Category: Commander Report

Sol: 6
Summary Title: EVAs #7 and #8
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 experienced another day of beautiful weather on Mars with mostly mild temperatures, sunny skies, and light high-altitude clouds. The crew enjoyed a breakfast of homemade sourdough bread, cereal, oatmeal, dried fruit, and espresso. After a morning planning meeting, HSO collected crew health stats. CDR, XO, and Engineer conducted the morning EVA #7 to the Special Region and used an EVA tool suite (rake, scoop, special sample bags) to collect regolith samples, being careful to adhere to the restrictions at the site to not disturb any fossils. CDR also collected GPS-tagged radiation dose rate measurements using a handheld dosimeter. The crew noted that this region would be an excellent site to fly the drone on a future Sol. During their return from the Special Region, EVA #7 crew marked a second site for a sample location on Cow Dung Rd. for the EVA #8 crew to return in the afternoon. After a quick lunch, HSO and Green Hab Officer conducted EVA #8 to the site on Cow Dung Rd. marked by the EVA #7 crew, where they collected further regolith samples, and HSO collected further radiation dose measurements with the handheld dosimeter. During the EVA, Technology Officer sent data to Aerospace mission support and received feedback on previously uploaded data. In the afternoon, CDR and Engineer inspected the 2-piece EVA suits. Further information can be found in today’s operations report. Before dinner, the crew completed their montage painting and assembled their inputs for the mid-mission research report. For dinner, the crew enjoyed chicken pot pie.

Sol: 5
Summary Title: EVAs #5 and #6
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 experienced another day of beautiful weather on Mars with mostly mild temperatures, sunny skies, and light high-altitude clouds. Winds were moderate most of the day, with higher gusts, with a brief drizzle in the late morning. The crew enjoyed a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, homemade sourdough bread, and espresso. After a morning planning meeting, HSO collected crew health stats. XO and Engineer conducted a short morning EVA (#5) to retrieve the mirror samples to analyze in the Science Dome under a microscope. Technology Officer employed help from the two licensed private/drone pilots on the crew (CDR, HSO) to complete drone flight planning preparations for the afternoon EVA. After a light lunch, CDR, Technology Officer, and HSO embarked on EVA #6, while the Green Hab Officer led IVA Comms. The EVA plan included drone operations with flight plans near the Hab, near the mirror sample deployment location, and at Marble Ritual. The crew successfully completed activation and checkout of the drone near the Hab but decided to call off Flight Plan #1 due to high wind gusts. The crew proceeded to perform their backup EVA plan operations demonstrating the VR/AR headset in the area around the Hab and at the intersection of Hab Rd and Cow Dung Rd. At the mirror deployment location and Marble Ritual, the crew again called off the drone Flight Plans #2 and #3 due to high wind gusts and performed further demonstration of the VR/AR headset in those areas. The crew then returned early to the Hab area; by that time the winds had died down slightly allowing for the crew to proceed with Flight Plan #1 around the Hab after requesting permission from Tier 1 support to modify the original EVA plan. The drone flight was successful, collecting imagery of the Hab area. Finally, the EVA crew retrieved the mirror samples from the airlock and redeployed them at the location across Cow Dung Rd. from Marble Ritual before returning to the Hab. During the EVA, Engineer analyzed the mirror samples under the Aerospace microscope in the Science Dome. In the afternoon, Green Hab Officer harvested carrot sprouts and the crew continued their montage painting. The crew ended the day with a pizza party.

Sol: 4
Summary Title: Space Suit Repair & EVA #4
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 experienced another day of beautiful weather on Mars with sunny skies, light high-altitude clouds and calm winds throughout the morning and into the afternoon. In the late afternoon, winds picked up and clouds began to move in. The crew enjoyed a breakfast of cereal, oatmeal, homemade sourdough bread, and espresso. After a morning planning meeting, HSO collected crew health stats. Technology Officer employed help from the two licensed private/drone pilots on the crew (CDR, HSO) to complete drone flight planning preparations for the afternoon EVA. After exercise and a light lunch, CDR, Technology Officer, and HSO embarked on EVA #4, while the XO led IVA Comms. The EVA plan included drone operations along Cow Dung Rd to Galileo Rd, but early technical challenges with the drone caused the crew to deviate from the scheduled EVA plan, remaining close to the Hab to troubleshoot. Due to this deviation, the crew was called back early to the Hab. During the EVA, Engineer and Green Hab Officer successfully completed repair operations on EVA suit 7 in the RAM. All crew members enjoyed assisting the Green Hab Officer in planting carrots and onions in the Green Hab in the afternoon. Before dinner, CDR, Technology Officer, and HSO replanned the drone flights for tomorrow’s requested morning EVA. The three ham radio operators on the crew (CDR, Green Hab Officer, and HSO) studied how to deploy the ham radio antenna for tomorrow’s requested afternoon EVA. The crew enjoyed a dinner of mac and cheese with homemade sourdough bread and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.

Sol: 3
Summary Title: Operations and EVA 3
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 experienced another day of beautiful weather on Mars, chilly with light high-altitude clouds and light winds. The crew enjoyed a breakfast of blueberry pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup. After a morning planning meeting, HSO collected crew health stats while Technology Officer completed preparations for the afternoon EVA and Engineer and Green Hab Officer performed initial inspection and parts gathering for space suit 7 repair. At 12pm, Technology Officer, Engineer, and Green Hab Officer embarked on EVA #3 to Marble Ritual, the mirror deployment location, and along Cow Dung Rd. towards Galileo Rd. The 3-hour EVA was nominal and included data collection at multiple locations using a remote control mini-ATV with cameras and a virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headset. After the EVA, HSO, CDR, XO, and Engineer completed training and workouts with the portable fitness equipment while Green Hab Officer collected the first harvest of the mission of microgreens and radish stems and included them with a dinner of seared spam with mustard glaze over scalloped potatoes.

Sol: 2
Summary Title: Experiment Preparation and EVAs 1&2
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 enjoyed another day of beautiful weather on Mars, with light high-altitude clouds in the morning, becoming clear and sunny in the afternoon. The crew enjoyed oatmeal, homemade sourdough bread, and espresso for breakfast. Technology Officer completed preparations for the afternoon EVA while the rest of the crew completed final preparations, training, and exploration of the local area. After a quick lunch, CDR, XO, and Green Hab Officer embarked on EVA #1 to Marble Ritual. The 1 hour EVA was nominal and conducted rover, analog spacesuit, and communications checkout. Upon the return of the EVA #1 crew, HSO, Technology Officer, and Engineer departed on EVA #2 to Marble Ritual, completed their own rover, analog spacesuit, and communications checkout, then continued on to the location across Cow Dung Rd. where the mirror samples were deployed yesterday. There the crew used a remote control mini-ATV with cameras, controlled from a follow distance of roughly 80-100 ft. The trio drove the mini-ATV from Marble Ritual, south along Cow Dung Rd., and back to the road which turns west back towards the crew habitat collecting data along the way. Upon return from EVA #2, the crew experienced an anomaly with the front outer airlock door and a minor anomaly with the plug-in attachments for one of the space suits. Details of these anomalies are covered in the Operations Report and EVA Reports from today. In the evening, the crew set up the Aerospace microscope in the Science Dome and finished out Green Hab training and the final sections of the HSO checklist. The crew enjoyed spaghetti with meat sauce and homemade garlic bread for dinner and discussed their personal goals for the mission and agreed upon their specific simulation rules.

Sol: 1
Summary Title: Training & Initial Experiments
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 awoke this morning to another day of beautiful weather on Mars, sunny and clear. Winds picked up later in the day but remained manageable for work outside the Hab. The crew enjoyed oatmeal, homemade bread, and espresso for breakfast, then HSO recorded crew health statistics. The crew then split up to perform pre-sim experiment preparations. CDR and XO demonstrated the use of EVA tools for regolith sample collection and radiation environment measurements. Engineer deployed a set of mirror coating samples to be exposed to the light and dust environment to be collected on EVA and analyzed on a later Sol. Technology Officer performed set up operations for Project Phantom VR/AR experiment to be conducted on EVAs on future Sols. Green Hab Officer and HSO set up and tested a compact fitness kit for use on future Sols for elective crew exercise. Green Hab Officer, HSO, and Engineer trained on the use of DSLR camera and practiced taking photos around the Hab. In the afternoon, the crew completed Hab operations and rover training with Shannon and Sergii. The crew finished the evening with a dinner of chili and homemade tortillas.

Sol: 0
Summary Title: Arrival & Mission Preparation
Author’s name: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander’s Report:

Crew 269 arrived at the Hab at approximately 12:45 PM MT and received a basic Hab tour from Sergii. The crew then unloaded luggage and experiment equipment from both the CrewCar and the Aerospace fleet van and into the Hab. The crew also stocked food items (both MDRS-provided and personal) and completed basic meal planning for the duration of the mission. The crew explored the area around the Hab on foot for basic familiarization and took photos. The crew then completed the HSO arrival checklist and discussed basic safety and egress procedures with Shannon. The evening was spent writing reports and preparing rice and vegetables with Thai peanut sauce for dinner; the first round of bread dough was also prepared and started in the bread maker. Crew was not able to commence required training with Shannon and Sergii due to one outstanding COVID test result; hoping to receive this result soon so training can be completed in the morning tomorrow.

Sol: 12
Summary Title: Mission End
Author’s name: Dr. Jenni Hesterman, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander Report:

Sadly, our time at MDRS has come to an end. The crew cleaned the station, accomplished final checklists and broke simulation at 2PM. We then left the airlock without our spacesuits for the first time in 12 days to take group photos. It was exhilarating to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on our faces!

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Hanksville this evening with Dr. Rupert and Sergii, and returned to the Hab to prepare for our morning departure to Grand Junction.

Crew 268 successfully accomplished its mission. We enjoyed exploring the stunning Mars-like landscape, incredibly rich sunrises and sunsets, and a star-filled sky at night. We hope our research activities will inform future space missions and will continue pursuing our dreams of living and working on another planet.

Sol: 11
Summary Title: Winding Down on Mars
Author’s name: Dr. Jenni Hesterman, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander Report:

The crew enjoyed an extra hour of sleep today, then met to discuss the day’s schedule. In the last EVA of the mission, the Commander and XO investigated the Special Region. They left the HSO in charge of the station to exercise delegation of authority and prepare her to command future analog missions.

Meanwhile, back at the station, crewmembers accomplished final activities related to their mission research projects. Our students are starting their academic papers and presentations. For dinner, the team enjoyed leftover food from yesterday’s Thanksgiving celebration.

We also accomplished training on the gifts of fear and intuition, and talked about the adjourning stage of group development. In 1965, psychologist Bruce Wayne Tuckman posited there are five phases of group development – forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. In the final stage, there is recognition for participation and achievement and the group starts activities towards its termination. We discussed our successes, lessons learned and how we will reintegrate into our personal and professional lives when returning home in a few days.

Tomorrow we will start cleaning the station and break our simulation later in the day so we can enjoy our beautiful landscape sans our astronaut suits and gloves.

Sol: 10
Summary Title: Early Thanksgiving on Mars
Author’s name: Dr. Jenni Hesterman, Commander
Mission Status: Nominal
Commander Report:

After an evening of training and discussion following our emergency EVA exercise, the crew opted to sleep in an extra hour today. We are Beta testing the Space Labs ABC nutrition app, which won the 2021 National Space Society’s Health and Diet contest. This morning we tried one of their innovative gluten-free recipes and cooked a delicious breakfast porridge with quinoa, coconut milk and honey, topped with reconstituted dehydrated blueberries.

Three crew members drove north to the Gateway to Lith on 4 hour EVA to explore the Special Region. The XO used the drone to preview the region to find the best point of entry. The Biological officer then collected several samples of ice and other specimens throughout the canyon. On the return trip, the XO tested the drone in various locations and varying wind conditions.

The team opted to celebrate Thanksgiving today so they could enjoy leftovers for their remaining two days of the mission. We enjoyed turkey, cranberries, traditional side dishes and an apple pie dessert. The crew talked about the meaning behind the holiday and shared things they are thankful for. We’ll tackle our final EVA tomorrow and conduct a last training session prior to planning for our Saturday departure from Mars.