Month: January 2024

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Sol Summary – January 13th

Crew 290 Sol Summary Report 13-01-2024

Sol: 6

Summary Title: pHenomenal Day

Author’s name: Madelyn Hoying

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

The day kicked off with French toast and fried potatoes courtesy of Freebee (Anja) and Funk (Ben). The whole crew headed over to the Science Dome to prep EVA procedures and evaluate yesterday’s samples. There, PODO (Nicole) made the most exciting discovery of the day – a working pH meter, tucked away in the Science Dome! This is one that we can bring in the field as our experimental protocol had originally described, instead of requiring an in-hab workaround. We bumped our EVA back by an hour to give time to adjust the protocol and prepare the new sample setup. Chopper (Rebecca), Funk, Roots (Anna), and PODO set off on their EVA to Chandor Chasma with Melon (Madelyn) on CAPCOM and Freebee setting up the Science Dome. Two promising sample sites were collected, which the crew will continue analyzing in the coming days. Freebee is making a dinner of beans and rice, and the crew is looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.

Look Ahead Plan: Rest day, catch-up work time in the hab, team bonding

Anomalies in work: none

Weather: Windy, but less so than Sol 4

Crew Physical Status: nominal

EVA: 07 to Chandor Chasma, with Rebecca, Ben, Anna, and Nicole

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, EVA Report, Mid-Mission Report

Support Requested:

Additional CR2032 3V lithium batteries for the pH meter. The meter takes 4, and there are two meters in the Science Dome. If there are 8 batteries available, that would be great!
The temperature sensor broke in the field today, with a wire to the battery broken. Are there any 9V battery connectors available? If so, we can solder it to repair.

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EVA Report – January 13th

Crew 290 EVA Report 13-01-2024

EVA # 07

Author: Madelyn Hoying

Purpose of EVA: MADMEN data collection at the edge of Candor Chasma, which has geomorphological features that indicate the possibility of microbial life but is expected to be too difficult of terrain to bring REMI.

Start time: Intended 1230, actual 1335

End time: 1630

Narrative: The discovery of a pH meter that we can bring in the field led to the crew bumping our EVA back by an hour. This gave time to adjust the protocol and prepare the new sample setup. Chopper (Rebecca), Funk, Roots (Anna), and PODO set off on their EVA to Chandor Chasma with Melon (Madelyn) on CAPCOM. Two promising sample sites were collected, which the crew will continue analyzing in the coming days. While in the field, the battery connection broke on the temperature probe; if possible, our wonderful Crew Engineer will find a way to fix this!

Destination: Chandor Chasma

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): N4252141.8, E521204.1

Participants: Rebecca McCallin (XO), Benjamin Kazimer (GreenHab Officer), Anna Tretiakova (Crew Engineer), Nicole Chan (Crew Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Drive north on Cow Dung Rd until reaching Galileo Road 1104, then drive east past Compass Rock, which was as far east as possible with rover batteries. The surrounding area was then explored on foot.

Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Vehicles to be used (If applicable): Curiosity and Opportunity

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Operations Report – January 13th

Crew 290 Operations Report 13-01-2023

SOL: 6

Name of person filing report: Anna Tretiakova

Non-nominal systems: None

Notes on non-nominal systems: Not Applicable

ROVERS

Spirit rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 155.6

Beginning Charge: 100%

Ending Charge: 49%

Currently Charging: No

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 263.7

Beginning Charge: 31%

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging: No

Perseverance rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

General Notes on Rovers: Nominal condition.

Summary of Hab Operations:

WATER USE: 8.6 gallons

Water (static tank): 383.2 gallons

Static tank pipe heater (on or off): on

Static tank heater (on or off): on

Toilet tank emptied: No

Summary of Internet: internet is nominal during times 18:00 to 22:00

Summary of Suits and Radios: Radios nominal. Suits nominal.

Summary of Greenhab Operations:

WATER USE: 5.25 gallons

Heater: on

Supplemental Light: off

Harvest: 73g of kale, 51g of red cabbage, 11g parsley.

Summary of Science Dome Operations:

Began processing

Dual Split Heater or AC: On

Summary of RAM Operations: (Tools used, work done):

Measuring tape was used to measure the water level.

Summary of any observatory issues: Nominal

Summary of health and safety issues:

All crew in good health and happy spirits. No safety issues.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:

None at this time.

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Journalist Report – January 10th

Journalist Report

Nicole Chan, Crew 290 Journalist

01.10.2024

Sol 3

At the end of Sol 2, we successfully carried out our callsign ceremony, officially naming Melon (Madelyn), Chopper (Rebecca), Freebee (Anja), Funk (Ben), Roots (Anna), and PODO (Nicole). After two busy Sols of onboarding and settling into our rotation, the crew was granted a later start in their work day. We all awoke from a great night of sleep to the smell of coffee and bread, courtesy of Anja (Freebee) testing out the bread machine before bed. The sun was already out and shining through our Hab windows and made for a pleasant start to Sol 3. The crew seized the day and went straight to work after a breakfast of pancakes from Freebee (stepping up her cooking for sure). With chocolate chips and plenty of condiments (peanut butter and Nutella), it was a unanimously amazing meal and brings back great memories of having similar pancakes on Earth.

In preparation for EVA 4, Freebee worked on troubleshooting any issues with REMI and was successful in the setup. Ben (Funk) and Anna (Roots) were performing soil salinity tests in the GreenHab while Rebecca (Chopper) continued setting up the ScienceDome for the sample collection EVA and Madelyn (Melon) evaluated the area’s geology for future EVA sites. Our lunch was a nostalgic PB&J sandwich with Freebee’s homemade bread. Though dense, the bread had a mild sweetness to it and gave us the energy to continue with our Sol 3 objectives. Shortly after, EVA 4 crew, which consisted of Freebee, Funk, and myself (Podo), began suiting up and headed out to the Hab’s surrounding area with REMI. It was a very productive and successful EVA! REMI roamed around several geological points of interest and collected radar data while Funk and Podo identified viable sample collection sites and proceeded with temperature and salinity tests of the soil alongside sample collection. Funk settled into a routine where he was responsible for digging at the sites while I took pictures of the site as well as the measurements of the soil sample depth. The shovel we had on hand took a toll as Funk was determined to collect samples on the surface in smectite, at 3 inches deep in clay, and at 6 inches deep into shale at the site. The physical demand of the task was well worth the scientific output of the samples. We are all excited to see what we will find through the soil tests. With Melon on CAPCOM, we made plenty of field notes that will aid in our analysis.

After returning from the EVA, Funk headed over to the GreenHab to mist the precious plant babies and performed valuable knowledge transfer with Crew 289’s GreenHab officer Riya to understand how to better support the plant growth. In addition, the plants had a more diverse music therapy today so hopefully they feel loved and cared for by our crew. Chopper was hard at work in the ScienceDome at the laminar fume hood to set up microfluidic device tests to process the soil samples from EVA 4. Dinner is served by Funk tonight and smells amazing as I am writing this report. It will be Hearty Chicken and Potatoes with a side of mixed vegetables and a sour cream dill sauce (from our dill harvest yester-sol). We cannot wait to dig in and look ahead at the rest of this week’s EVAs and review science objectives together. The science experiments are all set up and as Chopper introduces the crew to the testing protocol, we look forward to making awesome findings in the coming days.

Photo of the Day: 290-01_10_2024 eva 4 begins

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Operations Report – January 10th

Crew 290 Operations Report 10-01-2023

SOL: 3

Name of person filing report: Anna Tretiakova

Non-nominal systems: Toilet Tank Sensor

Notes on non-nominal systems: The toilet tank was at full on the sensor and was emptied. After hearing that everything went through the pipe, the sensor still showed that the tank is ⅔ full. Mission support was contacted and they said that is an issue with some gunk stuck on the sensor. In addition to the sensor problems, the whole room stinks. Moving forward, is it possible to get a febreeze? Hopefully the emptying of the septic tank solves this issue.

ROVERS

Spirit rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

Opportunity rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

Curiosity rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

Perseverance rover used: No

Hours: (Before EVA)

Beginning Charge: (Before EVA)

Ending Charge: (After EVA and before recharging)

Currently Charging:

General Notes on Rovers: Rear view mirrors will be checked and tightened during EVA 5

Summary of Hab Operations:

WATER USE: 7.1 gallons

Water (static tank): 412.4 gallons

Static tank pipe heater (on or off): on

Static tank heater (on or off): on

Toilet tank emptied: yes

Summary of Internet: internet is nominal during times 18:00 to 22:00

Summary of Suits and Radios: Radios nominal. Suits nominal. Suit 8 had a blown fuse, it was replaced and now suit 8 is nominal.

Summary of Greenhab Operations:

Plants were misted 3 times and the salinity of a few plants was tested. More details in the Greenhab report.

WATER USE: 5.5 gallons

Heater: on

Supplemental Light: off

Harvest: Not yet.

Summary of Science Dome Operations:

Set up the Science dome for MADMEN experiments. Cleaned and sterilized the hood. Started the control test: so far everything is going as planned. The incubator is operational. Optimized the microscope to be able to see the surface of the microtubule devices using two optical lenses (4x and 10x). The day was finished with set up and preliminary tests of the ATP sensor.

Dual Split Heater or AC: On

Summary of RAM Operations: (Tools used, work done):

Crew scientists continued working on their robot in the RAM. The RAM was also used as the airlock for EVA 4. Measuring tape was used to measure the water level.

Summary of any observatory issues: Nominal

Summary of health and safety issues: All crew in good health and happy spirits. No safety issues.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:

None at the moment.

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GreenHab Report – January 10th

Crew 290 GreenHab Report 10-01-2024 (Sol 3)

Greenhab Officer: Ben Kazimer, Callsign “Funk”

Heater on, fan off, door closed

Average temperatures: 0955: 61.2⁰F & 22%, 1222: 77.2⁰F & 22%, 1721: 69.6⁰F & 51%

Hours of supplemental light: Nominal 4 hours overnight

Daily water usage for crops: 5 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.5 gallons

Water in Blue Tank 176.3 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 1133: 3 gallon watering and 32 oz misting, 1705: 1 gallon watering and 32 oz misting

Changes to crops: pruned some dead flowers off the cucumbers in the large blue planter. Added two Earth-based potato chunks on toothpicks to beakers with water to promote sprouting.

Narrative:

I was able to spend a good amount of time in the greenhab today, it was fantastic! I checked in at 0955 to see a relatively cold environment of 61.2⁰F. I had a chat with Mission Support on nominal greenhab status, to which he sent me some words of wisdom from Crew 289’s GHO (Thanks Riya 😊). Going forward, I’m going to mist the green guys a few times while maintaining 3-5 gallons of direct watering. For most of the morning, Engineer Anna and I measured soil salinity levels of many plants to have as reference for any future changes (fertilizer, repotting, etc.). We were able to setup a makeshift laboratory in the greenhab with my plant-viewing benches and it worked quite well! I even found a tiny pot full of unused potting soil that I plan to use for Earth-grown potato sproutings. I suspended two potato chunks for sprouting over separate beakers full of water, fingers crossed we see some roots! Last note is the now regular music rundown of the day: I downloaded the highlight release of Live in Europe ’72 from the GD and I certainly enjoyed it so hopefully the plants did too. I was apprehensive to expose our crops to rap music, but I felt like a little switch up during the pre-dinner checkup wouldn’t hurt… Sol 4 will tell us all if the greenhouse inhabitants are welcoming of OVO music.

Harvest: N/A

Support/supplies needed: None!

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EVA Report – January 10th

Crew 290 EVA Report 10-01-2024

EVA # 04

Author: Madelyn Hoying

Purpose of EVA: Confirm all systems on REMI robot are nominal after shipping and reconstruction, and to begin collecting initial data from at least 2 different terrain types.

Start time: 1400

End time: 1600

Narrative: This was a repeat of the original plan for EVA 03 to confirm all systems on REMI robot are nominal and begin sampling for MADMEN. REMI sampled six different sites within 180 meters of the Hab. The focus of the sites was mostly on sandy and gravelly terrain near small streamways. All systems were nominal during the EVA, and the crew had little to no difficulty running commands and controlling the robot with suits on. A new setup procedure in the RAM airlock also helped alleviate some struggles from EVA 03. For MADMEN, the use of the salinity meter in the field was confirmed without obstruction by the suits or gloves. Regolith and rock samples were collected and easily identified as samples of interest by the field scientists and CAPCOM, with temperature and additional data collected at each sample depth. Overall, this was a resounding success!

Destination: within 200m of MDRS

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): N518169, E4250939

Participants: Anja Sheppard (Crew Scientist), Ben Kazimer (GreenHab), and Nicole Chan (Crew Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit the RAM airlock with REMI and walk to sites of interest within a 200m radius

Mode of travel: Walking

Vehicles to be used (If applicable): None

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Sol Summary – January 10th

Crew 290 Sol Summary Report 10-01-2024

Sol: 3

Summary Title: Hitting rock bottom…in a good way

Author’s name: Madelyn Hoying

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Things are starting to come together! After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and homemade bread courtesy of Anja (callsign: Freebee), the crew kicked off the day with science prep, GreenHab upkeep, and habitat housekeeping. After a light lunch, EVA 04 prep commenced for Freebee, Ben (Funk), and Nicole (PODO), with Madelyn (Melon) as CAPCOM. On EVA 04, REMI and Freebee sampled six different sites within 180 meters of the Hab. The focus of the sites was mostly on sandy and gravelly terrain near small streamways. All systems were nominal during the EVA, and the crew had little to no difficulty running commands and controlling the robot with suits on. A new setup procedure in the RAM airlock also helped alleviate some struggles from EVA 03. EVA 04 was also the first sample collection for MADMEN. Funk performed human factors assessments of salinity field tests and collected the necessary samples from shale in the Curtis foundation near the Hab. EVA 04 was a success and provided Rebecca (Chopper) with samples to run to begin the microbiological analysis goals of Project MADMEN. As always, Anna (Roots) proved to be an excellent Crew Engineer and managed to troubleshoot multiple things as they came up, preventing progression towards serious issues. The crew is settling in for a dinner made by Funk and looking forward to some more crew bonding activities tonight!

Look Ahead Plan: Engineering EVA, science planning

Anomalies in work: pH meter still not functional

Weather: Warm on EVA!

Crew Physical Status: nominal

EVA: 04 Science tasks for REMI and sample collection, with Anja, Ben, and Nicole

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested:

Septic tank and toilet solution (see ops report)
For engineering EVA to fix the RAM ramp: any updates on use of a shovel and where to take regolith from?
Can we use GreenHab shovels to assist in sample collection on EVA?

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GreenHab Report – January 13th

Crew 290 GreenHab Report 13-01-2024 (Sol 6)

Greenhab Officer: Ben Kazimer

Heater on, fan off, door closed

Average temperatures: 0925: 71.2⁰F, 17%, 1729: 75.4⁰F, 20%

Hours of supplemental light: 4.5 (4 overnight and ½ from misting after sunset)

Daily water usage for crops: 5.25 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None!

Water in Blue Tank 158.05 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops:

0925: 3 gallons watering, ½ gallon misting, 1729: 1.5 gallon watering, ¼ gal misting

Changes to crops: Harvested a fair bit a greens for salad tonight, paid extra attention to moisture levels in tomato plant soil

Narrative:

Today was a bit lighter on Greenhab operations due to preparing, executing, and unloading from a 4-hour EVA to Candor Chasma (see other crew member reports for details!) I was still able to get all the watering and misting in, and I even swapped the environmental sensors between the Science Dome and Greenhab. Chopper had been harboring a more capable sensor that displays the current status, as well as the 24-hour max and min reading, so I took that and gave her my plain sensor. I cleaned up some dead pieces of plant throughout the growing areas and made sure that all sprouting plants were not choking out their neighbors (the pea shoots put up a good fight against the cilantro). In Tomatoes news, Tomato number 4 now has 2 yellowing fruit! I’m hopeful Crew 290 will experience some ripe tomatoes by the end of our mission (291 is going to have enough to make a whole pot of Sunday sauce!). Tomorrow is our rest day so I’m looking forward to spending some time going through all the plants in detail to trim unhealthy branches and rearrange crops as needed. Lastly, if you have ever wondered how a plant’s growth rate would respond to about half an hour of Louis Prima, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra, then tune into my sol 7 report!

Harvest: 73 g Kale, 51 g Red Cabbage, 11 g Parsley

Support/supplies needed: Another idea for future greenhouse upgrades, a nice stereo system with surround sound would be cool. The plants seem to love the music as much as I do 😊

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