Crew Scientist:
· Hydroponic garden completely assembled.
o Aeration system and pipes assembled and transported from RAM to the GreenHab
o Materials used from the RAM: gorilla glue, dewalt drill, hammer, razor blade, and needle-nosed pliers.
o Thermostat in the GreenHab set to 65 degrees F near 8:30pm
· Experimental steps completed today
o Calculated the amt of additives to be input into system.
o Administered additives (experimental variables: worm castings, BioLive fertilizers, compost biproducts)
· Troubleshooting
o Small leak at the ends of the pipes. Need to seal with caulking/ PVC pipe glue on Sol 4. Rate of evaporation may no longer be a feasible component to track unless leak can be sealed.
Crew Botanist:
Started to set up a botany experiment investigating the effect of different soil compositions on the growth of plants. The crew botanist recognized that there was a miscalculation for determining the group and population sizes. Namely, the weight fraction was used to calculate the quantities of different soil compositions instead of the volume fraction. If the problem was not corrected, the experimental group with increasing amount of martian regolith will decrease the overall volume of the "soil/regolith"; this would have meant that there would have been less material surrounding the seeds (and less potential nutrients). The crew botanist started to implement the fix but the completion of the work is rescheduled for tomorrow.
SH, XO
Red Planet People – MDRS Crew 245 "Team Patamars"To Mars and Beyond – For All!