Category: Announcements

[category operations-report]

Crew 245 Operations Report 17-04-2021

SOL: 7

Name of person filing report: Shravan Hariharan

Non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Notes on non-nominal systems: Nothing to report

Generator: Working nominally

Hours run: 7

From what time last night: 10:00 pm, SOC 57%

To what time this morning: 5:00 am, SOC 100%

List any additional daytime hours when the generator was run: N/A

Solar— SOC 45% at 7:40 pm (Before generator is run at night),

Diesel Reading – 50%

Station Propane Reading – 73%

Water (loft tank): 15 gallons

Water Meter: 150460.4 units

Water (static tank): 340 gallons

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water in GreenHab: 0 gallons

Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: No

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours: N/A

Beginning charge: N/A

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: Yes

Spirit rover used: no

Hours: N/A

Beginning charge: N/A

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: yes, in town

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: N/A

Beginning charge: N/A

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: no, in town

Curiosity rover used: no

Hours: N/A

Beginning charge: N/A

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: yes, in town

Perseverance rover used: Yes

Hours: 203.3

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 86%

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report

ATV’s Used: 350.2

Reason for use: EVA

Oil Added? No

ATV Fuel Used: 1 gallon (estimated)

# Hours the ATVs were used today: 6 (but 1.5 hours of active transit)

Notes on ATVs: Mission Director will monitor and refuel ATVs for duration of mission

HabCar used and why, where?: No

CrewCar used and why, where?: No

General notes and comments: Nothing to report

Summary of internet: Internet is working nominally. Crew did not consume allotted bandwidth last night so there was an additional bandwidth bonus available today.

Summary of suits and radios: All radios nominal, all suits currently charging. Suits 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 11 all used for EVA today. Suit 7 battery would not charge after EVA, and Suit 9 battery was not producing sufficient power output even when fully charged, so both were replaced.

Summary of Hab operations: Nothing to report besides nominal crew activities.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Being used to host Crew Botanist botany experiment. Crew Botanist briefly checked plant growth and health in GreenHab today.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Nothing to report

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Nothing to report.

This one can be released to the public:

Final Schedule for the 2019-2020  field season:

Oct 17-20, 2019—Mars Society Conference, Los Angeles

Oct 22-25— IKEA Work Party

Crew 214—Oct 26- Nov10— MSA ExBoomerang

Crew 215—Nov 9-24, 2019— MSA ExBoomerang

Crew 216—Nov 23—Dec 8, 2019— A.R.E.S. (Mars Society crew)

Crew 217—Dec 7-14— Spaceward Bound Utah (Utah NASA Space Consortium Grant)

Dec 14-22— Holiday Break

Crew 218—Dec 21, 2019- Jan 5, 2020— Purdue

Crew 219—Jan 4-19 — ARES  (Florida Tech)

Crew 220—Jan 18-Feb 2— Mars Academy

Crew 221—Feb 1-16— Earth 2 Mars

Crew 222—Feb 15-Mar 1 —Supaero I

Crew 223—Feb 29-Mar 15— Supaero II

Crew 224—Mar 14-21—Wilderness Medical Society class

Crew 225—Mar 22-29—University of Colorado 2 Mars class

Crew 226—Mar 28-Apr 12–  Colombia

Crew 227—Apr 11-26—UCL

Crew 228—Apr 25-May 10—Mars Society II

Crew 229—May 9-24—Work Party

May 28-30– University Rover Challenge

Crew 230– June 1-8, 2020— Medical Makers

Crew 231—June 8-15—Martian Biology II

June 22-28—Astronomy Team Summer Residency

The 2020-2021 Application materials for the field season beginning next year have now been posted.

Access the Apply to Field Season page to download next year’s field season application.

Please note this year’s field season that begins in the fall is already fully scheduled.

Crew 200, commanded by Ilaria Cinelli, a Mars Society Steering Committee member, has now entered sim at the MDRS!  The beginning of sim for the 200th numbered crew is a major milestone for the Mars Society & the Mars Desert Research Station program!

Stay tuned here for the latest updates.

Meet the Crew

Crew 197 (VR CrowdExplorers) is currently enroute to the station and will go into sim on Monday, October 22nd.

The MarsVR team has completed their scans of the MDRS facilities and terrain.  Several Matterport 360 walkthoughs are already available, and the team will be working this summer to create the full photo-realistic VR environment for MDRS crew training, that will be put into use for next field season.

Read More

An article on the Red Bull Blog features both MDRS and MarsVR, the Mars Society’s new project to use Virtual Reality to support the exploration of Mars.

Read More

Thanks,

James Burk

Program Manager, MarsVR

marsvr@marssociety.org

The Mars Society launched today a Kickstarter campaign to help raise $27,500 for a new open-source virtual reality platform called MarsVR, which will be used for serious research to support the goal of sending humans to the Red Planet.

The MarsVR program will be a unique multi-phase effort designed to pioneer the emerging field of CrowdExploration, which we define as the partnership between the first astronauts on Mars and VR experts and enthusiasts back on Earth. The Mars Society aims to develop a special VR platform to assist with the initial human exploration of Martian landing sites.

Phase 1 of the MarsVR program will focus on designing training simulations for the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, providing direct assistance in preparing MDRS crew members for their analog research and testing. Since every moment at MDRS is valuable, just like actual astronauts working in space, the Mars Society wants its crew members to make the most of their time “on Mars.” Key elements of the platform will also be open-sourced so that the general public can freely make use of it to experience human Mars exploration.

As part of MarsVR, the Mars Society intends to build a high-resolution simulation of the entire MDRS habitat, both inside and out. To complete the experience, Mars Society staff will scan a one-square mile capture of the Mars-like terrain around MDRS using the latest photo-grammetry techniques. Funds raised beyond the $27,500 campaign goal will be used to expand the VR platform beyond the initial one-square mile capture to allow for a broader Mars experience for both crew and members of the public.

For full details about our MarsVR program and how to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign, please visit: MarsVR.io.