GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic, supplemental lights automatic on 6pm (will adjust tonight to turn on at 10pm and off at 2am).
Average temperatures:
08:41: 92.3 F, 12%
09:17: 89.8 F, 19%
09:27: 90.0 F, 20%
12:26: 115.7 F, 10% Fan on
13:15: 99.3 F, 10%
14:16: 99 F, 10%
14:26: 105.6 F, 10%
15:04: 96.4 F, 10% Fan off
17:12: 77.2 F, 27%
17:28: 78.3 F, 30%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 131 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:20am water (2 gal), 12:56 water (3 gal) + mist, 14:16 mist, 17:30 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
Last night was the first night with the GreenHab heater back in commission. I checked in on the plants around 8:40 to find the temperature a nice warm 92 F. I think the plants enjoyed the warmth – there was no sign of wilting leaves on the tomatoes. I checked in again at 9:30 to give the plants their first watering of the day. I was off most of the day on EVAs, so requested assistance from the other crew members to monitor the temperatures in the GreenHab. I returned from the first EVA at 12:30 and found temperatures a bit warm at 115 F. I turned the fan on for 10 minutes, which cooled it back down to 100 F. I gave the plants their second watering of 3 gallons, and a good misting. I rearranged the tomatoes to keep them out of the afternoon sun. While out on my afternoon EVA, the crewmates monitored the temperatures again. They noted some anomalous activity with the heater in the GreenHab. In the afternoon, the fan was turned on in order to mitigate the heat. From yesterday’s observations, keeping the fan on low was effective in maintaining a near constant temperature in the midday heat. On a regular visit from the crew, they found that the fan had dropped the temperature to 99 F, however the heater had turned on. This was puzzling and certainly not ideal to have both heater and fan running simultaneously. The crew called for advice from Mission Support, who advised to turn off the fan, which would also turn off the heater. This was done, and it worked. The crew radioed to update me while on EVA. Without knowing the full details, my initial advice was to keep monitoring the temperature and if it did get too hot, to turn the fan on and monitor. This would not be ideal, but would be a temporary measure to make sure the plants did not overheat – until I could return and re-assess the situation. Mission control inspected the GreenHab and moved the thermometer into a cardboard box that shielded it from the sun – in order to give better readings. Following my return from EVA, I visited the GreenHab to investigate. The temperatures were beginning to cool down to around 75 F, and we observed the thermostat turn on the heater until temperatures raise to 78 F before turning off. We were relieved to see this nominal behaviour. It seems the heater and thermostat work as expected overnight to keep temperatures above 75 F, but might have some issues during the hot parts of the day. I aim to carefully monitor temperatures tomorrow to investigate further. In the evening, we harvested some herbs to add to Steve’s pizza. Following dinner, we were advised from mission support to adjusted the supplemental lights to start at 10pm and turn off at 2am.
Harvest: 6g basil, 5g parsley, 1g sag, 17g arugula
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – January 27th
EVA # 10
Author: Clare Fletcher
Purpose of EVA: Going to Kissing Camel Ridge West to attempt to reach Hab Ridge from Kissing Camel Ridge West, to identify concretions and possible fossils, as signs of life on Mars. We could not do this in the timeframe on EVA #7, so are going to make another attempt.
Start time: 1000
End time: 1238 (meant to return at 1230)
Narrative: We had two possible routes to get from Kissing Camel Ridge up to Hab Ridge – one on the South side and one on the North side. Mission support suggested we take the North route, and we thought it looked less steep, so decided that was the optimal route to take. We made it up on to Hab Ridge and managed to find a bed of Oyster Shell fossils! We also took bearings to various peaks from our location. According to previous research we should also have found petrified wood at this site, and after some searching of our noted GPS points and of the ground, we found some petrified wood too. We ventured further afield to take bearings from a different location to the peaks we have been looking at. As we began our return, Scott took a few more bearings and I found some odd-looking formations in the rocks of the Dakota Formation. This was our downfall – we were running out of time and needed to get back to the rovers. However, as we began our downclimb I noticed I’d left my notebook somewhere and went back to get it and my valuable field notes. Once found we re-started our downclimb but had some navigational issues with our path down as we took a different side of the gully to our way up. Once safely down we took a quick walk to the rovers and got home as quickly as we could, collecting a solar logger that was out of charge on the way back. We got into the airlock at 1233 (just after our EVA end time), and after our 5 minutes in the airlock, we were 8 minutes late back. This was a valuable learning experience for us in how to manage time and equipment in the field and we are aiming for no repeats of our lateness.
Destination: Kissing Camel Ridge West. Walking within 700m of the rover. Parking rover at 518271, 4249560, walking to 517664, 4249650.
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): Parking rover at 518271, 4249560, walking to 517664, 4249650.
Participants: Clare Fletcher, Scott Dorrington
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit Hab via main airlock. Drive down driveway to Cow Dung Rd 0110. Drive South on Cow Dung Rd 0110 to Kissing Camel Ridge. Walk up and along Kissing Camel Ridge to Hab Ridge.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking.
Supplemental Operations Report – January 28th
Date: 1/28/2024
Name of person filing report: Sergii Iakymov
Reason for Report: Routine
Non-Nominal Systems: Intern trailer toilet.
Power system:
Solar: Nominal.
SOC Last 24 hours: Max 100%; Min 63%; Avg 74%.
VDC Last 24 hours: Max 59.47V; Min 43.08; Avg 51.17V.
Generator run time: 4864.5 hours. Serviced on 01222024, oil changed.
Propane Readings:
Station Tank: 80%
Director Tank: 81%
Intern Tank: 84%
Generator Tank: 69%
Water:
Hab Static Tank – 331.1 gallons
GreenHab – 131 gallons
Outpost tank – 320 gallons
Science Dome – 0 gallons
Septic Tanks emptied: No
Rovers:
Sojourner rover used: No.
Hours: 196.2
Beginning Charge: 100 %
Ending Charge: 100 %
Currently Charging: Yes
Notes on Rovers: All rovers refilled on 01/25/2024. All rear view mirrors removed from rovers. Three of four mirrors got broken by crews by bumping into them with Eva suits helmets.
ATV: ATV’s Used: None. Nothing to report.
Cars:
Hab Car used and why, where: To Hanksville for supplies. Need to be serviced.
Crew Car used and why, where: To Hanksville for supplies.
General notes and comments: N/A.
Summary of Internet: All nominal.
EVA suits and radios: All nominal.
Campus wide inspection, if action taken, what and why: All nominal.
Summary of Hab Operations: UV lamp in water filter needs to be replaced, pending. Main heater safety switch replacement pending.
Summary of GreenHab Operations: Heater fixed on 10/26/2024. Control board and thermostat wire replaced
Summary of SciDome Operations: All nominal.
Summary of Observatories Operations: Robotic observatory weather stripping has been resealed with new adhesive 01/26/2024.
Summary of RAM Operations: All nominal.
Summary of Outpost Operations: Intern trailer heater needs to be picked up from Grand Junction. Intern trailer toilet water module assembly is leaking, parts ordered.
Summary of Health and Safety Issues: All nominal.
Journalist Report – January 24th
Miss Beehiving
Sol 3 began with a great sunrise (I know I said that yesterday, belay that, this one was way better) that lit up a sea of mist to the east, and mountaintops in every direction. We had a fun discussion about the Drake equation and alien life over breakfast, and Rob gave us a lesson in tomato pruning.
As with the previous two days, we conducted two EVAs.
During the 1st EVA, we drove out to Marble Ritual and walked on foot to Phobos Peak and the nearby ‘Beehive’ (immediately east). From there we obtained samples of opaline silica (chert) for Clare, as well as a sizable sample of iron oxide for Steve to spectrify with his VIS/NIR pushbroom spectrometer, reporting back coordinates to HabCom. The EVA took almost 3.5 hours (our lengthiest yet) and proved to be quite the hike. It was incredible seeing Phobos peak and its surrounds up close – including a whole raft of interesting geological formations, especially yardangs (not allowed to call them "mushrooms" apparently).
The 2nd EVA was much more relaxed and took us no more than 50 metres from the habitat, under clear skies and bright sunshine. We tested Steve’s drone again on various inclines and soils; despite a few battery issues with the controller (operated from within the hab by Rob). All went well and Steve was able to round out his rover’s performance data. We also tested Scott’s ‘passive regolith-collector’ wheel on soils of different coarseness, and got some good pictures of it in action for later analysis.
Tomorrow (weather permitting) we take the rovers for their longest drive yet (and probably another big hike once the rovers hit their point of no return), north along Cow Dung Road (that name never gets old) to the terrain north-west of Tharsis Montes.
Highlights of the day: Greenhab salad (freshly harvested) and pizza, Rob’s tomato-pruning lesson, Phobos peak (and the sights therefrom), ‘extreme’/’blimp’ shrimp, great EVAs.
Lowlights of the day: Misbehaving rover controller, Clare saying she "dislikes sci-fi", too few spiders in the hab, ‘everything stew’ that someone’s gotta take for the team.
– Alexander Tobal, Crew 291.
GreenHab Report – January 24th
GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater off (space heater on overnight), fan on in afternoon, door closed
Average temperatures:
08:52: 57.6 F, 59%
14:16: 127.6 F, 13%
14:39: 100.9 F, 10%
17:21: 57.6 F, 27%
17:47: 55.2 F, 47%
18:29: 51.1 F, 62%
Hours of supplemental light: 21 hrs (lights on most of day, turned off 3 hrs in afternoon)
Daily water usage for crops: 6.5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 147.5 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 08:52 mist, 14:16 water + mist, 17:30 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
The greenhab was buzzing with activity this morning with visits from Rob, Clare, Alex and myself. We woke the plants with a nice misting and some tunes from Kylie Minogue. Together, we inspected the plants and did some pruning of the tomato plants, pinching off some small branches and leaves in hopes of promoting more nutrients to the fruits. We also performed a rotation of the tomatoes. Following advice from crew 290, I have commenced a rotation regiment of the tomato plants, with rows of tomatoes being moved inwards. The inner row of tomatoes are moved to the floor, and the others moved inward. I find this gives more room for watering, before moving the floor tomatoes to the outer wall of the greenhab. Following the morning EVA, I returned to the greenhab at 2pm accompanied by Clare again. The sun had finally come out during our EVA, and we returned to find it quite toasty in the greenhab at 126 F. This seemed like a very large number. Not being native users of Fahrenheit, we made a note to look up during comms window what this translated to in Celsius (53 C!!!!). We immediately turned the fan on and disconnected the lights. This brought the temperatures down to a more reasonable 100 F within a few minutes. The fans were left on, continuing to cool the greenhab. We commenced the daily watering of the plants, along with another rotation of the tomatoes. This was accompanied by some more chill Aussie tunes from Busby Marou. We noticed a spider in the greenhab – possibly one of those that were released over the last two sols. A further inspection of the herbs revealed some surprise peas!!! We counted at least three peas. The crew was very excited about this discovery. We noticed another pea vine crawling along the soil, which we gently coaxed back up around a stake. Clare and I returned to the greenhab in the evening to turn on the heater and harvest some of the herbs for tonight’s dinner. The red cabbage and kale plants were looking nice and thick – we got a good harvest from them of 57g and 38g. We added some basil and dill to balance out the salad. Lots of fresh greens to balance out tonight’s dinner of spam and cheese pizza! The salad was received from the crew with great relish. Certified fresh!
Harvest: 14g basil, 21g dill, 38g kale, 57g red cabbage,
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – January 24th
EVA # 5
Author: Clare Fletcher
Purpose of EVA: Go to notable peaks visible from the Hab for two purposes. Firstly, to investigate wayfinding methods on Mars by identifying notable features from the Hab, then seeing if we are able to identify them on a map, find them, and plot them, as well as photograph them from multiple angles for future Crews to wayfind. The dual purpose of this EVA is to look for evidence of life found in the form of endoliths, concretions, and possible gypsum or fossils (but not to remove them), to see if remote planning is adequate for geoconservation of important features.
Start time: 0950 (planned start 0930, but delays in suiting up)
End time: 1255 (planned 1300, rushed back to make it in time)
Narrative: EVA 5 was a dual-purpose EVA – wayfinding and looking for evidence of life to test how to balance exogeoconservation with the search for evidence of life on Mars. Our wayfinding was very successful! We had identified a notable peak from the Hab that we had dubbed ‘The Beehive’ and based on our bearing from the Hab to it, thought it was the peak immediately to the East of Phobos Peak on the MDRS map. We found our way to The Beehive easily, though found the terrain between Cow Dung Rd and The Beehive and Phobos Peak to be difficult to walk through as it was very soft and sandy or powdery in locations. We also noted coming back that there were notable landmarks we had passed on the way out that allowed us to find our way back more easily. We think we might name some of these features and provide GPS co-ordinates for future Crews to better understand how to get to Phobos Peak and The Beehive. On the other hand, our search for evidence of life struggled. While there was plenty of lichen around, identifying endoliths, gypsum, concretions, or fossils was very tricky. Some samples were taken, and upon further inspection we may have stumbled upon sampling the correct material, though not without first taking photos in-situ and a GPS co-ordinate. In future, it would be helpful to have teaching examples for all Crew members going on the EVA, so they are able to know what they are looking for to help on the EVA. However, all the EVA participants were actively looking for all these features and were additionally helpful, identifying material that did get sampled. All in all, a success and a good learning experience!
Destination: The hill to the East of Phobos Peak, and Phobos Peak. Parking rover at Pooh’s corner (518900, 4251200) and walking within 1km radius of the rover to 519600, 4250450.
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 519600, 4250450 (rovers parked at 518900, 4251200)
Participants: Clare Fletcher, Scott Dorrington, Alex Tobal
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit Hab via main airlock, take driveway to Cow Dung Rd 0110. Take Cow Dung Rd 0110 to Pooh’s Corner. Walk from Pooh’s Corner to hill East of Phobos Peak and Phobos Peak.
Mode of travel: Driving and walking
Crew Photos – January 23rd
Sol Summary – January 23rd
Sol: 2
Summary Title: First Sol of Operations
Author’s name: Andrew Wheeler
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Our first full sol on Mars saw an overcast day breaking to let the sun shine through – at least for a moment – before returning to complete overcast. Following breakfast of oatmeal, toast, juice and coffee, preparations for the day of EVAs commenced. These involved the deployment of environmental sensors outside the science dome and testing of traction at various slope angles of a robotic rover also outside the main hab. Inside the hab, the plants in the greenhab were regularly tended and experiments in baking bread and combining varieties of freeze dried foods were undertaken. The regular monitoring of systems within the hab is becoming a routine for all crew under the responsibility of Scott the engineer and resultant time pressures appear to be easing.
Look Ahead Plan: Weather dependent, tomorrow will see an EVA to test the physical endurance of astronauts whilst walking fully suited and continued testing of the robot rover along with a stand alone rover wheel outside the hab.
Anomalies in work: Nothing to report.
Weather: Low cloud and early showers clearing later with clouds thinning during the afternoon. Temperature increasing from low to high single digits Celsius and humidity decreasing from 80% to 60% during the day. Faint to no wind.
Crew Physical Status: nominal
EVA: EVA 3 with Andrew and Steve to deploy a suite of sensors outside the science dome was cut short when the software failed to link to the system. A rehearsal to set out the equipment was undertaken in it’s stead, whilst the standalone solar logger was successfully deployed. EVA 4 with Steve and Rob (external) and Alex and Scott (internal) saw the operation of the robot rover outside the hab, testing traction on different surfaces at different slope angles.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA Request(s)
Support Requested: Nothing to request.
Operations Report – January 23rd
SOL: 2
Name of person filing report: Scott Dorrington + Rob Hunt
Non-nominal systems: Greenhab heater, Toilet holding tank indicator
Notes on non-nominal systems: Toilet holding tank indicator still indicating 2/3 full despite emptying yestersol
ROVERS
Spirit rover used: N/A not used
Hours: (before EVA)
Beginning charge: (Before EVA)
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging)
Currently charging:
Opportunity rover used: N/A not used
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:
Curiosity rover used: N/A not used
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:
Perseverance rover used: N/A not used
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:
General notes on rovers:
N/A not used
Summary of Hab operations:
WATER USE: 21.2 gal
Water (static tank): 427.5 gal. (depth 9 3/8 inches)
Static tank pipe heater: on
Static tank heater: on
Toilet tank emptied: no
Summary of internet: Nominal during comms window
Summary of suits and radios:
Repair of Suit #7. Noticed screw in back ventilation was loose previous day. Opened back to extract screw – found that washer had fallen through the wood backing, no longer gripping. Located larger washer in RAM to add to existing washer. This allowed screw to be tightened. Suit #7 is now operational.
Summary of GreenHab operations:
WATER USE: 6 gallons
Heater: Heater broken. Space heater on overnight.
Supplemental light: On. Left on all day + night
Harvest: 4g parsley, 9g basil, <1g (3 leaves) of sage
Summary of ScienceDome operations: Entered science dome to investigate textbooks
Dual split: Nominal
Summary of RAM operations:
Rob used RAM to fabricate temporary toad/screed tool for Steve’s EVA 4. Tape supplies were very low to start with. All of about 10 different tapes were near the end. Rob used a few inches from each of several types to construct the tool. Suggest we locate/create inventory.
Scott used RAM to locate washers for Suit #7 repair. Explored RAM to familiarize with available tools.
Summary of any observatory issues: Observatory not used. Laptop was charged overnight from Critical (4%) to full.
Summary of health and safety issues:
Dust from sweeping the downstairs floor irritates team members’ noses and lips.
Using can opener incorrectly can result in razor sharp edges on the cans. Teams should understand this hazard.
Steve and Rob returned quite fatigued from EVA 4 so re-hydration was essential. EVA’s need to ensure hydration is addressed.
Static discharge around Hab was noticed and managed regarding electronics.
Falls hazard identified if standing near top of steps to upper level.
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
Associated with EVA requests. If there is a need for extension of an EVA in the vicinity of the hab when rovers aren’t involved, can we authorize an EVA extension request (e.g. additional 20-30 min)?
Journalist Report – January 23rd
Loafing around
Sol 2 began with more natural beauty – this time in the form of a sunrise that congregated the entire crew around the hab’s upstairs eastern window. Said sun – while small and pallid – stayed visible through the day.
The crew conducted two separate EVAs. The first of these was a practice run to test the deployment of an environmental sensor package. It began as a test of the sensor package itself, which decided it didn’t want to initiate.
This was followed by a more successful second EVA, which sought to test the mobility and traction of Steve’s bespoke rover (current name: "Johan") on different sediments and slopes (up to fifteen degrees). While the limited duration of the EVA prevented testing on all surface materials, the drone performed consistently well. Further EVAs with this drone will likely build on today’s results to explore more surfaces and expanded parameters. On a less serious note, watching Marstronauts operate a tracked rover on faux-Martian soil through the habitat porthole was also really, really special. Congrats to Steve for achieving a lifetime dream.
These EVAs also spawned a useful conversation in the hab about comms jargon and protocol – especially the nuances (or lack thereof) between terms like “copy”, “acknowledge”, “confirm”, “Roger Roger”, and everyone’s favourite: “ten-four”. At one point, we even glimpsed an Unidentified Wheeled Object (spectators who slowed down to watch our second EVA).
Most critically of all, our breadmaking enterprise reached new heights with a stunning herbed loaf from Rob. In combination with some rehydrated butter and Vegemite, it made yesterday’s berry obsession old news. We performed some further culinary experiments, with varying degrees of success.
Highlights of the day: BREAD, rover, morbid anecdotes about aeronautical disasters and animal attacks, Scotty’s 3D visualisation of the habitat’s surrounds, Commandrew’s pun barrage, AC/DC in the Greenhab, Clare’s bolognaise.
Lowlights of the day: Food tins with jagged edges (can opener must be aligned vertically!), our first minor laceration (see last point), mysterious habitat power loss, UWO incursion.
– Alexander Tobal, Crew 291
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