesy of our Analog Educator Astronaut Commander Jen Carver-Hunter! We ended our evening with some relaxing in the common room with the knowledge that tomorrow is another big day exploring Mars!

MDRS Crew 301
Alex Grab, 10.23.24

Today’s operations focused on two successful EVAs south of the Mars Desert Research Station. The crew explored two key sites: an area near Barrainca Butte and Kissing Camel Ridge West. At Barrainca Butte, samples of basalt, breccia, and several exciting biosignatures (including ancient marine fossils) were collected. At Kissing Camel Ridge West, we discovered petrified wood fragments scattered throughout an ancient riverbed, adding to our growing geological catalog.

Back at the habitat, the crew analyzed our finds and mapped them across the Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian periods, weaving them into the larger story of Martian geological history. In the lab, we also continued our selenite weathering experiment. The baked selenite samples displayed calcification and became chalky, while the water-treated crystals smoothed from erosion, each reflecting the impacts of environmental forces over time.

We discussed our findings with Dr. Shannon Rupert to further connect our data to the Martian timeline. Dinner brought the crew together for a comforting meal of cheesy potato and chicken bake with freshly baked bread. Spirits remain high as we prepare for another day of exploration. Mars feels more like home each day, though tomorrow will mark our return to “Earth.”

Journalist Report

MDRS Crew 301

Michael Ho, 10.24.24

Day 4: We woke up and find ourselves back on MDRS Utah, Earth!

That awesome Martian landscape through the visor of the helmet while that constant swishing of oxygen blowing past our ears will now hang proudly suspended in time within all our memories.

Nevertheless the crew is now back on Earth, and we still have much to learn and samples to collect.

0742 hrs: Sunrise. Eager to catch the only Sun we share with Mars as seen from Earth. Right on time, it appeared, bathing the landscape below with its beautiful golden glow.

0900 hrs: Zoom with Mission Specialist Dr. Shannon Rupert (who is still on Mars). We had a very brief history of NASA’s search for water and life on Mars through the various rovers such as Pathfinder and Sojourner. We had a quick lesson with samples of petrified wood, Gryphaea, coprolite, man-made mud pottery, dinosaur bone marrow. The importance of using desert varnish as a model to detect life on Mars made a lot of sense, knowing that these rocks may potentially contain microbial mats of cyanobacteria and fungi (as on Earth), and desert varnish had been detected by Spirit on Mars.

1000 hrs: Off we went, looking for desert varnish at…

1100 hrs: We arrived at Gryphaea Hill at North Ridge and were mind blown by the sight of the exoskeletons of gryphaea dotting every single inch of the entire area. An upheaval of the landform here must have then left all marine life here high and dry – leaving only a mass grave of these lifeforms from some 155 million years ago.

1300 hrs: Burger Shak! Nothing fills the spirit more than a great Hanksburger Combo at Burger Shak after a stint on Mars.

1400 hrs: Rockin Riddle Rock Shop – this shop totally rocks! We went in and felt like Harry Potter when he first entered Diagon Alley – there were just so many rocks to check out! Cathy the owner is such a gem with many interesting stories to tell!

1515 hrs: Some of the crew members also tried out Riley’s two new designs of helmets for EVA.

Riley wearing the helmet she designed as part of SWB Utah.

Alex from Crew 301 wearing the helmet Riley designed.

1600 hrs: We went off to Barrainca Butte to hunt for galaxy rocks and to stake out the area near Robert’s Garden for the lichen that fluoresces under UV. We found the patch, and will go out again tonight with UV flashlights to have a look at it.

1730 hrs: Back to Hab!

By Jordan Bimm

On our final full day of fieldwork we set early out to retrieve two promising Critter Cams that Samantha McBeth had deployed earlier in the week. Both were located at sites off Factory Bench Road. The first was near the pond at Coal Mine Wash, and the other was further down the winding dirt-and-gravel road on the bank of a dry river bed at Salt Wash. Yesterday we were worried that a passing hiker might have disturbed our camera at Hog Springs, but due to the isolation and inaccessibility of these sites we were confident both would be retrievable.

Hiking down to the cavernous rock-cauldron-like pond we wondered which species, if any, would make an appearance on our memory card. According to McBeth, Critter Cams are “the most effective technique for photographing elusive and nocturnal wildlife.” But while you gain round-the-clock surveillance, you are limited by the camera’s field of vision. McBeth placed each camera strategically close to water sources, natural or artificial “funnels” in the land (like dry creek beds or culverts), or places where many recent tracks are present.

Despite working from these tried-and-true principles, nature still has to cooperate. At a certain point, scientists are subject to the agency of animals and the inscrutable choices they make. Maybe no one would decide to walk past the camera during the 72 hours it was deployed. There is always an element of chance, which makes retrieval exciting but also nerve wracking. There could be ANYTHING; there could be NOTHING.

As we arrived at the cliff which overlooked the pond these possibilities raced through our heads. We scaled down the ledge leading to pond level and McBeth made a bee-line for the camera. Checking the contents of the camera’s memory card she counted 66 files, representing 22 captures over the course of three days. She had programmed the drive to produce two photos and one 10-second long video each time motion activates the camera to document the action. This was a promising find! While McBeth made a preliminary review using the camera’s small internal screen, Jacopo Razzauti went to work catching mosquitoes with his net and aspirator, and Oliva Drayson collected a water sample from the bright green pond in one of her glass jars.

Then, our activities were suddenly interrupted by a special guest. A beautiful pronghorn, a deer-like antelope, appeared peering over the cliff above us. It clearly was a regular at the Coal Mine Wash watering hole and was back in search of a cool beverage. But with researchers interloping it chose to keep its distance keeping one suspicious and watchful eye trained in our direction. Adding to the animal action was an off-hours bat (which we identified as a western pipistrelle) that began a series of swooping dives over the pond snacking on unlucky insects. This activity we witnessed was echoed in what McBeth discovered on her Critter Cam.

Clicking through the files McBeth was instantly greeted with fieldwork gold. A black and white night vision image of a magnificent great horned owl filled her eyes. And there was more. The owl was clearly on the hunt. The image showed the owl, mid-flight with sharp talons forward trained on a frog. The second image gave the result of this aerial assault: lucky frog 1, owl 0. The 10-second video that followed showed the owl immediately following the attempt, puffed up and strutting around in the mud next to the pond, appearing to us as if it were trying to recover from the indignity of coming up short.

And that wasn’t all, McBeth also had crisp, detailed imagery of a lone red fox, an unkindness of ravens that showed up in many shots seemingly having a party by the pond’s edge, and finally a pair of horned larks that were also there enjoying sips of water. Clearly this pond was a popular and possibly an essential destination. Now we had solid data showing who was here, when, and for what reason. Walking back to the Crew Car we continued to make visual observations of critters including several types of birds: a pine gross beak, an olive-sided flycatcher, bank swallows, a rock wren, as well as some lizards including western whiptails, desert spiny lizards, and side-blotched lizards. Deserts might seem like vacant “wastes” with minimal life, but our survey documented the rich animal biodiversity and activity at the Coal Mine Wash pond.

Our next stop was 20 minutes further down Factory Bench Road to retrieve the second camera placed at Salt Wash. Here, McBeth had placed a camera near where we had spotted a desert squirrel, and where there was evidence of rodent tracks and a burrow. Reaching this site, McBeth detached the camera and quickly reviewed the contents. Zip. Nada. Zero. The only images were incidental photos of us setting up the device and arriving back to retrieve it. McBeth was crestfallen, but also aware that this is how science goes. You can set up your experiment but you cannot determine the outcome. That part is up to nature, and sometimes it goes your way, and other times it doesn’t. Your job as a scientist is to faithfully report the results and draw conclusions, even from a null set. As we drove back to the Hab, excited to review the snaps from Coal Mine Wash, we discussed our approach to using Critter Cams. McBeth was already full of ideas about how to adapt this approach for future investigations.

Arriving back at MDRS we made a plan to complete and submit our final report and began the process of cleaning the Hab for its next occupants. We were hot, we were tired, but we had accomplished our science goals, and that feeling brought us great satisfaction. Our biodiversity survey of sites around and reachable from MDRS investigating plants, insects, macroinvertebrates, and microplastics had produced solid findings we are excited to analyze and publish.

By Jordan Bimm

The Martian Biology program happens in June, at the end of each MDRS season. This means we often contend with the hazard of heat. The planet Mars is cold, but MDRS can get very hot. As seasoned field researchers, we are used to working outdoors when the mercury hits 100 degrees F (38 degrees C). And today was one of those days. Over the years we have developed a few methods to beat the heat while still completing our science goals.

The first is to start early. Very early. This morning our alarms rang out at 4:45 am–over an hour before sunrise. With just a faint purple glow surrounding the science dome, we drank coffee, packed our backpacks, and piled into the Crew Car departing MDRS at 6 am sharp. Our destination? A new field site we had not surveyed before: Temple Mountain Wash, located an hour’s drive north. We arrived on site, ready to work, at 7:15 am. By then the sun was up and already feeling very warm on our skin. In the field, we dress strategically to stay cool. This includes wearing wide brimmed hats, bandanas, loose, long sleeved desert gear, light colors that reflect sunlight, sunglasses, and of course, plenty of water and sunscreen. Still, the early hour meant the heat was tolerable, especially in the small partly shaded canyons we surveyed for vegetation, insects, and animals.

One type of vegetation we’ve long been interested in is lichen. Lichens are everywhere and yet most people don’t know about these complex and fascinating life forms. A surprising fact about lichens is that they are actually a symbiotic partnership between fungi and algae. Fungi provides the structure and algae performs photosynthesis, converting the sun’s rays into energy to sustain the dynamic duo. Another little known fact connects lichens and the planet Mars. In the first half of the twentieth century most astronomers and astrobiologists believed life existed on Mars, but that it took the form of vegetation similar to lichens. This was because lichens are known to survive in low-pressure, low temperature, and low-moisture environments, all aspects of Mars they saw as hurdles for more complex life. Over the past four years we’ve surveyed many sites around MDRS to compile an inventory of the different species of lichen present.

In the early morning light at Temple Mountain Wash we noticed the dominance of a single type of dull blueish-grey lichen called Acarospora strigata. This type is common around the MDRS Hab, and all across southeastern Utah. So much so that some field biologists jokingly call it “Blutah.” But it is often joined by other types of more colorful lichens presenting fiery oranges and vibrant greens. After wrapping up activity at our first stop we continued further down the Temple Mountain Wash road pulling over periodically to investigate sites that appeared promising. It was at our second stop that Olivia Drayson, a PhD candidate at UC Irvine discovered a lone collection of diverse lichens on a single rock outcrop.

This collage of colorful lichens was a welcome break from the barrage of Blutah we had been noticing so far. Paul Solokoff, an expert in lichens, quickly identified two of the other types present here. The bright orange lichen was Xanthomendoza trachyphylla, also known as desert firedot lichen, and the green lichen was Acarospora stapfiana, also known as parasitic cobblestone lichen for piggybacking on other lichens.

I asked Sokoloff what was behind the dominance of Blutah lichen we had seen all morning at Temple Mountain Wash. He explained that Blutah is known for being especially hardy. “Bluetah is capable of spreading in harsh microenvironments with ease,” he noted, indicating that this gives it a competitive edge over other species when conditions are sub-optimal. At this site he noticed that much of the rock was hard shale, making it a more difficult substrate for lichens to manage.

Next, I wanted to know what might explain this highly localized exception to the uniformity Drayson had discovered. What was it about this place or this rock outcrop that meant other types of lichens also had a chance? Here he noted both the softer type of rock which made for a more favorable platform, as well as the outcrop’s prominence, making it an attractive perch for passing birds that provide extra nutrients for lichens in the form of excrement.

Starting early meant that we returned to MDRS by Noon, avoiding the ever increasing heat-of-day. In the Hab we retrieved some more improvised cool-down tools, water bottles strategically stowed in the fridge to be ice cold upon return, as well as another heat hack. Wet wipes placed in the freezer provide a refreshing and cooling sensation as they remove desert dirt and dust.

Finally, on these hottest of hot days, we take refuge in the MDRS Science Dome, the only part of the analog complex that has air conditioning. Here we set to work processing our samples from the field, writing up notes and findings, and keeping the heat in check. In this way, it is interesting to consider the possibility that MDRS can function not only as a Mars analog but also as an analog of a future Earth, one that is warmer and dryer than it is today. The strategies we use here in the field may become more commonplace as our climate changes and humans worldwide contend with rising temperatures.