Category: Announcements

Photos 12-21-2022

Crew 271 GreenHab Report 21-12-2022

GreenHab Officer: Alicyn Grete

Environmental control: heater

Average temperatures: 66 degrees F, about 20 degrees C

Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours

Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons

Water in Blue Tank 165 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 1200, 1800

Changes to crops: Took 28 grams of Microgreens

Narrative: We harvested Microgreens to eat with our fried rice tonight, measuring it on the scale after harvesting. I watered all plants at 1200 and the newly planted plants at 1800.

Harvest: Took 28 grams of Microgreens

Support/supplies needed: N/A

Crew 271 Operations Report 21-12-2022

SOL: 3

Name of person filing report: Sergii Iakymov

Non-nominal systems: Station generator, EVA suit #3

Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator repair is scheduled for Thursday.

ROVERS

Spirit rover used: Yes

Hours: 204.5

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 88%

Currently charging: No

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 109.0

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 89%

Currently charging: No

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 217.3

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 90%

Currently charging: No

Perseverance rover used: Not used

Hours: 251.9

Beginning charge: 79%

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: No

General notes on rovers: None

Summary of Hab operations:

WATER USE: 19.61 gallons

Water (static tank): 451.98 gallons

Static tank pipe heater (on or off): On

Static tank heater (On or off): On

Toilet tank emptied: No

Summary of internet: Nominal

Summary of suits and radios: EVA suit #3 shoved low battery charge during pre-EVA check, 10.61V. Currently its battery is charging separately for troubleshooting. Rest of the EVA suit components responsible for charging are scheduled to be troubleshooted tomorrow. We will update during the next comm window.

Summary of GreenHab operations:

WATER USE: 7 gal

Heater: On

Supplemental light: plugged

Harvest: 22.7 grams of microgreens.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Not used

Dual split: On

Summary of RAM operations: N/A.

Summary of any observatory issues: N/A

Summary of health and safety issues: None

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: N/A

Crew 271 Sol Summary Report 22-12-2022

Sol: 4

Summary Title: First full day of sim

Author’s name: Marc Levesque, Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: The crew completed two EVAs today to kick off the geology science projects planned. The first was a short walk north of the Hab in the morning to set up the sample site for Eifert’s project. In the afternoon, a longer EVA drove to Barianca Butte to collect samples for Guariniello’s project. While at the Butte, the crew also conducted long-range communications checks for the heightened repeater antenna. Upon return to the station, the crew took a short walk to take a measurement for Eifert’s project before returning inside.

Look Ahead Plan: Two EVAs are planned, a short one in the morning for Eifert’s project, and a longer one to conduct a long-range communications check for Levesque’s project.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Warmer and mostly sunny

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: Two

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations, Journalist, GreenHab, Astronomy, EVA reports, and EVA Requests.

Support Requested: None

EVA #3 12-22-1022

Author: Cesare Guariniello

Start time: 09:00

End time: 11:25

Narrative: The Crew Geologist Helen, with the support of the Executive Officer Cesare, set up a soil wetting experiment: after selecting an appropriate clay-rich area, she mounted a shaft to hold the probe of an ASD Visual and Near-Infrared (VNIR) spectrometer. First, the crew took a spectrum of the dry soil. After wetting the soil with 1 liter of water, Helen took initial spectra 2 minutes apart, then 3 minutes apart, 5 minutes apart, and 10 minutes apart, over the course of 2 hours, to measure the evolution of the spectra during the drying process. The EVA ended when the battery of the field laptop ceased working.

Destination: North of Hab

Coordinates: N4250800, E518300

Participants: Guariniello, Eifert

Road(s) and routes as per MDRS Map: Walk around science dome to the North

Mode of travel: Walking

EVA #4 12-21-2022

Author: Cesare Guariniello

Start time: 13:30

End time: 16:00

Narrative: First, the EVA crew walked to the location of the geology experiment set up in the morning and took another reading of the spectrum of the drying soil. Then, they selected the two rovers with the highest status of charge (the rovers were kept unplugged to preserve energy from the generator). The crew drove to the intersection of the Main Road (Cow Dung Road) with Hwy 1101 and troubleshot radio communication: due to the high power of the repeater but relatively low power of the portable radio transmitters, part of the crew could hear the other crewmembers but could not transmit. The crew switched to simplex mode on channel 2, checked proper communications, and began walking towards Barrainca Butte. Two objectives were pursued in this EVA: first, the crew collected potentially igneous samples in the southern side of MDRS region, and samples fallen down from the higher layers in Barrainca Butte (Dakota sandstone); second, the crew performed two radio communication checks with the habitat via the repeater installed on Hab Ridge. Upon returning to the habitat, the crew took another measurements of the geology experiment, and left the rovers unplugged, to preserve energy.

Destination: South of Barrainca Butte

Coordinates: N4247300, E518600

Participants: Eifert, Grete, Guariniello, Kaosaar

Road(s) and routes as per MDRS Map: Main road south until intersection with 1101, then walking west to Barrainca Butte

Mode of travel: Rovers and Walking

Rovers used: Opportunity and Curiosity

Crew 271 Operations Report 22-12-2022

SOL: 4

Name of person filing report: Sergii Iakymov

Non-nominal systems: EVA suit #3

Notes on non-nominal systems: Station generator was repaired today.

ROVERS

Spirit rover used: No

Hours: 204.5

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: Yes

Opportunity rover used: Yes

Hours: 109.6

Beginning charge: 89%

Ending charge: 55%

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Yes

Hours: 217.8

Beginning charge: 90%

Ending charge: 51%

Currently charging: Yes

Perseverance rover used: No

Hours: 251.9

Beginning charge: 79%

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: Yes

General notes on rovers: Rovers were not charged last night due to the station generator issue.

Summary of Hab operations:

WATER USE: 22.87 gallons

Water (static tank): 429.10 gallons

Static tank pipe heater (on or off): On

Static tank heater (On or off): On

Toilet tank emptied: Yes

Summary of internet: Nominal

Summary of suits and radios: 1) Original battery from suit #3 was charged via separate charger to 11.5 volts, and after it was disconnected voltage dropped to 10.56 in about an hour. The battery was considered faulty, marked, and put away in the cabinet with EVA suits spare parts. 2) Inspection of EVA suit components did not reveal any faults in the power circuits. 3) Another used battery was placed into the suit, charged to 13.5v via a separate charger. Suit was turned on to test battery discharge. This battery dropped voltage from 13.5v to 5.09 just in 1h15min. After this we moved the battery into suit number 10 to do an additional charging test and a brand-new charged battery was placed into suit #3 to continue testing. More information will follow during the next comms window.

Summary of GreenHab operations:

WATER USE: 7 gal

Heater: On

Supplemental light: plugged

Harvest: 15 grams of microgreens and 65 grams of beans

Summary of ScienceDome operations: Not used

Dual split: On

Summary of RAM operations: N/A.

Summary of any observatory issues: N/A

Summary of health and safety issues: None

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: N/A

Crew 271 GreenHab Report 22-12-2022

GreenHab Officer: Alicyn Grete

Environmental control: heater

Average temperatures: 69 degrees F, about 20 degrees C

Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours

Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons

Water in Blue Tank 158 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 1000, 1630

Changes to crops: Took 15 grams of Microgreens, 65 grams of beans

Narrative: We harvested beans to snack on after our EVA, then some microgreens to eat with dinner

Harvest: Took 15 grams of Microgreens, 65 grams of beans

Support/supplies needed: 2 gallon watering can has a small leak underneath, needs to be stopped with some glue or something

Photos for 22-DEC-2022

Crew 271 Sol 4 Journalist Report 22-12-2022

Sol: 3

Author’s name: Helen Eifert, Crew Geologist

Title: Marcaroni & Spectroscopy

Our first full day on Mars was eventful, extra emphasis on the EV. In the morning, Guariniello and Eifert conducted a nearby EVA north of the Hab for Eifert’s research project. Using a high-tech watering can, we executed the exciting task of watching dirt dry. I estimate this to be about 10% more invigorating than watching paint dry. Granted, on Mars it is actually called regolith and not dirt, but I fear the use of fancy terminology may oversell it. Between measurements, we leisured in our EVA suits, read books, and sketched the landscape. The real excitement will be in the analysis of the squiggly line outputs gathered by our efforts. In fancy terms, we call this spectroscopy, but that may undersell the excitement. Some technical difficulties cut our first EVA short, providing enough time for some lunch and work in the Hab before heading out for a second EVA.

As the martian temperatures continued to rise, Guariniello and Eifert suited up a second time, this time joined by Koasaar and Grete. For our second EVA, the IMARS crew endeavored south of the Hab to Barrainca Butte in the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. We did indeed touch the butte. Here, we found much more compositional variability in the geology and gathered hand samples for Cesare’s research. Much like our morning EVA tasks, these samples will be returned to the Hab to dry in an oven. More squiggly lines, repeat.

Speaking of squiggly lines, it wasn’t rigatoni, fusilli, or farfalle, but elbow macaroni promptly prepared for dinner by our commander Marc. To satiate the hungry bellies of four astronauts, Macaroni a la Marc or marcaroni, came chock full of cheese, vegetables, and tuna. Yes, mama Guariniello, not only did Cesare eat Mac & Cheese with fish, but he added extra parma on top. The shelf stable parmesan at that. We’ll be sure to promptly remove his Italian flag from his flight suit. Our MVP commander baked another fresh loaf of bread with dinner even after tolerating our comm chatter all day. Last night, Marc even treated us to photos from his winter over at the South Pole and today our ears were graced with the sounds of the South Pole’s Broke Dick Blues Band, Levesque lead vocals. An evening meal that truly tickled all the senses.

Before I close out my account, I would be remiss to not mention the hard work back on Earth by Shannon to get our generator back to nominal, with the station support of our HSO and crew engineer, Sergii. Without it, we wouldn’t have our inflatable holiday baby Yoda. Priorities.