Day: February 4, 2023

Crew 274 Journalist Report 2-3-2023

Sol: 5

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Go The Distance

Crew 274 woke up this morning at 7:30am to the song “Go the Distance” from Hercules and a recorded message from the family of the Crew Journalist, Tony DiBernardo. Tony’s kids wanted him to bring home tortellini from space, which the crew has agreed to keep an eye out for while on EVA.

EVA Activity

Today, the crew performed EVA 2 of 7 from HSO Pender’s research on extending the human exploration of Mars by utilizing supply caches. The 4th EVA will test this research by having the crew conduct a 3-hour hike with a supply cache placed an hour from the hab. On today’s EVA, four crew members drove the cache to the specified location at approximately a 1-hour hiking distance from the hab, secured it to the ground with stakes, and connected it to its solar panels. Our plan is to drive back out tomorrow to check its status to inform next week’s EVAs.

In addition to the cache, the crew dropped off a study to observe what happens to an orange on Mars. This study is a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland. Commander Guthrie and HSO Pender placed two oranges with temp and radiation tags inside of the logistics cache dropped off by the crew on today’s EVA as well as two oranges placed in a crate outside of the cache which will be exposed to the elements, also monitored with temp and radiation tags. The oranges will stay on the Martian terrain until the end of the mission.

GreenHab

Soon after conducting today’s EVA, GreenHab Officer Hines another sol of daily germination observations was conducted at roughly 11:45 am MST. Currently, the most significant progress has been the development of the cress micro greens, which appear to be almost 75% germinated. While the broccoli and red cabbage micro greens have shown some progress,the remaining sets have yet to show any signs of germination. As for the LDEF seeds, there is still no evidence of progress. Minor adjustments have been made including a more nutrient dense watering solution and adding of the previously used humidity vents to maintain soil moisture.

Heliophysics

Crew Astronomers Loy and Pena were able to slightly observe the Sun through cloudy atmospheric conditions. Of the observed chromosphere phenomenon and sun spots, only chromosphere videos were captured to be analyzed. This data will aid the astronomers’ research on the sun, space weather, and solar cycle 25’s implications to space weather.

Astronomy

180 long exposure images were collected from MDRS’ Robotics Observatory by Chief Astronomy Pena. These images were separately captured through visual, infrared, and blue filters, assisting Astronomers Loy and Pena’s science on HADS variable star research. The images are beginning to be stacked, analyzed, and compared to previous images of this star system, HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR.