Get a lode of this
EVA 1 went out to the area near Marble Ritual, just east of the MDRS, where Steve tested his rover’s mobility in a more ‘natural’ setting across irregular terrain typical of the Martian landscape. He also experimented with the maximum inclines and declines it could traverse (most of the time we found the rover was limited by wheel traction rather than power) and conducted some further tests with its integrated spectrometer, including a panorama and additional material spectrification samples. Clare spent the time doing ‘exogeoconservation’ work – i.e., recreating past conservation imagery to assess geomorphological changes of the terrain over time (several decades in this instance). Somewhere along the line, we stumbled upon some sought-after petrified wood samples.
EVA 2 went out a lot further… i.e., as far as the rovers could physically take them along Cow Dung Road before they hit 55% battery charge (the designated point of no return). They walked the rest of the way to “White Moon”, about 4km due north of the hab and west of Tharsis Montes, where they searched for more gypsum deposits. They found plenty. There was initially some intent to scout for evaporite deposits as well, but that was abandoned in favour of gypsum recovery. Scott also dipped his toes into ‘celestial navigation’ – i.e., using his theodolite app to get bearings of terrain features relative to the sun, for future reference.
Rob spent more time in the observatory. Although the sun was a little fuzzier today, he managed to fully process an image (and troubleshoot the process).
As for the food component of this report: today’s menu consisted of garlic-cheese scones (pronounced ‘skonn’ thanks), cornbread, jambalaya (I only learned about this today and can’t provide much additional context, but can confirm it was a rice-meat meal that tasted great), and a salad, containing (among other things) a self-grown radish and delicately dressed by Clare’s proprietary/improvised secret sauce.
Highlights of the day: Gypsum motherlode, petrified wood, a radish (and soon, cucumber) from the Greenhab, Martian antelopes.
Lowlights of the day: Multiple power outages, misidentified anhydrites (by someone several decades ago), another UWO (the third in as many days), Clare hasn’t watched Aliens, Terminator 1/2, Contact, The Thing (1984) or Jurassic Park.
– Alexander Tobal, Crew 291
GreenHab Report – January 30th
GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
09:24: 75.4 F, 20%
09:52: 78.1 F, 26%
10:58: 86.4 F, 32%
12:15: 95.2 F, 25% door open
12:28: 84.4 F, 19% door closed
13:11: 100.6 F, 19%
14:39: 102.9 F, 16%, fan on briefly
16:49: 94.8 F, 31%
17:19: 85.1 F, 32%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 10 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 108 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:30 water + mist, 10:58 mist, 13:11 water, 15:00 water, 17:00 mist
Changes to crops:
Narrative:
Today was another sunny clear day. I checked in with the plants in the morning around 9am and found the moisture reader on the tomatoes was getting to the low side of the moist range. I decided to give them their first watering earlier today with 4 gallons – I opened the door for 10 minutes during watering to drop the temperature a bit. During the watering, I noticed a surprise cucumber on cuke #4. This was surprising given the many cucumber dramas experienced by the previous crew. The other cucumber is still looking a little wilty though. I also did a stock take of the other fruits that are budding. Tomato #9 has 4 yellow/orange fruits, tomato 7 has two little fruits turning orange, and tomato 4 has another one turning orange. There were some large radishes in the radish pot, and there are now 10 peas pods on the pea vines. The mint pot labeled 30/12/2023 is also starting to show little mint plants poking out. Today’s soundtrack featured Colin Hay and Client Liaison. I returned around midday before my afternoon afternoon EVA to give the plants their second water of the day (another 3 gallons). During my afternoon EVA, I had some of the crew to check in on the temperature in the GreenHab. In the afternoon, the crew requested some greenery for tonight’s dinner of Jambalaya rice. We harvested some kale, arugula, and a nice fat radish. I placed the head of the raddish in a jar with some water and soil – I will look up during tonight’s comms window if radishes can be re-grown from the heads. The harvested greens were mixed together with some Korean BBQ sauce as a stand-in for salad dressing. Very fresh and tasty.
Harvest: 40g kale, 18g arugula, 40g (1x) radish, 37g lettuce
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – January 30th
EVA # 15
Author: Clare Fletcher
Purpose of EVA: Attempt to find a photograph a site previously known as “White Mushroom Field” by Henrik Hargitai to note charge over time in the environment. Gain field spectral measurements of the mushrooms.
Start time: 1000
End time: 1200
Narrative: The site of these yardangs or “mushrooms” was very easy to find. There was a nice flat plain to drive the robot across and continue testing its mobility across the plain and some of the slopes. The site described as “White Mushroom Field” by Hargitai was also easy to find, and looked to be in reasonable condition compared to the 2006 photo taken by Jon Clarke. The "mushrooms" turned out not to be anhydrite, but just a white/grey mudstone. They also had concretions in them which was interesting. We attained a spectral signature for the "mushrooms" as well as other features in the landscape.
Destination: Field of yardangs near to Pooh’s Corner (to the West). Parking rovers at 518716, 4251064. Walking to 518598, 4251110. Co-ordinates to the site provided by Henrik Hargitai in a previous paper.
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): Parking rovers at 518716, 4251064. Walking to 518598, 4251110.
Participants: Steve Hobbs, Clare Fletcher, Alex Tobal
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit Hab via main airlock. Drive down driveway to Cow Dung Rd 0110. Drive North on Cow Dung Rd 0110 until straight between Marble Ritual and Pooh’s Corner. Walking within 200m of rovers.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking.
Astronomy Report – January 30th
[category
astronomy-report]
Name: Rob Hunt
Crew: 291
Date: 30/01/2024
MUSK OBSERVATORY (MO)
Solar Features Observed: Sun spots observed, imaged, and fully processed for emailing (attached).
Problems Encountered:
08:25
Sun was not fully on ’scope until 09:00 so time in MO will typically be 08:30 to 14:30,
because of the state of the shutters, the ’scope and dome floor are at high risk of being water damaged from rain ingress,
on the floor near the western alcove the cabling coming out of the floor is a tripping hazard and some of the cables are damaged or at risk of being damaged (image attached),
on power-up the Celestron Hand Control wanted ENTER to wake from HIBERNATION then asked for TIME and DATE then showed CGO PRO READY,
it did not show ALIGN SUCCESS so I pressed SOLAR SYSTEM,
SOLAR SYSTEM showed MOON with a “W” in top right corner, and I could not access MENU to get to SUN,
pressing MENU changed the ”W” to an “E” and I was able to scroll to SUN which slewed ‘scope to the Sun,
10:30
‘scope struggled to get crisp images all day, with no prominances but several groups of fuzzy Sun spots observed,
the observed Sun spots were the same ones seen for the last few days.
SharpCap
as usual the program is very washed out to look at and attempts to give it better contrast by adjusting Windows 10 display settings were unsuccessful,
in the Quick Guide (MOQG), I suggest software be named consistently, i.e. SharpCap (not Sharp Cap),
as yesterday, instead of saving to the Capture folder as an .avi file, SharpCap saved 1,000 JPG images so I changed the Output Format to .avi.
in MOQG at Step 14. p25, I suggest this be checked in top, right corner of window.
AutoStakkert
in MOQG chapter on p28, I suggest say in Step 1. that program opens in two windows, the sizes of which can’t be changed (?),
in MOQG, I suggest software be named consistently, i.e. AutoStakkert (not Autostakkert),
in MOQG, I suggest Step 6. to read “After first two steps of STATUS in middle panel of left window show green ticks…”,
12:15
Registax
in MOQG, I suggest Step 2. to read “…the stacked tiff file from AutoStakkert…”,
in MOQG, I suggest Step 3. to read “The file will automatically open in the Wavelet tab (top, left)…”.
Photoshop
in MOQG, I suggest software be named consistently, i.e. Photoshop,
in MOQG, I suggest Step 1. to read “…Open Photoshop in the task bar and in the Window dropdown menu ensure Tools is selected and use the Quick Selection Tool in the Tools Panel.”,
in MOQG, I suggest Step 2. to read “…Chromosphere and Prominence PNG files in the SharpCap Capture folder and open them. If you didn’t image any Prominences then just open the Chromosphere file and process that.”.
14:00
outcome for the day is 1,000 frames from SharpCap processed through AutoStakkert, Registrax, and Photoshop, then prepared for this Astronomy Report to Mission Support (image attached).
15:00
successfully parked ‘scope in HOME POSITION, HIBERNATED, and completed Closing Procedure per MOQG chapter,
returned items to storage locations and locked up MO.
Crew Photos – January 26th
Sol Summary – January 26th
Sol: 5
Summary Title: Data acquisition
Author’s name: Andrew Wheeler
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Sol 5 dawned bright clear and cold, perfect weather for EVAs. It was also Australia Day back on Earth and an opportunity for some Aussie delights. For us it was vegemite on toast with a tropical fruit platter as that was all we had. (The toast was actually bread and the fruit platter was dehydrated bananas, mango, apple and blueberries and the blueberries were actually in pancakes). Morning tea saw the unveiling of the TimTams® and, for afternoon tea, lamingtons. The hab received some tender loving care on both levels with sweeping up and vacuuming away the evidence of our external activities. The EVA for the day saw a return, along Cow Dung Road past Cowboy Corner, to the location of the spectral recordings of the previous day to collect further data and test the robot rover’s mobility on additional different slopes and surfaces. The evening meal was burgers and lamingtons. A productive day by all.
Look Ahead Plan: Weather dependent as always, tomorrow will see an EVA return to the Kissing Camel Ridge for investigation of the geological boundary between that and the Hab Ridge. This will be followed by an EVA to the Galileo Road in search of access into the Candor Chasma for geological samples and spectral targets.
Anomalies in work: Nothing to report.
Weather: Clear crisp morning at 0 Celcius rising to low teens during the day. Some minor clouds forming over the mountains during the day. No precipitation. Humidity dropping from near 80% to below 50%. The wind strengthened from gentle during the day.
Crew Physical Status: nominal
EVA: EVA 9 with Steve, Clare, and Rob to the Tharsis Montes area north of Cowboy Corner for robot rover testing.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA Request(s). No Astronomer report as yet.
Support Requested: Nothing to request.
Operations Report – January 26th
SOL: 5
Name of person filing report: Scott Dorrington
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: None
ROVERS EVA 9
Spirit rover used:
Hours: 242.9
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 38%
Currently charging: No
Opportunity rover used:
Hours: 157.1
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 46%
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: Not used
Perseverance rover used: Not used
General notes on rovers: None
Summary of Hab operations:
WATER USE: 22.88 gallons
Water (static tank): 357.22 gallons
Static tank pipe heater (on or off): on
Static tank heater (On or off): on
Toilet tank emptied: no
Summary of internet: Nominal during comms window
Summary of suits and radios:
Suit #8 is still stood down out of commission – nuts missing from charging port. Opened up back of suit to see if nuts are in the bottom of suit. Did not find. Tomorrow, will locate new nuts to secure the charging port.
Summary of GreenHab operations:
WATER USE: 6.5 gallons
Heater: On
Supplemental light: Manually turned off at 9:30am. Returned to automatic control.
Harvest: None
Summary of ScienceDome operations: Not used
Dual split: Nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Entered RAM to retrieve replacement toilet seat
Summary of any observatory issues: None
Summary of health and safety issues: None
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
Thank you for the new toilet seat.
Journalist Report – January 26th
Australia Day
Sol 5 began with another interesting convo over breakfast – this time about human lung capacity and blood oxygen saturation, and whether/how a human could feasibly survive atmospheric depressurisation on Mars – at least, long enough to reach and operate an airlock. Somehow this led into a genealogy discussion about family trees, our ancestors, and their connections to Australia. Very fitting, given that today was Australia Day.
For international readers: Australia Day is the country’s official national holiday, observed by all its states and territories, and is one of the biggest events in the Australian calendar. The date of 26 January marks the anniversary of the British First Fleet’s landing near modern-day Sydney in 1788. While this specific date means different things to different Australians and has become somewhat controversial, for most it means a day off to come together and celebrate in solidarity. It’s also a day around which many citizenship and award ceremonies take place.
To commemorate the occasion, today was light-on with EVAs. We only conducted one, to Cowboy Corner again – but it was a doozy, pitting humans against Steve’s rover to compare their spectral capture and traversal capabilities. Humans won (the battle at least, maybe not the war). The team also took the opportunity for a flag-planting ceremony with the crew’s mascots.
Meanwhile, back at the hab, Commandrew was busy making improvised ‘lamingtons’ while dressed in his patriotic red, green and blue (see Pascal Lee’s Flag of Mars). Somehow they turned out great. We also baked more bread – at one point having three different loaves on the go – and improvised some ‘pseudo-snaggas’ that turned out… not-so-great.
Highlights of the day: None of the crew have known convict ancestors, Clare’s Scottish (Murray) side once owned a castle (Blair Atholl) with its own private army, Andrew’s eligibility to wear four different tartans, Rob’s Boer War family heirloom.
Lowlights of the day: Clare’s other side is a family of doppelgangers and she literally has no imagination (that’s not a joke), bread addiction, what happens on EVA stays on EVA.
– Alexander Tobal, Crew 291
Astronomy Report – January 29th
[category
astronomy-report]
Name: Rob Hunt
Crew: 291
Date: 29/01/2024
MUSK OBSERVATORY (MO)
Solar Features Observed: Sun spots (imaged) and solar prominences
Images submitted with this report: several images related to maintenance/repair, and an unprocessed one of the first 1,000 captures of Sun spots.
Problems Encountered:
10:25
entered observatory and removed cover from scope,
photographed position of scope with N, S, E in shot,
set up laptop and personal belongings, and decluttered work space (see pics),
a broken-off small, white, plastic positioning tab from the drawers was found in the lowest drawer and left there, (see pic)
dome was successfully rolled around to approximate position for use,
both shutters were opened without any glitches but, contrary to Peter’s direction to not use the lower shutter, it was required to be fully open in order to see the Sun which was low in the sky,
took more photos of pre-power scope use,
Musk Observatory Quick Guide (MOQG) cover title and elsewhere uses font/word art that is difficult to read,
MOQG instructions on p10 point to eyepiece attachment steps on p18 but they’re on p19 in chapter Visual Observing,
MOQG instructions on p10 point to camera attachment steps on p19 but they’re on p21 in chapter Solar Imaging Setup,
MOQG chapter Processing the Image on p27 is not listed in Table of Contents (ToC),
MOQG ToC chapter name for end of mission closing procedure doesn’t quite match chapter title,
MOQG chapters on Alignment Problems, Tuners, Focus Problems are not listed in ToC,
MOQG ToC chapter titles for Image Processing – Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop don’t match chapter title,
12:35
switched on scope at pier, removed lens cap, then followed these instructions (deviation from instructions are in bold):
Once it’s at the index position it should go to the date and time routine,
I pressed ENTER and scope went to SWITCH POSITION then asked for time.
time and date (Standard and Mountain Time) were successfully entered,
If ALIGN SUCCESS doesn’t appear, and it asks for a 2-star alignment, then scroll (#6 and #9) to LAST ALIGNMENT and click ENTER,
I scrolled to LAST ALIGNMENT, clicked ENTER
Once you have ALIGN SUCCESS and its READY Click MENU,
I got ALIGN SUCCESS and CGE PRO READY then clicked MENU,
Scroll to UTILITIES and then HOME POSITION,
I scrolled to UTILITIES and got HOME POSITION and pressed ENTER,
In the HOME POSITION menu scroll until you get to SET HOME POSITION. Click ENTER,
there is no SET HOME POSITION in the HOME POSITION menu. There is only GOTO and SET,
I scrolled to SET and pressed ENTER,
the screen blinked while reading SETTING HOME POSITION then returned to SET in HOME POSITION,
Then scroll to HIBERNATE and shut down. It should operate normally then, but follow the shutdown procedure on page 15,
there is no GOTO HOME POSITION in the HOME POSITION menu but there is GOTO, so I clicked GOTO,
the scope slewed back and forth a bit and screen read GOTO in HOME POSITION menu,
there is no HIBERNATE in the HOME POSITION menu,
HIBERNATE is in the UTILITIES menu so I went there and completed the close-down procedure per MOQG p15,
15:35
scope was facing north and on top of the mount when I switched it off at the pier.
at approx. 14:45 it was very noticeable that the Sun was becoming fuzzy q.v. low in the sky and light travelling through much more atmosphere,
on speeds #4 and #3 (possibly others) the hand controller Direction Keys, if held down for a second or so, caused the motor to jump to high speed,
the lack of tightening screws in the eyepiece tube is workable but not ideal,
the USB cable to the laptop disconnected easily but was pushed back in securely and camera re-initiated in SharpCap,
prominences and Sun spots were seen and 1,000 images taken of the latter,
an unsuccessful attempt was made to capture a flat exposure,
16:00
closed observatory and returned to HAB.
Crew Photos – January 28th
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