Category: Greenhab Report

Crew 292 GreenHab Report 13-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen

Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close

Average temperature

6:25: 71.9F, 20%

14:00: 88.0 F, 13%

18:56: 74.4 F, 39%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00

Daily water usage for crops: 9 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.2 gallon

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 136.58 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 14:10 Mist (Fan on) , 18:56 water (heater on)

Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes and fully grown sages

Narrative:

Today was the day for my experiment pots to come out from the growth tent because they seemed all sprouted out. All the four pots were placed in four different spots (Pot 1 : Hab, Pot 2: Green Hab, Pot 3: lower deck of Hab, Pot 4: Science dorm). I will be watering them daily and checking temperatures for all the pots and the progress for their growth. There is not much time left to obtain a good amount of data but I would be really grateful and happy if the next GreenHab officer will continue this experiment.

The crops were watered in the morning and in the evening as well because some of the crops on the small table looked withered. I am planning to put a shade in the GreenHab if that is possible as the sunlight seemed harsh during the afternoon at some point in the GreenHab. My pan experiment is going well in both the science dorm (growth tent) and the GreenHab. We had a harvest of a few herbs and greens for dinner. We are going to make nice pizza.

Harvest:

Lettuce : 4g

Tomatoes: 40g

Kale: 29g

Parsley:10g

Arugula 7g

Basil: 70g

Support/supplies needed: None

Crew 292 GreenHab Report 14-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen

Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close

Average temperature

6:25: 70.2 F, 20%

14:00: 100 F, 18%

18:00: 74.1F, 21%

20:00: 74.1 F, 27%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00

Daily water usage for crops: 8 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.2 gallon

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 128.38 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 6:30 water, (heater on), 14:05 Mist (heater of) , 18:11 water (heater on)

Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes

Narrative:

Today I watered the plants two times again, morning and evening evenly i e 4 gallons in the morning, 4 in the evening. I also used mist spray in the afternoon on all the crops. Temperature in the afternoon went up to 100 F. I moved the withered plants receiving too much sunlight to a different place where the tomatoes are. I see a lot of tomatoes in their ripening process. They shall be big and ready to eat for the next crew.

It was also my second last EVA and I already feel sad about leaving MDRS as all of my study and experiment needs some more time. But I think I can figure it out later so I am just focused on staying in the moment. I am also hoping the GreenHab officer of the next crew to continue my experiment. Today we went to Candor Chasma. We climbed down in the canyon and found lots of Gypsum and Cherts. We also found mountain lion’s caves. I really enjoyed the long off-roading on the rover. In the evening I sat with Daniel and learned how to make DNA so later I can use the technique to extract DNA from plants for my research in maintaining or building a GreenHab back in India. Both of my experiments are going well. The pots are science dorm , Hab , GreenHab and lower deck of Hab are pretty much the same. I am afraid the pot on the lower deck might die and I feel bad about that pot. But I’m hoping to get something out of my experiment to validate my research. Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Harvest: None

Support/supplies needed: None

Crew 292 GreenHab Report 15-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen

Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close

Average temperature

6:25: 70.F, 21% (heater on, fan off)

14:00: 87.4 F, 20% (heater off, fan off)

15:39: 77.4 F, 25% (heater off, fan On)

17:00: 75 F, 34% (heater on, fan off)

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00

Daily water usage for crops: 8 gallons

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

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 120.38 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 6:30 , 15:40 water

Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes

Narrative:

Today is the last day for the crew in sim. We are going to break sim tomorrow. I started my sol day by performing my usual duties. Went on my last EVA to put back the rocks Clare got from early morning around 9:30. I am happy that my experimental pots at different locations are doing well. The newly sprouted seeds of radish in the big blue tank look all green. I am planning to clean the GreenHab tomorrow. Aditya, our astronomer, helped me harvest veggies for Pasta. We picked almost all the good grown green leaves, radishes and tomatoes. There are more cherry orange tomatoes all ready to become red for the next crew. Today will be the last day I will conduct my Pan experiment for evapotranspiration measurement.

Harvest:

Lettuce : 30g

Tomatoes: 137g

Kale:129g

Radish: 36g

Red Cabbage Leaves: 18g

Basil: 7g

Arugula: 14 g

Parsley: 7g

Support/supplies needed: None

Crew 292 GreenHab Report 12-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen

Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close

Average temperature

6:25: 72.6F, 20%

14:00: 99.5 F, 15%

18:00: 75.7 F, 31%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00

Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.2 gallon

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 145.6 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 14:11 Mist (heater of) , 18:11 water (heater on)

Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes

Narrative:

Today I woke up early and went to the GreenHab and noticed the crops seemed healthy within the moist pots. Heater was on and I spent some time there. Went again two more times around afternoon to mist the crops after my EVA because around that time a significant amount of humidity drops down and the temperature rises to 96-99.5 F. In the evening all the crops were watered evenly. Subsequently I examined my experiment for measuring the rate of evapotranspiration in the GreenHab and the science dorm and found out that the experiment is flourishing. Another experiment with the pots to see the effects of temperature on crops in different pots was also achieving good results. We had a harvest after dinner for a juicy salad and called it a sol J.

Harvest:

Lettuce : 30g

Tomatoes: 47g

Kale:60g

Radish: 36g

Cilantro: 20g

Basil: 4g

Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close
Average temperature
6:30 70 F, 27%
18:30: 75.F, 20%
Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 8 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.6 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 151.94 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 18:30
Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes
Narrative:
Yesterday as I mentioned in my report about my new experiment to validate my research I went to the GreenHab around 20:00 to the GreenHab with Aditya, our crew astronomer and Rajvi, our crew engineer. We performed the experiment namely ‘the pan experiment’ using some of the water from the GreenHab and left one pan in the GreenHab and kept one in the growth tent at science dorm. We will be checking them again today around the same time.
Sol 5 started a bit earlier than the other days. I woke up at 6 am and went to the GreenHab to water the plants. I did my usual duty of checking moisture levels for each crop and the crops were keeping up with the same levels so I decided to delay watering them to see if the moisture levels drops. The Crew woke up by 7:30 and started Yoga session. The whole crew woke up to stretch our bodies since some of us had to leave for EVA. Right after Yoga and breakfast I finished my mid mission report and left for EVA. Later in the evening around 18:30 I went to the hab and noticed the moisture level has dropped to 6-8%. So I watered all the crops and left back to hab.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close
Average temperature
6:30: 70. 1 F, 27%
14:00 : 97.2 F, 15%
17:30: 77.8 F, 26 %

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.2 gallon
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 152.8 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 14:11 : mist , 17:30 : water
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
Sol 7 started early, I went to the GreenHab three times to do my usual duties. The Weather condition inside the hab was comfortable and warm. I Checked the moisture levels of each crops in the morning and they were all the same as usual. Following are the moisture levels :
1. Tomatoes, Cress, Pea : 60-70%
2. Cucumbers, Oregano, sage, Dalli, Cilantro, Cives: 80 %
3. Basil : 40-80%, Parsley: 90%, Red Cabbage 70-80%
4. Radish 70-75%, Corn Salad, Dutch Lettuce: 80%
5. Onion, Broccoli, Arugula, Carrots, Kale : 70- 90%
In the afternoon around 14:00 the moisture levels slightly depleted and the leaves of the few crops namely radish, tomatoes look wilted. I have been watering the crops adequately i.e not under watering or over watering. That is when I realized it is because of too much heat during the afternoon so I mist all the crops for a little more humidity as the humidity level was 15% during the day . I used a full bottle of mist spray (0.2 gallons) and noticed that the new seeds had sprouted in the big blue tub. I felt so content. Soon afterwards I felt to the science dorm to check my experiment pots in the growth tent and noted the reading of the moisture levels for each pots given:
1. Pot 1 : 60%
2. Pot 2: 70%
3. Pot 3: 70%
4. Pot 4: 70%
All the seeds in the pots were sprouting except the ones in pot 1st. I assume it is because of the low moisture level. Therefore I watered the first pot a little bit more and left for hab.

Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close
Average temperature
9:30: 68.4 F, 27%
8:25: 73.9F, 20%
13:55: 72.9 F, 30%
17:43: 72 F, 32%
17:59: 73.2 F, 32%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 1 gallon
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 160 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 17:43
Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes, radishes
Narrative: Today is sol 4 and I have been going to the GreenHab several times, spending more time there than usual. Last night I went to the hab after we finished dinner. It was the first time I was going to the GreenHab at night. Outside temperature was chilly but it was not windy like during the day. When I entered the GreenHab I felt so warm, the heater was on. I noticed the temperature was down to 68.4 F. Afterwards I checked the moisture levels for each crop and they were almost the same as last evening. The purple light turned on while I was working on my laptop, jotting down some notes. It looked really beautiful. It gave me a strong vibe of how it must feel like being in an artificial habitat (the GreenHab) on mars and taking care of one of the most essential support for living (The Crops). So I played a soundtrack from the Martian movie and finished up the notes and went back to the hab. Later in the morning I woke up and felt spiritually connected with the GreenHab and went straight there to water the crops. After taking the readings for temperature and humidity I noticed the moisture levels were good enough so I did not choose to water them. In the afternoon I went to check the moisture and to sow new seeds for my experiment. Daniel, our crew biologist, came along to help me sow seeds. We transferred the onion and kale from the small pots to the bigger pots and watered them. In the small pots we sowed some soaked radish seeds in 4 parts equally and sowed the rest of the seeds in the big blue container which had no crops planted. We also harvested a good amount of great looking cherry tomatoes which we are going to use for dinner. We took the small pots (4 in number) to the science dorm and kept it in the growth tent after weighing them. In the evening I watered the crops around 17:43 and returned to the hab.
Harvest: Tomatoes : 153g
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close
Average temperature
8:25: 75.3F, 40%
13:56: 75 F, 40%
17:25: 73.8 F, 32%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.031 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 152.9 69 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 17:30
Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes, radishes, grown kale and lettuce
Narrative: I started sol 5 having a treat to my eyes in the morning when I opened the airlock to go to the GreenHab. The red mountains were covered with snow. I cherished the moment, took a photograph and headed to the GreenHab. The GreenHab still looked very green and fresh. The moisture levels for all the crops looked pretty much the same i.e. 75-90%. After taking the readings I headed back to the hab and worked on my research project. Aditiya, our crew astronomer, helped in finding some parameters to derive the equations of PET and ET . We obtained daily climate data from the Loa climate center in Utah as we found out it is the nearest climate center that has data for all the parameters we needed. Around afternoon we came up with an experiment that we can try to validate my research which is impact assessment of the GreenHab Hydrology. In the evening I went to the GreenHab to do my usual duties. Clare, our crew journalist and Rajvi, our crew engineer, joined and helped me harvest some ripe radishes, fully grown lettuce, kale and leaves of red cabbage and water the crops. By the end of the day I went to the science dorm to check on the pots that I left in the growth tent for my experiment, water ½ cup in the pots ( 4 in number), noted down the temperature (80.6 F) and called it a day.
Harvest:
Radish: 172g
Kale: 96g
Red Cabbage: 73g
Lettuce: 33g

Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on, fan off, door closed,
Average temperatures:
5:42 : 73.2F, 25%
Hours of supplemental light: None
Daily water usage for crops: 8 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 192 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 5:44
Changes to crops: None
Narrative: Today was the first official sol as greenhab officer. Right after the training, which got over around 17:30, I went to the hab with Clare, our crew journalist who helped me water the plants and briefed about the crops and activities from the previous crew as she took part in the previous expedition. As soon as we got inside the heater turned on. All the plants looked good except for the cucumbers, the leaves were drying out. Therefore I’m aiming to water them a bit more ( 1 gallon) than the previous crew did daily. I also found one of the big blue containers with no growing seed so I would like to plant some new crops. Many tomatoes were ripening and were red, almost on the last stage so after one or two days they shall be ready for harvest.

Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: Seeds : zucchini , cauliflower, cabbage

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control:
8:06 am heater off, fan off, door closed
8:13: heater off, fan off, door closed
8:16: heater on, fan off, door closed
17:29: heater on, fan off, door closed
17:40: heater on, fan off, door closed
17:41: heater off, fan off, door closed

Average temperatures:
8:06: 73.9 F, 22%
17:29: 72.0 F, 40%
17:52: 72.1 F, 37%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00-02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 17 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 175 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 8:10, 17:38
Changes to crops: Moisture levels
Narrative: Today I went to the GreenHab in the morning and checked the moisture levels for each crop. Moisture levels for the crops are as followed:
Oregano, Cucumber, Basil, Sage, Dilli, Cilantro : 40-50%.
Parsely, Raddish, Cucumber in different Pot,Mint, Carrots, Tomatoes : 20-30%.
Macche, Lambs Lettuce, Corn Salad: 50-60%.
Followed by checking the moisture levels I watered the crops according to how dry they were. The weather forecast seemed low and cooler so I decided not to mist the plants in the afternoon since I used enough water for the plants. By the evening around 5:26 I left the Hab to check the status of the GreenHab and once again repeated the same procedure of checking the moisture levels. The readings are as followed:
Oregano, Cucumber, Basil, Sage, Dilli, Cilantro : 70-80%.
Parsely, Raddish, Cucumber in different Pot,Mint, Carrots, Tomatoes : 40-60%.
Macche, Lambs Lettuce, Corn Salad: 70-80%.
Subsequently I watered the plants evenly using 2 teaspoons of chemical fertilizer, namely miracle in 4 gallons of water. The heater and fan turned on and off two times at different timings while I was present. Lastly I checked the ripened tomatoes and realized they were good for harvest. So I harvested 16 tomatoes from different pots of tomatoes and took them to the hab for dinner after measuring them.
Harvest: (Tomatoes : 83 grams)
Support/supplies needed: Zucchini seeds