GreenHab Report – March 13th

Crew 223 GreenHab Report – 13-03-2020 GreenHab Officer: Valentin BELLEMIN-LAPONNAZ

Environmental control: Ambient with Door open

Average temperature: 24°C

Low temperature: 23°C
High temperature: 25°C

Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours (from 9P.M to 1 a.m.)

Daily water usage for crops: 12.7 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallon

Water in Blue Tank— 97.5 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 3 (one only for tomatoes)

Changes to crops: NA

Narrative: This morning, was a special as the weather was windy and rainy. I watered the GreenHab as usual. I felt a bit sad as it is the end of the mission and many fruits will be to be good to eat in two weeks (approx. 15 cucumbers, 5-6 tomatoes). I am also sad to learn that no crew is coming next week. Yet, I had a really good times in the GreenHab. I enjoyed a lot taking care of the plants. I was like on heaven.

Harvest: 25g Basil / 5g Oregano / 20g Sage / 100g Rocket

Support/supplies needed: NA

Journalist Report – March 13th

Crew 223 Journalist Report 13Mar2020

Author: Clément Plagne, Journalist

Sol 12: Closing in

It’s weird to wake up knowing that that heavy airlock door you heard shut such a short time ago was going to open just that evening. Honestly, while knowing that it’s over will be a relief, I think all of us would also like it to last just a little longer. It’s part of the experience to know that you can never do everything you intend to, and that you will face challenges that will slow you down. The job is as much about dealing with these challenges as it is doing what you came here to do. And challenges we had to face, even today. We had so many great days early on, I think that the MDRS gods decided to punish us before the end.

We awoke not only to the thought of that door, but also to pouring rain. A bad situation on clean-up day. The corridors between buildings in the station are insulated, but we still walk on the ground, or, as we had to today, the mud. Wind was howling even after rain had stopped, and the EVA that we had already moved to the afternoon was becoming even more perilous. After four weeks of loyal services to our two crews, the weather station for the LOAC experiment finally lost against the wind and fell over, mere hours before being dismantled. Nevertheless, the EVA was a great demonstration of all we’d learned during our previous expeditions. In hostile conditions of strong winds and loose, muddy terrain, we managed to perform all intended procedures quickly, safely and efficiently. The conclusion of a job well done on all EVAs.

And, some time later, the experiments were all packed up and ready to go back home. We’d been entrusted with them, and we hope we did a great job of gathering data. Everyone in the station did their best, that is, excellent work, so we have high hopes for the results to be valuable. We were just counting minutes until we could say the simulation was broken, and there it was: the outside, not seen through a glass helmet. We all ran around in the mud like children, and waited for Shannon, whom we’d invited over for dinner, to come inside the Hab. She’s done a fantastic job of helping us throughout the mission, and we are all grateful to have her here.

I’m writing these last few lines while she’s here: she has far too many good stories about her tenure at MDRS, and I’m finding myself hurriedly doing my best to finish up before missing the comms window. Tomorrow will be my last report, and there’s a lot to think about and a good look back to do.

Astronomy Report – March 12th

Crew 223 Astronomy Report Mar 12 2020

Name: Florian Delpech

Crew: 223

Date: 3/12/2020

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: NGC 4254 ; M100 ; NGC 6503 ;NGC 5248 ; NGC 4038 ; GC 3521. This is part of the research project

Images submitted with this report: 3 pictures of galaxies (NGC2403 ; NGC3344 and NGC 3368)

Problems Encountered: For some observations, one, two or three WCS registration failed. As a consequence, I cannot process the alignement of the pictures with AstroImageJ. Is there another way to align them?

I also don’t have credits anymore on my Skynet account. Would it be possible to have more in order to finish my research project?

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: N/A

Images submitted with this report: N/A

Problems Encountered: N/A

Journalist Report – March 12th

Crew 223 Journalist Report 12Mar2020

Author: Clément Plagne, Crew Journalist

Sol 11: Life goes on

After yesterday’s news, it was not only hard to get some good sleep, but also difficult to spend the day without looking at our computers, hanging on to every email and piece of information we could find. We do have a bit of internet in the Station, but it’s limited, sometimes messy, and reserved in priority for the Comms window in the evening, to send all our critical reports to mission support. So we make do with what’s available: the few emails from friends and family on Earth, and a few articles on the internet. We’d never really even thought about looking at our emails outside of that comms window, and we actually felt refreshed to not be inundated by information from everywhere. Now, not only have two weeks of social isolation taken a toll on us, but we got closer to Earth only to see it hurt, sick and confused. We’re leaving in two days, and we know that we’re going to find Earth different than how we left it.

We don’t really know if we’re lucky to be here or not, when we know what’s out there. On the one hand we’re safe, and being disconnected from the world allows us to some distance to process everything rather than taking it all in the face. On the other hand, there’s so much we don’t know, can’t know easily, and the distance can easily become a stressor. Safety doesn’t matter as much as being close to your loved ones, and it’s especially hard to know that there is no walking away from the mission at hand.

One of the books that has been going around the Hab was Chris Hadfield’s fantastic “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth”. In it, he explains that he isn’t afraid during missions, no matter the danger. He’s worked hard to make sure he could fix everything that could be fixed if something goes wrong, so it’s just procedure. We’re no astronauts, and don’t have that much training for a mission like this, but we knew what to expect, we were ready to accept that, and now that things aren’t going smoothly, we keep going. There’s little we can do, so we do that and wait until we can do more. The mission is nearing its close and we’re busy packing things up and finishing off what we started. Getting busy is an added bonus that helps us get our minds off things.

We move on with our day, and the routine goes well. In our free time, games, movies, as well as Blandine’s positive thinking and relaxation exercises do a tremendous job of cutting through the and gloom. In little time we’ll be back on Earth, with a lot to catch up on and a lot of plans to change. We’ve spent two weeks figuring things out in an unusual place. We can do it again.

EVA Report – March 12th

Crew 223 EVA Report 12-03-2020

EVA # 11

Author: Blandine Gorce (XO)

Purpose of EVA: Change batteries of LOAC and MegaAres, and then explore a martian like area

Start time: 8:58 AM

End time: 11:25 AM

Narrative: We went out in the morning at 9:03 am after the depressurization. Florian couldn’t start the ATVs 1 so we took two ATVs and Perseverance.

We changed the batteries of LOAC and Mega Ares and left for exploration at 9:30 AM. Then we left the rovers and we were really happy to see a beautiful landscape for the last time on Mars for us so we took the most of this EVA.

We came back to the HAb around 11 :19

Destination: The plane place in front of the Hab and factory butte view

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 12S 4250800 518500 and 12S 517850 4255150

Participants: Team red: Blandine Gorce (HSO, EVA leader), Florian Delpech (Astronomer), Luc Fortin (Engineer), Maarion Lebrun (Crew scientist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Rovers : Perseverance, ATVs 3,2

Sol Summary – March 12th

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 12-03-2020

Sol: 11 Summary Title: Strange feelings

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Last full day of Sim

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. The end is close, a good team spirit was felt during the session. For the EVA, the crew explored the extreme North region of the campus. They were satisfied with what they have found. Red soil was everywhere and it made Marion happy. During the EVA, the three members in the hab prepared a joke for Florian. Indeed, they put a Jalapeño pepper inside his bread for lunch. This was a really funny moment, and with the bad news from the outside world it is good to share this. Then we talked a lot about the Covid19 consequences on the end of our year. Our school has been officially closed and those who were supposed to go to Costa Rica, Guyane or Italy are thinking about alternatives.

We stay really close from each other, which helps us to keep our spirit up!

Look Ahead Plan : Un-mount the outdoor experiments.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: cloudy in the morning, 0°C at 7:30am then cloudy and sunny in the late afternoon, 14°C at 7:00pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed, Northern region explored

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report.

Support Requested: None

GreenHab Report – March 12th

Crew 223 GreenHab Report – 12-03-2020 GreenHab Officer: Valentin BELLEMIN-LAPONNAZ

Environmental control: Ambient with Door open

Average temperature: 22.5°C

Low temperature: 20°C
High temperature: 25°C

Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours (from 9P.M to 1 a.m.)

Daily water usage for crops: 10.4 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.2 gallon

Water in Blue Tank— 110.3 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 3 (one only for tomatoes)

Changes to crops: NA

Narrative: This morning, I took care of the GreenHab : I watered all the plants and took care of the cucumbers and the tomatoes. I attached them better to the holders. This afternoon, I carried out the experiment Music For Plants. Nothing to report. I wish I’ll be able to examines some results before the end of the mission. For dinner, I harvested Sage, Basil and Green Radish plants.

Harvest:

Support/supplies needed: 100g Green Radish / 20g Basil / 7g Sage

Operations Report – February 27th

Crew 223 Operations Report 12/03/2020

SOL: 11

Name of person filing report: Luc FORTIN

Non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Notes on non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Wednesday generator:

Off at 6:10am

On at 9:58pm SOC was 81%

Wednesday generator:

Off at 6:30am

On at 10:00pm SOC was XX%

Diesel Reading – 65%

Station Propane Reading – 71%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – 5.5 gallons

Water (loft tank): 47 gallons

Water Meter: 149810.38 units

Water (static tank) – 218 gallons

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water in GreenHab – 110.3 gallons

Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: yes

Perseverance rover used: yes

Hours: 152.4

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 93%

Currently charging: yes

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours: Nothing to report

Beginning charge: Nothing to report

Ending charge: Nothing to report

Currently charging: Nothing to report

Spirit rover: no

Hours: 134.2

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: 70.3

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: no

Hours: 139.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: yes

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report

ATV’s Used: yes (1, 2 and 3)

Reason for use: ATVs 2 and 3 used during the EVA Engineer. ATV 1 started during the engineer EVA.

Oil Added? no

ATV Fuel Used: ~10%

Hours the ATVs were Used today: 30 minutes

Notes on ATVs: Nothing to report.

HabCar used and why, where? The HabCar is parked at the MDRS Campus.

CrewCar used and why, where? The CrewCar is in Grand Junction.

General notes and comments: Nothing to report

Summary of internet: All ok.

Summary of suits and radios: Suits 7, 8, 9, 10 were used during the EVA.

Summary of Hab operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

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

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