Author: jburk

Sol Summary Report for sol 0.3

November 3, 2017

And success!

Shannon Rupert, MDRS Director

Mission Status: All work party objectives were addressed. See Kay’s
engineering report for details.

Sol Activity Summary: Another busy day for us. We worked on the
objectives we set for ourselves. Highlight of my day was getting the
generator running. It had been offline since June. Kevin and John
spent much time today in the GreenHab and so I am happy to report the first crew will have seeds to tend. Lowlight of my day was the resignation of DG Lusko, who has been our invaluable local support
here in Hanksville for about a decade. For me personally, he has been
the person I have relied upon for so much since I became director of
the station. I have also learned a lot from him and after we got the
generator running through my plan, I realized I can actually fly after
being kicked out of the nest.

Look Ahead Plan: Crew 182 arrives tomorrow at noon! We have a lot of
clean up to do tomorrow! John L. will be leaving us in the morning,
Kevin in the afternoon. Kay and John S will stay until Sunday and
overnight with the new crew.

Anomalies in work: There are a lot of missing/misplaced items here at
this time. We have spent a lot of time looking for things, more than
ever before.

Weather: More wind today than before, but still warm and pleasant.
Beautiful evening.

Crew Physical Status: Even dirtier, and much more tired.

EVA: John L and Kevin took the rover up the main road to explore. As
Kevin is a new CapCOM, this trip will help him support crew EVA
planning.

Reports to be file: Sol Summary and Engineering Report. Still no crew
photos, but we are determined to take one in the morning.

Support Requested: None at this time.

Sol Summary Report for sol 0.2

November 2, 2017

Here is when it gets rough!

Shannon Rupert, MDRS Director

Mission Status: We accomplished quite a lot today, considering we are
a small group.  See Kay’s engineering report for details.

Sol Activity Summary: The rest of the crew were up and outside working
when I arrived.  We worked on the tunnel until about 10 am, when a
strange vehicle drove up.  We had a media visit from Voice of America,
and I was their interviewee and there I was, looking much as I usually
do at MDRS, oh so fashionable (stop laughing, all you people who know
me), with my hair a spectacular mess!  I did get to brush my teeth
before filming.  It went very well, in the end, although I normally
try my best to get out of being on camera.  This will be a series of
videos broadcast in Russia.  We continued to work throughout the day,
and although the afternoons are supposed to be free time, this
dedicated group just kept working.  We were going to have pizza for
dinner, but our order did not get to the person who was cooking them,
so we ended up with a bunch of wonderful junk food instead.

Look Ahead Plan:  We need to get water here for the crew who arrive on
Saturday, so that will be our big push tomorrow.

Anomalies in work:  I noticed that this afternoon, with full sun, our
state of charge on the solar system was 53%, which is considerably
lower that it has been.  There was no real extra pull on the power
supply today, so I’m not sure what happened.  With the generator
currently non-functional we are dependent on the solar only.  I am
hoping DG will be able to work on the generator before the crew
arrives.  Also we cannot find the hitch for the HabCar.

Weather:  The weather continues to be unusually warm and pleasant.
This evening the wind has kicked up a little more than yesterday, but
it’s still a nice day.  Almost full moon tonight.

Crew Physical Status:  Dirtier, and a little tired.

EVA: No EVAs

Reports to be file: Sol Summary and Engineering Report. We talked
about getting a crew photo, but then just went back to work.

Support Requested: None at this time.

Sol Summary Report for sol 0.1

November 1, 2017

Let the field season commence!

Shannon Rupert, MDRS Director

Mission Status:  Our work party was reduced to 5 due to several people
needing to cancel at the last minute.  Kay Warren is leading our
efforts, as usual, and John Stone from the San Diego Chapter, John
Lillquist who will be from Denver as of the day he leaves here! and
Kevin Seidler from Colorado Springs, who is also a new CapCOM, are on
our crew as well.

Sol Activity Summary: The day began with Kay and I coming up with a
work plan with our reduced crew.  Then I had a telecon about an
upcoming visit of Survivirman to MDRS.  John L and Kevin joined us
around noon and with Kay, they went to get some supplies in Loa.  I
waited for John S to arrive and then he and I worked on the tunnel
repair for while.  We also received many packages of equipment for the
lab and GreenHab.  We plan to begin Mission Support this evening.

Look Ahead Plan: We have the following plans for the rest of the work party:

1. Repairing some unused spacesuits to send to Mission to Mars in
Colorado (a middle school learning activity)

2. Cleaning the water system and preparing it for the field season

3. Repairing the tunnel

4. Beginning work in the GreenHab

5. Clean up for Crew 182

Anomalies in work:  Water heater is still broken, will be replaced on
Friday.  All 5 ATVs are being serviced and are offsite.

Weather:  Beautiful!  Warm and breezy, but colder at night

Crew Physical Status:  First day, we are good to go and not even very dirty yet.

EVA: No EVAs

Reports to be file: Sol Summary

Support Requested: Could you please send us the information you will
be sending the crew on Saturday just so everyone can see how it is
done?  We could also do it tomorrow, if it’s a problem tonight.  Thank
you.