Month: December 2024

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EVA Report – December 10th

Crew 305 EVA Report 10-12-2024

EVA # 03

Author: Ian Pamerleau

Purpose of EVA: Initiation for Spruha and then data collection near and in the western part of Candor Chasma.

Start time: 10:00 hr

End time: 13:05 hr approximately

Narrative: EVA was led by Ian; Hunter and Spruha accompanied. We started the Spirit and Opportunity rovers at 257.0 hr and 196.7 hr, respectively, both with 100% charge. We traveled to Marble Ritual where Spruha was able to find a nice pebble sized rock to complete her initiation. It didn’t take long before she was ready to go onto our next destination, the fork in the road of Cow Dung and Gateway to Candor. Hunter was able to use his GPS to make sure we were at the correct location, at which point we disembarked the rovers. Right next to where we parked along the ephemeral stream, we were able to take our first measurement of the mission! We measured the width of the dry stream 3 times at around the same location and marked down the GPS coordinates for later analysis. Measurements were taken with a 100 m tape I brought along. We also began dropping flags in the areas where we stopped to take data. This way, if we forgot to take some form of data, we could do it on the way back for the flags. We continued walking in the stream bed and took multiple data points using the same process as before. We got a little bit into the Canyon before we had to turn back. We were able to find some fun features that were not stream measurements. Hunter was able to find a piece of petrified wood and either another one, or a dinosaur bone stuck in a conglomerate. We also saw many beautiful shades of chert and different animal tracks coming from low, shaded points in the stream where there were some ice pools still melting. We got back to the rovers and drove them back to the Hab. At the end of the EVA, Spirit was at 257.2 hr and 76% charge, and Opportunity was at 197.0 and 90% charge.

Destination: Marble Ritual; Candor Chasma

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): (518800E, 4251000N); (519100E, 4251490N) walk to (520199E, 4251403N).

Participants: Ian Pamerleau, Hunter Vannier, Spruha Vashi

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: drive MDRS driveway, Cow Dung Road to Marble Ritual. Then drive to the fork of Cow Dung Road and Gateway to Candor walking trail. Walk Gateway to Candor and a little bit of Watney Road, mostly following the river bed into the canyon itself.

Mode of travel: Rover to Marble Ritual (short stop) then rover to fork, walk river bed to the canyon.

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GreenHab Report – December 10th

Crew 305 GreenHab Report 10Dec2024

GreenHab Officer: Hunter Vannier

Environmental control (fan & heater): Heater and fan on automatically. I opened the door for 15 minutes to cool off the GreenHab; a lot of plants were wilting.

Average temperatures (last 24h): 82 F

Maximum temperature (last 24h): 94.6 F

Minimum temperature (last 24h): 68.2 F

Hours of supplemental light: 1700 – 2200

Daily water usage for crops: 5 gallons

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

Water in Blue Tank (200-gallon capacity): 163 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 925, 1730

Changes to crops: significantly thinned carrots in back corner, thinned fennel, thinned radish, pulled whole bed of overgrown microgreens and replanted with China rose radish sprouts (4 g), broccoli seeds (2 g), red cabbage (2 g), radish (2 g).

Narrative: The cucumbers were fairly dehydrated again this morning, but seemed to bounce back better today. Three cucumbers per pot is quite crowded and they are competing too much for water, so I may try to transplant a few to larger pots to see how they react. Some tomatoes are also overcrowded. I did major thinning of the carrots in the back corner, which yielded a lot of carrot greens. They were too crowded to actually grow the carrot root, so hopefully they respond well. It seems a lot of seeds were planted but were not thinned early on, which is recommended for healthy growth. The radishes were much less crowded, but some thinning was still needed. However, the carrot greens and radish greens were made into a fresh salad and not thrown out. The cilantro, dill, and parsley are doing great despite also being fairly tightly grouped, so they respond much better when crowded. We added cilantro to a lentil dish for lunch which again was delicious. One raised bed of old microgreens was pulled, ~1 gallon of soil added, and replanted with the following microgreens: China rose radish, broccoli, red cabbage, and radish. I began soaking sunflower (3 g) and pea (3 g) seeds to be planted in the next 2 days in the other raised bed, which I will also pull. In the next two days, I plan on pruning the tomatoes and cucumber, harvesting arugula (which is also overcrowded), and transplanting sunflowers, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Harvest: 5 g cilantro, 160 g carrot greens, 20 g radish greens

Support/supplies needed: none

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EVA Report – December 9th

Crew 305 EVA Report 02 09-12-2024
EVA # 2
Author: Hunter Vannier
Purpose of EVA: EVA training day: become familiar with the conduct on and protocols of an EVA.
Start time: 1130 hr
End time: 1300 hr
Narrative: Hunter led the EVA, joined by Rashi and Monish. Opportunity started with 100% charge and 196.6 hours, and Spirit started with 100% charge and 256.9 hours. We drove the rovers out to Marble Ritual via Cow Dung Road. After parking, we took time finding a “marble” of choice and put one in each of the baskets. We walked ~500 m south until we found the green fossilized dinosaur (thigh?) bone exposed in a light-toned sandstone/conglomerate outcrop. We then traveled northeast for ~600 m, exploring different outcrops along the way. We observed widespread differential weathering, affecting both pebbles and boulders alike, though the boulders were more mushroom-like. Atop one large hill, a rock looked like a springboard perched for a Martian diver. Freeze thaw-altered boulders and outcrops embedded in the ground were observed, where the freezing and thawing cycles have taken advantage of faults in the rock, usually parallel to bedding planes, and pushed them apart through expansion of water that infiltrate cracks and freeze during winter. One boulder looked smashed by a large hammer, and some ground-level examples looked like spinal bones of a whale carcass. After returning to the rovers, we performed beautiful three point turns and drove directly back to the Hab the way we came. Opportunity finished with 94% charge and 196.4 hours, and Spirit finished with 95% charge and 257.0 hours.
Destination: Marble Ritual
Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518800E, 4251000N to 518800E, 4250500N
Participants: Hunter Vannier, Rashi Jain, Monish Lokhande
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road to Marble Ritual
Mode of travel: Rover and by foot

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EVA Report – December 9th

Crew 305 EVA Report 09-12-2024

EVA # 1

Author: Ian Pamerleau

Purpose of EVA: EVA training day: become familiar with the conduct on and protocols of an EVA.

Start time: 10:00 hr

End time: 11:00 hr

Narrative: EVA was led by Ian; Hunter and Peter accompanied. We started Perseverance and Curiosity with 100% battery (we forgot to take hour range measurements). We drove the rovers out to Marble Ritual. We then each found a “marble” of our choice and put one in each of the baskets. We walked a little east (~150 m) and then about 500 m south until we found the fossilized dinosaur bone exposed in the region. We looked at some cryptobiotic soil, small outflows (which were too small for my project), and some green alterations to carbon rich, black shale. We then turned around and headed towards the rovers and took them back to the Hab the way we came. At the end of the EVA, Perseverance had 94% battery with 294.8 hr, and Curiosity had 89% battery with 290.8 hr.

Destination: Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518800E, 4251000N to 518800E, 4250500N

Participants: Ian Pamerleau, Hunter Vannier, Peter Zoss

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: MDRS driveway, Cow Dung Road to Marble Ritual

Mode of travel: Rover to Marble Ritual and then walk south to dinosaur bone

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Operations Report – December 9th

Crew 305 Operations Report 09-12-2024
SOL:01
Name of person filing report: Spruha Vashi
Non-nominal systems: Lighting in Upper Deck Hab, Tunnel tarp hole at intersection
Notes on non-nominal systems: Lighting in Upper Deck Hab has been flickering since last night. Later after it got dark there was a couple seconds where sections of the light went completely out. We have been trying to troubleshoot with the light switch, but it hasn’t seemed to have gotten better. The tarp at the intersection between the observatory and science dome has a large hole at the top and was seen flapping around. This does seem like it is not something I can solve with simple zipties.
ROVERS
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: (before EVA) 256.9
Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging) 95
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: Yes
Hours:196.6
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 94
Currently charging: Yes
Curiosity rover used: Yes
Hours: We missed collecting this data on EVA01, but did report charge.
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 89
Currently charging: Yes
Perseverance rover used: Yes
Hours: We missed collecting this data on EVA01, but did report charge.
Beginning charge: 100
Ending charge: 89
Currently charging: Yes
General notes on rovers:
Curiosity leak has not been monitored today; it was operated however with no issues. I will check on the leak tomorrow during EVA 03.
Summary of Hab operations: No major Hab operations today.
Water Use (please use both methods to estimate water usage)
Time of measurements (collect data for the same time window): 8pm
1) Per formula: 58.815 gallons
2) Smart Home Dashboard: 20.93 gallons
Water (static tank, remaining gallons): 491.185 gallons
Static tank pipe heater (on or off): On
Static tank heater (on or off): On
Toilet tank emptied (no or yes): No
Summary of internet: Internet issues this morning during the 8-9am window time, couldn’t get Wifi until 8:30am. Mission support tried to help and Wifi was manually reset in the command center, but that didn’t seem to help. We pressed the SYNC button on the back of the router and that seemed to get things started. Evening time slot worked perfectly.
Summary of suits and radios: All suits and radios functioned properly. I confirmed battery
Summary of GreenHab operations: put notes here
WATER USE: 2 gallons
Heater (On or Off): On
Supplemental light (hours of operation): 5-10pm
Harvest (name, weight in grams): Cilantro, 5g
Summary of ScienceDome operations: No operations completed.
Dual split (Heat or AC, On or Off): Automatic functions running.
Summary of RAM operations: (Tools used, work done) No RAM operations Completed today
Summary of any observatory issues: No issues
Summary of health and safety issues: No issues
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Main concern is the flickering lights in the upper deck which are not failing but are starting to bother some crew members. However, it is only a matter of comfort at this point. Please advise on tarp issues for the intersection outside of the science dome and observatory.

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Journalist Report – December 9th

Today was Day 1 for Crew 305. Crew woke up between 6 – 8 PM. We sent everyone’s top 5 favorite songs to the Mission Commander prior to the mission, so we played one of them this morning and everyone else guessed whose favorite song it was. That was the morning music. Breakfast had cereal with no milk, and coffee with no milk. After breakfast, we prepared for our first two EVAs for the Marble Ritual. EVA 1 had Hunter Vannier, Ian Parmerleau, and Peter Zoss. EVA 2 had Hunter Vannier, Rashi Jain, and Monish Lokhande. Spruha missed her Marble Ritual due to a control’s final—but she will do so tomorrow on EVA 3. EVA Sentiment: Mars was windy today. While EVA 2 was out, Ian and Peter made couscous and chickpeas for the entire crew. We all had lunch together after both EVAs. Afterwards, we helped Peter in his experiment by giving 30 minutes cognition test. Spruha’s exam went well. We all worked a little, preparing for some of the research that we proposed for this mission, and doing some of our own work. At around 6 PM, we started to assemble content for our reports for the first comm submission window. Spruha (main chef), and Monish (sous-chef) prepared dinner: Mac and Cheese. We just managed to get all our reports in, just in time.

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GreenHab Report – December 9th

Crew 305 GreenHab Report 09Dec2024

GreenHab Officer: Hunter Vannier

Environmental control (fan & heater): Heater and fan on automatically.

Average temperatures (last 24h): 80 F

Maximum temperature (last 24h): 93.0 F

Minimum temperature (last 24h): 70.9 F

Hours of supplemental light: 1700 – hours

Daily water usage for crops: 2 gallons

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

Water in Blue Tank (200-gallon capacity): 168 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 900, 1815

Changes to crops: None

Narrative: All cucumbers were very dehydrated so 1 gallon of water was distributed across the plants to thoroughly saturate the soil. The cilantro we picked was fresh and delicious, adding some color to dinner. Many of the herbs, radishes, and carrot seedlings are quite crowded, so I intend to thin them to ensure they have enough room/nutrition to grow. Next to the tomatoes, there are a lot of trays labeled microgreens which have turned into macrogreens and are likely no longer useable for food/salad (i.e. small sunflower plants). I intend to pull and discard half of them and seed new microgreens. These, along with the arugula, were quite dehydrated when I checked at 1815.

Harvest: 5 g cilantro

Support/supplies needed: none

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Sol Summary – December 9th

Crew 305 Sol Summary Report 09-12-2024
Sol: 1
Summary Title: The Big Settling In
Author’s name: Rashi Jain
Mission Status: All Crew is Alive.
Sol Activity Summary:
Crew Activity Summary for Sol 1: The crew woke up between 6:00 AM and 7:30 AM. From 9:15 AM to 11:15 AM, Hunter Vannier, Ian Parmeleau, and Peter Zoss prepared for and conducted EVA 1 for the Marble Ritual. Later, between 11:45 AM and 12:45 PM, Hunter Vannier, Monish Lokhande, and Rashi Jain prepared for and conducted EVA 2 for the Marble Ritual. Lunch was prepared and served from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, with Ian and Peter making couscous and chickpeas while Hunter handled the dishes. From 2:00 PM to 5:45 PM, the crew took a break, during which some napped, handled personal tasks, or assisted Peter with his research. Cognitive tests related to Peter’s experiment were conducted from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. The crew gathered in the common area between 5:45 PM and 7:00 PM, preparing dinner (mac and cheese by Spruha, assisted by Monish) and engaging in individual projects. Finally, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, the crew worked on reports and research tasks.
EVA Task Summary from within the Habitat: For EVA 1 and EVA 2, Crew Engineer Spruha checked the batteries on the EVA suits. The staying crew assisted the outgoing crew with tasks like airlock depressurization, which took 5-8 minutes. For EVA 2, the outgoing crew brought the EVA safety kit in the rover. Communications tests and rover preparation tasks, such as clearing power cords, turning on the rover, and logging battery percentage, were completed, with 100% battery recorded during EVA 2. The outgoing crew reported their departure and return for each EVA, parked the rover, secured the keys, and entered the airlock for re-pressurization before returning to the habitat. It was noted that two-piece EVA suits required more assistance compared to the one-piece suits, particularly for ventilation activation.
*The two-piece EVA suits require more assistance in being put on than the one-piece EVA suits where the main help required was turning on the ventilation.
Look Ahead Plan:
There is an EVA planned for tomorrow. People are planning to get started with their proposed research sometime tomorrow.
Anomalies in work:
No anomalies in work encountered yet. Our lights in the Hab hangout room flicker, which is a little annoying.
Weather:
Mars is cold. Our sleeping pods keep us warm – and are the only hope for all of humanity.
Crew Physical Status:
Some people had neck and shoulder discomfort after their EVAs, but everyone seems to be in good health.
EVA:
We had two EVAs today to the Marbles Ritual. There is just one EVA planned for tomorrow.
Reports to be filed:
This is the Sol Summary Report.
Other reports being turned in are: GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVA Report, 6 – 8 photos
Support Requested:
We need the format for the Journalist Report. We don’t have it yet. We need the format for the Health and Safety Officer Report. We received a checklist for the Health and Safety Officer for the first day, but there is no report format for follow up reports.

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Crew 305 Crew biographies, photos and mission patch 08Dec2024

[title Crew biographies, photos and mission patch – December 8th]

Crew Mission Patch

Crew Members
Spruha Vashi, Crew Engineer

Bio: Spruha Vashi is an undergraduate student studying aeronautical and astronautical
engineering at Purdue and an aspiring astronaut. She has worked with previous Purdue
MDRS crews in the past through research preparation and as a part of Purdue mission
control support, but this is the first time that she is attending MDRS as a crew member.
Her academic interests include aerospace systems design with a focus on human
space applications and she is hoping to continue her studies through a master's degree.
She has industry experience applying systems, integration, and test engineering to
multiple space applications and is excited to utilize her skills in the Crew Engineer role
for Crew 305.

Rashi Jain, Crew Journalist

Bio: Rashi, journalist for crew #305, is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Aeronautics
and Astronautics at Purdue University. At Purdue, her research is on designing habitats
for resilience. Specifically, she is working on developing methods and tools that
designers can use to select safety controls for both foreseen and unforeseen
disruptions. Prior to this, she received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and
aerospace engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington. She is also a student

pilot. She enjoys spending her free time watching TV shows and movies, reading,
hiking, camping, and snuggling up with her two kittens, Coco and Doonie (aka Mr. Jr)

Ian Pamerleau, Executive Officer & Crew Geologist

Ian is the Executive Office and Crew Geologist of the MDRS Crew #305 – Valles from
Purdue University. He is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Earth, Atmospheric, and
Planetary Science Department at Purdue University. He works with Dr. Mike Sori on icy
geophysics in the outer solar system, currently looking at Ceres and Callisto. He uses a
combination of the finite element method (FEM) and geologic mapping to simulate solid
state flow over billions of years, be it viscous relaxation of surface features or
convection deeper down. His work aims to uncover the internal structure and the state
of differentiation of these icy worlds. Ian received his B.S. in Geology and Mathematics
with a minor in physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2021, where he helped to
develop an automated floodplain mapping algorithm. In his free time, Ian does sport
fencing, plays the saxophone and guitar, and plays D&D.

Peter Zoss, Health and Safety Officer

Peter is the Health and Safety Officer (HSO) of the MDRS Crew #305. He is a PhD
candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. Peter is a member of the
BioCom Lab at Purdue, advised and run by Dr. Matthew Ward to study how we can
communicate to and from the nervous system. He uses invasive devices to study vagus
and genicular nerve signaling in animal models and digital health technologies for
analyzing noninvasive recordings of autonomic nervous system indicators in human
research. Before this, Peter completed his B.S. in biomedical engineering at Purdue
University as well. He enjoys spending his free time with his wife, playing board games
or with their dog.

Monish Lokhande, Crew Scientist

Bio: Monish is the Crew Scientist for Crew #305. He is a PhD student in Aeronautics
and Astronautics at Purdue University. His current research focuses on developing
autonomous multiagent systems frameworks aiming towards enabling heterogenous
robots to coordinate and do tasks more efficiently. He earned his bachelor’s from Indian

Institute of Technology, Goa majoring in Mechanical Engineering. At Mars Desert
Research Station (MDRS) Monish is working towards developing a monitoring system
to analyze data at various locations at the hab. In his spare time, he enjoys outdoor
activities such as hiking, camping, playing sports and trying new adventure sports.

Hunter Vannier, Commander and GreenHab Officer

Bio: Hunter Vannier is a 5 th year PhD candidate at Purdue University studying Planetary
Science, and studies planetary volcanism on the Moon and Mars through orbital, lab,
and field spectral analyses. He is fascinated by planetary analogs (such as MDRS),
places on Earth similar to other planets, since they give us the best opportunity to
contextualize observations on other rocky planets. Prior to Purdue, Hunter received a
BA in Astronomy and minor in Planetary Science from Wesleyan University in 2020. He
greatly enjoys cooking, gardening, hiking and spending time outdoors, and playing ice
hockey.

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