Crew 221 Science Report 10-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha
1. Microbiology Research
Today, we prepared new agar samples, to fill the empty petri dishes. And all new samples collected from 2 evas today were prepared as well.
2. ISRU project
Today, corn sprouted from the control tub, which contains Earth soil. But still, we felt encouraged!
3. Mung Beans
Today, we used some sprouted mung beans in our dinner tonight!
4. Radio Communication
Nothing further to report.
Crew 221 Journalist Report 10Feb2020
Author: Hemani Kalucha, Crew Journalist
Sol 8
Title: Operations EVA Testing
This morning, we started a new Science project. Crew GHO, J Todd, is going to observe the efficiency of EVA teams and assess it according to parameters in the literature. One set of EVAs done today tested the efficiency of sample collection. The next two sets will test radio assembly and rover operations. The EVA teams had difficulty finding the route today, which made the long walk even longer. The view from the top of the ridge was incredible though, which made it all worth it. In the evening, Crew Journalist Hemani introduced the crew to some classic Canadian snacks – jalapeño poppers (which were received well) and pop tarts (which Crew GHO J Todd criticized). Crew Commander managed to create fusion Indian food by spicing the rajma with her sprouted mung beans. She also made a classic north Indian dish for dinner – rajma with rice. The crew worked around the clock on robotics, astronomy, antenna work, and microbiology, so hopefully, Indian-Canadian cultural night will revive everyone.
Astronomy Report
Name: Ghanim Alotaibi
Crew: 221
Date: 10 Feb 2020
Two photometry measurements were preformed today (using the image data obtained last night). One value for V CAS which was 10.959 and the other value for V0960 MON which was 12.945. Both Values were submitted to the AAVSO.
Last night, the 3rd image for each search pattern was obtained. Crew astronomer will download the image later this night due to the internet limitation.
MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-14
Objects to be Imaged this Evening:
Images submitted with this report: Non
Problems Encountered: Non
Crew 221 GreenHab Report 10FEB2020
GreenHab Officer: Jessica Todd
Environmental control: Heating. GreenHab door shade cloth (40%) (30%) on. Door opened today from 1:15 am to 4:25 pm.
Average temperatures: 21.5°C
Hours of supplemental light: 19:30 to 00:00
Daily water usage for crops: 15.85 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.52 gallon
Water in Blue Tank: 195.2 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 2
Changes to crops: Same as yesterday: Pumpkin plants are flowering nicely. There are a number of soil-filled pots on the bottom level of the central shelf. They are labeled as bell peppers but in one week of monitoring I’ve seen no sprouting. I don’t think there are any plants in these pots.
Narrative: Once again it was a pretty hot day in the GreenHab so we opened the door for a few hours. Morning watering was uneventful; all the plants are doing well. Our Mars corn is starting to sprout (yay!), still waiting on our mungbeans. We harvested some yummy chard spinach and chives for our quinoa salad (finally getting some greens!).
Harvest: 9g Chard Spinach, 10g Rocket, 2g Chives, 3g Corriander
Support/supplies needed: NA
Other Notes: NA
Crew 221 Sol Summary Report 10Feb-2020
Sol:8
Summary Title: EVAs and Kim’s Release
Author’s name: Maria Grulich, M.Sc.
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary:
Update since last Sol summary: The crew had an astronomy lesson last night by crew astronomer G. Alotaibi, so all other crew members had a chance to ask questions and learn about it which was great!
This morning Crew Engineer L. Monge and Crew Commander M. Grulich went up the Hab Ridge road towards Hab Ridge North to get eight more microbiology samples as well as investigate how two different EVA teams with the same route and the same objective will perform.
The morning EVA already struggled to find the Hab Ridge road but managed after two extra little hill hikes. The team found great samples of stones with letch, several stratospheric layers and gryphaea at the top of Hab Ridge Road North, supporting the theory that Mars once hosted liquid water. We already know there are microbes living in the soil from the already incubated samples showing bacteria and fungi growth. Meanwhile, H.Kalucha and J. Todd worked on the robot and almost finished it, which just leaves the programming to be done tomorrow.
In the lunch break between the two EVA’s, we found out that we actually caught our little Martian and we called the rodent Kim and got permission to release him at Cowboys Corner at the end of EVA 9.
The second EVA of the day also had an issue finding the road, but still managed to find it and also collected 8 samples which will be processed today. Crew Commander prepared nutrient agar during the second EVA while being support lead to finish all samples by today to leave enough time for the incubation.
Once the second EVA team came back, they took the rovers to release Kim. The dinner was Rajma and Jalapeño Poppers by crew journalist H. Kalucha in preparation for Canadian/Indian Cultural night.
Look Ahead Plan: Planning of Operation EVAs, last microbiology sample preparation for the incubation and Canadian Cultural night.
Anomalies in work: None
Update mouse in hab: Caught Kim. We will set up the trap again to see if there is another one.
Weather: sunny partially cloudy in the afternoon light wind in the morning stronger wind in the afternoon
Crew Physical Status: Crew team members with signs of flu doing better, crew member with knee issues worsened after EVA
Reports to be filed:
Sol Summary
Photo Report
Operations Report
GreenHab Report
Science Report
Astronomy Report
EVA Request
EVA Report 8 and 9
Journalist Report
Support Requested: Raspberries same as yesterday Olive Oil from last time and White Vinegar if possible
Crew 221 EVA # 8 Report 10 Feb 2020
EVA # 8
Author: Luis Monge (Engineer)
Purpose of EVA: We will be performing a similar EVA both in the morning and the afternoon to study EVA operations, team dynamics and scientific productivity when adapting to variable terrain. Team 1 in the morning was tasked with collecting a set number of scientific samples and make field geography observations over a specified area, while attempting to follow a preplanned route (based off terrain maps).
Start time: 10:00 am
End time: 12:30 pm
Narrative: Today we conducted the first of the two walking EVA. L.Monge, and M.Grulich went out to walk towards North Ridge with the aim to collect samples mainly for microbiology projects. The Martian weather was sunny and hot during the EVA. L.Monge took the lead and some problems were faced in order to find the route at first. The team stopping on the way to check the maps and road conditions and climbed two small hills to determine the location of the road.
Once on the road, Crew Commander M.Grulich was looking for geology traces where microbes could be found. Samples at eight different locations were collected. Including cotton rubbing of a rock that seemed to have microbial colonies on top of it.
Destination: North end of Hab Ridge
Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 0517500/4251800
EVA Participants: Maria, Luis, Ghanim
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Walk up Hab Ridge Rd (1103), through Schubert Pass to the north end of Hab Ridge
Mode of travel: Walking
Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): NA
Crew 221 Operations Report 09Feb2020
SOL: 7
Name of person filing report: Luis D. Monge
Non-nominal systems:
Notes on non-nominal systems:
Generator: on (at 6pm)
Hours run: 11:00
From what time last night: 8:00 pm
To what time this morning: 6:00 am
List any additional daytime hours when the generator was run : 0
Solar— SOC % (Before the generator is run at night) 80%
Diesel Reading – 97%
Station Propane Reading – 58%
Ethanol Free Gasoline – gallons
Water (loft tank): 35 gallons
Water Meter: 148 units
Water (static tank) – 250 gals
Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water in GreenHab – 211.6 gals
Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons
Toilet tank emptied: yes
Deimos rover used: no
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:
Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes
Spirit rover used: no
Hours: (before EVA) : 129.9
Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging)
Currently charging: yes
Opportunity rover used: no
Hours: n/a
Beginning charge: n/a
Ending charge: n/a
Currently charging: yes
Curiosity rover used: no
Hours: 136.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes
Notes on rovers:
ATV’s Used: (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3) not used
Reason for use: not used
Oil Added? not used
ATV Fuel Used: Gals not used
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: not used
Notes on ATVs:
HabCar used and why, where? not used
CrewCar used and why, where? not used
General notes and comments: not used
Summary of internet: operational
Summary of suits and radios: Suit 10 battery replacement performed.
Summary of Hab operations: nominal.
Summary of GreenHab operations: operational, black corn experiment continues, now watered with 4l/day. watering of the plants carried out as per the procedure
Summary of ScienceDome operations: 1 incubator running, microbiology experiments going on and cultures are being grown in agar plates.
Summary of RAM operations: robot assembly is ongoing and expected to continue, antenna assembly for radio communication experiment continued today.
Summary of any observatory issues: nominal
Summary of health and safety issues: Two crew members have a sore throat. Another crew member hit their right knee with a rock during sol 6 EVA
Questions, concerns, and requests to Mission Support: the oven was reconfigured to work with propane as the previous configuration was for natural gas, and that was determined to be the cause of the smell reported. Everything is operational now.
Photo of the day is Costa Rican cultural night
Crew 221 Science Report 09-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha
1. Microbiology Research
Today, we put more samples in the incubator to test for bacteria growth. This time, we used our own agar in the samples.
2. ISRU project
Nothing further to report.
3. Mung Beans
Nothing further to report.
4. Radio Communication
Crew Engineer got the antenna to successfully capture and decipher digital signals from around the world (Canada, France, Bangalore!) Photo report shows the transcript of signals captured.
Crew 221 Operations Report 07Feb2020
SOL: 7
Name of person filing report: Luis D. Monge
Non-nominal systems:
Notes on non-nominal systems:
Generator: on (at 6pm)
Hours run: 11:00
From what time last night: 8:00pm
To what time this morning: 6:00am
List any additional daytime hours when the generator was run : 0
Solar— SOC % (Before generator is run at night) 80%
Diesel Reading – 97%
Station Propane Reading – 58%
Ethanol Free Gasoline – gallons
Water (loft tank): 35 gallons
Water Meter: 148 units
Water (static tank) – 250 gals
Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water in GreenHab – 211.6 gals
Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons
Toilet tank emptied: yes
Deimos rover used: no
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:
Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes
Spirit rover used: no
Hours: (before EVA) : 129.9
Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%
Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging)
Currently charging: yes
Opportunity rover used: no
Hours: n/a
Beginning charge: n/a
Ending charge: n/a
Currently charging: yes
Curiosity rover used: no
Hours: 136.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes
Notes on rovers:
ATV’s Used: (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3) not used
Reason for use: not used
Oil Added? not used
ATV Fuel Used: Gals not used
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: not used
Notes on ATVs:
HabCar used and why, where? not used
CrewCar used and why, where? not used
General notes and comments: not used
Summary of internet: operational
Summary of suits and radios: Suit 10 battery replacement performed.
Summary of Hab operations: nominal.
Summary of GreenHab operations: operational, black corn experiment continues, now watered with 4l/day. watering of the plants carried out as per procedure
Summary of ScienceDome operations: 1 incubator runing, microbiology experiments going on and cultures are bieng grown in agar plates.
Summary of RAM operations: robot assembly is ongoing adn expected to continue, antenna asembly for radio comunication experiment continued today.
Summary of any observatory issues: nominal
Summary of health and safety issues: nothing to report
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
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