[category science-report]

Crew 280 Mid-Mission Research Report

Astronomy

Over this past week, the MDRS astronomical facilities have provided a unique opportunity to observe the Martian night sky under limited light pollution. Taking advantage of these great conditions, Mariona Badenas-Agusti (Crew Commander and Astronomer) is combining her management responsibilities at the MDRS with two astronomy-related projects:

● Study of the Solar Chromosphere: The goal of this project is to use the Lunt 1000mm refracting telescope in the Musk Observatory to study the chromosphere of the Sun. During the first days of the mission, the telescope was not properly aligned, so Mariona had to spend some time understanding how to calibrate it properly. After this issue was resolved, she was able to conduct visual observations of the Sun in search for a variety of magnetic phenomena, including sunspots, flares, and granules. To date, she has been able to identify various sunspots through the eyepiece. Her goal for next week is to image these features with the AUTOSTAKKERT software.

● Astrophotography of Deep-Sky Objects: Mariona has also used the MLC-RCOS16 Robotic telescope to generate RGBLHa color images of deep-sky objects, including planetary nebulae (NGC 6888/Crescent Nebula) and galaxies (NGC 4273, NGC 5371, NGC 5033, NGC5055/Messier 63, and NGC 3184/Little Pinwheel Galaxy).

Biology

The Hypatia I crew has several biology-related projects in the fields of microbial, animal and human sciences. The MDRS provides a unique environment to conduct such projects, because it allows you to study how humans and microbial life would develop in Mars, as well as the exterior environment is the perfect place to search for potential Martian biological signatures.

Carla Conejo González (Crew Executive Officer & Biologist) is combining her XO responsibilities at the MDRS with conducting projects on humans factors affecting a mission to Mars, including experiments in the fields of telemedicine, psychology and sociology, as follows:

● Circadian rhythms in a Mars analog mission: a telemetric approach: The goal of this project is to study the sleep-wake cycle of the crew and how their participation in a Martian analog mission at the MDRS is affecting their circadian rhythms. The project has two different approaches: (i) the telemetric approach, where each crew member’s sleep record is being tracked since Sol1 using an actigraphy wearable wrist-worn device (Fitbit ® by Google); (ii) the same register is also recorded using a written sleep log diary, where each crew member has to write down when they went to sleep and woke up, as well as their self-perception of sleepiness during the day. Both digital and analogic records are tracked by each member of the crew, and at the end of the mission will be anonymized for analysis purposes. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the support of Google and the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol.

● Additional observations: As part of our mission, other observations in the following fields are planned, and will be used to complement the results of the primary experiment.

○ Psychology: Study on the psychological effects of participation in a mission similar to the MDRS, in collaboration with the University of Burgundy (France).

○ Sociology: Study on the social interactions of the crew for the optimization of our performance as a team, in collaboration with the company Sociomapping.

○ Gynecology: Study on the changes in the ovarian function of people subjected to the experimental situation of a similar mission, in collaboration with the Hospital of Sant Pau Hospital.

Laia Ribas (Green Hab Officer & Biologist) is combining her daily responsibilities in the GreenHab together with her research projects. Her projects are developing as follows:

● CatMart:This is an outreach project aimed at identifying microorganisms on Mars. A total of five Martian spots have been sampled, obtaining 200-300 g of soil. The localization in the Martian map are the following: Cowboy Corner (sampled on 20/03/23), Kissing Camel River (sampled on 21/03/23), Robert Garden Rock (sampled on 21/03/23) North Ridge (sampled on 22/03/23), Compass Road (sampled at 23/03/23). The soil samples, kept in zipper plastic bags, were brought to the station for further analysis during the remaining SOLs.

● Martian Bottle. The aim of the experiment is to reduce the number of microorganisms in the water. The water is obtained from the waste watering in the GreenHab. Two experiments are currently ongoing. The figure on the right shows one step of the protocol in which the residual water is diluted (right side in the figure) and divided into two experimental groups, the control (middle) and the Martian bottle (left).

● Aquaculture on Mars. The aim is to study the alteration of the epigenome in zebrafish subjected to hypergravity. The experiments were conducted at the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC, Barcelona). This project is at the forefront of high-sequencing technology through the use of an instrument called MinION. Unfortunately, due to the delivery of the products and the samples, the FlowCells needed for sequencing were not in optimal conditions therefore, the project was stopped. Nevertheless, we are continually studying the technique as it will be used in the Ribas’ Lab in Barcelona.

● Seeds for the crew. The aim of the project is to provide fresh food to the crew. A total of 75 g of two different seeds have been cultured in a plastic box containing wet tissue paper in the GreenHab. The seeds are almost ready to be harvested

Cesca Cufí (Crew Engineer) is combining her duties as engineer with an engineering and biology project. The biology project consists of:

● Cellular intelligence on Mars. This research aims at studying the influence of UV, IR radiation and gravity on the exploration behavior and sporulation triggering of physarum polycephalum. Physarum polycephalum, commonly known as “blob”, is an example of plasmodial myxomycetes that consists of a multinucleate single cell amoeba-like organism. This curious creature shows rare learning capabilities for a single celled organism. It is capable of memorizing its previous path and of finding the optimum one towards the food sources. Slime molds are not only surprising for its learning capabilities but for being extremely resistant. However, physarum has shown to be very sensible to light. This research can give us some clues on how life on Mars can be developed and moreover, lighten great questions about life development on Earth before the formation of the current atmosphere. To date, Cesca has cultivated the physarums that will be used for the experiment. The physarums will be grown until they are big enough to provide 4 clones that will be tested simultaneously in different conditions:

○ One sample being the control sample, with no stimulation.

○ A second sample on a inclined plate to evaluate the effect of gravity.

○ A third one being stimulated with IR light.

○ And finally, a fourth sample, stimulated with UV light.

The setup is ready (see Engineering projects section). It is expected that the physarums will be big enough in less than 24h from now.

Engineering

Ariadna Farres Basiana (Scientist & Health and Safety Officer) is combining her HSO duties at the MDRS with an astrodynamics project:

● Martian GPS: The goal of this project is to study the feasibility of a low-cost GPS network around Mars. During the first half of the mission, we have replicated Earth’s GPS around Mars. Adjustments to some of the orbital parameters, like the semi-major axis (sma) and the Right Ascension of the Ascending Node (RAAN), have been made in order to ensure the same type of coverage around Mars surface. This network requires at least 24 satellites, which is far from low-cost, however it ensures 24h hours coverage on most parts of the martian surface. During the next days, we will work on reducing the number of satellites in order to ensure at least 12 hours of communication around Chryse Planitia (“Golden Plane”) where we have established our martian base. All the simulations have been done using NASA’s open-source software GMAT (General Mission Analyses Tool).

Neus Sabaté (Mission Specialist) is assisting the Crew Engineer of the mission and performing her Engineering experiments related to battery development:

● Martian batteries development. This project proposes to use iron-based rocks present in Mars (or in the MDRS surroundings) as main components of a primary battery. To evaluate the viability of this approach, Sabaté has explored three different locations (Marble Ritual, Compass Rock and Robert’s Garden Rock) and found mainly soundstone rock, siltstone and argillite. Currently the samples have been immersed in diluted HCl for a few days in order to extract the Fe3+ and Fe2+ ions.

○ As a proof of concept, Sabaté has also mounted and characterized 3 batteries based on iron-chemistry. In this case, iron has been brought from Earth in two different formats: iron bars (Fe(0) state) as battery anodes and ferric chloride salts (Fe3+) as cathodic species. The batteries have been mounted in series and filled up with salty water. The energy generated with the batteries will be dedicated to power a small LED module that stimulates seed growing.

○ Finally, Sabaté has planted seeds in three different desktop hotbeds that are submitted to different conditions: one hotbed is placed next to the window and will receive sunlight during the day, another hotbed is placed inside a camping storage cupboard and will be in complete darkness whereas the last one will receive LED lighting (powered by iron-based batteries) from 8:00am to 8:00pm.

Cesca Cufí (Crew Engineer) is combining her duties as engineer with an engineering and biology project. The engineering project:

● “The Blob’s house”: This project consist of designing and constructing a prototype of biologically safety cabin to perform biological experiments in the context of an analog mission where biocontamination has to be prevented. The cabin features are specifically designed for the biological experiment with the physarum polycephalum (commonly known as “blob”). It contains 4 light boxes equipped with a camera and a LED light each. Two of the boxes contain a PCB, one with a IR emitter and the other one with a UV emitter. The current provided to these emitters reproduce the radiation that reaches the Martian surface. The cameras and LEDs are controlled with a raspberry pi. The cabin also contains a venting system with two fans that activate depending on the temperature of the cabin, provided by a temperature and humidity sensor. The venting system is equipped with filters (membrane) to prevent external agents to enter the cabin as well as interior organisms to pollute the exterior. The sensor and the fans are controlled with an arduino. The arduino data is transferred to the raspberry pi to be registered. Every 4 minutes the LEDs are switched, a picture is taken and the temperature and humidity is register. The cabin is lightweight and fully demountable.

Outreach and Communication

Núria Jar (Crew Journalist) is reporting on the field the experience of Hypatia I at the MDRS. There are several tasks she is performing these days:

● Daily journalist reports for the MDRS explaining the day at the base.

● Taking photographs for the “Photograph of the day” report, requested by the MDRS.

● Daily audio reports about Hypatia I crew’s experience at the MDRS for the Catalan public radio station Catalunya Ràdio.

● Recording featured interviews and sounds recorded during the mission for her podcast “Sounds of Mars”, which will be released by Catalunya Ràdio.

● Filming some interesting scenes of Hypatia I daily routine to document the experience.

In addition, she is also working on a future book about the mission to inspire young girls to pursue STEAM-related careers, as the Hypatia crew members did.

Carla Conejo González (Crew Executive Officer & Biologist) is combining her XO responsibilities at the MDRS with conducting a communication project consisting of a video diary of the mission. In addition, Carla is giving support to the outreach projects of her crewmates.

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 280 Astronomy Report 20-04-2023

Name: Mariona Badenas
Crew: 280 (Hypatia I)
Date: 20-04-2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 MDRS-WF MLC
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: Messier 63 (NGC5055)
Images submitted with this report: None
Problems Encountered: None

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: We aligned the telescope and visually observed the solar chromosphere, identifying a beautiful sunspot.
Images submitted with this report: N/A
Problems Encountered: I was not able to use the ZWO camera to image the Sun. For some reason, when I used the recommended Gain and Gamma values, I was only able to see a bright screen (see attached).

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 280 Astronomy Report 18-04-2023

Crew 280 Astronomy Report 18-04-2023
Name: Mariona Badenas
Crew: 280 (Hypatia I)
Date: 18-04-2023

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 MDRS-WF MLC
Objects to be Imaged this Evening: Planetary Nebula NGC6853 (astrophotography filters, x5 exposures of 300s each)
Images submitted with this report: None

Problems Encountered: None

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: N/A
Images submitted with this report: N/A
Problems Encountered: N/A

[category science-report]

During these two weeks, Crew 279 ARES has continuously worked on their research. Our experiments cover a large range of topics, and we hope to get good results out of our efforts. We still need to analyze all the data post-mission to conclude our research but here is a brief overview of how our experiments went during our rotation.

“We are what we eat” – Antoine de Barquin

The goal of Antoine’s experiment is to understand the impact of specific nutrition and confinement on the intestinal flora of astronauts. To conduct this study, a sample of each crew member was taken before departure to perform an analysis of intestinal bacteria by targeted metagenomics. This analysis is performed at the LIMS MBnext laboratory which collaborates with our crew for this experiment. The crew will then give “post-mission” samples. This way, Antoine will be able to compare and analyze how freeze-dried food affected everyone’s microbiota. Every day, Antoine monitored everything the crew ate, type of food, quantities, time of the day etc. He started analyzing the data during the mission and will conclude the analysis after the return on Earth. He also wondered how working the soil would affect the two crew members who worked the most in the GreenHab. People who garden have higher levels of Mycobacterium vaccae, a bacteria found in the soil that stimulates production of serotonin and functions as an antidepressant. He thought it would be interesting to see if our two gardeners have higher levels of it when he analyzes their samples upon our return to Earth.

Our Commander led his team proudly, trying to please everyone and keeping a good overview of the broad range of work we had to do.

“I will survive” – Agnes Dekeyser

Agnes’ experiment studied “extremophiles”. These are microorganisms that live in conditions that are lethal to most other microorganisms. They live on the seabed, in the Earth’s crust, in glaciers, and in many other extreme environments. During the mission on the planet Mars, our Crew Executive Officer studied the viability of two strains of extremophiles after exposure to MDRS environmental conditions : Deinococcus Radiodurans and Cupriavidus Metallidurans. Each strain was exposed outside for 8 days in anaerobic condition. Their viability will be compared to their unexposed analogues based on CFUs (Colony-Forming-Units) analysis. She also worked closely with Augustin and Thomas to find a place with less radiation around the base where her bacteria could survive better. Agnes spent her first days culturing her extremophiles and used one of her EVA’s to take them to North Ridge, a ridge with a higher altitude than the station’s. She also placed their analog inside the station. She then went back up the ridge every two days to check them. She also used an Arduino to calculate parameters such as temperature, pressure and altitude at North Ridge. On top of this experiment, she launched a weather balloon on top of North Ridge with an Arduino as well to test if this could be a useful way to calculate parameters if bacteria were to be put inside of the balloon for a future experiment. Sadly, the balloon did not last long as it did not have enough helium. SOL 11 was the day she collected her cultures and will proceed to analyze the difference in viability.

As CEO, she helped the Commander organize and coordinate daily team tasks and supported everyone before, during and after the simulation.

“Space Oddity” – Ioana Dimitrova

Long term spaceflight separates astronauts from society and their loved ones for months and months. It also keeps them confined without leaving them a possibility to feel free and do whatever they want. This can lead to mental health problems, stress, tensions within the team and can put the mission at risk. Music could be a cheap, easily transportable, and effective solution to this problem. Choosing your personal music to help you relax could have multiple benefits. It could help you transport yourself elsewhere, work through your emotions and stimulate your senses. Ioana tested if this theory is true by measuring cardiac parameters during relaxing times with and without music chosen by the crew. The technology used for the measurements is KINO by HeartKinetics. It’s an app that you put on your chest and that analyzes your heart variability. Added to that, a blood pressure monitor was used to take blood pressure measurements. Before the measurements, she also asked the crew to complete an anonymous Self Perceived Stress Test to get some trends on how the team felt throughout the mission and to correlate it with days they listen to music.

Our Crew Engineer has also kept busy by fixing two suits, a headset and managing water and power consumption.

“Radiation: how attacked are we?” – Thomas Stinglhamber

Every day, everywhere, different types of radiation attack us. On Mars, radiation will be way more brutal and dangerous than on Earth due to the difference of the atmosphere. It is thus very important to be able to have easy ways to measure the dosage of this radiation.

Thanks to BeSure’s technology, Thomas installed dosimeters both inside and outside the station to check how radiation proof the station is. He also gave the crewmates an individual dosimeter that they always wore to measure their personal dosage. He will collect all their data at the end of the simulation and will be able to tell us how much radiation we have been exposed to. Complementary to this, Thomas used a Gamma detector to map out the activity of the soil around the station by searching for radioactive isotopes near the station. He covered the whole region around the MDRS and combined his grid with Augustin’s 3D maps. He also helped Agnes determine if the hiding places Augustin found for her bacteria were protected from radioactive activity.

As Crew Scientist, he helps plan EVA’s, their tasks, timings, and reports.

“Confinement FOMO” – Aglaé Sacré

FOMO, “Fear of missing out”, can appear when we are cut out of society and social media. The Mars simulation completely cuts the crew off the network and the outer world, which makes it the best place to study how the lack of social media affects the mental condition of not wanting to miss out on something. The crew answered some anonymous questionnaires before leaving and were asked to check their social media usage data on their phone to realize how much time they were spending online daily. At the half of our stay, different anonymous questionnaires were completed where we assess how we feel without social media and if we feel like we’re missing out on something. We will have one more to fill in after the end of the simulation. This way Aglaé can compare how the crew used to use social media, how they predicted they would live without it and how they lived without it. Early data shows that pre-mission fears evolve as the days go by.

As Crew Journalist, she wrote the daily summaries and kept the world notified on what work we do every day. She also took photos and videos to document and present after our mission

“High Speed Rotor Manufacturing” – Gwenael le Bussy

The Martian atmosphere is a hundred times less dense than the one on Earth. This means that every flying object we would like to use for observation, scouting or measurements needs to be adapted to the physics of that new environment. Like the ones on Ingenuity, the rotor blades must have a special shape. Naturally, every piece of equipment may encounter a problem and need to be repaired or replaced. The problem cannot be predicted precisely in advance, which means that we need an adaptable solution. Gwenael studied how he can use 3D printing to model (with SolidWorks with NACA profile) and print rotor blades for the Martian atmosphere. Afterwards, he tested them with a high-speed motor and measured their thrust with a scale. He tested the 3D printer by doing some test prints for the oven knob. We tried to see if we could make one that works better than the ones currently used.

Parallel to his aerodynamics work, our Crew Astronomer observed the Sun with the solar observatory and took some pictures. He also used the New Mexico observatory remotely to observe M63 and M51 and spent some time processing them.

“Hide and seek during radiation storms” – Augustin Tribolet

As we mentioned earlier, radiation is an important factor in a Mars mission. If we are to live there or try to make bacteria or plants survive, we must find the most protected areas on the surface. An easy way to be able to find those places could be to use a drone to map out the area and to find these places. Augustin used a drone to scan the surface and generate a 3D model by photogrammetry. This digital technique allows us to build the 3D model from photographic images. He worked closely with Agnes who studied extremophiles to analyze how effective his hiding places are but also with Thomas to map out his radiation with the 3D models. Augustin completed numerous EVA’s during which he mapped out the station, the Special Region, Marble’s Rituals, the North Ridge, Candor Chasma, Kissing Camel Ridge… When he was not on EVA, he exported the images and combined them to create 3D interactive maps. When he would spot a possible protected place on his map, he would send a team out on an EVA, that had never been to that place, to see if they could find it based only on his maps and to check out if his measurements were correct.

As GreenHab Officer, he took care of our garden, rooting for it even during the warmer days. He collected the vegetables and different herbs that he dried to make spices for our team as well as for the next teams.

“Mars well-being” – Ttele Hiriart

Confinement, isolation, extreme conditions… All these factors affect mental health and team dynamics. How is the well-being of the crew members evolving? How does the team work together? How do the dynamics evolve? Which teamwork tools work? During the mission, Ttele kept a diary of her observations of the team and different crewmates. She will compare these observations with the ones made by other mission simulations in Antarctica for example. After analysis, she will present her observations of the ups and downs of the mission, how the team interacted and different lessons the team has learned or must work on for future missions. During the day, she observed how effectively every crewmember worked on their experiment, how their motivation changed and how they handled difficult decisions, tensions. Some examples included: decisions made during EVA’s when plans had to change due to lack of time, technical difficulties in the station, decision taking when not everyone had the same opinion, how the team reacted when somebody was down, the effect of the fatigue… She also introduced some teamwork exercises at the end of day to work on team cohesion. All this is documented in her diary, and she took notes of her observations continuously. She will now have the tedious task to read everything she wrote and present her observations and some ideas for improvement.

As Health and Safety Officer, she made sure everyone was feeling good and healthy and took care of us when we were feeling out of shape.

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 279 Astronomer Report 13April2023

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël
Crew: 279
Date: 13/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: M51

Images submitted with this report: M51_23_04_13_Green

Problems Encountered: /

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /
Best regards,
Gwen.

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 279 Astronomer Report 12April2023

Due to cloud cover, I was unable to observe the sun today.

Last night, I tested a single frame for M51 ; sadly, the tracking issue is still there…

Here is my report :

Astronomy Report

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël
Crew: 279
Date: 12/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: M51

Images submitted with this report: M51_23_04_12_Green

Problems Encountered: M51 is not tracked by MLC_RCOS16

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /
Best regards,
Gwen.

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 279 Astronomer Report 11April2023

Sadly, I didn’t have the time to take pictures of the sun today.

However, I’ve launched the rest of my observation for M51. All the pictures were not tracked properly since the beginning of the observation. I had to cancel my observation because the MLC-RCOS16 was not making any progress…

Am I doing something wrong here ?

If the problem can be solved, I’ll lunch again those frames tonight.

Here is my report :

Astronomy Report

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël
Crew: 279
Date: 11/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: M51

Images submitted with this report: M51_23_04_11_Green, M51_23_04_11_Blue, M51_23_04_11_Red

Problems Encountered: M51 is not tracked by MLC_RCOS16

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

[category 

astronomy-report]

Crew 279 Astronomer Report 09April2023

Today, I’ve used the ZWO camera to capture the sun’s chromosphere and prominence (the picture is attached). Capturing this image was quite challenging because there was a slim layer of clouds today which decreased the contrast and details in my image (this is an hypothesis). I also noticed a lot of dust on the front lens but I did not touch it.

In general, whatever the orientation of the ZWO camera, the right side of the picture was always brighter ; so much that I had to decrease the gain and gamma for getting information in the prominence right side. Could it be due to the clouds’ diffraction.

I have not used the tuning module (I only used the chromosphere tuner) . Is it normal ?

Pictures settings :

Chromosphere : Gain=50, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=1
Prominence : Gain=150, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=60
Flat : Gain=50, Exposure=0.0155, Gamma=1

The last problem that I got is about the flat : I am really struggling to get all the sun in the frame. In fact I think it is nearly impossible… Thus, the flat takes into account a dark region of the sky in the corners and the final corners of the chromosphere is impacted (see chromosphere frame). In my final composite, I’ve cropped the corners to solve the problem :’)

I will try to take pictures of the Sun tomorrow, I hope to see greater prominence.

Concerning the green and blue frames of M51, the weather at MLC_RCOS16 has changed a bit and I prefer to lunch them tomorrow night in order to have clear skies.

Here is my report :

Astronomy Report

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël
Crew: 279
Date: 09/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY
Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: Sun’s chromosphere and prominence

Images submitted with this report: Sun_23_04_09_chromosphere_and_prominence_composite, Sun_23_04_09_chromosphere, Sun_23_04_09_prominence

Problems Encountered: Frame too big compared to the sun and problem for getting a useful flat, right side of the frame brighter.

[category 

astronomy-report]

Yesterday, the picture of the sun was just an illustration of my visual observation and my first manipulation of the musk telescope ; I put my phone’s camera in front of the viewer. Nevertheless, the settings were : f2.4 ; 1/120s ; 4,32mm ; iso 125.

Tomorrow and on Monday, I will use the ZWO camera to get the most details out of our beautiful sun.

Concerning my last images of M63, I have no data about « WCS » due to the MLC-RCOS16 failure. Thus I cannot align them properly using the procedure described in the tutorial. I will try using another technique to post-process those images.

Last night, I lunched on M 51 :

• 15 x 300sec Lum
• 6 X 300sec Red
• 9 x 300sec Green
• 12 x 300sec Blue

The number of frames is based on previous experiences of other astronomers found online.

The first frames came out perfectly but Green and Blue frames are not tracked properly I don’t know why… Do you have an idea ?

Looking at the weather, I’ll lunch again these frames tomorrow night to complete my observation

Here is my report :

Astronomy Report

Name: le Bussy Gwenaël

Crew: 279
Date: 08/04/23

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested (choose one) MDRS-14 (MLC-RCOS16) MDRS-WF

Objects to be Imaged this Evening: /

Images submitted with this report: M51_Lum_300sec_08April2023, M51_Red_300sec_08April2023, M51_Green_300sec_08April2023, M51_Blue_300sec_08April2023.

Problems Encountered: « WCS registration failed » on Skynet + not tracked images for Green and Blue images

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: /

Images submitted with this report: /

Problems Encountered: /

[category science-report]

During this past week, Crew ARES has continuously worked on their research. Our experiments cover a large range of topics and we hope to get good results out of our efforts. We still need to collect the data and work hard during this next week to exploit our simulation time in the most efficient way possible. Here is how our experiments are advancing.

“Confinement FOMO” – Aglaé Sacré

FOMO, “Fear of missing out”, can appear when we are cut out of society. The Mars simulation completely cuts the crew off of the network and the outer world, which makes it the best place to study how the lack of social media affects the mental condition of not wanting to miss out on something. The crew answered some anonymous questionnaires before leaving and were asked to check their social media usage data on their phone to realise how much time they were actually spending online on a daily basis. During this first week, different anonymous questionnaires were completed where we assess how we feel without social media and if we feel like we’re missing out on something. This way Aglaé could compare how the crew used to use social media, how they predicted they would live without it and how they actually lived without it.

As Crew Journalist, she writes the daily summaries and keeps the world notified on what work we do every day. She is also taking photos and videos to document and present after our mission.

“Radiation: how attacked are we?” – Thomas Stinglhamber

Every day, everywhere, different types of radiation attack us. On Mars, radiation will be way more brutal and dangerous than on Earth due to the difference of the atmosphere. It is thus very important to be able to have easy ways to measure the dosage of this radiation.

Thanks to BeSure’s technology, Thomas has installed dosimeters both inside and outside the station to check how radiation proof the station actually is. He also gave the crewmates an individual dosimeter that they wear at all times to measure their personal dosage. He will collect all their data at the end of the simulation. Complementary to this, Thomas uses a Gamma detector to map out the dosage of the soil around the station by searching for radioactive isotopes near the station. He has already completed a 3-hour EVA where he took measures at different coordinates that he mapped out thanks to a Python grid. He still needs to do two EVA’s to measure the whole region close to the base. He is also trying to combine his grid with Augustin’s 3D maps.

“High Speed Rotor Manufacturing” – Gwenael le Bussy

The Martian atmosphere is a hundred times less dense than the one on Earth. This means that every flying object we would like to use for observation, scouting or measurements needs to be adapted to the physics of that new environment. Like the ones on Ingenuity, the rotor blades have to have a special shape. Naturally, every piece of equipment may encounter a problem and need to be repaired or replaced. The problem cannot be predicted precisely in advance, which means that we need an adaptable solution. Gwenael will study how he can use 3D printing to model (with SolidWorks with NACA profile) and print rotor blades for the Martian atmosphere. Afterwards, he will test them with a high speed motor and measure their thrust with a scale. The 3D printer was successfully reconstructed and has launched a couple of test prints. One of the test prints is an oven knob, we are trying to see if we can make one that works better than the ones currently used. Gwenael has started designing a blade and will start printing in the days to come.

Parallel to his aerodynamics work, our Crew Astronomer has already observed the Sun with the solar observatory but is yet to take pictures as weather has not been favourable. He has also used the New Mexico observatory remotely to observe M63 and M51 and is currently working on the editing of the photos.

“Space Oddity” – Ioana Dimitrova

Long term spaceflight separates astronauts from society and their loved ones for months and months. It also keeps them confined without leaving them a possibility to feel free and do whatever they want. This can lead to mental health problems, stress, tensions within the team and can put the mission at risk. Music could be a cheap, easily transportable and effective solution to this problem. Choosing your personal music to help you relax could have multiple benefits. It could help you transport yourself elsewhere, work through your emotions and stimulate your senses. Ioana tests if this theory is true by measuring cardiac parameters during relaxing times with and without music chosen by the crew. The technology used for the measurements is KINO by HeartKinetics. It is an app that you put on your chest and that analyses your heart variability. Added to that, a blood pressure monitor is used to take blood pressure measurements. Before the measurement, she also asks the crew to complete an anonymous Self Perceived Stress Test to get some trends on how they feel throughout the mission and to correlate it with days they listen to music. Sadly, the KINO app had technical difficulties and we had to change our instrument, but everything is back on track and measurements are taking place every day. Ioana has started working on her spreadsheets, gathering data and pre-analysing it.

Our Crew Engineer has also kept busy by fixing a suit, a headset and managing water consumption.

“Hide and seek during radiation storms” – Augustin Tribolet

As we mentioned earlier, radiation is an important factor in a Mars mission. If we are to live there or try to make bacteria or plants survive, we must find the most protected areas on the surface. An easy way to be able to find those places could be to use a drone to map out the area and to find these places. Augustin will use a drone to scan the surface and generate a 3D model by photogrammetry. This digital technique allows us to build the 3D model from photographic images. He works closely with Agnes who studies extremophiles to analyse how effective his hiding places actually are but also with Thomas to map out his radiation with the 3D models. Augustin has already completed 3 EVA’s during which he mapped out the station, the Special Region and Marble’s Rituals. We had a small scare as the drone crashed during one of the EVA’s but the blade has been replaced and everything is nominal now. When he is not on EVA, he exports the images and combines them to create the 3D interactive maps.

As Green Hab Officer, he has already collected 500g of cherry tomatoes and 100g of different herbs that he will dry to make spices for our team as well as the next teams.

“Mars well-being” – Ttele Hiriart

Confinement, isolation, extreme conditions… All these factors affect mental health and team dynamics. How is the well-being of the crew members evolving? How does the team work together? How do the dynamics evolve? Which teamwork tools actually work? During the mission, Ttele will keep a diary of her observations of the team and different crewmates. She will compare these observations with the ones made by other mission simulations in Antarctica for example. At the end of the mission, she will present her observations of the ups and downs of the mission, how the team interacted and different lessons the team has learned or must work on for future missions. During the day, she observes how effectively every crewmember works on their experiment, how their motivation changes and how they handle difficult decisions, tensions. Some examples include: decisions made during EVA’s when plans have to change due to lack of time, technical difficulties in the station, decision taking when not everyone has the same opinion, how the team reacts when somebody is down, the effect of the fatigue… She has started introducing some teamwork exercises at the end of day to work on the team cohesion. All this is documented in her diary and she takes notes of her observations continuously.

“I will survive” – Agnes Dekeyser

As you may know, the planet Mars is currently not habitable for life as we know it due to its extreme conditions. We are talking about an atmospheric pressure that is 1% of that found on Earth (at sea level), an average temperature of -60°C, and an atmosphere composed of only 0.1% oxygen.

However, there are microorganisms on Earth that could withstand such conditions. They are called “extremophiles”. These are microorganisms that live in conditions that are lethal to most other microorganisms. They live on the seabed, in the Earth’s crust, in glaciers, and in many other extreme environments.

During this simulated mission on the planet Mars, our Crew Executive Officer will study the viability of two strains of extremophiles after exposure to MDRS environmental conditions : Deinococcus Radiodurans and Cupriavidus Metallidurans.

Each strain will be exposed outside for 8 days in anaerobic condition. Their viability will be compared to their unexposed analogues based on CFUs (Colony-Forming-Units) analysis.

She also works closely with Augustin and Thomas to find a place with less radiation around the base where her bacteria could survive better. Agnes spent her first days culturing her extremophiles and used one of her EVA’s to take them to North Ridge, a ridge with a higher altitude than the station’s. She also placed their analog inside the station.

SOL 12 will be the day she collects her cultures and analyses the difference in viability. She used an Arduino to calculate parameters such as temperature, pressure and altitude at North Ridge. On top of this experiment, she launched a weather balloon on top of North Ridge with an Arduino as well to test if this could be a useful way to calculate parameters if bacteria were to be put inside of the balloon for a future experiment. Sadly, the balloon did not last long as it did not have enough helium. She will be checking her “outside” bacteria every two days during her EVA’s.

“We are what we eat” – Antoine de Barquin

The goal of Antoine’s experiment is to understand the impact of specific nutrition and confinement on the intestinal flora of astronauts. To conduct this study, a sample of each crew member was taken before departure to perform an analysis of intestinal bacteria by targeted metagenomics. This analysis is performed at the LIMS MBnext laboratory which collaborates with our crew for this experiment. The crew will give “post-mission” samples. This way, Antoine will be able to compare and analyse how freeze-dried food affected everyone’s microbiota. Every day, Antoine monitors everything the crew eats, type of food, quantities, time of the day etc. He will start analysing the data during the mission and will conclude the analysis after the return on Earth. He was also wondering how working the soil will affect the two crew members who work the most in the GreenHab. People who garden have higher levels of Mycobacterium vaccae, a bacteria found in the soil that stimulates production of serotonin and functions as an antidepressant. He thinks it will be interesting to see if our two gardeners have higher levels of it when he analyses their samples upon our return to Earth.