Category: Greenhab Report

GreenHab Officer: Mehnaz Jabeen
Environmental control: heater on , fan off , door close
Average temperature
8:25: 70 F, 30%
12:25: 71.2 F, 30%
12:45: 75.6 F, 27%
4:29: 73.2 F, 25%

Hours of supplemental light: 22:00 – 02:00
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 168 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 8:31, 4:40
Changes to crops: More ripe tomatoes, radishes
Narrative: Today I entered the hab almost around the same time as yesterday and noted the moisture readings. The moisture readings are as follows:
1. Tomatoes, Cress, Pea : 60-70%
2. Cucumbers, Oregano, sage, Dalli, Cilantro, Chives: 80 %
3. Basil : 40-80%, Parsley: 90%, Red Cabbage 70-80%
4. Radish 50-70%, Corn Salad, Dutch Lettuce: 70%
5. Onion, Broccoli, Arugula, Carrots, Kale : 50- 60%
Followed by the moisture readings I watered the plants a little less than yesterday both morning (5 gallons) and evening (3 gallons). In the afternoon the moisture level increased by 10- 17% and remained almost similar till evening. The weather was windy and cold so the heater went on and off several times all the times (morning, afternoon, evening) I was present in the GreenHab. In the afternoon a few radishes were harvested and in the evening some Coriander and Basil was harvested for dinner and soaked some radish seeds in water to plant them tomorrow for my research.
Harvest: Raddish : 117 g, Coriander and Basil : 23 g
Support/supplies needed: Mist Spray

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
09:24: 76.8 F, 25%
13:10: 76.8 F, 32%
14:57: 77.5 F, 32%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 6 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 93 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:24 water, 13:10 water, 14:57 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
Today the clouds returned, which meant less light for the plants, but more manageable temperatures. The temperature was a very consistent 76-77 F all day. The GreenHab had higher humidity as well, meaning the plants weren’t as thirsty as they had been the past few days. I gave them a morning watering of 2 gallons before the morning EVA and a midday watering of 4 gallons after returning. I took some time during the afternoon to inspect some of the tomatoes. Tomato 9 has two red fruits that I think we will harvest tomorrow as a send of for Crew 291 (another 1/3 tomato each, yay!!!) and another couple of orange fruits that should ripen for Crew 292. Tomato 7 has two little orange fruits. Tomato 3 has 2 orange as well. Tomato 6 has a nice crop of seven fruits beginning to turn greeny-yellow. I think this plant will provide a bountiful harvest for the next crew. I returned in the afternoon for a bit of misting and the heater turned on – still looks to be turning on around 75 F as expected. Today’s soundtrack was Fleetwood Mac and Meg Mac.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
10:05: 75.6 F, 50%
10:30: 75.9 F, 50%
12:18: 76.6 F, 42%
14:48: 75.6 F, 36%
16:19: 67.5 F, 42%
18:03: 71.4 F, 41%
19:39: 71.6 F, 36%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 86 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 10:05 water, 14:48 water, 19:40 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
We’ve reached the last sol. Today was another overcast day, with some rain about, so lots of humidity in the outside air. There were also puddles of water and mud in the walkway, so I wanted to minimize the number of trips I did back and forth to the GreenHab today. Luckily, from yestersol’s readings, I expected that the temperature would remain relatively stable throughout the day. In the morning, I found the moisture meter was showing the tomato plants getting towards the dry scale, so decided to give them a big watering early in the day. This brought the moisture levels back up to nicely moist. I also took down the shade cloth in the morning to give the plants some extra sun during this cloudy day. We officially ended our sim at 2pm today, however I still made trips back and forth to check in on the plants, and giving them a top up of an additional gallon and a misting in the afternoon. As a send off treat for crew 291, we harvested the 3 red tomatoes from tomato #9 that I have been eying off for the past few sols and an additional two smaller tomatoes from tomato #3. Tomato #6 has a nice bunch of yellow tomatoes that should be ripe for crew 292. There was some debate also about harvesting the growing cucumber. Some googling of cucumber harvesting suggested to pick them slightly immature as they become bitter as they turn yellow, and that delayed harvesting reduces the quality of the produce. The current fruit looked to be similar to the reference photo of a ready-to-pick cucumber (though a little smaller – but then this cuke is growing in a pot and not a vineyard). So, the decision was made to harvest the cuke to enjoy with the tomatoes as part of our send off. We are very thankful to the GreenHab officer from Crew 290 for taking such good care of the cukes through their troubling times with the heater issues. We topped off our last harvest with three peas from the vines.
Throughout this mission, the GreenHab has been a welcome escape from the Hab. I feel the greenery has had a noticeably positive influence on the mood of the crew, who have brightened up with each new tomato, cucumber or pea that emerged. I think in a real Mars mission, I would be spending a lot of time in the GreenHab.
So long, and thanks for all the fruit!!!
– GreenHab Scott, Crew 291
Harvest: 5x Tomatoes (36g), 3x peas (9g), 1x cucumber (24g)
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic, door opened for 15 minutes at midday
Average temperatures:
08:43: 74.5 F, 18%
13:13: 102.2 F, 11% door open
13:30: 84.9 F, 11% door closed
14:17: 101.1 F, 12%
15:07: 105.4 F, 12%
16:00: 103.3 F, 20%
17:09: 89.1 F, 24%
17:46: 77.0 F, 27%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 6 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 118 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 8:43 mist, 13:13 water + mist, 15:07 water, 16:00 mist, 17:45 a bit of water from vegetable cooking
Changes to crops:
Narrative:
Today was another sunny day, although temperatures were manageable. I checked in with the plants before my morning EVA to give them a mist. After returning around 1pm, I returned to give the plants their first watering of the day, and also to release another spider captured in the hab. I gave special care to the newly planted carrots, making sure to keep the soil nice and moist. I left the door open for around 15 minutes while watering, which brought the temperatures down from 102 F to 85 F. This was a strategic cooling to avoid high temperatures later in the day. It worked – temperatures rose again to around 100 and remained there for the rest of the day. At 3pm, I returned for the second watering of the day, and some shuffling of the plants to keep them out direct sunlight in the afternoon. On my way back from the GreenHab, I stopped in to the Observatory to get a closer look at the sun that has been keeping our plants alive (managed to see a prominence and a few sun spots). In the afternoon, I noticed the two red tomatoes on tomato #9 were looking very ripe. Today was harvest day. We brought them back to the hab and divided them up – 1/3 of a tomato each. Steve also ran them through his spectrifier before consumption, so we got to see some nice tomato spectral curves. The crew relished the fruits of our labour – we all commented on the very tomato-y flavour – much better than store bought. Certified fresh!
Harvest: Tomatoes x2 (21 g)
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
09:24: 75.4 F, 20%
09:52: 78.1 F, 26%
10:58: 86.4 F, 32%
12:15: 95.2 F, 25% door open
12:28: 84.4 F, 19% door closed
13:11: 100.6 F, 19%
14:39: 102.9 F, 16%, fan on briefly
16:49: 94.8 F, 31%
17:19: 85.1 F, 32%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 10 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 108 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:30 water + mist, 10:58 mist, 13:11 water, 15:00 water, 17:00 mist
Changes to crops:
Narrative:
Today was another sunny clear day. I checked in with the plants in the morning around 9am and found the moisture reader on the tomatoes was getting to the low side of the moist range. I decided to give them their first watering earlier today with 4 gallons – I opened the door for 10 minutes during watering to drop the temperature a bit. During the watering, I noticed a surprise cucumber on cuke #4. This was surprising given the many cucumber dramas experienced by the previous crew. The other cucumber is still looking a little wilty though. I also did a stock take of the other fruits that are budding. Tomato #9 has 4 yellow/orange fruits, tomato 7 has two little fruits turning orange, and tomato 4 has another one turning orange. There were some large radishes in the radish pot, and there are now 10 peas pods on the pea vines. The mint pot labeled 30/12/2023 is also starting to show little mint plants poking out. Today’s soundtrack featured Colin Hay and Client Liaison. I returned around midday before my afternoon afternoon EVA to give the plants their second water of the day (another 3 gallons). During my afternoon EVA, I had some of the crew to check in on the temperature in the GreenHab. In the afternoon, the crew requested some greenery for tonight’s dinner of Jambalaya rice. We harvested some kale, arugula, and a nice fat radish. I placed the head of the raddish in a jar with some water and soil – I will look up during tonight’s comms window if radishes can be re-grown from the heads. The harvested greens were mixed together with some Korean BBQ sauce as a stand-in for salad dressing. Very fresh and tasty.
Harvest: 40g kale, 18g arugula, 40g (1x) radish, 37g lettuce
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic
Average temperatures:
09:12: 73.9 F, 21%
09:34: 75.9 F, 26%
11:23: 89.8 F, 25%
12:05: 94.6 F, 23%
13:40: 100.8 F, 19%
14:00: 89.1 F, 16%
15:19: 101.8 F, 21%
16:07: 98.4 F, 30%
18:38: 84.7 F, 28%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 9 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 99 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 09:15 water, 11:23 mist, 13:40 water + mist, 15:20 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
Another clear sunny day today. I gave the plants their first watering of 4 gallons around 9am. The tomato plants were looking a little dry again, so wanted to give them a good watering early in the day. During this watering, I also noticed that the wilty cucumber (cuke #1) had a tiny cucumber on it. This was very surprising, as it doesn’t look very healthy. It got some extra water to try to bring it back to health. I noticed that the orange tomatoes on #9 are also now red. I think they will be harvestable in the next day or two. I returned a few times throughout the day to log temperatures and mist. The second watering was given at 13:40. This time 5 gallons. I opened the door for around 10 minutes during this watering to lower the heat a bit for the afternoon, and rearranged the plants to be out of the sun. Today’s music therapy featured Bernard Fanning and some podcasts.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic, supplemental lights automatic on 6pm (will adjust tonight to turn on at 10pm and off at 2am).
Average temperatures:
08:41: 92.3 F, 12%
09:17: 89.8 F, 19%
09:27: 90.0 F, 20%
12:26: 115.7 F, 10% Fan on
13:15: 99.3 F, 10%
14:16: 99 F, 10%
14:26: 105.6 F, 10%
15:04: 96.4 F, 10% Fan off
17:12: 77.2 F, 27%
17:28: 78.3 F, 30%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 131 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:20am water (2 gal), 12:56 water (3 gal) + mist, 14:16 mist, 17:30 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
Last night was the first night with the GreenHab heater back in commission. I checked in on the plants around 8:40 to find the temperature a nice warm 92 F. I think the plants enjoyed the warmth – there was no sign of wilting leaves on the tomatoes. I checked in again at 9:30 to give the plants their first watering of the day. I was off most of the day on EVAs, so requested assistance from the other crew members to monitor the temperatures in the GreenHab. I returned from the first EVA at 12:30 and found temperatures a bit warm at 115 F. I turned the fan on for 10 minutes, which cooled it back down to 100 F. I gave the plants their second watering of 3 gallons, and a good misting. I rearranged the tomatoes to keep them out of the afternoon sun. While out on my afternoon EVA, the crewmates monitored the temperatures again. They noted some anomalous activity with the heater in the GreenHab. In the afternoon, the fan was turned on in order to mitigate the heat. From yesterday’s observations, keeping the fan on low was effective in maintaining a near constant temperature in the midday heat. On a regular visit from the crew, they found that the fan had dropped the temperature to 99 F, however the heater had turned on. This was puzzling and certainly not ideal to have both heater and fan running simultaneously. The crew called for advice from Mission Support, who advised to turn off the fan, which would also turn off the heater. This was done, and it worked. The crew radioed to update me while on EVA. Without knowing the full details, my initial advice was to keep monitoring the temperature and if it did get too hot, to turn the fan on and monitor. This would not be ideal, but would be a temporary measure to make sure the plants did not overheat – until I could return and re-assess the situation. Mission control inspected the GreenHab and moved the thermometer into a cardboard box that shielded it from the sun – in order to give better readings. Following my return from EVA, I visited the GreenHab to investigate. The temperatures were beginning to cool down to around 75 F, and we observed the thermostat turn on the heater until temperatures raise to 78 F before turning off. We were relieved to see this nominal behaviour. It seems the heater and thermostat work as expected overnight to keep temperatures above 75 F, but might have some issues during the hot parts of the day. I aim to carefully monitor temperatures tomorrow to investigate further. In the evening, we harvested some herbs to add to Steve’s pizza. Following dinner, we were advised from mission support to adjusted the supplemental lights to start at 10pm and turn off at 2am.
Harvest: 6g basil, 5g parsley, 1g sag, 17g arugula
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater on automatic, supplemental lights automatic 10pm to 2am
Average temperatures:
09:17: 73.6 F, 22%
09:59: 77.7 F, 25%
11:05: 83.8 F, 21%
12:04: 92.8 F, 19%
13:03: 97.3 F, 15%
13:51: 100.8 F, 12%
14:03: 89.1 F, 13%
15:27: 100.8 F, 11%
17:39: 76.8 F, 27%
Hours of supplemental light: 4 hours overnight
Daily water usage for crops: 7 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 124 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops:
Changes to crops: Planted two additional rows of carrots in the carrot box
Narrative:
Today was the crew’s rest day, although the plants still needed tending. I visited the GreenHab in the morning around 9:15 and stayed for a while to check in on the heater. It was on when I entered at 73 F and turned off several minutes later when the temperature read 76 F. Heating system nominal!!! I started the plants with a nice morning misting. Unfortunately, cukes #1 and #3 were looking a little wilty. I suspect they may have gotten some direct hot air from the heater – they were placed on the metal shelves overnight. I made a note not to leave them there when the heater was on. They were placed down on the floor for the day in the shade of the mesh shade cloth (later moved to the wooden pallet with the tomatoes). I also pruned some dead leaves from tomato #4 and inspected the fruits on tomato #9 – they look nice and red and a little squishy to the touch. I think tomorrow might be harvest day for them. I gave the plants their first watering of the day with 3 gallons. Soundtrack of the day was Jackson Browne. Today, I joined the crew in completing the Mars puzzle on our rest day. I set regular alarms to check in hourly on the plants, recording the temperature and giving a mist on each visit. By 1pm, the temperature had reached 100 F, although I did not observe the anomalous heater-turning-on issues the crew observed the previous sol. Looks like there may have been an initial hiccup in the system, but is now working ok. I gave the plants another watering of 3 gallons in the afternoon, and did some rotations of the tomatoes, and moving other plants out of the sun. Alex caught a bee inside the hab, which was also relocated to the GreenHab (I have yet to see it). For the past few sols, I have been eying off the carrot box – only a few carrot heads appear to have germinated, and there is a lot of free space in the box. Luckily, I did bring a packet of carrot seeds with me. I dug two shallow trenches on the left side of the box, away from the existing carrots, and added some seeds – following the instructions to apply 4 seeds per inch during initial planting, and to spread them out later after germination (expected to be 8-12 days). I will make sure to keep the carrot box nice and moist. In the afternoon, temperatures began to cool, and the heater was turning on periodically keeping the temperature above 75 F.
Harvest: None
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater off (space heater on overnight), fan off, door closed
Average temperatures:
07:40: 52 F, 71%
08:52: 54.5 F, 72%
11:46: 66.9 F, 52%
12:38: 77.2 F, 45%
15:34: 77.9 F, 42%
16:15: 71.2 F, 46%
17:59: 53.4 F, 75%
19:23: 52.5 F, 77%
Hours of supplemental light: 24 hrs (lights turned on last night and left on)
Daily water usage for crops: 6 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 154 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 07:40 light mist, 12:00 water + mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
During last night’s comms window, we received advice from mission support to leave the plants inside the greenhab for the next few nights, with the space heater running, and the supplemental lights running all day and night. I went out to take a temperature reading at 21:56 following comms window, and found the temperature at 52 F. It seems the heater did manage to warm it up a little from the previous measurement. In the morning, I was eager to get a temperature reading soon after waking to try to catch the coldest temperature. At 7:40am, the temperature read 52 F, indicating that it was likely a constant temperature of 52 F through the night (this matched the indicator on the space heater). Knowing that sunrise was soon to come, bringing warmer temperatures, I commenced the daily dose of music therapy with “Here comes the sun”. I returned to the hab at 8:52am to turn off the space heater and take another temperature reading. While in the greenhab, I commenced an examination of some of the plants. I noticed that cucumbers 1 & 2 had become tangled together – these were gently detangled. At midday, I returned to the greenhab to water the plants. As advised by mission support during induction, the plants were due for some fertilizer. I applied 6 gallons to the plants, mixing in 0.5 cups per gallon of miracle-gro. Around half was given to the tomatoes and cukes. During this midday watering, the plants were treated to another dose of music therapy. This time was some chill Aussie tunes including Lime Cordiale and Spacey Jane. The afternoon saw another misting and dose of music. This time, mixing it up with some rock, featuring AC/DC, Airbourne, Aerosmith and the Darkness. I think the plants enjoyed it – the crew in the hab certainly enjoyed the first airing of Radio Greenhab live from Mars over the comms. In the evening, I returned to the greenhab to turn on the space heater. We also performed our first Martian harvest, getting some basil, parsley, and sage for a nice tomato sauce for tonight’s dinner. During comms window, another spider was relocated to the Greenhab.
Harvest: 4g parsley, 9g basil, <1g (3 leaves) of sage
Support/supplies needed: None

GreenHab Officer: Scott Dorrington
Environmental control: heater off (space heater on overnight), fan on in afternoon, door closed
Average temperatures:
08:52: 57.6 F, 59%
14:16: 127.6 F, 13%
14:39: 100.9 F, 10%
17:21: 57.6 F, 27%
17:47: 55.2 F, 47%
18:29: 51.1 F, 62%
Hours of supplemental light: 21 hrs (lights on most of day, turned off 3 hrs in afternoon)
Daily water usage for crops: 6.5 gallons
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0 gallons
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 147.5 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 08:52 mist, 14:16 water + mist, 17:30 mist
Changes to crops: None
Narrative:
The greenhab was buzzing with activity this morning with visits from Rob, Clare, Alex and myself. We woke the plants with a nice misting and some tunes from Kylie Minogue. Together, we inspected the plants and did some pruning of the tomato plants, pinching off some small branches and leaves in hopes of promoting more nutrients to the fruits. We also performed a rotation of the tomatoes. Following advice from crew 290, I have commenced a rotation regiment of the tomato plants, with rows of tomatoes being moved inwards. The inner row of tomatoes are moved to the floor, and the others moved inward. I find this gives more room for watering, before moving the floor tomatoes to the outer wall of the greenhab. Following the morning EVA, I returned to the greenhab at 2pm accompanied by Clare again. The sun had finally come out during our EVA, and we returned to find it quite toasty in the greenhab at 126 F. This seemed like a very large number. Not being native users of Fahrenheit, we made a note to look up during comms window what this translated to in Celsius (53 C!!!!). We immediately turned the fan on and disconnected the lights. This brought the temperatures down to a more reasonable 100 F within a few minutes. The fans were left on, continuing to cool the greenhab. We commenced the daily watering of the plants, along with another rotation of the tomatoes. This was accompanied by some more chill Aussie tunes from Busby Marou. We noticed a spider in the greenhab – possibly one of those that were released over the last two sols. A further inspection of the herbs revealed some surprise peas!!! We counted at least three peas. The crew was very excited about this discovery. We noticed another pea vine crawling along the soil, which we gently coaxed back up around a stake. Clare and I returned to the greenhab in the evening to turn on the heater and harvest some of the herbs for tonight’s dinner. The red cabbage and kale plants were looking nice and thick – we got a good harvest from them of 57g and 38g. We added some basil and dill to balance out the salad. Lots of fresh greens to balance out tonight’s dinner of spam and cheese pizza! The salad was received from the crew with great relish. Certified fresh!
Harvest: 14g basil, 21g dill, 38g kale, 57g red cabbage,
Support/supplies needed: None