Crew 275 Sol Summary Report 24Feb2023
Sol: 12
Summary Title: When stomachs are full, hearts are too!
Author’s name: Jeremy Rabineau, Commander.
Mission Status: Nominal.
Sol Activity Summary:
The day started with a big misunderstanding regarding the conditions of the simulation. Indeed, even if we are very aware that a pressurized tunnel starts from the door of the engineering airlock, we were using it in the context of EVA to store material to be retrieved by EVA crews when there was not enough space in the main airlock for both the EVA crew and the material. We were very aware that this was a limitation of the simulation, but we were considering this as a virtual “third airlock” dedicated to transfer of material from the inside to the outside of the Hab, while the crew was either in the Hab or in a pressurized suit. I have been instructed to do so during my first mission at the MDRS in 2016, and last year’s Supaero crew was also operating this way. I reckon that the good practice would have been to include this in the EVA request, so that we could have had this important discussion beforehand. We have never tried to hide this procedure from Mission Support. For all our EVAs dedicated to the atmospheric instruments, our communications (in English) on channel 1 included sentences like “Request permission to open the door of the Engineering Airlock”, but I understand that this may have been lost in the middle of communications in French between the EVA crewmembers on channel 2. We now understand very well that we are not allowed to use the Engineering Airlock this way. From now on, do you confirm that we must wait for 5 minutes of re-pressurization to open the internal door of the main airlock, before putting the equipment there, and then wait another 5 minutes of depressurization before the EVA crew is allowed to open the external door of the main airlock and retrieve the equipment?
Besides this misunderstanding, the EVA was very successful: both the re-deployment of the instruments and their functional tests have been successful. We now have a fully functional set of atmospheric instruments.
The other good news of the day is the food resupply. It is always very impressive to observe how food can boost the crew’s morale!
Look Ahead Plan:
Tomorrow (Sol 13), we would like to perform our first EVA dedicated to the MetMet experiment. The plan would be to collect geological samples based on the information given by a user-friendly instrument measuring the magnetic susceptibility and conductivity of rocks (the aim being to check the interest of a rock sample before collecting it). In addition to this, we would change the batteries of the atmospheric instruments, because we do not plan to go on any EVA on Sunday (Sol 14), and the batteries cannot last more than 48 hours in cold weather.
Next week, we would like to plan 3 additional EVAs dedicated to photogrammetry: One for the mapping of the area, one for the exploration with a 2D map, and the third one for the exploration with a 3D render. This time the target area would be Candor Chasma.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Windy and cloudy, low -3°C/27°F, high 5°C/41°F.
Crew Physical Status: Optimal.
EVA: EVA #11 was successful. All the objectives have been accomplished and we now have a fully operational set of atmospheric instruments.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Request, EVA Report, Operations Report, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, HSO Report.
Support Requested: None.