Crew Photos – April 8th
Sol Summary – April 8th
Crew 279 Sol Summary Report 08April2023
Sol: 6
Summary Title: In the spotlight
Author’s name: Agnès Dekeyser, Crew Executive Officer
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary:
The crew woke up again with the delicious smell of pancakes in which some chocolate chips had been added for the great pleasure of our martionautes. Then, four of them got ready and left for their EVA to the Special Region. After a few hours without any news from them because of the great distance between them and the Hab, the crew got back in touch before coming back. They used their full four hours of EVA to perform drone mapping and radioactivity measurements for Thomas and Augustin’s experiments. They found some interesting cavities in the rock as well as fossilised wood that gave off a mid level of radioactivity.
After their mission, the crew regained strength with an excellent lunch of Asian rice before taking several videos inside the Hab to add to their reportage. Then, they all finished the afternoon by progressing with their own experiments.
Ahead Plan:
For the next few days, the crew will be going every two days to North Ridge to check the bacteria that were placed there yesterday. On Sol 11 the samples will be collected for analysis. The crew will also plan next EVA’s for Thomas who need to make more radioactivity measurements in the surroundings of the MDRS and for Augustin who will continue the drone mapping of several places in the desert. The other experiments will also continue inside the MDRS including the use of the 3D printer.
Anomalies in work: nun-functional robotic observatory and the battery wires of Opportunity needs to be replaced.
Weather: Sunny, high 20°C/68°F, low 4°C/40°F
Crew Physical Status: Nominal
EVA: See above
Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Greenhab report, Operations report, EVA report, EVA request
Support Requested: None
Operations Report – April 8th
Crew 279 Operations Report 08-04-2023
Crew 279 Operations Report 08-04-2023
SOL: 6
Name of person filing report: Ioana Dimitrova
Non-nominal systems: robotic observatory, Opportunity
Notes on non-nominal systems:
Robotic observatory: awaiting for a solution from the manufacturer.
Opportunity Rover : see rover section
ROVERS
Spirit rover used: yes
Hours: 215.0
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 51%
Currently charging: yes
Opportunity rover used: no
Hours: 120
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: yes
Curiosity rover used: yes
Hours: 228.0
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 54%
Currently charging: yes
Perseverance rover used: no
Hours: 260.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: yes
General notes on rovers: one of the battery wires on the driver side of Opportunity is corroded out and needs to be replaced.
Summary of Hab operations: Music influence on stress experiment was conducted. Mid-mission report and video. Mid-mission cleaning.
WATER USE: 19,8
Water (static tank): 370,1
Static tank pipe heater (on or off): off
Static tank heater (On or off): off
Toilet tank emptied: yes
Summary of internet: used from 14:00 to 21:00 for experiments and reports.
Summary of suits and radios: Radios charging nominal. Suits charging nominal.
WATER USE: 9,5
Heater: Off
Supplemental light: Off
Harvest: 17g cherry tomatoes
Summary of ScienceDome operations : Filming and editing for mid-mission video. Anonymous questionnaires on FOMO experiment. Some bacteria was put at 37 degrees to verify that it is growing correctly.
Dual split: Heat or AC, Off
Summary of RAM operations: 3D design and test printing of new and better knobs for the oven following Operations Report of SOL 1 (stem too long to turn in an optimal way). If they work better than old knobs we will ask Mission support if we can replace the old ones. Old knobs still work nominal but could be optimized.
Design of 3D rotor blade for rotor blade experiment.
Summary of any observatory issues: see above for robotic observatory. New Mexico observatory used for M51. See observatory report for more details.
Summary of health and safety issues: none
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
EVA Report – April 8th
Crew 279 EVA Report 07-04-2023
EVA # 5
Author: Ttele Hiriart, Health and safety officer
Purpose of EVA:
This EVA was useful for 2 experiments:
Crew Scientist’s experience:
Like the measurements he made near the base, this time he focused on a particularly old area with a lot of fossils. Thanks to a scintillator, he performed occasional measurements of radioactivity (gamma emission). The area was vast to cover, he focused particularly on the fossils present but also measured the soil and took samples (only soil, not fossils). He was helped by Antoine who noted and guided him.
GreenHab officer’s experience:
As the drone unfortunately crashed the last time, Augustin maped a canyon. He took advantage of going out with Thomas to map an area of interest that is “Special Region”. As the drone crashed, Ttele supported him to help Augustin to see the drone and avoid a second crash.
The main objective of this EVA was therefore to pool Augustin’s maps and Thomas’ radioactivity measurements to create a 3D map of the activity and we thought it was an interesting region for mapping and for measurements of fossil radioactivity. They are parts that are old and therefore normally have a low radiation rate (like C11). We tried to see the difference with the measures taken with loana from Hab.
Start time: 9h08
End time: 12h39
Narrative :
This morning, we woke up with good energy. After a nice breakfast, the EVA team got prepared, with all the material we needed for the two experiments of Thomas and Augustin.
We went out of the sass at 9h08 and got to the rovers Cury and Spirit. We drove until the destination without a problem, meeting different kinds of martians on their big trucks. They were very curious about us. We lost contact with the hab after north ridge.
We arrived at the Special Region at 9h36, parked the rovers and started walking. We all went into the canyon, looking for places for the measurement of Thomas, and a good place for the drone to start flying. Thomas found several corners where the radiation datas were interesting, mostly in the ground of the canyon. Augustin managed to make a first 11 min flight with the drone, to make a video of the first area he needed. Then, we realized there were small caves, or recesses in the wall. We then mapped these places and took pictures to compare them.
We managed to join Thomas and Augustins experiments, by using different key points in the map. This made possible the matching of their information for the 3D cartography. The drone functioned very well, responding to the application as expected.
We walked in the canyon or above, during most of the time of the EVA according to Augustin’s and Thomas plans. Antoine helped Thomas for his mesures, and I supported Augustin with the drone, carrying the material and making sure the drone is always visible.
After a turning in the canyon, the narrowness of the place was replaced by a very big landscape. With a lot of luck, Thomas found a very big fossil of an old tree, stuck in the wall of the canyon. He made several measures and realized that the radiation of the fossil was higher than expected. He noted the radioactivity as mid-high, with the techniques of count rate.
We were very excited about it, and felt very lucky to witness such an old part of the earth.
After all these adventures, we went back to the rovers. At 12h07, we started to come back to the base. We met other Martians again, but they didn’t look very surprised to meet us.
We got in contact with the base again, and arrived at the hab, checked the rovers and took all our material and at 12h39 we got into the airlock.
At 12h44 we got out of it, and with the help of our crew mates that stayed in the hab, we took out all the equipment.
We were very happy with this EVA and very excited to explain our discoveries to the rest of the team.
Destination: Special Region
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518200 E ,4256000 N
EVA Participants: Ttele (EVA Leader) (HSO), Antoine (Commander), Augustin (GreenHab), Thomas (Scientist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel:
Drive to the cross of Cow Dung Road 0110 and Gateway to Lith then walking to the Special Region.
Journalist Report – April 8th
CREW 279 – Journalist Report – 08APR2023
Journalist Report : Aglaé Sacré, Crew Journalist
SOL 6: Report’s Day
SOL 6, the half of the simulation has arrived and thus the time of the mid-mission reports.
First, we sent a report summarizing the progress of our experiments on site. These have progressed a lot and the results are starting to come out.
We have also made a mid-mission video to present all that we have already done, we will show it to you soon!
This morning, 4 members of the team left for 4 hours of EVA to go to distant parts of Mars. Once again, a new mapping was made.
They also discovered tree fossils.
This lunch, Ioana prepared us a delicious nasi goreng! Yummy!
We wanted to take advantage of this mid-mission to thank again all our sponsors for allowing us to realize this project! We can’t wait to share our results in a few weeks!
GreenHab Report – April 8th
Crew 279 GreenHab Report 07-04-2023
GreenHab Officer: Augustin Tribolet
Environmental control: Open during day and heater during night
Average temperatures: 82.2 F
Hours of supplemental light: N/A
Daily water usage for crops: 9.5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: N/A
Water in Blue Tank: 127.2 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 07:20, 16:00
Changes to crops: N/A
Narrative: General watering of plants and crops was done today. The excess water drained from the rocket salad in the recovery tank underneath was also used to water some tomato plants. The microgreens planted yesterday have not yet germinated, they were watered in the afternoon. No other planting was done today. The sun was out, so the door was left open in the afternoon.
Harvest: 17 g tomatoes
Support/supplies needed: N/A
EVA Report – April 9th
Crew 279 EVA Report 07-04-2023
EVA # 5
Author: Ttele Hiriart, Health and safety officer
Purpose of EVA:
This EVA was useful for 2 experiments:
Crew Scientist’s experience:
Like the measurements he made near the base, this time he focused on a particularly old area with a lot of fossils. Thanks to a scintillator, he performed occasional measurements of radioactivity (gamma emission). The area was vast to cover, he focused particularly on the fossils present but also measured the soil and took samples (only soil, not fossils). He was helped by Antoine who noted and guided him.
GreenHab officer’s experience:
As the drone unfortunately crashed the last time, Augustin maped a canyon. He took advantage of going out with Thomas to map an area of interest that is “Special Region”. As the drone crashed, Ttele supported him to help Augustin to see the drone and avoid a second crash.
The main objective of this EVA was therefore to pool Augustin’s maps and Thomas’ radioactivity measurements to create a 3D map of the activity and we thought it was an interesting region for mapping and for measurements of fossil radioactivity. They are parts that are old and therefore normally have a low radiation rate (like C11). We tried to see the difference with the measures taken with loana from Hab.
Start time: 9h08
End time: 12h39
Narrative :
This morning, we woke up with good energy. After a nice breakfast, the EVA team got prepared, with all the material we needed for the two experiments of Thomas and Augustin.
We went out of the sass at 9h08 and got to the rovers Cury and Spirit. We drove until the destination without a problem, meeting different kinds of martians on their big trucks. They were very curious about us. We lost contact with the hab after north ridge.
We arrived at the Special Region at 9h36, parked the rovers and started walking. We all went into the canyon, looking for places for the measurement of Thomas, and a good place for the drone to start flying. Thomas found several corners where the radiation datas were interesting, mostly in the ground of the canyon. Augustin managed to make a first 11 min flight with the drone, to make a video of the first area he needed. Then, we realized there were small caves, or recesses in the wall. We then mapped these places and took pictures to compare them.
We managed to join Thomas and Augustins experiments, by using different key points in the map. This made possible the matching of their information for the 3D cartography. The drone functioned very well, responding to the application as expected.
We walked in the canyon or above, during most of the time of the EVA according to Augustin’s and Thomas plans. Antoine helped Thomas for his mesures, and I supported Augustin with the drone, carrying the material and making sure the drone is always visible.
After a turning in the canyon, the narrowness of the place was replaced by a very big landscape. With a lot of luck, Thomas found a very big fossil of an old tree, stuck in the wall of the canyon. He made several measures and realized that the radiation of the fossil was higher than expected. He noted the radioactivity as mid-high, with the techniques of count rate.
We were very excited about it, and felt very lucky to witness such an old part of the earth.
After all these adventures, we went back to the rovers. At 12h07, we started to come back to the base. We met other Martians again, but they didn’t look very surprised to meet us.
We got in contact with the base again, and arrived at the hab, checked the rovers and took all our material and at 12h39 we got into the airlock.
At 12h44 we got out of it, and with the help of our crew mates that stayed in the hab, we took out all the equipment.
We were very happy with this EVA and very excited to explain our discoveries to the rest of the team.
Destination: Special Region
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): 518200 E ,4256000 N
EVA Participants: Ttele (EVA Leader) (HSO), Antoine (Commander), Augustin (GreenHab), Thomas (Scientist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road 0110
Mode of travel:
Drive to the cross of Cow Dung Road 0110 and Gateway to Lith then walking to the Special Region.
Journalist Report – April 9th
CREW 279 – Journalist Report – 08APR2023
Journalist Report : Aglaé Sacré, Crew Journalist
SOL 6: Report’s Day
SOL 6, the half of the simulation has arrived and thus the time of the mid-mission reports.
First, we sent a report summarizing the progress of our experiments on site. These have progressed a lot and the results are starting to come out.
We have also made a mid-mission video to present all that we have already done, we will show it to you soon!
This morning, 4 members of the team left for 4 hours of EVA to go to distant parts of Mars. Once again, a new mapping was made.
They also discovered tree fossils.
This lunch, Ioana prepared us a delicious nasi goreng! Yummy!
We wanted to take advantage of this mid-mission to thank again all our sponsors for allowing us to realize this project! We can’t wait to share our results in a few weeks!
Crew Photos – April 7th
Sol Summary – April 7th
Crew 279 Sol Summary Report 07-04-2023
Sol: 5
Summary Title: To sky and beyond
Author’s name: Antoine de Barquin – Crew Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary:
Today, on SOL 5, we conducted an extravehicular activity (EVA) to install a meteorological balloon on the North Ridge plateau. The purpose of the experiment is to expose bacteria to different conditions of temperature, pressure, and UV radiation. To study this we have placed a sensor under the balloon. The mission went well. The balloon is well in place and all the crew returned to the base on time.
This afternoon we continued the usual rhythm with all the experiments. We worked on the mid-rotation video, choosing interesting videos and making new ones to make sure we show how our mission is going. After that, our Crew Astronomer made all the modifications for future observations of the sun with the telescope. The crew Green Hab Officer made new plantations in the green hab and with help chose different plants to make them dry, and see how we can use them after.
It was a successful day for the mission, we have accomplished important tasks for the simulation.
Look Ahead Plan:
It is planned that the astronomer realizes photos of the sun’s prominence. We also plan to process the data from the balloon and test the viability of the bacteria exposed to the balloon parameters. In Sol 6, an EVA is scheduled at Special Region and Lith Canyon for Thomas to continue his radiation measurements in an old area with a lot of fossils and Augustin will make another 3D mapping.
Anomalies in work: Starlink outage
Weather: Sunny, high 17°C/63°F, low -2°C/29°F
Crew Physical Status: Nominal
EVA: See above
Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Greenhab report, Operations report, EVA report, EVA request, Astronomer report
Support Requested: None
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