Month: February 2020

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EVA Report – February 12th

Crew 221 EVA Report 12Feb 2020
EVA # 11

Author: Maria Grulich (Commander)

Purpose of EVA: We will be performing the deployment of a dipole antenna and document the whole process. The antenna will be deployed near to the habitat with radio instruction from the team that performed the procedure in the previous day.

Start time: 10:40 am
End time: 12:30 pm

Narrative:

Crew commander M. Grulich, Crew Journalist H. Kalucha, and Crew Greenhab Officer J. Todd went out to see how easy it is for an untrained crew to install the antenna of Crew Engineer L. Monge. The weather was great, and the team found a metal pool for the first installation site, which was still in communication range to the hab where L. Monge was crew support.

The installation went smoothly within a record time of 15 min so the team decided to go for another site where there was no support structure. The location was a rock formation where the pole could be locked to install the antenna, showing that such a concept could be done on Mars.

On the way back, the team of three carried all the equipment back and lost “Fuzz” our mascot that we took out for outreach videos. This resulted in a rescue walk back as Fuzz feels like a real crew member now and was actually found. Everyone was relieved.

The team is preparing an MDRS dance video and the EVA team spent 15 min on shooting some parts of it so stay tuned. The EVA crew was back at 12:30, meeting some Martians fixing the diesel leak.

Destination: close to the habitat

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): close to the habitat

Participants: Maria Grulich (Commander), Hemani Kalucha (Crew Journalist), Jessica Todd (GreenHab Officer)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: None

Mode of travel: Walking

Vehicles used: N/A

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Sol Summary – February 12th

Crew 221 Sol Summary Report 12Feb-2020

Sol:10

Summary Title: Robot vs Human

Author’s name: Maria Grulich, M.Sc.

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Update since last Sol summary: The crew finally managed to have one games night which made everyone happy. Still in the wish list – movie night and dance night.

Today we reconvened for breakfast, enjoying good conversations before preparing for our only EVA of the day!

Crew commander M. Grulich, Crew Journalist H. Kalucha and Crew Greenhab Officer J. Todd went out for an EVA to install the antenna of the crew engineer.

The antenna was installed in two different places without an issue showing that such an antenna could be deployed on Mars! On the way back, the EVA team lost Fuzz, our mascot, and had to go back and rescue him! He feels like a real team member right now and the crew was scared for a second and was glad when he was found again. The team also recorded some shoots for a dance video on the EVA that was also continued in the hab: stay tuned!

After the EVA the team took a little break before heading into the robot project which needed an operation on its heart, since the raspberry pi seemed to not have been configured appropriately. The robot had to be disassembled partially to reach the LAN cable which tested the patience of Crew Journalist, the crew commander and Crew Greenhab officer. After almost giving up and letting the robot win, Crew Engineer L. Monge came to the rescue with his external monitor and keyboard as the issue was that the country and wifi was not configured.

Finally, the team saw some progress. The second batch of the microbiology samples also showed sign of microbes.

Tonight, we will have the last cultural night, Germany, and the crew commander prepared “Knödel mit Soße” and brought the most famous drink of Germany… “Apfelsaftschorle” which is apple juice with gas, a much-loved drink in Germany besides beer! Also, the crew will experience the Cologne Catherdal with VR glasses.

Anomalies in work: None

Update mouse in hab: no new mouse caught

Weather: sunny light winds

Crew Physical Status: Crew with knee issues is feeling better, some crew members experience worsened sore throats

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Photo Report

Operations Report

Journalist Report

GreenHab Report

EVA Request

EVA Report 11

Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

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GreenHab Report – February 12th

Crew 221 GreenHab Report 12FEB2020

GreenHab Officer: Jessica Todd

Environmental control: Heating. GreenHab door shade cloth (40%) (30%) on. Door opened today from 1:20 pm to 5:20 pm.

Average temperatures: 26°C

Hours of supplemental light: 19:30 to 00:00

Daily water usage for crops: 8.98 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.53 gallon

Water in Blue Tank: 169.3 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 1

Changes to crops: We planted some fresh lettuce, chamomile and mint! A new cucumber is growing on one of the plants. Also, the avocado seed has sprouted but there’s a prickly leafy plant also growing in the pot. Do I have permission to remove it? It’s definitely not avocado.

Narrative: Today we planted some more lettuce, since we’ve harvested quite a bit this mission. We also planted some chamomile and mint so the next crew can make some lovely fresh tea! Our corn is growing nicely, we now have corn growing out of purely Martian soil. Unfortunately no progress for our mungbeans, apparently they don’t like Mars.

Harvest: 21g Rosemary, 26g Butter lettuce, 2g Oregano, 1g Basil, 2g Chives.

Support/supplies needed: NA

Other Notes: Still a bit worried about the water level in the GreenHab tank (see previous GreenHab report). Please advise.

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Journalist Report – February 12th

Crew 221 Journalist Report 12Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 10

Title: Hilarious Heads Up

This morning, the all girl (Maria, Hemani, Jess) EVA team headed out to complete radio assembly. The team successfully built the radio tower without help from HabCom in two different locations. After the mission objective was complete, the team made some pit stops on the way back to film their dance video, set to the music of “We Are Not Alone” from the move, the Breakfast Club. This will be used for outreach. The music fit perfectly, because we are trying to survive as life on Mars, and we are in a remarkably similar situation to the characters of the breakfast club – six strangers getting to know each other in a confined space.

After a yummy lunch, the girls got back into programming the robot, and with the help of Crew Engineer Luis, solved the software issue! This was such encouraging news, and we are hoping to test it out in the field tomorrow! Then GHO Jess and Hemani planted new crops in the Greenhab – Chamomile, Spearmint, and Lettuce. Before dinner, the crew played a little Heads Up, which lead to some hilarious charades. We are about to sit down to a dinner of delicious German cuisine and cultural night by our very own Commander!

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Operations Report – February 12th

Crew 221 Operations Report 12Feb2020

SOL: 10

Name of person filing report: Luis D. Monge

Non-nominal systems:

Notes on non-nominal systems:

Generator: on (at 7:40 pm)

Hours run: 13:00

From what time last night: 7:40pm

To what time this morning: 7:00am

List any additional daytime hours when the generator was run : 0

Solar— SOC % (Before generator is run at night) 79%

Diesel Reading – 85%

Station Propane Reading – 50%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A

Water (loft tank): 35 gallons

Water Meter: 148 units

Water (static tank) – 215 gals

Static to Loft Pump used – no

Water in GreenHab – 169.3 gals (water is probably lower than estimated, please refer to greenhab report)

Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: no

Deimos rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: no

Hours: (before EVA) : 130.4

Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%

Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging)

Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: n/a

Beginning charge: n/a

Ending charge: n/a

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: no

Hours: 136.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Notes on rovers:

ATV’s Used: (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3) not used

Reason for use: not used

Oil Added? not used

ATV Fuel Used: Gals not used

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: not used

Notes on ATVs:

HabCar used and why, where? not used

CrewCar used and why, where? not used

General notes and comments: not used

Summary of internet: operational

Summary of suits and radios: operational; 4 blue radios and

Summary of Hab operations: nominal.

Summary of GreenHab operations: operational, black corn experiment continues, now watered with 2l/day. watering of the plants carried out as per procedure

Summary of ScienceDome operations: one oven is operating in the lab, the incubator is non-functional, microbiology experiments going on and cultures are bieng grown in agar plates.

Summary of RAM operations: robot assembly almost completed and expected to continue, radio comunication experiment continued expected to finish tomorrow.

Summary of any observatory issues: nominal

Summary of health and safety issues: crew memeber with flu continues recovery.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: nothing to report

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Astronomy Report – February 11th

Astronomy Report

Name: Ghanim Alotaibi

Crew: 221
Date: 11 Feb 2020

One image was obtained last night for V0960 Mon. Crew astronomer tried to perform a photometry measurement but was unable to do so.

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-14

Objects to be Imaged this Evening:

  1. V CAS (Resubmitted last night)
  2. V0960 Mon (Resubmitted today)

Images submitted with this report: seeing profile of V0960 MON

Problems Encountered: As seen from the seeing profile, AstroImage j was unable to differentiate the target star from the background noise, however, it was possible to differentiate the star visually. This might be because the target star is too faint. The focusing of the image overall looks good and the seeing profile for random stars also looks good.

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GreenHab Report – February 11th

Crew 221 GreenHab Report 11FEB2020

GreenHab Officer: Jessica Todd

Environmental control: Heating. GreenHab door shade cloth (40%) (30%) on. Door opened today from 12:15 pm to 4:06 pm.

Average temperatures: 22°C

Hours of supplemental light: 19:30 to 00:00

Daily water usage for crops: 15.85 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.53 gallon

Water in Blue Tank: 178.8 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 2

Changes to crops: We have a cucumber! The zucchinis and cucumbers are flowering, and the strawberry plant has begun growing a strawberry. The tips of the narcissus are incredibly dry and browning. They have been watered regularly so I’m concerned the heater is drying them out. Should we move them to a lower level?

Narrative: Today was exciting as we harvested quite a bit from the GreenHab on Shannon’s recommendation for tonight’s dinner. Rosemary potatoes and salad! We are feasting like kings! The plants were watered this morning and this evening, and excitingly one of our Blue corn plants in Martian soil has begun to sprout. That’s right; Crew 221 has officially grown crops on Mars.

Harvest: 71g Cucumber, 20g lettuce, 6g butter lettuce, 14g onions, 4g rosemary.

Support/supplies needed: NA

Other Notes: Myself and the Crew Engineer noticed the water level in the GreenHab tank is much lower than expected. The water has just dropped below the level of the upper tap, meaning it is around 1/3 full (~100 gallons). We have been basing our water amount each day on subtracting the amount used every day from a full tank at the start of Sol 0. Due to the busy schedule of Crew 220, and the repairs being done by David and Atila, Crew 221 did not complete all the water refilling of the station prior to the start of our mission, and the GreenHab tank had to be refilled by Atila on Sol 1. We were told the GreenHab tank was filled to full (300 gallons), however we have kept a careful record of our water usage, and while our numbers tell us we should have 178.8 gallons, this is clearly not the case. We should have sufficient water in the GreenHab to get us to the end of our mission, however it will be cutting it close.

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Science Report – February 11th

Crew 221 Science Report 11-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha

1. Microbiology Research
Today, we completed our sample catalogue: we identified the probable bacteria species for each sample that showed growth. One of the interesting samples was the bacteria growth from a sample taken from the Candor Chasma canyon floor. The bacteria is called Flavobacterium Capsolatum.

2. ISRU project
Today, corn sprouted from the half earth soil half grey martian soil today!

3. Mung Beans

Nothing Further to report.

4. Radio Communication

Today, we disassembled the radio and Crew Engineer Louis and Crew Astronomer Ghanim reassembled the radio on an EVA, proving that it is compatibly as a mobile communication device!

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