Month: February 2020

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Journalist Report – February 11th

Crew 221 Journalist Report 11Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 9

Title: Corn on Mars (with a little bit of help)

This morning, we tested radio operations outside the hab. Crew Engineer Louis had already successfully built an engineer and got it working inside the hab over the last few days. The test then involved seeing if it could be reassembled with ease on an EVA in a short period of time. It was exciting to see that the radio could be reassembled in under an hour on EVA in two bulky astronaut suits. The second EVA was supposed to test if a team could reassembled the radio with no prior knowledge of radios (this team was Commander Grulich, Hemani, and Jess), however, due to a typo error in the request, the EVA had to be cancelled. We hope to recover this EVA tomorrow. Meanwhile, the rover was successfully built, but the team ran into several issues while trying to program it, and will try again to get the rover running tomorrow. On a happier note, the team spent the day filming various activities, which they will use in outreach videos, and also took some awesome astronaut profile pictures. Also for dinner tonight, we have the luxury of eating tons of leafy greens, all harvested from our very own greenhouse! The sunny, warm days on Mars are keeping our spirits up as we edge closer to the end of the mission!

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EVA Report – February 11th

Crew 221 EVA # 10 Report 11 Feb 2020

EVA # 10

Author: Luis Monge (Engineer)

Purpose of EVA: We will be performing the deployment of a dipole antenna and document the whole process. The antenna and required implements will be carried in the rovers and assembled close to them at the destination.

Start time: 10:00 am

End time: 11:30 pm

Narrative: Today we conducted the first of the two EVA for antenna deployment exercises. L.Monge, and G.Alloitabi went out to drive towards Cowboy Corner with the aim to practice long wave antenna installation. The Martian weather was sunny and chilly during the EVA. L.Monge took the lead and drove directly to the spot, once there proceeded to assemble the antenna.

The procedure was documented with video and pictures, the antenna was disassembled the components stored in the rovers and the crew headed back home on time.

Destination: Cowboy Corner

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 4252600/518770 (Cowboy Corner)

EVA Participants: Luis, Ghanim

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Park along Cow Dung Road (0110) to stop at Cowboy Corner

Mode of travel: Driving and Walking

Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): Curiosity and Spirit

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Operations Report – February 11th

Crew 221 Operations Report 11Feb2020

SOL: 9

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: 6:00pm

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) 78%

Diesel Reading – 85%

Station Propane Reading – 54%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A

Water (loft tank): 35 gallons

Water Meter: 148 units

Water (static tank) – 215 gals

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water in GreenHab – 178.8 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: yes

Hours: (before EVA) : 130.4

Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%

Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging) 51%

Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: n/a

Beginning charge: n/a

Ending charge: n/a

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: yes

Hours: 136.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 31%

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

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: 1 incubator runing, 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 today.

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: a mouse trap is installed at the kitchen, as we suspect additional mouse is at the kitchen.

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Sol Summary – February 11th

Sol:8

Summary Title: Wish List and Microbiology Sample Catalogue

Author’s name: Maria Grulich, M.Sc.

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Update since last Sol summary: The crew had a lovely Canadian/Indian Cultural night, learning about two cultures and getting our names written in Hindi.

Today we woke up and wrote our wish list for the activities we would love to do with our remaining time on Mars. Number one is movie night, games night and salsa night as we keep on postponing it due to the high number of projects we would like to achieve. We still have 4 days and only one cultural night left.

The first EVA in the morning left just 15 min late as one of the wishes from the commander was to take the EVA checklists more seriously. Still the EVA Support team forgot to put a camera in the airlock, which caused the EVA team to do the depressurization twice.

Once on the road, the EVA team managed to install the antenna on the desired location and achieved all their objectives. The rest of the crew was working on finishing the robot and managed to see it turning on for the first time. Unfortunately, the crew could not manage to connect to the robot and has to troubleshoot further tomorrow. For lunch, the team had tortilla bowls with fresh mung bean sprouts that the crew grew over the last couple of days. Mung beans are a powerhouse of vitamins such as A,B,C and E as well as minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorous. It also contains zinc, chromium, iron and they taste very fresh and like peas, which is great for Martians in confined space.

Also, today the inherited Kambucha batch of crew 220 should be ready to be drunk by the crew. A first try will be done tomorrow.

During the afternoon, the EVA team got delayed one hour as the crew only had four EVA radios and two of them had been used before and were not recharged in time. In addition, the crew made a mistake in the EVA window and so when the team was finally ready to go, the team was informed that the EVA window is already over. Therefore, the EVA was canceled.

The free time was used to take four crew members’ profile pictures, work on the sample catalogue of the microbiology samples and identify the bacteria based on their appearance such as, form, elevation, surface, opacity and color. The samples from February 3rd were then discarded to avoid any bad bacteria growth. As we are working on fulfilling our wish list, we will have a games night tonight, after a lovely dinner with fresh salad and cucumber from the Greenhab harvested by J. Todd!

Ad Astra!

Anomalies in work: None

Update mouse in hab: Mouse trab reinstalled no new mouse caught

Weather: sunny no winds

Crew Physical Status: Crew status with signs of flu feel better, also crew with knee issues is feeling better.

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Photo Report

Operations Report

GreenHab Report

Science Report

Astronomy Report

EVA Request

EVA Report 10

Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

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Operations Report – February 10th

Crew 221 Operations Report 10Feb2020

SOL: 8

Name of person filing report: Luis D. Monge

Non-nominal systems:

Notes on non-nominal systems:

Generator: on (at 6pm)

Hours run: 12:00

From what time last night: 6:00pm

To what time this morning: 6:00am

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

Solar— SOC % (Before generator is run at night) 90%

Diesel Reading – 85%

Station Propane Reading – 55%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A

Water (loft tank): 35 gallons

Water Meter: 148 units

Water (static tank) – 250 gals

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water in GreenHab – 195.2 gals

Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: yes

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: yes

Hours: (before EVA) : 130.4

Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%

Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging) 64%

Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: n/a

Beginning charge: n/a

Ending charge: n/a

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: yes

Hours: 136.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 60%

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

Summary of Hab operations: nominal.

Summary of GreenHab operations: operational, black corn experiment continues, now watered with 4l/day. watering of the plants carried out as per procedure

Summary of ScienceDome operations: 1 incubator runing, microbiology experiments going on and cultures are bieng grown in agar plates.

Summary of RAM operations: robot assembly almost completed and expected to continue, antenna asembly for radio comunication experiment continued today.

Summary of any observatory issues: nominal

Summary of health and safety issues: one crew member reports knee pain after EVA.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: a mouse was captured in the trap taht was installed at the kitchen, it was latter released during the afternoon EVA.

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EVA Report – February 10th

Crew 221 EVA Report 10FEB-2020

EVA # 9

Author: Jessica Todd (GreenHab Officer)

Purpose of EVA: We performed a duplicate EVA of this morning’s EVA, trekking over to the North Ridge and up along Hab Ridge to collect 8 samples for microbiology studies. We attempted to follow instructions based on landmarks located by EVA team 1, and follow a designated path from the terrain map. We will be comparing the results of the efficiency, traversing and science of the two EVAs.

Start time: 2:50 pm

End time: 5:09 pm

Narrative: Our EVA team set off from the Hab heading north towards North Ridge. We were aiming for the metal pole marker, indicating the Hab Ridge Rd. We got a little lost at the marker, trying to locate the path, but after a bit of exploring we found the ATV trail that indicated the start of the path up the ridge. We hiked up Hab Ridge, taking samples on the way up, however progress was slow due to one of the EVA team members having a sore knee. Once we reached the top of the ridge, the wind started to pick up, so we turned around and headed back down, taking some more samples on the descent. On the way back to the Hab, one of our radios ran out of charge, so we communicated with hand signals to navigate the path back. We had caught a mouse in the Hab earlier that day, and so with the permission of the mission support team, two EVA members retrieved the trapped mouse from the airlock, swapped out the faulty comms, and headed back out on two rovers. The team member with an injured knee remained behind and finished up their EVA. We drove the two rovers out to Cowboy Corner, let loose Kim the Mouse and returned to the Hab.

Destination: North end of Hab Ridge (EVA). Cowboy Corner (Mouse drop off)

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 0517500/4251800 (Hab Ridge), 0518700/4252650 (Cowboy Corner)

Participants: Jessica Todd (GreenHab Officer), Hemani Kalucha (Journalist), Rawan Alshammari (HSO)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Walked north towards North Ridge, turned onto Hab Ridge Rd (1103) and up to Hab Ridge. After returning to the Hab, we picked up Spirit and Curiosity to drop off Kim the Mouse at Cowboy Corner north of Galileo Rd.

Mode of travel: Driving and Walking

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Science Report – February 10th

Crew 221 Science Report 10-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha

1. Microbiology Research
Today, we prepared new agar samples, to fill the empty petri dishes. And all new samples collected from 2 evas today were prepared as well.

2. ISRU project
Today, corn sprouted from the control tub, which contains Earth soil. But still, we felt encouraged!

3. Mung Beans

Today, we used some sprouted mung beans in our dinner tonight!

4. Radio Communication

Nothing further to report.

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Journalist Report – February 10th

Crew 221 Journalist Report 10Feb2020

Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist

Sol 8

Title: Operations EVA Testing

This morning, we started a new Science project. Crew GHO, J Todd, is going to observe the efficiency of EVA teams and assess it according to parameters in the literature. One set of EVAs done today tested the efficiency of sample collection. The next two sets will test radio assembly and rover operations. The EVA teams had difficulty finding the route today, which made the long walk even longer. The view from the top of the ridge was incredible though, which made it all worth it. In the evening, Crew Journalist Hemani introduced the crew to some classic Canadian snacks – jalapeño poppers (which were received well) and pop tarts (which Crew GHO J Todd criticized). Crew Commander managed to create fusion Indian food by spicing the rajma with her sprouted mung beans. She also made a classic north Indian dish for dinner – rajma with rice. The crew worked around the clock on robotics, astronomy, antenna work, and microbiology, so hopefully, Indian-Canadian cultural night will revive everyone.

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Astronomy Report – February 10th

Astronomy Report

Name: Ghanim Alotaibi

Crew: 221
Date: 10 Feb 2020

Two photometry measurements were preformed today (using the image data obtained last night). One value for V CAS which was 10.959 and the other value for V0960 MON which was 12.945. Both Values were submitted to the AAVSO.

Last night, the 3rd image for each search pattern was obtained. Crew astronomer will download the image later this night due to the internet limitation.

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-14

Objects to be Imaged this Evening:

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

Images submitted with this report: Non

Problems Encountered: Non

 

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