Category: Sol Summary

Crew 202 Sol Summary Report 03-Jan-2019

Sol: 5

Summary Title: After a low-power night

Author’s name: Cesare Guariniello

Mission Status: The crew is continuing work on all research project. The morning was spent in power conservation mode, during which half of the crew performed an EVA and the other half stayed in the habitat to work on various projects. The power is now nominal.

Sol Activity Summary: After a good morning stretching and some light exercises, half of the crew went on EVA #4 while the rest worked on projects (and some origami) in the habitat. The afternoon was spent resting and working on research projects, including microbiology, geology, and astronomy. The crew is doing great, and every little difficulty or tiredness is overcome with laughter and a cohesion among crew members which is a joy to the eyes!

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will have a geology EVA in areas of sand dunes and continue our projects.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny and cold with melting snow on the ground

Crew Physical Status: In perfect health

EVA: The Executive Officer, Crew Engineer, and Crew Journalist had an EVA to the region North of Kissing Camel Range, to collect clay and shale samples and identify sandy regions.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, EVA report, EVA request, Geology Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Cesare
Commander, MDRS 202

Sol: 4

Summary Title: Engage!

Author’s name: Cesare Guariniello

Mission Status: Today we began our real exploration, with the first medium-length EVA. The EVA supported geology and two more research projects. The mission is proceeding greatly, with a great combination of work, exploration, fun, and enjoyment of life together on Mars.

Sol Activity Summary: The day began on a stress-relieving note, with some yoga small exercises and postures led by the Commander. After breakfast with crepes and Nutella, the whole crew participated in the preparation of EVA #3, which lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes. The afternoon was spent resting and working on research projects. After sunset, the crew had a little scare due to some malfunction in the power system, which was luckily solved in a short time by the Program Director.

My commander role keeps giving me emotional moments very often. Once again, it is amazing to receive twice as much good vibes, from my own experience, and from seeing the joy and happiness of my crew. Today the EVA was exhausting as usual but full of laughter, and the work becomes incredibly light when friends are around, and good feelings are within us. We are having our first emergency tonight, with the power system being a little mercurial (on Mars?), and we are currently in power conservation mode, but with the mood still very high!! 😀 Any non-nominal situation is more learning on our way to Mars!!

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will have a second EVA for a collection of geological samples and support to phase 2 of the research project on crew stress (after completion of the EVA). Crew members in the habitat will work on their projects, besides dealing with the daily maintenance

Anomalies in work: The generator is currently off, campus in conservation mode

Weather: Sunny and cold with melting snow on the ground

Crew Physical Status: In perfect health, helped by the morning yoga. Some expected muscle soreness for the EVA crew

EVA: The Commander, Executive Officer, Crew Engineer, and Crew Journalist had an EVA to the region along Pleiades Rd, after riding the rovers along Cow Dung Rd. The snow is finally melting, and the fluvial deposit area around Pleiades Rd only had 1 inch of patchy snow, which did not cause any hazard, while the hills on the sides of the road were completely uncovered and yielded interesting clay samples. On the way out, scenarios were discussed for the project on EVA decision-making. While in the field, we worked on geology and on radiation measurement. The EVA had a long time in the field, between hiking and working, and was a great experience of the toughness of outdoor operations on Mars.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, EVA report, EVA request, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Cesare
Commander, MDRS 202

[end]

Crew 202 Sol Summary Report / Commander Report 31-Dec-2018

Sol: 2

Summary Title: So it begins..

Author’s name: Cesare Guariniello

Mission Status: The crew is now in full simulation. We are on Mars, though it looks like we landed somewhere close to the polar cap!

Sol Activity Summary: What an exciting day here! We woke up to an unexpected 2 inches of fresh snow, in a winter wonderland. Since we still had to complete our training with Rover driving and EVA suits training, we were not in simulation yet, so we could sweep and shovel the tunnels, the front porch, and the solar panels without wearing suits. The Rover training got all of us slightly cold, so we decided to get back in the habitat and enjoy some hot chicken noodle soup before completing the training. In the afternoon, we finally celebrated the beginning of our simulation, which started immediately with two short EVAs that gave every crew member a chance to experience how driving and hiking in a heavy suit feels.
What a great feeling for me to be back into my space suit. I am also lucky because the two-piece suit fits me perfectly! But the top for me today was to look at my crew mates during the airlock pressurization, and outside in the field: in their eyes and their enthusiasm I saw a reflection not only of me last year, during my first experience in EVA, but also the same joy that I feel this year. It is good to be here, and it is great to see a completely different face of Mars, an icy and snowy face. But the cold did not stop us, each member of the crew has aspirations to go to space or to help our effort to reach Mars, and some discomfort is a small price to pay in exchange for being a part of this!

Look Ahead Plan: Due to the large amount of snow, we will not attempt any EVA tomorrow (except for engineering EVA to keep our front porch clean of snow), and we will spend an amazing New Year’s Day getting to explore our home for the next two weeks. We will start a few outreach and crew conditioning projects, and enjoy the day on Mars!

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: cold, with some snow precipitation during the day

Crew Physical Status: In perfect health, and all EVA-tested

EVA: Two short EVAs to Marble Ritual, to get the crew used to EVA protocols, communication protocols, and the joys and pains of activity in a space suit.

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

Support Requested: None

Cesare
Commander, MDRS 202

Crew 202 Sol Summary Report / Commander Report 30-Dec-2018

Sol: 1

Summary Title: It’s the final countdown

Author’s name: Cesare Guariniello

Mission Status: The crew is almost on Mars, ready to begin their isolated life in the most amazing habitat in the world. Oh, wait, outside of this world!! Destination: Mars.

Sol Activity Summary: Today five excited earthlings and one "slightly more experienced" half-Martian learned a little bit about life on Mars. A few fixes to the extension cords that power the water tank were followed by a mix of chores in the habitat, setting up rooms, sorting food, and replenishing our water supply. The late afternoon has been occupied with fixing the automatic observatory, and with the first part of crew training.

It is hard to find words to describe the feeling of being "at home" again, and how great it is to discover I am still amazed at everything around me. It is really hard to refrain myself from pouring into my crew a lot of stories from my past experience. I do not want to spoil any surprise for them, and I wish they will meet the same challenges and the same prizes I had last year. The entire crew knows how great an opportunity this is and is ready to take advantage of every moment of it, the funny and the tough ones! We already had hard work, and we already had funny moments and plenty of laughter with the program director and the assistant program director! Before we even lock the door of our habitat, I can tell I am home again!

Look Ahead Plan: EVA and Rover training tomorrow morning will be followed by beginning of simulation, and two very short EVAs to give all the crew a chance to try the experience and discomfort of EVAs in a hostile environment that requires the use of space suits and air packs. And for New Year’s Eve Dinner, a few visitors from Earth are expected!!

Anomalies in work: Slight delay in training due to many trips necessary to refill water tanks. EVA and Rover training moved to tomorrow morning

Weather: COLD and sunny. Melting snow on the ground

Crew Physical Status: In perfect health and ready to begin their mission on Mars

EVA: N/A

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, HSO Initial Report, Greenhab Report, EVA request, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Cesare Guariniello, PhD

Crew 202 Sol Summary Report 29-Dec-2018

Sol: 0/14

Summary Title: Goodbye crew 201, hello crew 202

Author’s name: Carlos Mariscal, XO

Mission Status: Sol 0 for crew 202.

Sol Activity Summary: New crew got trained, crew 201 checked out. Water tanks filled up and received new supplies and food.

Look Ahead Plan: Briefing with MDRS Director, training and unpacking.

Anomalies in work: Suit number 4 still does not work properly.

Weather: Cold, calm winds.

Crew Physical Status: New crew seems to be healthy both physically and mentally.

EVA: Shannon’s trailer.

Reports to be file:

– Sol summary

– Commander report

– Operations report

– Astronomer report

– GreenHab report

– Photos of the day

Support Requested: None.

Crew 201 Sol Summary Report 28-Dec-2018.

Sol: 13

Summary Title: End of simulation ☹

Author’s name: Carlos Mariscal, XO.

Mission Status: We are closing experiments, preparing our travel back to Earth.

Sol Activity Summary: Today we reached the end of our stay on Mars. Closed our experiments, did the food inventory and some snow cleansing.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will finish the Hab cleansing, and get ready for the arrival of Purdue crew to do the handover of all the necessary.

Anomalies in work: 3D printer had a mal function and we could not finish all the planned parts to be printed for the rover experiment.

Weather: Coldest day so far, snow, calm winds.

Crew Physical Status: We are all good.

EVA: We had an EVA planned just outside the Hab, however, it did not take place due to technical difficulties.

Reports to be file:

– Commander report

– EVA report

– Greenhab report

– Science report

– Astronomy report

– Operations report

– Journalist report

– Photos

– Mission Summary

Support Requested: Not applicable.

Crew 201 Sol Summary Report 27-Dec-2018

Sol: 12

Summary Title: This is about to come to its end.

Author’s name: Carlos Mariscal, XO.

Mission Status: Experiments are having some slow progress. Unfortunately, out VSAT, which is necessary to do one of the experiments, will not make it to the MDRS on time, so that experiment will not be performed. Depending on the progress of another of the experiments, we could end simulation tomorrow during the day or evening.

Sol Activity Summary: We:

– Continued activities of the artificial vision experiment.

– Printed several pieces for the rover.

– Had a lot of work at the GreenHab; we planted some seeds and organized some stuff.

– Recorded videos for media.

– Had a great time with some pictures in the snow (before it got kind of bad).

Look Ahead Plan: We hope to have our last EVA tomorrow to test mechanical components of the rover. Besides that, we will finish some experiments and start with the cleaning of the station for the next crew.

Anomalies in work: The plumb and water tank deicing system didn’t work properly, so we could not use any water during the morning. Fortunately, the temperature raised enough to get water up just before the snow started.

Weather: Cold in the morning, then snow, snow, wind and snow.

Crew Physical Status: A crew member had headaches, nothing serious, an aspirin solved it.

EVA: No EVA today.

Reports to be file:

– Commander report

– Sol summary

– HSO report

– Operations report

– GreenHab report

– Astronomer report

– Journalist report

– EVA request

– Photos

Support Requested: No support requested.

Sol: 11

Summary Title:

Author’s name: Tania Robles, Commander

Mission Status:

Sol Activity Summary: Today Crew worked on their projects, cooked some Mexican food (quesadillas) and recorded videos for our projects and a news channel in Mexico.

Look Ahead Plan: Keep working in the technical projects. Tomorrow the antenna will arrive during the evening and we will have an installation workshop in the Hab with one of our crew members.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Heavy fog during the morning

Crew Physical Status: Mentally tired, laughing a lot and with deep sleeping during the night.

EVA: N/A

Reports to be filed: Operations Report
EVA Request
Greenhab Report
Journalist Report
Commander´s Report
Pictures

Support Requested: N/A

[end]

Crew 201 Sol Summary Report 25-Dec-2018

Sol: 10

Summary Title: A Red (and a little white) Christmas

Author’s name: Genaro Grajeda, HSO

Mission Status: Projects moving along as expected. A little Christmas cooking for a nice meal. Santa Claus showed up at the hab

Sol Activity Summary: Different methods of 3D printing, machines and filaments. Methodologies to do lasagna.

Look Ahead Plan: More 3d printing and programing, more planting, video making for educational purposes back on Earth.

Anomalies in work: Water leak due to rain informed in operations report.

Weather: Cold, some snow showers and rain.

Crew Physical Status: A little tired but everyone ok.

EVA: No EVA performed today.

Reports to be filed: Operations, Green Hab Astronomy, Photos.

Support Requested: None

Sol: 9

Summary Title: Christmas from Mars

Author’s name: Tania Robles, Commander

Mission Status: Mission objectives are going fine; every crew member is working on each project. However today we dedicated more time to cook and clean the Hab to celebrate Christmas.

Sol Activity Summary: Last night we went to bed late because we saw The Martian movie. We woke up at 8 am and had our daily routine with breakfast and briefings. It seems that we are not losing much weight, just around 2 kilograms per person until today, Sol 9.

Two members went out to an EVA were they found life in the form on animals and a couple of humans who asked for a picture to our astronauts. After they came back, we worked in our Christmas tree (nice artistic skills, Crew!). By now we are finishing our special dinner with lasagna.

Happy Christmas up to Earth!

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will work individually in our projects but also record some videos to Mexico so we can send them on our way back to Earth. Also, we will have a 3D Printing class and have dinner with the MDRS Director.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: All good.

EVA: XO and Crew Engineer went to North Pinto Hills.

Reports to be filed: Operations Report
EVA Report
Greenhab Report
Astronomy Report
Journalist Report
Pictures of the day

Support Requested: A lot of discussions went into what Star Wars movies were directed or produced by George Lucas. Can you help us with the list of the 8 episodes, please?