Category: Mission Plan

Crew 297 – JANUS I
Apr 14th – April 27th, 2024

Crew Members:

Commander and HSO: Pawel Sawicki
Executive Officer: Matthew Storch
Crew Engineer: Matthew Lynch
Crew Geologist: Sarah Lamm
GreenHab Officer: Sean Marquez
Crew Journalist & Crew Engineer: David Laude

Mission Plan:

The 297th crew at MDRS is composed of a team of seven astronauts, coming from an assortment of diverse backgrounds and careers. With over a cumulative fifteen degrees between the crew, conducting research is ingrained within the planned mission. Janus I will investigate many subdisciplines of science and engineering, specifically geological field spectroscopy, operations of nuclear power systems, developing smart sensor-based systems, and Martian-appropriate advancements in IT. While it is ideal for the PI of a research project to also be involved as a mission specialist, a la the Space Shuttle era, it is acknowledged that astronauts will need to tend to other projects and be participants themselves. As such, Janus I also involves other research projects from academia involving studies pertaining to isolated confined environments and human-robotic interaction.

Janus I, the name of this specific MDRS mission, stays in line with NASA’s tradition of naming extraterrestrial explorations after ancient mythological beings. Janus is the Roman god of duality, transitions, and beginnings – a deity appropriately aligned with the goals of MDRS.

Crew Projects:

Title: Simulated Deployment of a Nuclear Power System: Logistics and Operational Challenges
Principal Investigator: Matthew Lynch
Description: Initial mission to Mars will deploy with advanced radioisotope power systems (RPS) or fission power systems (FPS) to power in-flight needs and initial base deployment. However, the ever-expanding work-scope on Mars will dictate increasing power requirements and new reactors will be sent from earth for these power demands. Due to the hazardous nature of these materials the delivery landing site will not likely be near the Martian base. To represent this within sim, one EVA team will hide an analogous (inert) NPS, and provide an estimated GPS coordinate to a second EVA team. The second team will have the task of seeking out the NPS using varying planned search strategies. The analog reactor will also need to be brought back to the base for installation and containment. As an analog to this, an NPS site will be selected 100-500 feet from the MDRS Habitat and the inert NPS will be buried during an EVA such that only its top surface is visible.
Objectives: Locate analog FPS from a delivery landing site in the vicinity of MDRS, assuming slight deviations from the original site. Bring the NPS back to MDRS and excavate a location for it during EVA operations.
EVAs: A minimum of 4 EVAs are required, with more targeted.

Title: Advancing Planetary Mineralogical Analysis: Evaluating the Usability of Portable Gamma Ray Spectroscopy during Martian Operations
Principal Investigator: Sarah Lamm
Description: Gamma-ray spectrometry is used for mapping surveys, as these elemental amounts can be used to determine lithology and possible provenances. Furthermore, the amount of natural uranium can be a concern, as a daughter-isotope of uranium is radon. Radon gas is odorless, colorless, and radioactive, specifically an alpha particle emitter. Breathing in radon gas can cause lung cancer, and therefore a threat to astronaut’s health. This research will not only help with mapping and lithology, but also provide insight to any unrevealed risks to astronaut’s health.
Objectives: Determine the amount of natural radioactive uranium, thorium, and potassium within the adjacent areas of MDRS, through the use of a portable Gamma Ray Spectrometer.
EVAs: A minimum of 4 EVAs are required, with more targeted.

Title: A Toolset for Shared and Long-term Document Management and IT Operations
Principal Investigators: Sean Marquez & Matthew Storch
Description: The combination of text files and distributed source control is well-known to be a best practice in the management of programming-related files. Use of source code to describe highly standardized and easily maintainable computing infrastructure is another well-known best practice. It has been more recently recognized that programming-related tools and methods can be readily re-purposed to manage non-programming data, such as research data, notes, and reports. Thus, for this mission a methodology for maintaining MDRS mission data is developed that is based on marked-up plain text files and distributed source control provided in a virtual desktop environment that is defined and maintained through source code (Infrastructure-as-Code). This toolset utilizes Git (modern software development tool that solves the problem of collaboration without strong centralized dependencies), Markdown (modern non-proprietary data format), Dendron (note organization system on top of Markdown), and a Linux workspace image (provides all of the aforementioned benefits plus more to users in one convenient package, easier to maintain and support).
Objectives: Evaluate the effectiveness of WIDGIT (Workspace Image with Dendron & Git for IT) for collaborative documentation workflows. Users will use the toolset for MDRS report writing, note taking, and other appropriate activities, with allowable support from the PIs. Based on the crew’s use of the toolset, the amount of PI support required, and anecdotal sentiment amongst the crew toward the toolset, the investigators will characterize any minor or major changes required for future mission use.
EVAs: None required.

Title: MDRS IOT-Assisted Data Collection Using OSHW & OSS
Principal Investigator: Sean Marquez
Description: IoT-assisted real-time wireless data collection is a valuable tool for monitoring vitals and environmental conditions of living organisms. The use of FPrime – a flight-proven, multi-platform, open-source flight software framework with flight heritage on the Mars Ingenuity helicopter and university CubeSats, is proposed for use at MDRS. FPrime would facilitate real-time data collection and monitoring of environmental conditions (s.a., temperature, humidity, pressure, and volatile organic compounds) for plants in the GreenHab during the course of crew 297’s mission. This data collection system can be extended to either robotic or manned EVA’s. These can be deployed on a microcontroller (s.a., a Teensy 4.1) or single-board computer (s.a., a Raspberry Pi 4) wired to environmental sensors (s.a., a BME688) configured to stream data over a local network or radio transceiver (s.a., a RFM69HCW) to a laptop running the FPrime ground data system (see https://github.com/mdrs-community/fprime-baremetal-reference for reference implementation). The FPrime ground data system can be run locally from a virtual environment (see https://github.com/mdrs-community/mdrs-workspace-image/).
Rationale: Live monitoring and logging of environmental conditions is vital for sustaining the health and well-being of living organisms. Manually managing such processes can become tedious, time-consuming, and prone to human error. The need for solutions that minimize workload without being too tethered to interplanetary supply-chains becomes more evident as humanity endeavors to become multiplanetary.
Objectives: Demonstrate the use of FPrime open-source software on open-source hardware during GreenHab Operations to assuage tedious monitoring and reporting GHO duties. Develop and test the framework of a customizable and re-usable data collection methodology for use in future MDRS missions.
EVAs: None required.

Title: Use of Sonar for Measuring Water Tank Depth
Principal Investigator: David Laude
Description: Data is needed for properly planning water usage while within sim. During Mission 228, a formula to measure volume was derived using the distance from the tank opening to the water surface (without contacting the water) and carefully obtained dimensions of the static tank. This proposed research would now acquire the distance of the tank opening to the water surface via a sonar device, specifically an LV-MaxSonar. The volume can subsequently be determined by the sensor’s output signal measured with a digital voltmeter (DVM).
Objectives: Acquire a sensor output (e.g., voltage) that corresponds to the depth of water of the Hab static tank. If successful, a final step (within a future mission) would be to construct a measurement unit with numeric display, thus ensuring a contactless means to accurately measure static tank water volume
EVAs: None Required.

Title: Robot Competency Self-Assessment at MDRS
Principal Investigator: Nicholas Conlon (on Earth; CU Boulder)
Description: The main goal of this study is to understand how future astronauts In current real-world robotic applications, users rely heavily on telemetry, map data, and intuition in order to infer how competent a robot will be in a given environment. Telemetry can consist of a variety of data, however in our experiments, telemetry will include the robot’s position, heading, velocity, battery level, and other state information. Map data consists of a displayed map with iconography indicating features such as positions of the robot, waypoints, hazards, and other relevant information. This information, while valuable, can be confusing for non-expert users whose mental model of the robot’s competence is incomplete or inaccurate, tedious to follow and monitor, and can lead to poor human decision-making. Instead, this research focuses on developing more human-centered approaches to convey robot
competency.
Rationale: The interaction and "trust" between astronauts and robots on Mars will need to be well aligned for efficient EVA operations. This study will expand the research community’s understanding as to how future astronauts utilize information related to a robot’s capabilities to inform their decision-making and accomplish a given task.
Objectives: From a practical application standpoint, the experiment will record a dataset of “Google Maps” style imagery that can be used for mission planning by future crews. From a scientific standpoint, the experiment will help an understanding on how human users utilize a robot capable of communicating important information about its task competency. Data will be collected in the form of digital logs of the robot state, questionnaire responses from the crew operating the robot, and imagery to generate the dataset.
EVAs: A minimum of four 2-hour EVAs are required, with more targeted.

[title Crew biographies, photos and mission patch – April 14th]

Pawel Sawicki
Commander and Health & Safety Officer
Pawel Sawicki is currently a New Shepard Crew Capsule Test Engineer at Blue Origin, where he is responsible for the successful and safe execution and on-time completion of several major launch vehicle tests and pre-flight checks. At Blue Origin, he is also a volunteer Emergency Response Team member. Pawel earned a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where his doctoral research involved computationally investigating amelioration techniques for plasma-induced radio wave blackout, which has historically plagued hypersonic vehicles. Pawel had also obtained an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from New York University. Pawel’s career has also included stints of varying capacities at NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center.

Matthew Storch
Executive Officer
Matthew Storch has B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in computer science from UIUC. He has worked as a software engineer and has held various engineering management positions for 35 years He is currently acting VP Engineering and CTO of a small (30 person) company that is building a specialized physical infrastructure management product (target audience is large corporations and government institutions). Outside of work, Matthew has a long-standing passion for adventure, technical achievement and unusual experiences that has led him to becoming an airplane pilot, a gyroplane pilot, sailboat & powerboat operator, and a submersible pilot. Matthew also likes sports and physical activities which has led to running, bicycling, motorcycling, rock climbing, and, most importantly, Ultimate Frisbee, for which he has played on several teams competing at USAU national-level tournaments. Matthew has been happily married for over 30 years.

Matthew Lynch
Crew Engineer
Matt is a 4th year PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, where he studies nuclear engineering. His academic research focuses on developing novel materials for advanced nuclear reactors and extreme conditions, as well as utilizing new methods to use machine learning in assisting electron microscopy material analysis. His PhD is supported by a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunity (NSTGRO), this is his first experience as an analog astronaut. Outside of work he enjoys rock climbing with friends and hopes to climb on the Red Planet some day.

Sarah Lamm
Crew Geologist
Sarah Lamm is currently a Geology Ph.D. candidate at the University of Kansas, focusing her research on analog materials for Mars and Ocean Worlds using Raman spectroscopy. Sarah obtained her Master’s degree from Kansas State University in 2021. During that time, she worked on developing a chemical calibration for chlorite minerals using Raman Spectroscopy, which also has implications for Mars research. During her graduate studies, Sarah also interned at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Origins and Habitability Lab in the summers of 2021 and 2022. In 2018, Sarah graduated from Kansas State University, with three bachelors degrees in Chemistry, Geology, and Geography. Throughout her undergraduate years, Sarah was an active member on the ChemCam Instrument Team on the Mars Curiosity Rover and spent three summers at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Sean Marquez
GreenHab Officer
Sean has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in design of mechanical systems, from the University of California, Irvine. He worked as an associate mechanical design engineer for Max Q Systems – formerly an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the aerospace industry. In his spare time, he contributes to FPrime, an open-source flight software and embedded systems framework used on the NASA/JPL Mars Ingenuity helicopter and university CubeSATs. FPrime is currently undergoing implementation at the Mars Desert Research Station to automate monitoring of plants in the GreenHab. Sean also works with a working group with the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) and the Mach 30 Foundation to develop open standards for the medical/aerospace industry, as well as methodologies for developing open-source hardware (OSHW) like open-source software (OSS). Sean is currently studying permaculture design to develop a means to becoming multiplanetary without the need for interplanetary supply chains, using permaculture as its guiding principles.

David Laude
Crew Journalist and Crew Engineer
David Laude was present for the memorable and impressive launches of Apollo 11, the first Space Shuttle and subsequent Shuttle night launches. He also met several lunar astronauts and like many others, dreamed about space exploration. David began a lifelong passion for electronics and space technology in elementary school. With a B.S. and a M. Eng. in Electrical Engineering, he designed integrated circuits for Harris Semiconductor (now Intersil), Ford Aerospace, Ford Motor Company and Linear Technology Corporation (now Analog devices). David is currently retired from the work force and is a lifelong learner who enjoys working with talented people. He also has formal training in Anthropology and Archaeology. He is a member of The Planetary Society and a founding member of The Mars Society. His hobbies include radio controlled airplanes, electronics, musical instrument synthesizers, music composition and antique radio restoration. Utah, with its stark beauty and remote areas, is one of his favorite states. He previously served as a crew member at MDRS on Crews 80, 181, 228 and 265 in the roles of commander, executive officer and engineer.

Crew 296, MarsUCLouvain 2024, is composed of 8 members. Each of us will be conducting experiments to broaden our knowledge about Mars and space travel.
Following in the report, you will find precise descriptions of the experiments we will be conducting.
This mission will be considered successful if, first, all our members come back safely to Earth, and if we manage to conduct our experiments for the full duration of the mission.

Romain
I will be conducting two experiments.
The aim of the first experiment is to test the extent to which a device for capturing and recognizing finger-based gestures can be impacted by extreme experimental conditions, such as those found in unfamiliar, restrictive or even hostile environments for human beings.
To this end, crew members will test the TapStrap, a ring-based gesture capture devices. This test will be carried out once before the mission, then three times during the mission. The efficiency, effectiveness and subjective satisfaction of crew members in using these devices will be evaluated.
A second experiment will test the extent to which drone piloting can be impacted by the same extreme conditions. The experiment will also be repeated four times.
From the analysis of the data collected, we hope to draw lessons about the use of interactive applications in extreme conditions, using different modalities of interaction.

Maxime
Space is a dangerous and relentless, throwing challenges to everybody who dares venture into the unknown. Collecting and understanding data from an alien world is key to survival, that is why my experiment is going to be about the study of the danger of dust from Martian storms. These storms are not very well understood and the dust they pick up can be hazardous for the vital equipment such as the solar panels. I will use two weather stations that will track luminosity, air pressure, wind speed and temperature for two weeks and use my mapping skills to figure out if the environment around the MDRS is suitable for sensitive equipment or not. One of the weather stations will be stationary during the two weeks and the other will be mobile, moved each day to a new location to try and gauge the exposition to dust and wind.

Louis
An overlooked aspect of a Mars exploration mission is the selection of the landing site location. Whether it is for the initial landing, or for the establishment of a base, the chosen location must meet a lot of mission-critical criteria. Most orbital-produced topographic maps of Mars suffer from a of lack of spatial resolution. My research project will hence be focused on the production of high-fidelity topographic maps of the study area using a method known as photogrammetry, along with UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) technology.

Hippolyte
During the M.A.R.S. UCLouvain mission, team members will be confronted with an unpredictable environment. A great deal of preparation is required to cope with unexpected situations. To support the crew and help them carry out tasks and make the right decisions, I propose to use an artificial intelligence (AI) stored locally on a computer.
The AI would be trained throughout the year with mission information, such as scientific objectives, technical constraints and safety protocols. In this way, it could provide useful information and advice tailored to the specific circumstances of the mission.
AI could be used as a tool similar to ChatGPT, enabling team members to ask questions and get answers quickly and easily. It could also be used to monitor environmental conditions and report any significant changes that might affect the mission.
To take the idea a step further, I propose transforming the AI into a voice assistant using a program. This would enable team members to communicate with it without having to use a keyboard or screen, which could be particularly useful during spacewalks or in other situations where the hands are busy.

MARSISS
In the MARSISS study (2023/18DEC/530), we want to investigate various health parameters, ranging from immunity to psychology features, before, during and after simulation. These will be assessed during a two-week Martian simulation, involving group isolation and the absence of communication with the outside world. Young, healthy participants will receive a placebo or a supplementation with a probiotic, Lactobacillus helveticus (LH). This bacterial strain has been reported to have a positive influence on sleep and stress management in the scientific literature. Regarding the data and samples to be collected, stress levels will be measured through several biomarkers such as salivary cortisol and aMMP-8 levels, heart rate and heart rate variability. Body temperature and oxygen saturation, variables associated with sleep, will be recorded alongside sleep quality and quantity. The possible impact of LH on immunity will also be a focus of study. Thereby, the production of antibodies and cytokines in blood and saliva, as well as the population of immune cells present in the blood, will be studied. On top of that, we will collect urines to assess neurotransmitters related to stress levels as well as their metabolites together with faeces to determine the presence of the bacteria studied. In addition, several self-report questionnaires will be completed by participants to assess personality, perceived stress levels, daytime sleepiness, and personal satisfaction with sleep. The aim of this research is to improve our understanding of the living conditions and modifications undergoing in the human organism during exposure to the simulation environment, and to propose possible measures to improve the daily lives of those working in space before, during and after their mission(s).

Imane : Stress (urines + saliva) + faeces
Alba : Immunity (saliva and blood)
Arnaud : Sleep (physiological data + sleep questionnaires) + Stress (physiological data + urines)
Loriane : Psychology (personality questionnaire)

Crew 295 Mission Plan

We are the University of Colorado Mars In Simulated Surface Environments (MISSE) 2024 crew. Our mission is to provide interdisciplinary training to students interested in the intersections of human health, performance and medical care in an extraplanetary environment. Our students bring a broad set of experiences from military service, paramedic training, human physiology, aerospace engineering, and computer programing and are representative of future astronaut crews. This is our 5th year of running this course and we are extremely grateful to be back at MDRS to provide our students with a unique learning opportunity. This course is based around didactic lectures and simulated high fidelity EVAs where crews work in operational teams to complete simulated spaceflight goals like finding a satellite or launching a rocket. During these missions a medical contingency occurs and the crews are forced to respond and provide simulated medical care. This year we have build and included a medical module built into a trailer for the students to practice their wilderness and space medicine skills. Over the course of the week at MDRS our students learn about space through our hands on learning approach of field simulation. Prior students have listed this as their favorite class at the University of Colorado and many of them have gone on to work in human health and performance in spaceflight. We have an excellent group of students this year and are looking forward to another great week at MDRS as part of the MISSE course!

Anderson, Arian

Leanne Hirshfield
Dr. Leanne Hirshfield’s research explores the use of non-invasive brain measurement to passively classify users’ social, cognitive, and affective states in order to enhance usability testing and adaptive system design. She works primarily with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a relatively new non-invasive brain imaging device that is safe, portable, robust to noise, which can be implemented wirelessly; making it ideal for research in human-computer interaction. The high density fNIRS equipment in Hirshfield’s lab provides rich spatio-temporal data that is well suited as input into deep neural networks and other advanced machine learning algorithms. A primary tenet of Hirshfield’s machine learning research involves building and labeling large cross-participant, cross-task fNIRS training datasets in order to build robust and generalizable models that can avoid overfitting and succeed in ecologically valid environments outside the lab.

Marta Čeko
Dr. Marta Čeko’s research explores brain mechanisms of pain and negative affect in health and disease. She combines computational modeling with neuroimaging, behavioral data and multiple types of physiological data to develop predictive and generalizable brain and physiology-based models of aversive processing and regulation.

James Crum
James is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Cognitive Science. More specifically, he is a cognitive neuroscientist at SHINE Lab. He uses multimodal methods (e.g., fMRI, fNIRS, deep-learning, etc.) in ‘real-world’ and lab-based paradigms to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting cognitive security (i.e., how the brain defends against information-based threats). This research is supported by the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiatives (MURI) Program.

Emily Doherty
Emily is a third-year PhD student in computer and cognitive science working in the SHINE Lab. Her research explores human-AI teaming using multimodal methods (non-invasive neuroimaging, natural language processing, machine learning) in varied contexts spanning from education to extreme environments. She is particularly interested in the design of equitable AI that not only enhances cognitive capabilities but also broadly serves society.

Name of person filing report: Emily Doherty
Our Crew is as follows:
Commander: Leanne Hirshfield
Crew Engineer: Marta Čeko
HSO: James Crum
Journalist: Emily Doherty

Mission Plan: Crew 294 is comprised of two research professors, 1 post-doc, and 1 PhD student with expertise in the use of neurophysiological sensors to measure human social, cognitive, and affective states in ecologically valid settings. Crew 294 will be testing several neurophysiological sensors for the purpose of planning out future experimental studies. Specifically, the capabilities (ergonomics, bluetooth range, signal fidelity across distances) of several sensors will be tested within the Hab and during a few proposed EVAs, weather permitting.

We have two primary objectives:
To immerse ourselves within the simulation to better understand what a crew on Mars would experience in order to inform future study designs on similar populations in similar environments.
To test the feasibility of several neurophysiological sensors on ourselves (eye tracking, peripheral physiology, neuroimaging, audio, virtual reality) while at MDRS.
This mission will therefore provide our research team (crew 294) with greater knowledge about MDRS to design studies to propose to run in future visits.

[title Crew biographies, photos and mission patch – February 18th]

Yves Bejach

Yves Bejach joined ISAE Supaero to pursue his passion for space. With this in mind, and to get closer to the world of research, he joined the crew as Crew Scientist, responsible for ensuring that experiments run smoothly and protocols are respected. Together with his crew, he hopes to continue extending the scientific scope of the project, and to take advantage of this mission to popularize science.

Léa Bourgély

Léa Bourgély joined ISAE-Supaéro after completing a degree in physics in Paris, with a major in astrophysics. In line with her passion for astronomy and astrophysics, she has taken on the role of Astronomer for Crew 293. She will be in charge of the station’s two telescopes, and her astronomy project will involve studying Coronal Mass Ejections and sunspots, in order to assess their speed and direction.

Lise Lefauconnier

Lise Lefauconnier, a 2nd year student at ISAE and originally from Normandy, has long been interested in space exploration, and more particularly in the physiological impact of manned flight on human beings. This interest in the study of human reactions and behavior, her natural sensitivity and attentiveness to others, and her experience as a gymnast are what motivate her in her role: she will be a health and safety officer, in charge of the moral and physical well-being of the crew, through daily sports sessions in the station and moments of team-building.

Leo Tokaryev

A long-standing space enthusiast, Leo Tokaryev has joined crew 293 as a flight engineer to conduct experiments that will advance scientific research in space. During this mission, he will be responsible for keeping the station and its scientific instruments in good working order. Leo is particularly interested in space hardware test experiments, which will help develop tools for astronauts.

Marie Delaroche

Marie Delaroche is a student at ISAE Supaero. Having grown up in New York in a multicultural environment, she decided to return to France to study space engineering and manned flight. After a first mission at MDRS as Crew Journalist, she joined Crew 293 to serve as Commander, with the aim of continuing to extend the scientific and educational reach of Supaero’s MDRS project.
Her experience and kindness will be major assets to the success of crew 293’s mission in 2024!

Erin Pougheon

Erin Pougheon is a second-year student at ISAE-SUPAERO. Having heard about the MDRS project, she decided to join the school to study space and manned flight, a field she’s been passionate about since childhood. MDRS is an opportunity to realize her dream of contributing to space exploration efforts. An avid writer, she will be the crew’s journalist, reporting on the mission and sharing her experiences with the spacefaring community.

Mathurin Franck

After completing preparatory classes at the Lycée Pierre de Fermat, Mathurin Franck went on to pursue his dreams of space exploration and piloting at ISAE SUPAERO. With his heart set on collaborating as closely as possible with the major entities in the space sector, he wants to participate and bring his conviction, values, seriousness and skills to space exploration, to contribute to technological evolution and to be a stakeholder in this formidable human adventure that breaks down all frontiers. So it’s with great pleasure that he takes part in this mission in the role of botanist, and is ready to take science to the next level!

Crew 293 Mission plan 19Feb2024

Name of person filing report: Yves Bejach

Our Crew is as follows:

Commander: Marie Delaroche

Executive Officer / GreenHab Officer: Mathurin Franck

Astronomer: Lea Bourgély

Engineer: Leo Tokaryev

HSO: Lise Lefauconnier

Journalist: Erin Pougheon

Scientist: Yves Bejach

Crew 293, gathering 7 students of ISAE-Supaero (Toulouse, France) is planning to perform a range of scientific experiments that articulates around two main axes: human factors experiment and technology demonstrations. It is the 10th consecutive mission from Supaero students and the second one to last 4 weeks.

Physics

Two experiments from the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) have been performed at the MDRS for several years already. We are planning to gather additional data for this season as well. These activities will require EVAs.

· LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter): LOAC is an optical aerosol counter, measuring the concentrations of different particles in the air and classifying them by size.
Related EVAs: Two EVAs planned for the first week to install the device. Every two days, the batteries will have to be changed and the data will have to be collected. The latter procedures can be part of other EVAs.
External points of contact: Jean-Pierre Lebreton and Jean-Baptiste Renard, CNRS.
Point of contact within the crew: Lea Bourgely.

· Mega-Ares: Mega-Ares is a sensor precisely measuring the electric field and the conductivity of the air. It is the little brother of Micro-Ares, the only payload of the Schiaparelli lander (ExoMars 2016). This year we’ll also install a wind-mill that will give us aditionnal data.
Related EVAs: Performed simultaneously with the EVAs planned for LOAC. Two EVAs planned for the first week to install the device. Every two days, the batteries will have to be changed and the data will have to be collected. The latter procedures can be part of other EVAs.
External points of contact: Jean-Pierre Lebreton and Jean-Baptiste Renard, CNRS.
Point of contact within the crew: Lea Bourgely.

Technology

Technology demonstrations are planned, one of them being the continuation of the two last missions of ISAE-Supaero (Crew 263 and 275). They are based on technologies developed by the French Space Agency (CNES) and its health subsidiary (MEDES).

· AI4U: AI4U is an AI tool designed to help and assist astronauts in their daily tasks (environmental measurements, voice recognition). The aim is to test this AI assistant in real or close-to-real scenarios.
Related EVAs: None.
External points of contact: Gregory Navarro and Laure Boyer, CNES.
Point of contact within the crew: Mathurin Franck.

· Echofinder: Onboard the ISS, ultrasound scanners are teleoperated by trained specialists. As we travel further away from Earth, communication delays will increase and teleoperated devices will no longer be usable. The goal of Echofinder is to enable autonomous ultrasound acquisition sessions without any knowledge in medicine and any communication link with an experienced sonographer. The Echofinder tool uses augmented reality and an AI to help the operator capture usable imagery of the subject’s organs.
Related EVAs: None.
External point of contact: Aristée Thévenon, MEDES.
Point of contact within the crew: Yves Bejach.

· Photogrammetry: Re-conducting an experiment started by last year’s crew (Crew 275) which aims to determine how a 3D map created thanks to drone photogrammetry could improve an EVA crew’s performance during an outing.

Related EVAs: Three EVAs per week, starting the second week. The first one’s goal is to create the 3D map and decide where to position checkpoints on a designated area (one area per week). For the 2nd and 3rd ones, the EVA team will go to each checkpoint, having prepared the EVA using the standard 2D and 3D map respectively.

External point of contact: Alice Chapiron, ISAE Supaero student (Crew275)

Point of contact within the crew: Yves Bejach

· Neuroergonomy: Experiment aiming to evaluate the importance of vision compared to other senses in our perception of space.

Related EVAs: None

External point of contact: Maelis Lefebvre, ISAE-Supaero

Point of contact within the crew: Leo Tokaryev

Human factors

Human factors experiments are arguably the ones that benefit the most from taking place during an analogous mission.

· KTHitecture: Measure of the stress of analog astronauts and of the influence of environmental parameters on the stress using Polar bands bracelets, sleep monitoring using Dreem headbands, questionnaires, evaluation of the position of the analog astronauts in the station, and environmental measurement (temperature, humidity, etc.).
Related EVAs: None.
External point of contact: Michail Magkos, KTH.
Point of contact within the crew: Lise Lefauconnier.

· MELiSSA: The MELiSSA project (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative) is a European project led by the European Space Agency (ESA) aiming at developing a highly circular and regenerative life support system for space missions. The ALiSSE methodology (Advanced Life Support System Alternative) was developed as part of the project to provide an impartial evaluation tool of each technology system, including mass, energy and power, efficiency, crew time, crew risk, reliability, and durability. The proposed activity within the MELiSSA project focuses on the operational aspects of preparing recipes from higher plants and aims for a preliminary evaluation of the "crew time" criterion.

Related EVAs: None

External point of contact: Blandine Gorce, ESA

Point of contact within the crew: Mathurin Franck

· Trace Lab: The purpose of this research is to better understand the role that emotion and coping strategies have on team dynamics within ICE (Isolated, Confined, Extreme) teams. The findings from this study will aid in the understanding of the role of affect within teams operating in ICE conditions – something that has been highlighted as being important by researchers, Antarctic expeditioners, and astronauts. Experiment conducted in collaboration with Trace Lab, University of Florida.

Related EVAs: None

External point of contact: Andres Kaosaar

Point of contact within the crew: Marie Delaroche

· AMI – Anomalies Monitoring Interface: Software allowing random anomalies to occur within the station to simulate problems that could happen in a real environment and see how we could react. The main goal is to improve the simulation.

Related EVAs: Potentially emergency EVAs in case of depressurization of ammoniac leak. It is worth noting that such emergencies cannot be mistaken for real ones as it is not a problem that can occur within our earthly MDRS.

External point of contact: Quentin Royer, ISAE Supaero student (Crew275)

Point of contact within the crew: Marie Delaroche

· Timepercept: Subjective time perception in confined environments, such as isolation or imprisonment, often leads to a distortion of time experience. The phenomenon is significant in understanding the psychological effects of confinement and has implications for mental health management in isolated or controlled settings like space missions or solitary confinement. Experiment conducted with the University of Krakow.

Related EVAs: None

External point of contact: Mateusz Daniol

Point of contact within the crew: Erin Pougheon

Outreach

· Media: Several articles and interviews in French newspaper and on radio

· Scientific mediation: We, like all Supaero Crews that came before us, try to share our passion for space and science in general by engaging in intervention in middle and high school. This year, we developed with high-schoolers a 3-step project around growing food on Mars.

Related EVAs: One as early as possible to retrieve some martian soil in which to plant radish seeds.

External point of contact: None

Point of contact within the crew: Mathurin Franck

Clare Fletcher
Clare Fletcher (they/she) is a PhD candidate at the University of New South Wales’s Australian Centre for Astrobiology in Sydney, Australia. Their PhD focuses on exogeoconservation of Mars – understanding important geological sites and features, particularly potential evidence of life and palaeoenvironments, and how we can best protect them while allowing continued exploration of Mars. Clare has previously completed an MPhil which focused on creating a roadmap for the geoconservation of the oldest evidence of life on Earth – 3.5 Gya stromatolite fossils in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, which have been studied by space agencies in preparation for Mars missions such as Mars2020 Perseverance.
In Crew 292 Mangalyaatra Clare will undertake the role of Crew Journalist, utilising their experience as a science writer to convey the experiences of the crew and articulate the research they undertake. Clare is additionally undertaking research for their PhD while at the Mars Desert Research Station and is participating in both Crew 291 Expedition Boomerang 3 and Crew 292 Mangalyaatra. Over four weeks at the MDRS, Clare’s research for their PhD will seek to understand how humans impact the Mars environment over varying temporal and spatial scales. The key outcome of Clare’s time at the MDRS will be to create a method to determine in situ what astrobiological features need to be protected and how to best do that. The purpose of this study is to come up with a way for astronauts and mission teams to effectively consider exogeoconservation as they explore and sample, without necessitating extensive reconnaissance for every location or outcrop. No such studies have been conducted before, and there is currently no best practice for scientific sampling that takes into account the protection of vitally important study features on Mars while still allowing sampling.
Clare is a member of the Mars Society of Australia, the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, and the IAA Moon Farside Protection Permanent Committee. They have worked as a writer for SpaceAustralia.com and helped run social media accounts for the Australian Centre for Astrobiology. Clare has presented their work at the UN COPUOS Legal Subcommittee Meeting in 2023 and at various conferences across Australia. Clare also teaches courses in astrobiology and science communication at the University of New South Wales.

Annalea Beattie
Dr. Annalea Beattie is an artist who uses art as a methodology for thinking about how we might live together in the future on Mars. Her art practice is set on space science expeditions to extreme environments on Earth, those that have conditions analogous to other celestial bodies. This is her third trip to Utah. In her last rotation to the Mars Desert Research Station, Annalea was a crew member of the three-month space simulation and science mission Mars 160. On this rotation she will lead Crew 292.
Apart from this busy role, Annalea’s own art-based research will focus on environmental stewardship, exploring a politics of care through dialogue, reflection and making art. Through co-creation, art making will address the nuances and complexities of what constitutes a frontier environment, looking closely at concepts of ‘wilderness’ and ‘free’ space. With the aim of broadening our understanding of how we imprint onto worlds that are not our own, her project thinks through materials and making to develop an ethics of reciprocal responsibility, one that can be translated to elsewhere⎯to Ladakh⎯and when we travel off-Earth to Mars. This project will emphasise our collective responsibility to both the human and the nonhuman and the potential of art as a catalyst for change.
Annalea Beattie is a Director of Mars Society Australia and of the National Space Society of Australia. She has contributed to four Springer volumes on extra-terrestrial liberty, speculating through her art practice how art making can sustain and invigorate communities off-Earth. Annalea is Adjunct Professor at the Centre of Excellence in Astrobiology, Amity University, Mumbai. She is a member of the International Dark Sky Association and The Association of Mars Explorers.

Aditya Krishna Karigiri Madhusudhan
Aditya is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at McGill University in Canada, specializing in observational cosmology. His research focuses on studying dark energy via 21-cm intensity mapping using large radio interferometers. Prior to this, Aditya earned his B. Tech in Mechatronics engineering, cultivating expertise in robotics, machine learning, and electronics. He later followed his passion to explore the world of astrophysics by undertaking the visiting student position at Raman Research Institute, India. Aditya delved into the realm of radio astronomy, laying the foundation for his current exploration of the early universe at McGill.
As the crew executive officer and crew astronomer, Aditya is determined to foster a collaborative and efficient team environment. In his role as the Executive Officer, he is focused on ensuring smooth communication and coordination among crew members, optimizing workflow, and addressing any operational challenges that may arise during missions. As the designated crew astronomer, his central objective is to formulate comprehensive plans and effective strategies for the construction of an observatory in preparation for the upcoming analog station in India. In addition to this, his secondary objective is to make use of the MDRS Musk observatory to capture and analyse potential solar events which in turn will provide a deeper understanding of solar phenomena and its implications for space travel and exploration.
Using his expertise in radio astronomy, Aditya aims to set up a simple radio telescope to detect radio emissions from space objects. Radio waves can penetrate through various obstacles, such as dust clouds and gas, that can block visible light. They can be operated 24 hours a day and are not affected by weather conditions. Having a radio telescope complements the existing optical telescopes and can provide a deeper understanding of celestial objects across various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Bharti Sharma
Bharti Sharma, an exceptional geologist and visionary behind AADYA – PLANETARY AND GEOSCIENCE RESEARCH, stands as a shining example of unwavering dedication to pushing the boundaries of geology. With a Bachelor’s in Earth Science from Amity University Haryana and Master’s in Geology from Doon University, Bharti has woven together a colorful tapestry of experiences in the GIS and Geoscience industries, research, and impactful roles as a Field Teaching Assistant. Her brainchild, AADYA, serves as a stronghold for Geotourism, Skill Development, Collaborative Research, and Geo-Consultancy, showcasing her immense passion as a geologist and a Geo-Space Entrepreneur, a term which has coined for herself.
Bharti’s passion for planetary geology grew significantly during her time as a Research and Field Teaching Assistant in Ladakh. This experience served as the starting point for her exploration of the mysteries surrounding celestial bodies. With a specialization in planetary analogue research, she skillfully identifies similarities between various celestial entities and Earth, delving into the complexities of their beginnings and development. Her unwavering dedication to the field of planetary geology establishes her as a pioneering figure, continuously advancing humanity’s knowledge of cosmic phenomena.
As the Science lead of MDRS CREW 292, her mission is to study the geological and geomorphological features of Utah, intricately linking them with the terrain of Leh and Mars. Equipped with field analysis and remote sensing techniques, her primary goal remains the comprehensive understanding of various terrestrial analogue sites, thus bridging the gap between Mars and Earth Geology.
As an enthusiastic member of Women in Space South Asia, Bharti actively promotes increased female participation in space science, fostering opportunities for aspiring space enthusiasts. Apart from her illustrious career in geology, Bharti finds solace and motivation in exploring various landscapes around the world, satisfying her innate curiosity about the diverse aspects of our planet.

Daniel Loy
Daniel Loy is a first year Astrobiology PhD student from the Open University (UK) who will be fulfilling the roles of Crew Biologist and Health and Safety Officer for Crew 292. In his PhD project he is investigating and characterising the microbial communities and their interactions with the host sediments of the Makgadikgadi Basin in Botswana. The Makgadikgadi contains several salt flats with conditions that are very similar to ancient Mars, so this research will also be used as an analogue for the Noachian-Hesperian transition in Mars’ early history.
As the Crew Biologist, Daniel’s project will focus on recovering and extracting DNA from halophiles and other extremophiles to investigate the functional and taxonomic diversity of salt deposits and other gathered samples. Daniel will build on the established foundation of the research conducted in previous analog missions at the MDRS through the application of cultivation-dependant techniques that he developed during his Masters research project on recovery of entombed halophiles from salt crystals to isolate cultures of halophile; growth experiments will then be used to identify the metabolic potential of these isolates.
Daniel will also develop, modify and employ field-appropriate cultivation-independent techniques; this will involve use of the Bento Lab, a portable centrifuge, gel station and PCR machine, in combination with Hot Start PCR polymerases, PCR primers for an array of biogeochemical cycling genes and the MoBio DNA extraction kit, which will be modified for application with reduced facilities. With this combination of equipment, Daniel will perform DNA extractions in the hab-unit with both his isolates and Utah Desert Samples collected under mission-simulated conditions. These DNA samples will then be screened for functional genes via PCR.
This combination of techniques will provide baseline of fundamental cultivation dependant (isolations) and cultivation independent techniques (DNA extraction and PCR) that are achievable under analog mission parameters. This will then form the methodological framework for training framework and protocols that could then be carried out by non-biologists for future crews, at the MDRS, the Ladakh research station site or other locations. These techniques also represent more low-cost and sustainable techniques that can be carried out long-term and do not depend on reagents with a short shelf life.
Daniel Loy is a Junior Officer with the Royal Naval Reserves in the UK alongside his current studentship. He has previously investigated halophiles during his Masters research project with a focus on entombing microorganisms in salt to study how rapidly they recover and grow once outside of the crystals.

Mehnaz Jabeen
Mehanz Jabeen trained as a Geoinformatics professional at The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI ) School of Advance Studies Leh. She is a member of the Ladakh Science Foundation. Her Geoinformatics is an interdisciplinary branch of science which deals with cartographic geovisualisation, GIS, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, spatial statistics, multivariate statistics and other advanced tools and techniques. She is able to contribute in all kinds of spatial analysis using different geospatial techniques, artificial intelligence & machine learning, generate maps and provide valuable contextual information to science and planning teams. Mehnaz is experienced in applying geospatial technologies to solve real world challenges in environmental, social and economic domains by acquisition of data, exploring, visualizing and analyzing various spatial data. In Utah she will primarily focus on the green hab. Her own interest is how we might combine traditional nomadic knowledge to establish a green house in Ladakh where natural vegetation grows and survives in winters when temperatures drop to minus 20 degrees.

Rajvi Patel
Mangalyaatra Crew Engineer Rajvi is an aerospace engineer at Kaleidoscope Innovation where she works on commercial aircrafts to make them safe to fly. She pursued her master’s in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor with a specialization in Space Systems working on satellites and space mission design. Prior to this, she worked at Raytheon Technologies in Bengaluru, India. During her journey in India, Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC) was her second home where she explored the world of science beyond the rigid framework of theoretical classes. Throughout her life, she has explored her passion for engineering by working with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aircrafts, robots, satellites, and spacecrafts. She loves to build things and make it work. She aspires to be a space explorer which drives her motivation for being on Crew 292.
Additionally, Rajvi has led multiple community initiatives like educating underprivileged kids and awareness activities for women empowerment. She co-led an international organization called Graduate Rackham International (GRIN) at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. She also loves hiking, traveling, reading, doing yoga and swimming.
As a Crew Engineer on team Mangalyaatra, she will utilize her engineering expertise to routinely monitor the equipment used by the crew and repair them in case of systems failure. Her duty will include providing daily status reports for each piece of equipment. In addition to these responsibilities, she will conduct her research that primarily focuses on propellant production utilizing water-bearing minerals at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), Utah. Utilizing such propellants could decrease the cost of interplanetary travel and prove to be an additional source of propellant for the space exploration crew.

MANGALYATRI Mission Plan
Mars Desert Research Station
Crew 292, February 4-17, 2024

Crew 292 Mangalyatri comprises of:

Bharti Sharma- Science lead and Crew Geologist.
Daniel Loy- Crew Biologist and Health and Safety Officer.
Clare Fletcher- Geoconservationist and Crew Journalist.
Mehnaz Jabeen- Geoinformatics specialist and Green Hab Officer
Rajvi Patel- Crew Engineer
Aditya Krishna Karigiri Madhusudhan- XO and Crew Astronomer.
Annalea Beattie- Artist in Residence and Crew Commander.

Outreach and on-the-ground crew:
Sakshi Sharma in Jaipur, India and Ilankuzhali Elavarasan in Texas, USA.

External Directors:
Dr. Jen Blank
Dr. Siddharth Pandey
Dr. Anushree Srivastava

Mangalyatri means ‘Mars Expeditioners’ or ‘Mars Crew’ in Hindi. Mangalyatri Crew 292 to the Mars Desert Research Station has a team mission focus on learning as much as we can about Mars analogues from the largest and longest running analogue research station in the world, with the aim of building a science desert research station in Ladakh. In other words, this mostly Indian national crew has a mission focus on what we can learn from one analogue station to build another.

Mangalyatri is fielded by Mars Society Australia. MSA has a long history of sending crews to the Mars Desert Research Station and we would like to build own station at Arkaroola one day with the support of the U.S Mars Society. In the last decade we have also worked with institutions in India such as the Centre of Excellence in Astrobiology, Amity University, Mumbai, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow and more, at Mars analogue sites in India. We have fielded expeditions to sites like Lonar which is a basalt crater similar to that of Jezero, to one of the biggest salt deserts in the world, the Great Raan of Katchchh, and in the past few years we have jointly organised three consecutive expeditions to the high glacial deserts of Ladakh with the team from Amity University’s Centre of Excellence in Astrobiology.

In Utah our interdisciplinary MSA Crew 292 will consider the implications of what it means to live and work in simulation in a Mars-like environment, in a vast and ancient desert that is an actual geological Martian analogue. At the same time, overall, our team goals focus on what we can learn from the systems, science and science operations in Utah to apply this knowledge to future work in Ladakh.

Geologist Bharti Sharma is our Science lead and her mission is to study the geological and geomorphological features of Utah, intricately linking them with the terrain of Ladakh and Mars. Equipped with field analysis and remote sensing techniques, her primary goal remains the comprehensive understanding of terrestrial analogue sites, thus bridging the gap between Mars and Earth geology.

As our Crew Biologist, Daniel Loy’s project will focus on recovering and extracting DNA from halophiles and other extremophiles to investigate the functional and taxonomic diversity of salt deposits and other gathered samples. Importantly, Daniel will also develop, modify and employ field-appropriate cultivation-independent techniques to provide a baseline of fundamental cultivation dependant (isolations) and cultivation independent techniques (DNA extraction and PCR) that are achievable under analogue mission parameters. This will inform a methodological framework for training, and protocols that could then be carried out by non-biologists for future crews⎯at the MDRS, at the Ladakh research station site in the Himalayas or other locations. Daniel is also our Health and Safety Officer.

Clare Fletcher’s PhD focuses on exogeoconservation of Mars – understanding important geological sites and features, particularly potential evidence of life and palaeoenvironments, and how we can best protect them while allowing continued exploration of Mars. Clare is participating in both MSA Crew 291 Expedition Boomerang 3 and Crew 292 Mangalyatri. The key outcome of Clare’s time at the MDRS will be to create a method to determine in situ what astrobiological features need to be protected and how to best do that. The purpose of the study is to come up with a way for astronauts and mission teams to effectively consider exogeoconservation as they explore and sample, without necessitating extensive reconnaissance for every location or outcrop. In Crew 292 Mangalyatri Clare will also undertake the role of Crew Journalist.

As the designated crew astronomer, astrophysicist Aditya Krishna Karigiri Madhusudhan’s central objective is to formulate comprehensive plans and effective strategies for the construction of an observatory in preparation for the upcoming analogue station in India. In addition to this, his secondary objective is to make use of the MDRS Musk observatory to capture and analyse potential solar events which in turn will provide a deeper understanding of solar phenomena and its implications for space travel and exploration. Aditya is second in command and XO for this crew.

Rajvi Patel is our Crew Engineer. Her role is to keep all our general and particular systems in the hab, and the equipment inside and out, running and safe. Her duties will include providing daily status reports for each piece of equipment. In addition to these responsibilities, she will conduct research that primarily focuses on understanding propellant production utilizing water-bearing minerals at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), Utah. Utilizing such propellants could decrease the cost of interplanetary travel and prove to be an additional source of propellant for the space exploration crew.

An active member of the Ladakh Science Foundation and a Geoinformatics professional, Mehnaz Jabeen is experienced in applying geospatial technologies to solve real world challenges in environmental, social and economic domains by acquisition of data, exploring, visualizing and analyzing various spatial data. In Utah she will take on the role of Green Hab Officer. Her own interest is how we might combine traditional nomadic knowledge to establish a greenhouse at our research station in Ladakh where natural vegetation grows and survives in winters when temperatures drop to minus 20 degrees. In Utah Mehnaz will explore the spatial and temporal variations of temperature, humidity and soil moisture to identify critical thermo-hydrological thresholds in the Green Hab, those that influence evapotranspiration dynamics. She will collect data and calculate actual and potential evapotranspiration through established equations, applying the Budyko curve to decipher the ecosystems response to altered temperature and humidity regimes. The outcome of her research will not only contribute to our fundamental understanding of controlled ecosystem dynamics but will also provide precise insights into optimizing temperature and humidity parameters for enhanced plant growth and resource management in artificial habitats, especially in Ladakh (India) with extreme climate conditions and Mars like terrain.
Dr. Annalea Beattie is Crew Commander and artist for Mangalyatri 292. Annalea’s own art-based research will focus on environmental stewardship, exploring a politics of care through dialogue, reflection and making art. Through co-creation, art making will address the nuances and complexities of what constitutes a frontier environment, looking closely at concepts of ‘wilderness’ and ‘free’ space. The crew of Mangalyatri will be given their own art materials and sketchbooks. They will be invited to think laterally, to search for alternative knowledge through drawing and writing as they begin to recognise something of their own unique position in the vast landscape of the desert. This project aims to broaden understanding of how we imprint onto worlds that are not our own. Our team will be encouraged to develop an ethics of reciprocal responsibility, one that can be translated to elsewhere⎯to Ladakh⎯and when we travel off-Earth to Mars.
In terms of outreach to India, during the second week of our rotation our crew will join online with Amity University’s Centre of Excellence in Astrobiology Mumbai, in conversation with the very first cohort of postgraduate astrobiology students in India. For this live event we will be joined by members of Women in Space South Asia, an organisation which emerged from our Ladakhi expeditions in 2021and is supported by Mars Society Australia. Three of our crew are founding members of Women in Space South Asia including Sakshi Sharma who is our outreach person on the ground in India. With our partners in India, our team goal is to learn as much as we can from our experiences in Utah and apply that knowledge in Ladakh – to ensure the significance of astrobiological and analogue research studies, especially in relation to Mars.