Category: Science Report

[category science-report]

Title: Testing Approaches to the Analysis and Utilization of Martian Regolith

Members: Aravind Karthigeyan, Noah Mugan, Prakruti Raghunarayan

Current Progress:

At the moment, the three of us have been analyzing and retrieving a lot of samples. We are analyzing them by taking these bulk materials and grinding them into a fine powder like substance and exfoliating them. We then add this to PDMS and put it under a microscope to see if they separate into bulk material, bilayers, or monolayers. For certain substances, such as the fine Martian soil and White Mound samples, we noticed that there was thinning, which usually would indicate the presence of a bilayer. We are also currently intrigued by the igneous rock we found and were finally able to cut into. We will attempt to tell the age of the rock by looking at geological studies and hopefully be able to tell more about the history of the area and the activity that may have occurred there. Application wise, this technique would be useful to learn about activity and geology on Mars. Spectroscopy was how the composition of the Martian terrain was analyzed in the first place and now we can add a second element of geology.

Another way we have been analyzing the samples is through radiation analysis. Our second experiments involves how various forms of radiation such as gamma rays and beta rays can tell us important information about the components of the regolith and larger rocks. Though most of the rocks were indistinguishable from background radiation, the samples we found that did have elevated levels of radiation measured in counts per minute were samples next to the rover trails and certain petrified wood deposits, which we found at Zubrin’s Head (519250, 4248500). This makes it increasingly likely that deposits of radioactive material won’t be a major problem for human activity, but it also confirms that using simple tools such as a geiger counter, we can determine radiation levels fast and accurately.

Yet another form of geologic analysis utilizes live samples. Our third experiment involves growing 3 sets of radishes, one in potting soil and two in two separate replications of Martian regolith. Following the conclusion of our research here at MDRS, we will be able to conduct nutrient analysis to determine if there are any elemental deficiencies or excesses in the radishes grown in the “Martian” soil. With the potting soil radishes as our control group, this will allow us to determine how astronauts may need to supplement any crops grown on Mars.

Before traveling to MDRS, the radishes had been growing for almost three weeks and had two visible radish bulbs from the potting soil and one in the analog Martian soil. The samples were a little rattled on the plane ride, but there was nothing worse than a fallen leaf or two. Unfortunately, we suffered a setback upon placing the radishes in the grow tent when we arrived. For some unknown reason, the radishes halted growth and wilted when moved inside the grow tent, with many different samples exhibiting black spots on leaves. We believe this may be due to stale air inside the grow tent or the accumulation of dark gunk at the bottom of the tent. After moving the plants outside the tent and trimming the dead leaves, we observed many radishes grow healthy again and we are optimistically hoping for more bulbs to peak above the soil. The radishes are currently situated on a table in the science dome with a desk lamp placed directly above.

Astronomy: So far, we have imaged at the Musk Observatory twice. However, the data from the second imaging run was lost due to a hardware issue. The first imaging data has been processed and may be processed again towards the end of our mission once we gain more experience. We will continue imaging at the Musk Observatory for the duration of our mission, weather permitting. Our test images for the Robotic Observatory in New Mexico were delayed for a month due to unfavorable weather conditions. We received our test images when we were already on Mars, so we are still working on extracting their data via photometry. We aim to image our target star BD-07 3632 once a night for the rest of the mission, should conditions allow.

Engineering:

Members: Rishabh Pandey

Current Progress: I have conducted multiple drone flights to capture video footage of various target environments around the HAB. These environments include paths along Cow Dung Road and spots that are further from the roads for walking EVAs. The captured videos have been processed using photogrammetry software to generate 3D models. The software alongside some of my developed code stitches together multiple frames from the video to create accurate and detailed representations of the environment. The models have been verified for scale and accuracy against existing topological maps and self-measurements. The generated models are currently being processed to determine if they are viable for further development, that is, the models are being checked to remove any incorrect artifacts and inconsistencies. Work is currently being done to ensure features such as pathways, obstacles, and terrain variables are clearly identifiable in order to apply a pathfinding artificial intelligence model. Using algorithms such as Dijkstras the model has been shown to find possible paths in sandbox environments. Some potential complexities to future development would be the large volume of data that needs to be processed alongside the vast and sudden changes in terrain, with ground going from hard-packed soil to loose sand, which would lead to large variations within a pathfinding algorithm.

[title End-Mission Research Report – February 16th]
[category science-report]

Crew 292 End-of-Mission Report

MANGALYATRI (Mars Explorers)
Mars Society Australia
February 4th – Feb 17th, 2024

Crew Members

Commander: Dr. Annalea Beattie
Crew Science Lead and Geologist: Bharti Sharma
Health and Safety Officer and Crew Biologist: Daniel Loy
Crew Engineer: Rajvi Patel
Green Hab Officer and Geospatial Information Specialist: Mehnaz Jabeen
Crew Astronomer and XO: Aditya Karigiri Krishna Madhusudhan
Crew Journalist and Geo-conservationist: Clare Fletcher

Mission Overview: Planning for Ladakh
Mangalyatri MDRS Crew 292 is a primarily Indian national crew fielded by Mars Society Australia. In the last decade MSA has worked with institutions and organisations in India and elsewhere, to jointly field space science crews to sites in India that have similar conditions to those you might find on planets like Mars. Mangalyatri 292 has an overall focus on what we can learn here from the Mars Desert Research Station, Utah, so that we can build a Science Desert Research Station in the high glacial deserts of the Himalayas, Ladakh, India.
Ladakh is a very cold, very high-altitude desert region, (3500 to 5700 metres above sea level) in the eastern part of the state of Jammu-Kashmir of northern India. Ladakh has lower levels of oxygen in its atmosphere and high levels of UV radiation because of its altitude. It usually receives little rainfall and experiences large fluctuations in temperature between seasons and between day and night. Its glacial deposits and regions, dune and intra dune ponds, hot springs, hypersaline lakes and permafrost regions are high-altitude environments for off-earth analogue and astrobiology research. In this harsh environment, breathlessness and ataxia are common, and it is often difficult to move around. Our expeditions carry oxygen tanks and we travel with a doctor. Presently, there is no dedicated Mars analogue science research station with living quarters, laboratories, and communication services in Ladakh or anywhere else in the Southern hemisphere.

Investigators:
All Crew. The members of Mangalyatri Crew 292 at the Mars Desert Research Station were chosen because of their research interests and secondly, their ability to think ahead to the future for a science desert research station in South Asia. For this rotation, our crew shares this common goal. Keeping this in mind, during our time at MDRS each person has different objectives and tasks aligned to their own field of knowledge, whether it be science, science operations, design, systems in the hab or green hab, art, astronomy or geoconservation. We are all driven by the science, carrying out field science and scientific research to compare different, extreme, terrestrial environments to understand more about the extraterrestrial. Our aim here is to develop frameworks for sustainable analogue research in terms of both science and science operations. We have learnt so much from living and working together in simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station.
For instance, as mentioned in previous reports, our Science Lead Crew Geologist is comparing the geology and geomorphology of both this region and Ladakh which can then be compared with Martian landscapes to identify similarities. Our Crew Engineer is interested in design materials and systems, whether this be power requirements and sizing of generators/ solar panel arrays, toilets and pumping, or interior space layout. In the Green Hab, our Green Hab Officer uses geospatial information to understand how we might establish a greenhouse in Ladakh where natural vegetation grows and survives in winters when temperatures drop to minus 20 degrees. Our Crew Astronomer is formulating comprehensive plans and effective strategies for the construction of an observatory in preparation for the upcoming analogue science station in India. Our Crew Biologist is testing operations using portable scientific equipment to inform protocols and baseline equipment required for future analogue simulation sites, for use by both biologist and non-biologists. Our Crew Journalist uses their geoconservation research to better understand how a proposed Mars analogue station in Ladakh could implement geoconservation practices from its inception. As Artist-in-residence here at MDRS, my role is to think through drawing to broaden our understanding of how we live and work together in simulation. I’m interested in how we imprint onto land that is not our own and how, by using art making as a methodology, we can develop an ethics of reciprocal responsibility, one that can be translated to elsewhere⎯to Ladakh⎯and when we travel off-Earth to Mars.

Current status:
Please see individual research reports for progress.

EVA’s:
All our field work has contributed to this project.

Exploring Planetary Analogue: Deciphering Geomorphometric and Slope Analysis across Analog Environments

Investigators:
Bharti Sharma in collaboration with Clare Fletcher (CREW 292), Mehnaz Jabeen (CREW 292), Dr. Annalea Patricia Beattie (CREW 292), Daniel Loy (CREW 292), Dr. R. P. Singh (University of Allahabad), Dr. Jonathan A. Clark (Mars Society Australia) and Prof. Colin Pain (Mars Society Australia)

Overview:
The goal is to measure the slopes of the outcrops, create a geomorphological map of the region, conduct geomorphometric analysis, and understand the processes that produced the region. And compare it to the slope angles and geomorphometry of Ladakh. This research helps us comprehend the terrain and provides insights into the geology and geomorphology of the region, which we can then compare to the Martian landscape to detect parallels.
Throughout the geological history Utah has undergone a wide range of environmental conditions including submersion beneath the ocean and inland seas or completely desert terrain. The topography has seen substantial variations, fluctuating between sea levels and exceeding an altitude of two miles. The terrain has experienced periods of relative flatness, alternating with periods of characterized by the uplift of mountains and the formation of valleys.

So far, no extensive geomorphometric investigation of Hanksville has been conducted. Geomorphometry is the study of quantitative land surface analysis. It developed directly from two fields that had their roots in geometry, physical geography, and mountain measuring in the 19th century: geomorphology and quantitative terrain analysis. Modern geomorphometry focuses on the refining and processing of elevation data, the description and display of topography, and a wide range of numerical computations. It focuses on the continuous land surface, although it also considers landforms and discontinuous features like watersheds. The operational purpose of geomorphometry is to extract measurements and spatial information from digital topography. Geomorphometry has several uses in Earth science, civil engineering, military operations, and entertainment. Five phases are often included in geomorphometric analysis: sampling a surface, creating and adjusting a surface model, figuring out land-surface parameters or objects, and using the findings. Landforms and point measures, such as slope and curvature, are included in the three types of parameters and objects. Fundamental spatial units with uniform attributes are called landform elements. Complex analysis might include non-topographic data and many variable maps. The neighbourhood operation is the process used to recover the majority of land-surface data and objects from a digital elevation model (DEM). No DEM-derived map is authoritative since parameters change with geographic scale and can be created by various algorithms or sampling procedures.

A total of 6 EVA has been conducted so far get to the ground data from the field. First EVA was a training EVA, to get accustomed to the suit and Rover. Second and Third EVA was done to get the data from Cow Boy Corner. Location point has been collected from the site for different types of weathering, structural features such as cross bedding, rock type classification, general geomorphology to understand the chasm, meandering of river channel and ridges in the region. The fourth EVA was carried out on Kissing Camel Ridge’s western side in order to estimate the slope from the bedding plane. Three measurements of the dip and strike have been obtained from the Kissing Camel Ridge. It was challenging to quantify dip and strike since the majority of the surface in the area has worn and eroded away from the parent rock. The locations of the fifth EVA were Compass Rock and Candor Chasma. The field data includes the kind of rock, the weathering patterns, and the different landforms such as buttes, canyons, paleo-river channels, mesas, and caves. SRTM DEM has been used to create a basemap. The research area’s comprehensive geology and the literature review has been written. Geomorphometric analysis of Tso Kar, Ladakh, has already been completed. To comprehend the stratigraphy of the area, the Litholog has been developed form several sites.

For analysis, the following fundamental morphometric variables will be used: slope, altitude, aspect, topographic profiling, northwardness, eastwardness, plan curvature, horizontal curvature, vertical curvature, difference curvature, horizontal excess curvature, vertical excess curvature, accumulation curvature, ring curvature, minimal curvature, maximal curvature, mean curvature, Gaussian curvature, unsphericity curvature, rotor, Laplacian, shape index, curvedness, horizontal curvature deflection, vertical curvature deflection, catchment area, dispersive area, reflectance, insolation, topographic index and stream power index. In addition, the hypsometric curve analysis will be done using Landsat data in ArcGIS to understand the erosional and depositional history. Furthermore, the Land cover classification will use Eolian Mapping Index to distinguish land cover types such as sand cover, stone covered sand, rock surfaces and vegetation.

Survey benchmark Hanksvile, Utah, USA

Title: Understanding frontier environments through drawing

Investigators:
Dr. Annalea Beattie, with full crew participation.

Objectives:
Through art making, this project focuses on boundaries, thresholds and environmental stewardship. It speculates on how our position in an unknown landscape and through immersion in art, what might constitute a compositional approach to understanding and caring for a ‘frontier environment’. This research project invites our crew to participate in an act of examination, exploring through drawing and painting territory beyond the boundaries and borders we create for ourselves as humans in an unfamiliar, non-human landscape.

Current Status:
Crew 292 have been provided with sketchbooks and drawing materials and a working studio table has been set up in the Science Dome in front of the large horizontal window to the desert. Materials such as paper, brushes, watercolours, watercolour pencils, graphite sticks and carbon powder are laid out and I am in regular studio attendance. At our project meeting on Sol 2, I explained my research and that I am available to collaborate. Our crew is aware of how art making crosses disciplines, how it can create a low-stake environment to experiment, and more importantly for off-Earth communities, how it creates a safe place to fail. I invited our crew to use their journals and to paint and draw something from their discipline or experience that might extend their understanding of this simulated environment. Or something that might help them explore the future.

To date, almost all our crew have used drawing and/ or painting to reflect upon their position in this desert landscape, situating art making as alternative knowledge in our small space in a vast space. Our astronomer Aditya has drawn the magnitude of celestial light he can see in our dark sky. Green Hab Officer Mehnaz has begun to draw the future – breathing life into barren planets through drawing a vision of the Green Hab for spacefarers living off-Earth. In relation to the science field work, the techniques and strategies of drawing already belong to geology. Observation in the field is a primary means of obtaining scientific knowledge for planetary field science. Geologist and Science Lead Bharti Sharma and I drew geology together in the field on EVA #10 at Kissing Camel Ridge. We both will work on the lithologic log for her comparative study of different kinds of deserts; Ladakh, here in Utah, and deserts on Mars.

When it comes to drawing, geologists recognise that there is a virtual or abstract dimension in perception that is always dynamic. They bring their experiences and prior patterns of sensorimotor perception to the context of field drawing, for instance, as part of their lived relation to the subject. This might mean, for example, that when geologists see surface or texture, they intuit depth, volume and weight. Drawing is inferential. We think through materials to potential in imperceptible and unfamiliar qualities of form, not just as flat, inert surfaces. The deliberate practice of geological field sketching in simulation is a sustainable method of gathering of data during field work.

Crew Journalist Clare Fletcher spent time at the drawing table set up in the Science Dome, drawing and painting rock samples removed from the desert. Clare is a geoconservationist and her project here focuses on the practicalities of efficient and sustainable sampling. Drawing samples is a useful way of thinking through materials to inference and hypothesis. These samples have been returned to the site on our last day here at MDRS. I also have spent time drawing rock samples in the Science Dome, drawing basalt, concretions, gypsum, and the sandstone weathering. This experience of drawing rocks is generative. As I draw, I engage with what has happened here in this landscape and why this desert is a geological analogue for Mars.
When we travel off-Earth to Mars we will be confined by the lethal atmosphere, a lack of physical space, and a utilitarian regime that keeps us alive. When it comes to understanding how life might be in an enclosed community in extreme environments on Mars, I am always thinking about the role that the techniques and strategies of art will have in the long-term growth of small micro-societies living in adversity in space. Art making is a socially engaged practice that belongs to everyone. It builds rich, diverse communities and shares meaning as it makes its own place amongst other disciplines as part of ordinary life in simulation. This research project is improvised, long-form and ongoing. Its results are not easily quantified nor is it data driven yet there is no doubt that art making in this confined context has potential to shift our perceptions and the capacity to affect change.

Drawing concretions in the Science Dome, 12-02-24
Investigating the Thermo-hydrological Dynamics of Green Hab: A Comprehensive Study on the Impacts of Temperature and Humidity on Evapotranspiration

Investigators:
Mehnaz Jabeen in collaboration with 292 crew member, Aditya Karigiri Krishna Madhusudhan
Professor: Vinay Shankar Prasad Sinha, Central for Study of Regional Development, School of
Social Science, JNU University, Delhi
Senior Water Engineer: Himani Singh, William Sale Partnership, India

Overview:
Hydrological processes and requirement of crops have been greatly impacted by climate change at global, regional, and local levels. Climate change is observed to be directly related with increase in the surface temperatures. In hydrological cycles, precipitation and evapotranspiration are largest components of water balance. In hydrological cycles, actual evapotranspiration (AET) and potential evapotranspiration (PET) plays a significant role specifically in evaporation of soil and crop transpiration which eventually affects productivity in crops. AET is the actual amount of evapotranspiration (ET) on the surface that is controlled mainly by these two processes of evaporation from the soil and transpiration from the leaves. PET is the rate at which maximum amount of water loss as vapor into the atmosphere by a vegetation cover when there is access to surplus amount of water supply. PET is calculated from atmospheric factors such as air pressure, solar radiation, wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity. Changes in these factors lead to changes in PET. PET takes higher value than AET, however with access to unlimited amount of water AET can be equal to PET. PET significantly impacts the availability of water resources as a result affecting agriculture productivity. Thus, estimation of PET is significant to assess the impact of changes in atmospheric variables on atmospheric evaporative demand, balance in hydrology of the ecosystem, response, and interaction of vegetation to the climate.
On the context of the above, manipulated atmospheric variables in a controlled environment compared to natural environment can be shown pivotal to easily study and access the impacts of changes and estimation of PET, maximizing plant growth and resource efficiency. Therefore this research aims to delve into the thermo-hydrological dynamics within the controlled ecosystem of Green Hab, specifically focusing on nuanced interplay between temperatures, humidity, evapotranspiration (ET).

Objectives:
Explore the spatial and temporal variations of temperature, humidity, and soil moisture within the Hab and different climatic environment within MDRS (artificial ecosystem).
Rigorously assess the effects of manipulated temperature and humidity conditions on evapotranspiration dynamics.
Employ climatic datasets from the nearest climate centers.
Calculate Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) and Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) through established equations.
Apply the Budyko curve to decipher the ecosystem’s response to altered temperature and humidity regimes.

Current Status:
Obtained datasets the LOA Climate Center, Utah.
Data cleaning and processing.
Performing Pan Evaporation experiment to estimate evapotranspiration rates at different temperatures.
Performing experiments with newly sown seeds in similar pots with equal weights to study the effects of varying temperature on plant growth.
Developing machine learning model to predict the evapotranspiration using the datasets collected.

Data Collection:
Establish a baseline by conducting continuous, high-frequency monitoring of temperature, humidity, and soil moisture to capture diurnal variations.
Design factorial experiments introducing controlled variations in temperature and humidity.
Obtaining climatic datasets from nearest climatic centers for open air natural environment.
Implement a meticulous sampling strategy, aiming for daily data acquisition during experimental perturbations.

Evapotranspiration Calculations:
Employ the Penman-Monteith equation, incorporating real-time and 8 years of meteorological data from the advanced sensors, to compute Potential Evapotranspiration (PET).
Derive Actual Evapotranspiration (AET) through meticulous monitoring of soil moisture dynamics; integrating fluxes from both soil and vegetation components.
Validate computed PET against established literature values and meteorological data to ensure model accuracy.
Implement machine learning algorithms for refining ET predictions based on observed data, enhancing model precision.

Figures above: our Green Hab Officer Mehanz Jabeen in the Green Hab measuring the temperature of the crops and with the cherry tomato harvest.

Expected Outcomes:
Identification of critical thermo-hydrological thresholds influencing evapotranspiration dynamics.
Enhanced spatial resolution in understanding micro scale variations within the artificial ecosystem
Rigorous validation of the Budyko curve as a tool for assessing water balance under controlled environmental conditions.

Significance:
The technical rigor embedded in this 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 habitat especially in Ladakh (India) with extreme climate conditions and Mars-like terrain.

Investigating the use of portable laboratory equipment in a Martian analogue research station

Investigators:
Daniel Loy, with collaboration from all of crew 292. PhD Supervisor: Dr Michael Macey, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, MK7 6AA

Objectives:
To conduct scientific operations research on the use of portable equipment in an analogue environment, carrying out DNA extractions, PCR and gel visualizations with the Bento Lab portable PCR workstation. This is a combined portable centrifuge, PCR machine and gel imaging station and will be used in conjunction with a MoBio DNA extraction kit, which has been used by previous crews. This project will consist of cultivation-dependent and independent DNA extraction from samples gathered in the Martian analogue environment surrounding the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS).
Collected samples will be inoculated into a range of extremophile media with any visible growth having DNA extractions performed on them. Extractions will also be carried out directly from gathered samples. Non-targeted PCR will initially be performed to identify if DNA is present from both sources, with ID and functional gene PCR’s being run on positive samples. This can then form the basis for a training framework and protocols that could be carried out by non-biologists at both the MDRS and future India analogue research station.

Current Status:
Samples were collected by multiple crew members during across different EVA’s to carry out direct DNA extraction as well as attempt culturing, listed below. The coordinates given are in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) format, location WGS 12S.

Table 1. List of Samples/Cultures that had DNA extraction performed on them.

Name	Type	Sol, EVA and Location
L	Lichen	Sol 4, EVA 4 N4253168, E518918
G	Green Mudstone	Sol 4, EVA 4 N425376, E518972
S	Soil under rock	Sol 4, EVA 4 N4253311, E518982
WA	Water	Sol 6, EVA 7 N4251004, E518556
WB	Water	Sol 6, EVA 7 N4251131, E518493
S1	Soil	Sol 7, EVA 8 N4252848, E518615
S2	Soil	Sol 7, EVA 8 N4252922, E518410
C	Soil from eroded crevice of rock	Sol 8, EVA 9 N4249486, E518361
Y	“Yellow goo” found in small body of water	Sol 8, EVA 9 N4249488, E518287
Y2	“Yellow goo” found in small body of water, repeat extraction of above sample	As above
YSP	“Yellow goo” inoculated in 1:10 dilution of SP media	As above
SSP	Soil under rock inoculated in 1:10 dilution of SP media	Sol 4, EVA 4 N4253311, E518982
SRN	Soil under rock inoculated in RN media	As above

DNA extractions were carried out from 0.25 grams from each sample, or in the case of liquid samples/cultures 200ul of liquid after being agitated by hand for 10 seconds. The Mo Bio DNEasy Powersoil Pro Kit Extraction protocol was followed for all extractions, with hand mixing being used to lyse and mix during the process, as no vortex was available.
DNA was successfully extracted from two soil samples collected on different EVA’s from different sites, these are highlighted in bold in table 1.
Using targeted PCR, Archaea and Fungi were identified to be within the soil in both S and S2 samples. The S soil sample also contained Bacteria, while this could not be identified within the S2 sample due to an amplication failure. The presence of functional genes was also investigated with the large subunit gene hhyL of the group 1h [NiFe]-hydrogenases found within both soil samples, and the sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase gene fragment sqr was found within the S soil sample.

Roadblocks:
As there was no vortex or other shaking equipment available to agitate samples and lyse cells as the first part of the DNA extraction protocol, they had to be shaken by hand. The initial vortexing was meant to last 10 minutes so samples were shaken by hand for 12 minutes due to the difference in speeds. This difference may have been the reason why less DNA was found than expected from some samples and the cultures.

Future Prospects:
The successful extraction, amplification and visualisation of DNA and specific genes with this equipment shows that portable laboratory equipment can be used in Martian analogues to investigate the presence and functions of microorganisms in other extreme environments. Pre-existing protocols for all processes were followed, meaning anyone, including non-biologists, with the right equipment would be able to replicate these methods including at the proposed Ladakh analogue research station.

Image description: Image of an electrophoresis gel showing the results of a PCR test investigating the presence of functional genes in Soil 2. The positive result in S3 shows that the hhyL gene is present in the microbial community present in the soil sample.
Title: Looking through the eyes of telescopes and exploring the wonders of our cosmos

Investigators: Aditya Krishna Karigiri Madhusudhan (Crew Astronomer) and Peter Detterline (Director of MDRS Observatories)

Overview:
Mission 292 of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) focuses on gaining valuable experience and knowledge to develop a Mars Science Analog Research station in India. The central objective is to formulate comprehensive plans and effective strategies for the construction of an observatory in preparation for the Ladakh station. A critical aspect of the observatory’s success is selecting the right telescope optimized for the weather conditions in India. Studies have been carried out to identify telescopes with optimal solar and deep sky observation capabilities while withstanding varying climatic challenges. The telescopes are being chosen such a way that they offer precision, high-resolution imaging, and compatibility with local weather patterns. To safeguard the chosen telescope and observation equipment, a weather-resistant dome is being designed using Fusion 360 software. The dome’s design is planned to incorporate features such as insulation, ventilation, and stability to ensure reliable and uninterrupted observations despite the weather conditions. To ensure the safety of astronauts during Mars missions, understanding and monitoring solar radiations is crucial. Despite the availability of ground support warnings, the necessity for an independent solar observation system cannot be overstated. In addition to developing plans to build an observatory, the secondary objective is to make use of the Musk and robotic observatory, a specialized facility designed for solar and celestial object observations. As the crew astronomer, I conducted several observations utilizing the MDRS and RCOS robotic observatory to capture and analyse celestial objects and events. This endeavour will contribute to a deeper understanding of our universe and its implications for space travel and exploration.

Objectives:
To conducted astronomical observations using the MDRS WF and RCOS 16 telescopes and carry out solar studies using the Mush observatory at MDRS.
Develop plans and strategies to construct an observatory at Ladakh.
Current Status:
1. Conducted astronomical observations of AG DRA and conducted photometric analyses to determine the variable star’s brightness. The star is observed to be much fainter than it should be. Hence further photometric measurements at various filters are to be conducted.
2. Observed NGC 5904 (Globular cluster), NGC 281 (Pacman nebula), M51 (Whirlpool galaxy) and NGC 1952 (Crab Nebula) using various filters to explore the wonders of the cosmos.
3. Currently analyzing sky conditions and visibility at MDRS, to plan the construction of an observatory in Ladakh. Researching telescopes from dealers like Celestron and Orion that are suitable for Ladakh’s skies. Planning to make a preliminary design of the dome required to cover the telescope using Fusion360 CAD software. Also, reviewing the current observatories present in Ladakh to understand its functionality and usage.
4. Participated in 6 EVA’s (one for training and 5 for geological study and sample collection) which helped me understand the landscape of MDRS. This knowledge can be used in selecting the optimal site for deploying an observatory in Ladakh.

Roadblocks:
Unfortunately, the Musk solar observatory has been offline during my mission at MDRS. This has restricted me to do any solar observations.
During the second week of the mission, the RCOS 16 telescope has been down with a failed WCS registration. Hence, no further photometric observations could be carried out.
Outcomes:
Extensive use of the MDRS WF telescope was carried out to perform astrophotography. The images obtained are attached below.
Studies on possible observatory design and essential components required are carried out. More work on this part will be carried out after the mission and will be updated.
Given my training on the MDRS telescopes, I will still be able to access them after my mission. Hence, more images on interesting celestial phenomena will be conducted and shared to Mars Society.
The following image is taken through the MDRS WF telescope, processed using AstroImageJ and Photoshop software. Below : NGC 281, Pacman Nebula in the constellation of Cassiopeia, 9500 light years away (10-02-2024)

Title: Developing a method of simultaneous Mars exploration and
exogeoconservation in the Mars Desert Research Station

Investigators:
Clare Fletcher, with help from Crews 291 & 292, MSA, and TMS. This project is part of a PhD undertaken at UNSW, in the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, supervised by Profs. Martin Van Kranendonk and Carol Oliver, and funded by the Australian Federal Government’s Research Training Program.

Objectives:
Conduct fieldwork to attempt to find both previously noted sites of and predictive work regarding outcrops of gypsum, concretions, petrified wood samples, and possible microbial samples. Identify geological and geomorphological sites that might be conserved to provide a comprehensive suite of geoconservation for the area and understand how this would apply to Mars and its exploration. Quantify both human and environmental impacts over the last ~20 years of the MDRS.

In collaboration with Crew 292, this project will be used to better understand how a proposed Mars analogue station in Ladakh could implement geoconservation practices from its inception as part of the ethos, values, and protocols of the proposed analogue station.

Current status:
Previously noted field sites have been (mostly) found, though there were some that could not be found due to time and/or weather constraints. Some were deemed less critical as predictive work was done that covered some of the values. Predictive work was undertaken to attempt to correlate predetermined conservation targets with certain landforms and locations, which was done with varying levels of success. Key geological and geomorphological features have been identified for their suitability as geoconservation sites (that still allow exploration and science), however, these sites can and should be updated if more information is learned that indicates more suitable sites. Human impacts have been quantified as low. Environmental impacts have been partly quantified, based on work done by previous MDRS crew member Henrik Hargitai, however 4/5 sites identified by Hargitai were inaccessible to our crew while in sim and therefore could not be studied. Samples that were taken during 291 and 292 have been returned to either their original location or to a location with the same features and outcrops. Samples that had been left in a basket from previous crews were sorted based on their geology and also returned to suitable locations.

Preliminary Findings:
Broad geology and geomorphology can be easily understood remotely ahead of time; however, this work is predicated on other field studies having taken place. While remote sensing may be able to give some understanding of geology and geomorphology, it was found during this study that that understanding can often be incorrect, as evidenced when in the field. Some key features and/or sites may be identified for geoconservation purposes remotes (e.g., major structural features, some modern processes, some representative surface features, some records of past environmental conditions). However, during this study it became clear that identifying stratotypes, formation of minerals, evolution of life, some modern processes, some representative surface features, and some records of past environmental conditions must occur in-situ. Equally predicted key features often turned out to be less important when in-situ, and other features became more useful and more ingrained into the crew psyche. The samples taken felt like important samples to take when on an EVA, however, many were never looked at again in the Hab and/or lab. Those that were looked at closer when back at the Hab and/or lab were more cryptic in the field and needed the additional study (e.g., chert vs. petrified wood). Given more time on EVA’s, and the inclusion of at least one geologically knowledgeable or trained person, better characterisation of various rocks and minerals could take place in the field, meaning that less samples would need to be taken from the field. Even with a good understanding of the geology and the features or samples you are looking for, predicting where you will find them is extremely tricky, and gets trickier proportional to the decrease in scale of the feature/sample. This means that both conservation and sampling and made more difficult as if one happens before the other, the other may never come to fruition. Conservation and sampling during exploration and for scientific purposes needs to occur concurrently. Detailed mapping of the area to avoid issues with prediction of the geology, geomorphology, small-scale features for sampling, etc. is impossible in sim. The roads, rover charge, suit mobility, and time constraints all hinder detailed mapping while in sim, and detailed mapping occurring out of sim would not be true to the Mars experience that is key to the analogue experience at MDRS. No matter what a single crew does, there are years of crews before and will be years of crews to follow that will treat the landscape differently. There is nothing inherently bad (or good) about this, but it means that what each crew learns about and sees in a site will be different from previous crews, even if identical procedures were followed.

Lessons learnt to be applied to Ladakh:
A detailed mapping of the geology, geomorphology, and biology (both extant and past) should be undertaken by a team of individuals with expertise in all the above fields as well as one to multiple people who are experts in (geo)conservation practices. This will give a detailed and accurate baseline for the site against which everything else can be measured.
If an analogue station similar to MDRS is to be set up in Ladakh, an emphasis could be placed on ensuring every team has an environmental scientist and/or (geo)conservationist. A few key sites should be identified to monitor both environmental change and anthropological change over time, however, they should all be easily accessible at all times of year with multiple types of vehicles (including the possibility of walking there, meaning they must be within the walk-back distance).

Key features for geoconservation should be identified prior to the construction of a research station and crew rotations beginning. This establishes a precedent for what features to be mindful of at varying scales (and accounts for variations between crews identifying different features as more or less important, and the landscape changing with successive crews). A guide to field sampling and practices rooted in both geology and geoconservation should be created prior to beginning crew rotations and all crew members should have early access to it, have a copy at the station, and sign in agreement with the sampling and field practices, meaning all crews have equal opportunity to conduct analogue fieldwork, but can also enjoy field sampling and fieldwork broadly.

EVA’S:
EVA #1 Training EVA. EVA #7 to the Hargitai “White Mushroom Field” (between Marble Ritual and Pooh’s Corner but on the northwest side of the road, by the MDRS maps). EVA #8 to a palaeochannel south of Cowboy Corner. EVA #9 to Kissing Camel Ridge East. EVA #11 to Candor Chasma. EVA #13 to return samples from the Hargitai “White Mushroom Field” (between Marble Ritual and Pooh’s Corner but on the northwest side of the road, by the MDRS maps) and from to the east of the road partway to Phobos Peak. EVA #14 to return samples from the dry creek crossing on Cow Dung Rd north of Cowboy Corner, as well as samples from Cowboy Corner.

Title: Propellant production at MDRS using water-bearing and carbonate rocks

Investigators:
Crew Engineer Rajvi Patel in collaboration with Bharti Sharma, Clare Fletcher, and Andrew Wheeler (Crew 291).

Overview:
This project is focused on the production of rocket propellant methane utilizing the resources available on the Martian surface to make interplanetary travel self-sustainable. One potential water source on the Martian surface is water-bearing minerals like Gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) and Epsomite (MgSO4.7H2O) that hold chemically bound water and are often associated with evaporate deposits in arid areas on Earth and Mars.
The Martian atmosphere comprises 95% carbon dioxide in its atmosphere and accessible CO2 in the polar ice caps. Other sources of CO2 are dust particles in the Martian soil and carbon locked in mineral deposits, which is utilized here for this research. The landscape of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) near Hanksville, Utah contains a variety of concretions, developed in poorly cemented medium to coarse channel sandstones and are formed during burial. These concretions tend to weather out of the rock as they are more indurated than the surrounding sandstones. During this process, the surface of the concretions acquires a purplish or brownish color, suggesting traces of manganese and iron in the carbonate. Hematite concretions have been found on Mars to date. Therefore, this mission included a collection of Gypsum samples and concretion samples as sources of water and carbon dioxide required to produce methane.
Objectives:
Determine a process to generate methane (CH4) from water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Current Status:
This research was performed at MDRS in a simulated Mars environment with Crew 292 Mangalyatri. During a simulated Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) at the corner of Brahe Highway and Cow Dung Road, Crew 291 collected a sample of efflorescent gypsum. On another EVA to Candor Chasma, I was able to collect two different samples of gypsum on 292– authigenic bedded gypsum (Type 2) and selenite gypsum (Type 3).
Preliminary analysis will be performed on them to validate if they release water or not at elevated temperatures.

Three types of concretion samples were collected as a part of EVA’s on this mission. While on an EVA to Kissing Camel Ridge, samples of dark concretions in the dark matrix (Type 1) were collected. Light concretions in the light matrix (Type 2) samples were collected on a simulated EVA to Dry Creek Bed. EVA to a location between Pooh’s Corner and Marble Ritual led to a find of Type 3 concretions which were dark in the light matrix. Preliminary analysis was performed on these samples to check if they released carbon dioxide when reacted with vinegar. All three confirmed the carbon dioxide release.

As a part of my future work, hydrogen can be produced from gypsum water using electrolysis. Then, hydrogen can be reacted with carbon dioxide which will result in the production of methane using the Sabatier process.

Figure 1: Types of Concretions validated for CO2 release

Title 2: System requirements for the Ladakh station.

Investigators:
Rajvi Patel in collaboration with the whole Crew 292

Overview: This project is focused solely on preparing a requirements plan for the systems needed for the Ladakh research station. This research includes the study of power systems, heating systems, water, and fuel systems at MDRS.
Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is comprised of six structures.
The Habitat (Hab)
The Musk Observatory (now called as Solar Observatory)
The Robotic Observatory
The Green Hab
The Science Dome
The Repair and Maintenance Module (RAMM)

Objectives:
Generate a preliminary systems requirements layout for the Power and Heating systems at the Station in Ladakh.

Current status:

Power System:
The whole campus is powered by a 15kW solar panel system which feeds the 12kW battery bank. There is a 14kW generator that autostarts when the campus uses more power than the solar can provide.

Primary Power System: Solar panels
Secondary Power System: Propane Generator

Working of the Power System:
Solar panels (x45) supply power to the charge controllers which feed the 12kW battery bank. Batteries provide power to the inverter delivering AC power to the Habitat. The default for batteries on the systems is 75%, but we decided to go with 80%. Once the SOC (state of charge) goes below 80%, the generator is expected to start automatically. This system of autostart doesn’t work so it is operated manually.
The remote access modem to the power control system has been relocated from the upper deck to the Robotic Observatory. It is a small powered black box that should never be unplugged.

Heating System:

Heating for the Hab: The main source of heat for the Hab is a forced air propane heater located above the shower room and bathroom. It is a Carrier Comfort 80 Low NOx Gas Furnace.
https://www.carrier.com/residential/en/us/products/furnaces/58sb1/
Hot water is produced from a 6-gallon propane RV water heater located above the rear airlock on the lower deck. The toilet is a porcelain RV model with a foot pedal for flushing. There is a holding tank below the toilet that must be emptied daily. It has a sensor system indicating the capacity reached by the holding tank and the time to empty it.

Secondary heating for Lower Hab: There is a second wall-mounted ductless propane heater on the lower deck for when temperatures get really low or if the power goes out.

Heating for Green Hab: It has a propane heater and a wall-mounted cooler unit which provides cool air by using the evaporation of water across fans.

Heating for Science Dome: It has a dual split heater/AC. This unit is installed for the protection of the power system’s batteries.

Water system:

There are three different water tanks. The 550-gallon static tank supplies water to the Hab. There is a separate 300-gallon tank in the GreenHab that is used to water the plants and is not connected to the Hab water system in any way. There is an additional 550-gallon water tank at the Outpost for staff.

The water to be filled at the Hollow Mountain and transferred to the Hab by the crew. This static tank water is pumped in the Hab for crew use. The water pump is placed above the rear airlock removing most of the contamination from the system and allowing minimum water to be used without pumping at night. If the water gets below a certain level, the pump still pressurizes the system until it is permanently damaged. The solution to this problem is in progress.

Fuel System:

Propane for the Hab and GreenHab is in a 1000-gallon tank. The pressure gauge is located underneath the metal top cover.
There are four propane tanks on campus, all but one located in the vicinity of the Outpost. The Hab and GreenHab are serviced by the 1,000-gallon tank, while each of the two fifth-wheel trailers in the Outpost is serviced by separate 250-gallon tanks. The pressure gauge is located underneath the metal top cover. The final tank services the propane generator outside the Science Dome. Propane is delivered by Blackburn Propane in Bicknell. Propane powers our heating systems, water heaters, stoves, and the generator. Generator oil, Car oil and supplies are kept in the RAMM.

This is a basic study of these systems at MDRS. As a part of future work, a detailed systems plan will be prepared for the station in Ladakh.

Acknowledgements

Crew 292 closes this mission and this report with a big thank you to everyone who has supported us. We want to personally thank Mars Society Australia for fielding this crew, especially Mars Society Australia’s President Dr. Jon Clarke for his science support and MSA Treasurer Guy Murphy for his ongoing communications assistance. We thank the MSA board and all the members of Mars Society Australia.

Thank you to our External Directors and our supporting academics, to Dr. Siddharth Pandey from Fugro Australia, also an MSA Director, Dr. Jennifer Blank NASA astrobiologist, who is affiliated with Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Dr. Anushree Srivastava from the Carnegie Institute for Science, Washington, Dr. R. P. Singh from the University of Allahabad, Dr. Michael Macey from Open University, United Kingdom, Prof. Martin Van Kranendonk, Curtin University, Prof. Carol Oliver, University of New South Wales. All of you have helped us and we are very grateful for your ongoing care and interest.

To our Media and Outreach Officer in Jaipur, India, thank you Sakshi Sharma for your fantastic outreach interview with us mid-mission and for your love of space and your energy and enthusiasm for our crew.

Thank you too to those who contributed to funding us: The Mars Society, Mars Society Australia, Open University, United Kingdom, The Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, the Australian Federal Government for their Research Training Program funding, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council and Ladakh Science Foundation, Applied Microbiology International (AMI), and the Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA).

We thank Commander Andrew Wheeler and the crew members of MDRS Crew 291 for their support and we will continue to collaborate with them in the future.

We thank our family and friends at home on Earth for all their patience, love and care.

Finally, we are very grateful to The Mars Society, to Dr. Robert Zubrin, Dr. Shannon Rupert, MDRS Director Sergii Lakymov and all the Mission Support Team at the Mars Desert Research Station.

On to Mars, Mangalyatri.

Dr. Annalea Beattie
Commander, MANGALYATRI, Mars Desert Research Station Crew 292
Mars Desert Research Station, 16th February 2024

End of Mission Research Report

Transatlantic Mars Crew 261

May 12, 2023

JAMES BURK | Commander

ALINE DECADI | Executive Officer + Crew Astronomer

CÉCILE RENAUD | Greenhab Officer + Crew Biologist

JULIEN VILLA-MASSONE | Crew Engineer

ERIN KENNEDY | Crew Robotics Engineer

AUDREY DEROBERTMASURE | HSO & Medical Officer

KRIS DAVIDSON | Crew Journalist

Mission Overview

Crew 261 began planning our experiments in 2019 when we conducted a call for ideas from the worldwide Mars analog research community. Commander James Burk and XO Aline Decadi worked in partnership with our crewmembers and researchers from across the world to select these experiments that would cover many scientific and technical disciplines. Over the three years we spent planning the mission, the roster of experiments shifted but many have been planned for that entire duration. Two crewmembers (Crew Roboticist Erin Kennedy and HSO Audrey Derobertmasure) originally started out as experiment PIs but were added to the crew due to other vacancies and circumstances that came up during the multi-year planning process.

We believe that our final suite of experiments can help towards solving some of the challenges faced by future Mars astronauts, while also advancing technology and research for long-term human presence on Mars. Some of the work that our crew is conducting during our mission will also directly support the overall Mars Desert Research Station program and the Mars Society’s worldwide analog research efforts.

COSMOS – Cardiovascular Monitoring & Pharmacology on Mars
(Audrey Derobertmasure, HSO)

Test a new approach to pharmacological studies with the aim of optimizing, adapting and individualizing drug treatments.

• • MAEVA – Mars Early Vascular Ageing monitoring

Our aim this week was to evaluate the impact of extreme environments and confinement on markers of early vascular aging. To do so, we utilized the pOpmetre, blood pressure monitor, and connected scale body cardio from Withings to monitor cardiovascular parameters and metabolic composition. Early vascular ageing refers to an increase in the thickness and stiffness of the aortic wall, which is associated with systolic hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Arterial stiffness can be easily detected by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV). The pulse wave corresponds to the transfer of energy along the walls of the arteries at a speed of around 5-10 m/s. This pressure wave is reflected at the reflection sites and returns to the heart, creating a reflection wave that can add to the incident wave more or less early during systole depending on arterial stiffness, anatomy of the arterial tree, cardiac output, and other parameters. The stiffer the arteries, the higher the pulse wave velocity. This allows for the assessment of cardiovascular health status. A high pulse wave velocity can lead to an increase in systolic blood pressure and hypertension, while a decrease in pulse wave velocity leads to an improvement in cardiovascular health.

We measured the PWV between the finger and toe using the pOpmeter device equipped with two photodiode sensors placed on the finger and toe, respectively. The pOpmetre measures the transit time of the pulse wave from the heart to the toe and finger, as well as the difference in arrival time of the finger-toe pulse wave. The distance traveled is estimated based on the patient’s height. This measurement only took 12 seconds (image 1).

We assessed the blood pressure and PWV of six crewmembers every morning, supervised by two crewmembers previously trained by the INSERM U970 team, Audrey Derobertmasure (HSO and PI), and Aline Decadi (XO) (images 2 and 3). Measurements were also taken after the EVA to assess its impact on cardiovascular parameters. This protocol was carried out throughout the entire mission, with an additional PWV measurement on sol 10 in the evening to have a nycthemeral measurement.

This device was found to be very practical with the busy schedule of the mission. The entire set of measurements (average of 3 blood pressure and 3 PWV velocity measurements) only took 5 to 10 minutes per person. We were sometimes unable to measure the PWV of crewmembers who presented Raynaud syndrome (i.e., cold extremities) even after being warmed up.

Additionally, each team member weighed themselves every morning on the connected scale, which analyzed their body composition (fat, muscle, bone and water mass mass, calculated their BMI, and measured vascular age (image 4). The scale uses the principle of bio-impedance analysis. Bio-impedance is a measure of the electrical resistance of body tissues. A small electric current is sent through the body, and the electrical resistance is measured in return. The measurement of PWV by the connected scale uses the principle of impedance plethysmography combined with ballistocardiography, meaning that the ejection of blood into the aorta exerts a force that leads to variations in weight, which are measured by the scale.

In conclusion, we have obtained a complete set of data for result analysis to provide to the INSERM team researchers.

Image 1. Main window displaying all the necessary information for arterial stiffness measurement. Central strip: sensor quality signal indicators; in the middle, the pulse wave signal graph; on the right, calculated results of H/R and pulse wave variability. Lower strip: clinical data of the crewmember (height, age, blood pressure), measurement results (PWV or VOP in French), and PWV graph based on age.

Image 2. Analyzing arterial stiffness using the medical device pOpmetre by HSO Derobertmasure on Crew Engineer Julian Villa-Massone

Image 3. Measurement of blood pressure using the connected Withings blood pressure monitor on XO Decad

Image 4. Measurement of body composition using the connected scale Withings on a crew member: Fat and muscle mass

 

• • PASKAL- Pharmacology Space Kit – Analysis

The knowledge of space pharmacology, which refers to the fate of drugs in humans in space, is very limited. However, drug treatments are necessary for long-duration space missions, particularly preventive medications targeting early vascular aging. Physiological modifications are likely to affect pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD). Moreover, constraints associated with the transposition of PK studies from Earth to space make it difficult to interpret drug response in space and Martian conditions.

We propose an alternative sampling method, the use of dry matrices, namely dried blood spot (DBS) and dried urine spot (DUS). This involves placing a drop of capillary blood from the fingertip on blotting paper obtained after a finger prick with a lancet or urine with a small pipette. The advantages are as follows: easily transportable and low-cost sampling, minimally invasive, ideal for repeated measurements. The study conducted on sol 7 and sol 8 is a preliminary study of drug metabolism in spaceflight conditions, including self-sampling in analogous conditions. We evaluated the feasibility of this DBS and DUS sampling method for detecting caffeine after oral administration. Why caffeine? Caffeine is a substance widely used and found in many beverages and foods (coffee, tea, and chocolate), and its metabolism is well-described. Specifically, six crew members self-collected blood and urine samples before and at different times after caffeine intake to determine caffeine exposure, i.e., its elimination. During these two days, we managed to perform all the expected caffeine pharmacokinetics. Sol 7, a rest day, was perfectly dedicated to the sampling. Our crew commander Burk, did his sampling on sol 8 and managed to complete an EVA mission while respecting the sampling time.

The next step is to analyze the DBS and DUS samples in the laboratory in France, at AP-HP.

Image 1: Dried Blood spot sampling Image 2: Dried urine spot sampling

BIOSTIMULATION – GreenHab Spirulina Experiment (Cecile Renaud, GreenHab Officer and Crew Biologist, as part of MELiSSA Program, UMONS)

Use of Spirulina to improve plant germination and growth.

Two experiments have been conducted on biostimulation using Spirulina. First, spirulina is used to improve the germination and early growth of tomato seeds. This experiment has been conducted in the Science Dome using the grown tent. Tomato seeds have been sown in 3 kinds of soil: regular commercial gardening soil, collected soil from Utah desert (Kissing Camel Ridge E), and Mojave Mars Simulant 1 (MMS-1) from the Martian garden. The soil from Utah comes from 3 different places and presents 3 drastically different characteristics.

Table 1. Utah Soil sampling

Soil Sample	UTM coordinates	Characteristics
1	0518543 4249696	Sandy White Soil
2	0518448 4249653	Volcanic dark brown/red Soil
3	0518396 4249684	Old river plant soil with growing plant close by

8 tomato seeds are sown in each soil and watered with different biostimulation solutions, water only as negative control and compost solution as positive control. Plants are grown for 10 days.

Second experiment was focused on the health and growth improvement of tomato plants. Tomato plants are grown in the GreenHab of the MDRS and watered using the same solutions as described before. Biostimulation is started at SOL 3 until SOL 9. Leaves have been collected for further biochemical analysis.

ALGACRAFT – Photobioreactor
(Cecile Renaud, GreenHab officer and Crew Biologist)

Test growing spirulina as a component of a future closed loop life support system.

Crew Biologist Cécile Renaud and Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone set up the Algacraft Photobioreactor on SOL 2.

Crew Biologist has been in charge of the scientific part of this experiment. This includes maintaining the Spirulina culture including preparing the culture media, filling the photobioreactor, harvesting the Spirulina, measuring dried biomass production.

Crew Engineer has been responsible for the software part of this experiment. This involved writing the computer code in python to operate the device prior to the mission and adjusting the code while on site to ensure the device meets evolving operational requirements. Those include controlling actuators and logging sensor data.

This experiment has been used as a controllable electric load for the Smart Grid experiment due to its high power consumption. Read section about the Smart Grid experiment for more detail.

A Spirulina harvest has been conducted on SOL 8 and will be done again 3 weeks after the end of our mission to better understand the evolution of the culture and the possible amount of spirulina harvested.

ATMOSPHINDER – Kite Propulsion Exploration Rover
(Erin Kennedy, Crew Roboticist)

Experimental rover investigating seasonal jet eruptions on Mars while propelled by wind.

Atmosphinder’s objective is to investigate the geomorphic processes of seasonal eruptions in the south polar region of Mars, and the role these play in the atmospheric system. An experimental prototype robot was created and tested in an analogous environment at the Mars Desert Research Station.

Fig. 1: Conducting Human-Robot Interaction experiment with Atmosphinder on EVA-16.

Photo credit: Kris Davidson

The robot measured 1.25 meters diameter with two sails of 43.5 x 72 cm. The electronics included a custom circuit board with environmental sensors, controlled with a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-M7 microcontroller, powered by a LiPo 4S 2.65 Ah battery. The structure of the robot comprised of 1/2” PEX tubes joined with 3D printed pieces in PLA, three sealed ball-bearings for the axis of rotation, and waterjet cut 1/8” aluminum metal for the electronics payload bay.

The quantitative and qualitative testing over 7 EVAs reached two key insights:

1. Tensegrity robots, in combination with compliant and rigid structural components, are advantageous for use in extreme environments, such as Mars

2. Human-Robot Interaction (HRI / HCI) when fully suited in astronaut gear requires improved methods to collaborate with space robots

Fig. 2: Atmosphinder robot with sails and electronics

Fig. 3: Atmosphinder electronics Photo credit: Kris Davidson

By the end of the analogue astronaut mission, Atmosphinder accomplished:

• 100 meter unassisted roll as propelled by the wind

• Sail trim control with servo motors based on anemometer readings

• Human-robot interaction from fully-suited analogue astronauts using coloured card combinations

• Data logging environmental sensor mapped to GPS coordinates at 1 Hz

• Roll down hill with ~30% grade

• Evaluation of robot status from four 3W RGB LEDs visible in the bright outdoors

• Sail deflection and force testing in the wind

Geological features analogous to the south polar region of Mars were observed with samples collected, particularly at “Glistening Seas” (4254710 N, 518040 E), located north of the Hab in the vicinity of the Valles Marineris region.

• Jet vent fracture – represented by clusters of translucent crystalised fragments (Gypsum selenite crystals)

• Areneiform patterns – represented by paths of brooks (a small tributary) from rainwater etched in the sand

• South Polar Layered Deposit (SPLD) – Represented by facing a cliff with layers of horizontal rocks

• Rock ejecta from the CO2 gas jet – Represented by trails of 10 – 25 mm rocks extending for 10 meters

• Sediment ejecta from the CO2 gas jet – Represented by varying sizes of red / dark stones on white sand

• CO2 ice formation as southern winter approaches / CO2 ice precipitation – Represented by white sand overlying red sand

Fig. 4: Atmosphinder structure rolling down hill on EVA-12

The results indicate the applicability of a passively wind propelled rover for science and exploration. The key insights derived from the plethora of testing and work conducted demonstrates the value in pursuing the idea further for a higher fidelity prototype, perhaps through an internship at NASA JPL.

Many thanks to the entire crew for the contributions to this project. The Mars Desert Research Station Crew 261 experience provided an excellent opportunity for professional and personal growth, owing to incredible mentorship from XO Aline Decadi and Commander James Burk. Excited to bring forth these learnings into future robotics endeavours!

Additional Resources:

• Further analysis and design details will be included in a science report

• Graphs, maps, videos, and photographs can be found at:
  http://robotzwrrl.xyz/atmosphinder/

• Code and datasets can be found at:
  https://github.com/RobotGrrl/Atmosphinder

 

ASTRONOMY ACTIVITIES
(Aline Decadi, Executive Officer and Crew Astronomer)

Conduct astronomical observations using multiple observatories including the onsite Musk Observatory and the offsite Montana Learning Center (MLC)’s New Mexico observatory.

MUSK OBSERVATORY has been used for solar imaging and processing.

The Musk Observatory is a solar facility equipped with a Lunt 100 mm refracting telescope and a double stack of hydrogen alpha filters. The observatory is specifically designed to look at the sun. It comes complete with a zoom eyepiece for visual observations, and a “zwo” camera for solar imaging.

When we talk about Solar imaging, it means that we are looking at the dynamics of a star. The telescope in the Musk Observatory is designed to look at the layer of the Sun called the Chromosphere (~7,500 F) through a hydrogen alpha filter. This gives the Sun the red color that we’ll see looking through the eyepiece.

Aline Decadi has learnt the procedure to configure the telescope using the remote control, and practiced the different configurations and parameters (in particular exposure and gain) to make a good Sun imaging.

Visual observing using the zoom eyepiece:

Visual observing is perfectly safe using the solar telescope. The telescope incorporates several filters, but the most important is the blocking filter/diagonal. It must never be removed.

Aline Decadi has observed the following list of phenomena:

• GRANULES: This is the surface of the Sun. Convective cells underneath allow the hot gases to rise and the cooler gases to sink, similar to looking down over a pot of boiling water.

• PROMINENCE: They are the hot gases along the edge of the Sun, following the Sun’s twisted and tangled magnetic field lines.

• FILAMENT: This is a prominence looking as a dark line.

• SUNSPOTS: They are magnetic storms that are cooler than the surrounding area so will appear dark in color. Magnetic field lines emanate out from them.

• FLARES: Bright white areas are indicative of solar flare activity, which are large energy discharges that could pose a problem for an unprotected astronaut.

Solar imaging using the camera:

Solar monitoring will be important on Mars for crew Safety, especially looking for solar flares, to protect the crewmembers on the field from a potential risk of imminent solar flares alert. To get a particularly interesting active region of the Sun, we need to take three images of the Sun and combine them together for the best results.

Aline Decadi has used SharpCap tool to take 1000 frames of each of the following in a video (avi) to be featured in the following order:

• Chromosphere : this is the surface of the Sun as viewed through the hydrogen alpha filter.

• Prominences: This is the limb of the Sun, i.e. the gases shooting out of space.

• Flat: This is the imperfections and dust. This will be erased from the Chromosphere image.

Then, those frames have been imaged to stack the best images, process those images to bring out detail, and combine them into a single image. This processing has required a few different programs:

1. AUTOSTAKKERT has been used to stack the images

2. REGISTAX: to add wavelets to bring out fine detail.

3. PHOTOSHOP: to refine the detail, and merge into one image.

Outcomes:

Sun chromosphere including prominences, granules, sunspots, and filaments have been observed. The sun observation has been performed first with the zoom eyepiece, then with the dedicated camera to capture several thousands of frames and process the images with the following software: AUTOSTAKKERT to stack the images, REGISTAX to add wavelets to bring out fine details, and PHOTOSHOP to merge all in one. The operation of the dome, telescope and computer were nominal. The processed images didn’t show any tracking errors. The only thing is that some frames are dark (underexposed) and others bright (overexposed); that could be fixed by fine tuning the gain and exposure on Sharp Cap. Which gives a very interesting artistic look.

This observatory is beautiful and a real piece of art, ensuring the crew Safety and survival on Mars.

I would like to warmly thank the MDRS Observatory leader Dr Peter Detterline for his constructive advice and huge talent. This has been a great pleasure to learn from him and share his passion – our passion – for astronomy with such high quality material during our mission MDRS Crew 261.

SAFETY DRILLS
(Aline Decadi, Executive Officer and Crew Geologist)

During the mission, we conducted emergency procedure training and practice drills to improve crewmember safety.

Crewmember Needing Assistance on Sol 4:

A Safety Drill has been performed during Sol 4. During the last part of the EVA, the crew experienced an anomaly. While exploring an area approximately west of Pooh’s Corner, Executive Officer Aline Decadi started to smell what she described as a “burning plastic smell”. This was confirmed by GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud who also smelled what she described as a “sulfur smell”. Fearing that XO Decadi’s backpack components were burning, the EVA team quickly worked to take off her helmet and suit. By the time they had done that, XO Decadi started to feel ill, and felt like she was going to faint. She was assisted back to the rovers by the three other crewmembers: GreenHab Officer Renaud, HSO Audrey Derobertmasure, and Crew Journalist Kris Davidson. The team performed a debriefing session and many issues were raised and discussed. A list of them is below. We also created a set of “Outcomes”, or recommendations, for both our crew’s future operations and the program in general.

Issues Experienced During EVA 5 Safety Drill

1. [Technical] XO Decadi’s EVA gear seemed to create a smell that made her sick, briefly.

2. [Medical] XO Decadi experienced light-headedness due to issue #1. At one point, she was leaning hard on the other crewmember and felt like she was going to faint.

3. [Procedural] When individual crewmembers experienced Comms issues, not all crewmembers worked together to resolve them.

4. [Procedural] Rovers did not stay together at all times, and certainly within sight of each other. One rover should never be out of sight of the other.

5. [Procedural] Crew members would often talk at the same time.

6. [Procedural] One crewmember stayed on Channel 1 during the entire EVA, despite the Comms issues. Crew members should switch to Channel 2 when having comms issues between each other.

7. [Procedural] Removing XO Decadi’s helmet in an emergency situation was done in a suboptimal way.

8. [Technical] Our Garmin device did not trigger an email to Mission Support, as was designed.

9. [Procedural] It is safer to go to the furthest point of the EVA and then work your way back closer to the Hab. Instead, the EVA team first stopped near Marble Ritual and then north of Pooh’s Corner, with the intent to eventually get to Gateway to Candor. Instead they should have driven all the way to Gateway and worked their way back in the direction of the Hab.

Outcomes from EVA 5 Safety Drill

• Air flow of a backpack can be left on while the helmet is removed. In today’s case it was rightly switched off by one crew member while two others were removing the helmet, because of the nature of the perceived issue (burning component in backpack). In other emergency cases, keeping air flow on would be desirable

• We need to be using hand signals, especially to communicate comms outages or when driving a rover with a sick crewmember in passenger seat (ie, “Are you ok?”)

• Crewmembers should always carry water on their person, and there should be at least one emergency water bottle carried by the EVA crew in the rover. By utilizing a carabiner clip with a water bottle that has a loop at the top, a crewmember can easily stow it on their person so that both hands are free.

• EVA members should have a mandatory water break every 20-30 mins, to keep ahead of any thirstiness or dehydration. We have noticed this can creep up on you quickly, and we keep powering through minor thirstiness only to suffer severe thirst later in the EVAs. Often, peer pressure or psychology prevents people from being the first to pause the EVA for reasons like this.

• When two rovers are driving, the person driving the rover should communicate with the other rover driver, and the other two (passenger) crew members should remain quiet.

• There should be a mandatory comm check at the beginning of every traverse. In today’s case, one rover lead was trying to communicate with the other, but they were not heard.

• The EVA suits should support rapid removal of helmet and backpack battery in the case of an emergency.

• EVA teams should carry sugar packets to help ill crew members. In today’s case that would have helped.

• For our crew’s HSO, the threshold for breaking sim would have been an actual fainting, not an “almost” fainting. In today’s case, the incident did not meet the threshold, although we broke the sim anyway due to the backpack smell issue.

During Sol 5, XO Decadi conducted a training session with all crewmembers for emergencies in the field with the purpose to expose what kind of hazards may happen on the field, how to detect and make decisions on the most appropriate “way for action”. Then we trained on how to remove the helmet/backpack in different degraded situations as quickest as possible.

Safety training session

As an overall outcome: Aline Decadi shared the list of necessary improvements of the suits/ backpacks featured for Safety, with the team Mars-Cal in charge of the refurbishing of the MDRS Space Suits every year. Their point of contact is Cynthia Chahla.

• Integrate a water bag (+ maybe a juice bag) for long EVA

• Integrate a urine bag for long EVA

• Find a way to fix a camera (e.g. size of a gopro) for continuous imaging on EVA

• Audio/ Micro: add a wireless earpiece/ integrated micro as a backup of the headset that sometimes move and comes out (even if fixed with a bandana).

• Add a color tag on the current push button to make it more visible (everything is black and not easy to find)

• When 3 Analog Astronauts (i.e. AA) (or more) are on EVA, there is an issue with the audio volumes that may be low for one AA, and too loud for the other AA, and it hurts the ear. A low frequency pass filter may be necessary to remove the high frequencies for instance.

• Add a small box to be fixed on the chest with an integrated mirror to see what is behind when in EVA

• Add in this small box a hand-mirror to be able for the AA to see behind while driving a rover for instance

• Have access from the exterior of the suit to the batteries to pull them out in case of emergency in only a couple of seconds (today we need to spend a lot of time to try to zip everything)

• Be able to make regular control/test of the electrical devices in the suit to confirm if they are functional – as a prerequisite for each EVA or after a technical issue for troubleshooting.

• The 2 latches on the rear part of the red ring collar are not easy to open/close due to their interference with the backpack. A solution should be proposed to ease their manipulation.

The Mars Society’s Northern California chapter, who does incredible work with maintaining our analog suits, has received this list and confirmed they’ll incorporate all these details on the next improvements to come.

Search & Rescue Drill on Sol 12:

A second Safety Drill has been performed during Sol 12 to train for another type of emergency Scenario.

This safety drill involved James Burk (Commander) and Aline Decadi (XO) taking a rover on a new route never traveled before and getting stuck and needing to be rescued. In actuality, the Commander and XO planned this out and discussed with Mission Support the night before, and so the entire situation was meant to improve safety and awareness on the part of the crew on what to do in an emergency.

Commander James Burk and XO Aline Decadi took out to rover Spirit at approx 9am and drove north on the main road to the “Gateway to Candor” turn, on a planned traverse to the area south of Compass Rock, ostensibly to investigate a route to the southern ridge of Candor. We had never taken this route before on this mission and it is marked on the map as a footpath.

We lost comms as normal, when passing behind the north ridge near Pooh’s Corner, but we also did not make any attempt to reestablish comms throughout the EVA, as was part of the drill parameters. We did not turn on the Garmin tracking device since that would have made it too easy for the crew to find us, and we ignored a couple reminders from HabComm to do so.

Once on the Gateway to Candor, Commander Burk turned south and drove offroad in Spirit, looking for a suitable place for the EVA Team to “hide” so that it would not be obvious on a large flat plain where we had “gotten stuck”. We also tried to not leave obvious tracks with the rover so took a few windy turns and other methods to obfuscate our route.

We chose to “hide” in a U-shaped area that was approx. 2 km east-northeast of the campus, and southwest of Compass rock, on the other side of a landform so that if the crew just automatically went to Compass rock (where we have spent a lot of time on this mission), we would not be found.

Commander Burk and XO Decadi parked the rover and debarked. We removed our helmets, as discussed prior to the EVA, since this was a rescue drill and we were planning to break sim anyway. We had prepared to be at that location for a couple hours if needed.

We decided to take the opportunity to record a couple narrative videos about what we were doing, to help with XO Decadi’s education & outreach project. We explained the drill and send the SOS ping “MDRS Assistance Required” which our crew uses when it’s a non-emergency situation but we are requesting support from the Hab to the EVA team. We hoped that the crew would react well and work together to find us.

After only a few minutes, we heard a drone flying nearby, which was obviously Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone’s attempt to locate us. After exactly 20 minutes, a rover carrying Villa-Massone and GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud appeared. They walked to our position and we confirmed it was a drill, then we spent about 10 minutes doing a debrief before returning to the Hab and having a longer debrief session with the whole crew.

We learned that some members of the Hab Crew forgot that assistance required means that they are safe so they treated the entire situation as an emergency, and were worried that the EVA crew was not working on getting back in Comms. As mentioned, Mission Support was in on the drill and did almost nothing to help them, even telling them “No Drone” to ensure they were not relying solely on a drone for rescue.

Overall, we were very happy how the crew rallied and worked together to establish a rescue operation and arrived only 20 minutes after the initial SOS ping was sent. It was a great experience for all crewmembers and a great way to cap off our successful mission to the MDRS.

Timeline
8:52 am EVA started
HabCom sent a message to EVA crew via Garmin InReach that tracking was not turned on

9:20 am EVA crew sent SOS Ping “MDRS Assistance Required” (Non-EMS) via Garmin InReach

9:22 am Received MDRS Assistance Required message via Garmin InReach
Mission Support (Sergii) was contacted, confirmed we should go (break sim)
First Aid kit bag was created, given to Cecile and Julien

9:27 am Cecile and Julien took Perseverance rover SOC: 98%

9:30 am Cecile and Julien on the road
EVA crew hears a drone sound (9:35 am?)

9:40 am Cecile and Julien at Gateway to Candor (website)

9:42 am Rescue team (Cecile and Julien) arrives to EVA crew (Aline and Julien)

9:38 am Cecile reports SOC 98%. They see the tracks of James and Aline’s rover that didn’t take the right road

9:50 am Cecile and Julien report that everything is OK with James and Aline, they are discussing about the drill

10:00 am Status update from Cecile: They are going to come back to the Hab

10:06 am Cecile reports Perseverance SOC: 94%

10:07 am Aline reports Spirit SOC: 75%

10:14 am EVA-2 Cecile and Julien in sight from Hab

10:16 am EVA-1 James and Aline in sight from Hab

10:17 am Cecile – Perseverance Hours: 129.0, SOC: 94%

10:17 am James – Spirit Hours: 222.0, SOC: 71%, plugged in

10:18 am 0 min Hab decompression requested (Sim already broken)

10:19 am Everyone is back in the Hab
Mission Support (Sergii) updated on the status

What Went Well

• Crew all understood that it was clear to break sim (Safety over Sim)

• Crew’s priorities were correct and everybody rallied

• Everyone was safe at all times and nobody got hurt during the exercise

• Rescue team found EVA team only 22 minutes from initial communication
  (James said his expectation was minimum 40 mins)

Areas for Improvement

• Some time was taken (~ 2 mins) regarding asking about if the drone should be used to investigate first. Mission Support was firm “No Drone”.

• Disruption when initial Comms was happening

• Confusion regarding retrieving a medical kit bag (there was none available, and the Hab’s main kit was taken)

• Raspberry Pi stopped working / slow, mouse being intermittent, had to access webpage on computer, did not have URL handy.

• There was only one person who could fly a drone, and they went on the rescue team.

• There was confusion and lack of communication about who was going on the rescue team

• Confusion on who was speaking on the radio, especially with similar sounding voices and accents. Confusion about who was acting as HabComm after Cecile (primary HabComm) left.

• Cecile lost valuable data from her experiment that she was in the middle of collecting when the drill happened.

Issues Experienced during EVA-19

• The crew back at the Hab did not fully understand the difference between our “MDRS Assistance Required” non-emergency/non-EMS ping and our Emergency SOS ping that is connected to the red SOS button on the Garmins. The former is meant when there is no crew injury or safety issue and the latter is for a true emergency when you need all-hands on deck including county EMS and Mission Support.

• The crew was confused who was doing what role, and one person expected to go on the rescue team but wasn’t chosen. We plan to address this by recommending that all EVA teams have a designated rescue team.

• The Hab does not have a quick carry medical kit for EVA rescues. In today’s case, the rescue team took the Hab’s entire medical kit with them.

• There was confusion over who was HabComm after Cecile (who had been the primary HabComm) joined the rescue team.

• The crew was not sure what emergency number they might need to call, other than trying to contact Mission Support.

Outcomes / Recommendations to consider for next Crew missions at MDRS:

• The Hab should have a quick carry medical kit with needed supplies for broken bones, bleeding and other life threatening emergencies.

• Every rover should have a first aid kit that is mandatory. This should be checked routinely throughout the mission.

• Crews should designate a rescue team prior to EVA

• Crews should carry a signaling device such as a reflective foil blanket in the emergency medical kit bag.

• When using Radio Comms, people’s names should be used after breaking sim.

• Need to remember to pause a bit before talking on Ch. 1 (repeater).

• Role changing (ie changing who is HabComm) needs to be identified (“Audrey doing HabComm” or don’t use roles at all, just people’s names.

• The person requesting assistance should advise if sim is being broken.

• Water to go with the medical kit bag should be prepared

• One person on the EVA should be assigned responsible for the medical kit bag

• We are lacking some basic medical supplies for emergencies such as AED (see HSO recommendations as reported early on in the mission).

• 1st person to identify assistance required should make an announcement on radios regarding breaking sim

• HabComm has to be located in the Hab, cannot have any science experiments or engineering work ongoing, just light work on a computer and focusing on the EVA status. In today’s case, Cecile was trying to multitask and ended up losing valuable biological experiment data because of the perceived emergency.

• Every crewmember should understand how to trigger a real SOS by using the dedicated button on the Garmin InReach. Pushing the actual button is not straightforward and it should be practiced. Garmin SOS can be canceled within 20 seconds, so there is no risk to pushing the button as long as you cancel.

• Every crewmember should understand the different ways to contact EMT in the case of a real emergency.

• Crews should have a training procedure to call SOS prior to doing EVAs.

MDRS SMART GRID – Power Control System
(Julien Villa-Massone, Crew Engineer)

Experimental power control system to ensure sufficient energy is available at all times.

The goal of this experiment is to demonstrate how a smart power system could operate in a Mars base. A resilient, self-balancing power grid is vital to prioritize operation of life support systems, which maintain humans alive.

A smart power system is designed to ensure the power grid is available at all times, despite fluctuating power supply resources. Without this capability, a power grid could completely shut down if too many loads are drawing power simultaneously, or if not enough energy is present due to low power supply and battery state of charge, with devastating consequences.

Such a system is relevant whether the base is supported by renewable or nuclear sources, due to inevitable technical faults, maintenance operations, performance deterioration, thermal regulation and other constraints that arise from operating a power plant in a rough environment. Furthermore, base overgrowth and the steady increase in electrical loads can cause the base to become underpowered over time, before new power sources can be installed and connected.

Levels of priority are assigned to all controllable electric loads on the base, as suggested:

1. Safety: Life support systems, time-critical food supply, base management computing

2. Comfort: Temperature, lighting

3. Non-time-critical: Food production farm, analysis computing

This is a simplified priority list for the sake of this discussion. In a real case, each load would be assessed for criticality and time-criticality, and be assigned a priority level and a power supply profile.

Non-time-critical loads such as food production can be reduced (reducing or pausing growth rate) but not entirely shut down (potentially killing crops) until power supply recovers.

This demonstration consists of 1 Power Controller and 1 Controllable Load. The Power Controller measures power supply parameters and communicates with the Controllable Load to augment or reduce its power usage, as available power requires. The Controllable Load receives power usage instructions from the Power Controller, adjusts its power consumption accordingly and acknowledges.

MDRS power system Algacraft Bioreactor controllable load

The Algacraft Bioreactor experiment, representing a food production farm on Mars, has been chosen for this project due to the high power usage of this type of system and ability to vary its power usage between two limits without causing a significant impact on its operation. This reflects future operations on Mars where food is being produced as quickly as possible given power available, but where growth can be temporarily slowed to match available power.

This project has been successful in that the Bioreactor experiment continuously adjusted its electrical consumption based on battery SOC (State of Charge) and solar power available, according to a power control algorithm. When running with high SOC or high solar power, the load operated at 100% of its nominal power usage. When less power was available, the Bioreactor lowered its power usage according to the power controller requirements. As a result, the batteries drained less quickly and energy was conserved in favor of other, more important loads.

A monitoring system was implemented to help the crew understand the current status of the power system and the smart grid operation.

Screenshot of the power system monitoring including smart grid data and 24h history chart – gray labels added for clarity

A by-product of this experiment has been to draw a schematic of the MDRS Power System (to the extent of observable cables).

STATION RESOURCES AND EVA MONITORING
(Julien Villa-Massone, Crew Engineer)

Improve monitoring toolsets for conservation of water and power at the station (both by our crew and future crews) and increase EVA situational awareness

A monitor has been set up in the Hab common area to help the crew understand and adjust resource utilization over time as well as monitor EVAs.

Water – Manual measurements performed several times per day and plotted on a chart, with trend projection to end of mission.

Power – Automated measurements displayed on system schematic and plotted on history chart. Refer to MDRS Smart Grid for more details.

EVA – A map showing crew members current and history location on various map types, with near real-time (2-minute delay when nominal), using the Iridium satellite network.

These web and local applications have been developed for this mission in python and javascript. A pair of Garmin inReach devices have been used to report location over Iridium.

Integration of the Monitoring System and EVA Map in the Hab

The outcome of the resource monitor has been better management of the water resource and a better understanding of the power system. The power resource utilization has been more difficult to adjust for crew due to issues with the power system sensing and operation at the base, and because most loads under crew management (lights and water boilers) had limited impact, with exception of rovers.

The outcome of the EVA map has been a much safer environment for crews in EVA, and a higher situational awareness for crews performing Habcomm duties. During an emergency drill where a crew of 2 pretended to require assistance, only 22 minutes were needed for the rescue team to reach.

Screenshot of the power, water and EVA monitoring system

JOURNALIST/ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
(Kris Davidson)

As the crew journalist, Kris Davidson documented crew experiments, projects and activities for three purposes: 1. For documentation and PR/Marketing material for the Mars Society 2. For documentation and for individual crew members, and 3. For Davidson’s ongoing art project that looks at American storytelling across time, intended for book publication and creation of artwork.

In her capacity as the crew journalist, Davidson photographed and created videos of the crew going about their work, and she wrote daily editorials weaving in the narrative of each Sol. She provided support to the Commander in coordinating two media visits. Davidson also created, updated and maintained the crew website https://www.transatlanticmarscrew261.com.

At the conclusion of the mission, Davidson will edit and process the images, and the upload selects to a private, password protected website for The Mars Society and crew members. She will also update the website based on the final report and maintain it as a comprehensive record of the work performed on the mission.

MARSVR – VIRTUAL REALITY COORDINATED FIELD SCIENCE DEMONSTRATION
(James Burk, Commander. PI: Jeff Rayner, MXTReality)

Demonstrate the use of a digital twin of the Mars Desert Research Station and its surrounding terrain to plan EVAs, provide crew acclimation and training prior to MDRS missions, and to allow EVA crewmembers to get direct support from HabComm and remote support using virtual reality technology.

Overview

The MarsVR project was started in 2017 after Commander James Burk had the opportunity to get a private tour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as part of a delegation from the Mars Society Convention that was happening in nearby Irvine, CA. During the tour, he and others were shown the inside workings of the Curiosity rover’s science team and their use of Microsoft Hololens augmented reality glasses to plan the science operations of the mission. The Curiosity science team could put on the Hololens glasses and immediately experience a hyper-realistic and fully immersive view of the surface of Mars captured by NASA mission imagery that had been processed into VR on a daily basis by the JPL team using advanced software engineering techniques and a brute-force method of creating VR-enabled terrain using a large amount of AWS cloud computing power. The resulting experience included the current position of the Curiosity rover with a 3-D model of it, and information overlays about the rover’s previous Sol positions and future plan. The Mars landscape was rendered beautifully, and instead of poring over a printed map, the science team could simply walk around the area, looking for interesting rock specimens to visit or analyze, while they were all physically present and seeing/talking to each other in the JPL Ops Lab.

For Commander Burk. who is a professional software developer formerly with Microsoft, it was an extremely visceral and life changing experience, and one that continues to motivate him to this day. His immediate thought was “more people need to experience this. It should be in schools and museums.” He excitedly quizzed the JPL staff on their past attempts to meld the technology with their public outreach efforts, and quickly realized that not only was JPL still learning how best to do it, that having this particular solution in a place like Kennedy Space Center was not practical or sustainable financially for NASA to offer.

His thoughts then went to the Mars Society and our ability to do great things with a small amount of resources and a large amount of volunteer enthusiasm. After returning home to Seattle, he had several conversations with Robert Zubrin, Dr. Shannon Rupert, and other volunteers and VR experts who were interested in helping. The possibilities of this concept exploded. Zubrin and Burk believe that Virtual Reality can play a role in how Mars could be explored on a large scale, by millions of people back on Earth using Virtual Reality to coordinate the activities of the on-site astronauts on EVA, and we could practice this by using our MDRS analog research facility in Utah.

In the months that followed, Burk organized a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $25,000 to create a proof of concept of a simple virtual reality application that would feature a digital twin of the Mars Desert Research Station and at least a square mile of Mars-like terrain. The crowdfunding campaign easily exceeded that amount and ultimately, Commander Burk, former volunteer Shannon Norrell, and others created an initial proof-of-concept environment.

The early MarsVR development team faced many challenges, including the immature state of virtual reality tools and hardware, the massive scope of the project, and the extremely high difficulty of what they were trying to do. Nevertheless, the team succeeded in creating the initial digital twin of the campus, processing 30k high resolution photos of the Utah desert into a single FBX object, and building out the initial MarsVR Unity application which included an EVA suit donning procedure and the interior and exterior of the MDRS campus, which had been scanned using cutting-edge photogrammetry techniques.

This experience was demoed at many events including the Mars Society conferences, the Seattle-area Virtual Reality meetup, and venues such as Yuri’s Night at Seattle’s Museum of Flight, the Pacific Science Center, and other chapter events around the country.

The project was never intended to be a commercial effort, and the volunteer team freely gave away assets to interested researchers and enthusiasts, and provided assistance on how to run and demonstrate the application to anybody who asked. Several Mars Society chapters took advantage of this opportunity and built outreach events around the VR experience.

Over the next years, Burk continued to search for volunteers and assistance to improve the MarsVR experience and do more to realize this vision. In 2019, he was connected through a mutual colleague in Seattle to Jeff Rayner, the CEO of Seattle company MXTReality (pronounced “mixed reality”), who has a degree in astrophysics and is a space enthusiast. The MXTReality team initially began as volunteers, working to upgrade and modernize the proof-of-concept app and add additional content so that the original scope of crew training could be developed. But they also realized that a large sustained development effort would be needed to realize the vision of the project, and that relying on volunteer time alone was too slow and inconsistent for this type of advanced software engineering.

They decided they would need to raise additional resources for the advancement of the project. Together, Burk and Rayner planned and executed a second crowdfunding campaign in 2021, this time with a goal of $100k, to further develop the project. The newly expanded MarsVR development team exceeded its goal again, raising $109k and attracting new partners and new supporters. Several of the MXTReality staff joined the MarsVR team full-time, and over the next three years, they greatly expanded and enhanced the experience, adding support for newer Virtual Reality headsets and immersive peripherals. The results of their work, a newer and much improved version of the MDRS digital twin and its crew training procedures is now available for free download on the Steam video game platform.

In 2022, after Burk had been elevated to the new full-time position of Executive Director by the Mars Society board, the team was challenged by Robert Zubrin to create a method using MarsVR to allow EVA crewmembers at the MDRS to get direct support and maintain voice, data and possibly even visual communication with VR participants. Zubrin believed that the team could demonstrate the ability to do coordinated field science through VR, with a crewmember out in the field on EVA working alongside a VR participant anywhere in the world. The utility of such a solution would be massive, allowing it to be used for remote science and engineering support, training, and public outreach.

Also in 2022, the MarsVR team, led by Burk and Rayner, joined forces with the Mars Society’s Chicago chapter who have created the EVALink project, which is meant to utilize low-cost Meshtastic LoRa radio devices to capture EVA crewmember’s positional and other data. By developing, maturing and integrating EVALink into MarsVR, we can create a solution that allows EVA crewmember position data to be captured in near-real time and fed into the VR app through an onsite Meshtastic and radio comms relay and a cloud-based server solution.

At the time of our current mission (MDRS Crew 261), much work on this phase of the project has already been done and demonstrated, but the solution is still moving towards operational status. We have the ability, with a new version of the MarsVR application called Mars Comms, to have multiple people wearing VR headsets and using voice communication, as well as manipulating the VR environment with drawing tools and other objects. The EVALink solution is also functional, allowing the Meshtasic devices to capture data on the crewmember positions and retrieved via JSON API. Visualizations of the data overlaid onto terrain maps can now be created and EVA’s “played back” using the positional data.

Crew 261 Activities

Commander James Burk originally met XO Aline Decadi when demoing MarsVR to her at the 2018 Mars Society Convention in Pasadena. Our intent was to be the first crew at MDRS to plan & execute EVAs using MarsVR, and to demonstrate coordinated field science scenarios.

We conducted an orientation session with crewmembers on SOL 3. Burk demonstrated both the MDRS VR experience (single user), which is the high-fidelity digital twin of the MDRS campus and a 2km terrain segment, as well as the new MarsComms VR experience with multiple user capabilities that is designed to work in tandem with the EVALink devices. He demonstrated the ability for the crew to access the Map mode of MarsComms and discussed the possibility of our crew using it to plan and support EVAs using the technology.

Prior to the mission, we procured three new Meta Quest 2 headsets for use by the crew, which arrived safely and were unboxed on SOL 1. However, due to very poor timing on the part of Meta/Facebook and changing its authentication mechanisms through a product rebranding from Oculus to Meta, we were unable to get these new headsets properly set up while onsite at the MDRS. We could not get past a technical issue, where the new headsets could not complete basic initial setup due to an inability to pair with a mobile device and a new Oculus/Meta user account for each device, because the newer authentication did not work with the older version of software preloaded on the new hardware devices. This was compounded by the limitations of the Meta Quest 2 headset to not have any capability to be flashed with new software until after initial setup was completed, which created a catch-22 situation where each problem’s solution was blocked by the other problem. This was deeply disappointing to the crew and we wasted valuable time trying to address these issues and find workarounds, ultimately giving up as to not waste more time while at MDRS.

We did have one working Quest 2 headset (James’ personal headset) which had both experiences pre-loaded, and that was used for the demo. But the goal of having four crewmembers in the lower deck of the Hab, all the VR experience at once, and planning EVAs using the terrain map, was never able to be achieved.

Forward-Looking Plan

After the mission, the wider MarsVR team will continue to work on the overall project and individuals from Crew 261 will stay involved. We pledge to ultimately get this technology working for future crews to use at the MDRS, and for the Mars Society to showcase it as one of its key successful volunteer-driven efforts. The vision of someday using virtual reality to explore Mars remains in place, and the Transatlantic Mars Crew 261 is committed to making it a reality.

EVALINK
(PI: Erik Kristoff, Mars Society Chicago)

Integrated system using Meshtastic low-bandwidth open source hardware devices to improve science, situational awareness, and crew member safety at analog research stations.

Overview

As per the above, the goal of EVALink is to capture and transmit crewmember positional (and other) data in near real-time from the field, utilizing low-cost Meshtastic devices.

For this initial test of EVALink operations while an MDRS crew is in sim, we utilized two models of Meshtastic devices:

1) A small white-colored T-ECHO device that can be worn by a crewmember in their EVA radio harness or elsewhere on their person.

2) A single board T-BEAM device that can be integrated with larger components such as antennas and batteries to expand its capabilities.

Crew 261 Activities

For our mission, we worked with the remote EVALink and MarsVR teams in Chicago and Seattle, respectively, to test and troubleshoot the technology. We have a total of 10 Meshtastic devices on site including 9 field units and 1 relay unit that facilitates the writing of data to a cloud-based server. We ensured that all devices are functional and each EVA crewmember has carried one or more devices on their person during EVAs, typically within the front pocket of the crewmember’s EVA radio harness.

On SOL 7, Commander Burk worked with the remote EVALink support team to reflash several of the devices to ensure they were all using the same Firmware version and are able to connect and see each other.

On SOL 9, Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone and GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud placed a Meshtastic device on a north-facing ridge in the vicinity of Pooh’s corner to expand the range of the devices.

We were successful in collecting positional data from all of our EVAs, and we also made use of a Discord-based radio relay to record EVA audio transmissions. These were firsts for the MDRS program and are a tremendous technical accomplishment that the EVALink, MarsVR team, and Crew 261 are all very proud of.

We have now processed audio recordings of our EVAs, one of which we provided to the visiting TV journalist, and we have received anecdotal visualizations of some of our EVAs on terrain maps. More work can and will be done after our mission to showcase the 20 EVAs we did, some of which were long-range and quite interesting, and to integrate map locations, photos, audio, our drone and other video footage together to be able to tell the story of an MDRS EVA in a brand-new way. The potential of this technology is clear and we are excited to continue working with the teams to realize the vision.

Garmin-Based Solution to Test EVALink Operations

Our crew developed our own internal system, led by Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone, which mimics the eventual functionality of real-time EVA telemetry and visualizations using a solution comprised of a custom software stack and off-the-shelf commercial Garmin inReach devices that have satellite-based positioning functionality.

The crew has found this solution extremely useful as an enhancement to our typical radio communications and situational awareness of EVA crew position & status. Much like EVALink will be able to do, our Garmin-based solution is able to see Crewmembers visualized in near-real time (2-10 min delay). It also enables the ability for a crewmember to send “Points of Interest”, or GPS waypoint pings, at times and places of EVA crewmember’s choosing, which based on the context of the point, can provide levels of information to HabComm. Finally, it can send short SMS-style text messages between the Hab and crewmembers.

FILE SERVER
(James Burk, Commander)

Installation of Synology NAS file server with hybrid cloud capabilities to be used for research sharing between crews and other purposes

Overview

The intent of this experiment was to test the use of a Synology NAS file server during our crew mission to store and share large amounts of computer files, such as crew photography and drone footage, research data, and the Mars Society’s 25+ year archive including all previous MDRS crew reports. Commander James Burk was the Director of Information Technology from 2011-2021 before he assumed his current full-time role as Executive Director. In his previous volunteer role, Commander Burk was responsible for maintaining and archiving past versions of the Mars Society’s online resources including MDRS crew research file, reports, photos, website information and other organizational data going back to the organization’s founding in 1998.

By having an onsite unstructured research database such as this, crews could reference past learnings, EVA plans, research objectives and other useful information during our mission, without having to spend time searching the Internet, which would not be possible in real time on Mars. Having an onsite file server with a vast trove of information would mimic the scenario on Mars, where crews suffer from a comms delay of from 4.3 to 21 minutes, depending on the relative position of Earth and Mars.

The model of server was recommended by Christopher Kozlov of the Mars Society’s Chicago chapter, who is a professional networking and IT architect, currently working as Director of Technology for an academic institution. Kozlov recommended a Synology NAS DiskStation® DS1522+ with Seagate IronWolf drives in a Raid 10 configuration with additional spare hard drives available onsite (or in storage near-site). There was discussion of ruggedizing the setup and building a server cage with air filtration, to prevent the ever-present dust from the Utah desert from entering the device. For this initial test however, in the interest of time and effort for already packed mission prep, we elected to host the file server on a table in the Science Dome and not install anything permanent.

Crew 261 Activities

The server arrived safely and was unboxed and set up on SOL 2. It was qualified for use on SOL 3. Commander Burk also brought several archival hard drives that could be used to seed the server with content.

However, once the server was installed, the crew realized that we have some significant issues with the power system overall, which causes the campus to frequently lose power (see Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone’s reports on this.) As a consequence of the ongoing issues, the file server lost power nearly every day and required manual intervention to restart.

Therefore, instead of putting this server into operational use, we focused on improving the power monitoring work, which will be important for the long-term hosting of this or a similar server onsite at the MDRS.

It was not critical to any other experiment to have this onsite server available, as we have cloud-based redundancies for all experiments that were going to use this one. Our crew’s file sharing activities and our permanent storage of research will happen using cloud-based services such as Google Drive, Google Photos, and similar tools.

Forward-Looking Plan

The plan at the end of our mission is to pack up the server and ready it for the beginning of the next field season, when we hope to have some upgrades to the power system to make it more reliable.

COPING STRATEGIES SURVEY
(PI: Andrees Kaoosar, University of Central Florida)

As part of the behavioral study in extreme environments conducted by Andrees Kaoosar, we are completing self-assessment scales to evaluate potential changes in mood, anxiety, and social behavior during our mission. A daily journal entry is also proposed in this study. These daily surveys can help us become aware of our own feelings and better understand them. It can also help improve communication with other team members. Writing down our emotions and interactions is also a way to release emotions and reflect on solutions to manage them more effectively.

The consensus among the participating crew members is that the opportunity to journal daily is welcome. The questions prior to the optional journal entry are consistent from sol to sol, which is helpful. The questions are also brief, which is helpful with busy schedules. Multiple crewmembers reported that this survey had a positive effect on their overall experience while on our mission and helped us deal effectively with our own deep emotions that we experienced during the mission and being with each other.

The results of this study will play a crucial role in our understanding of individual behavioral reactions and their adaptation within a mission-oriented team. They will contribute to optimizing team composition, offering strategies for emotional control, and fostering efficient communication among team members.

PROOF-OF-CONCEPT OF RECON & EMERGENCY DRONE W/ 8K 360 VR CAPABILITIES
(PI: Ali Zareiee, Adapa 360)

Testing of advanced high-performance drone with ability to capture 8k 360 video for playback in virtual reality.

The Adapa 360 team is one of the long-term partners of the Mars Society and its MarsVR project. They are very experienced with building VR-enabled cameras and mounting them to custom-built drones, and have been doing that for over a decade, since before commercial products were available with similar capabilities.

The Adapa team created two high-performance drones with VR-enabled 8K-resolution 360 cameras that were intended for our mission. Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone traveled to Spain to meet with the team and test flying the drones. During their meeting, it was determined that we would take the newer and smaller drone, even though it was not a mature platform and did not have adequate testing prior to the mission.

Julien Technical Details on camera issue and any flight characteristics.

SCOUT ROVER
(PI: Cameron Rough, Nexus Aurora)

The Scout, Sample, and Map (SSAM) rover is a prototype of a rapid, cost-efficient, and redundant system for high-fidelity mapping and exploration of mission areas.

As background, Nexus Aurora (NA) is a community based project incubator, whose primary goal is to open source solutions to the complex problems of space settlement. Originally formed as part of the Mars Society’s Mars City State Design Competition in 2020, during the Covid pandemic, the competition was held to create the best plan for a Mars city state of 1,000,000 people. The NA team eventually won the competition, and it’s $10,000 cash prize, and grew and evolved the organization into what it is today.

We began working with the Nexus Aurora team early in our overall mission planning. There were two initial experiment ideas that our crew selected with Nexus Aurora participants as PIs — an autonomous farming experiment that would have created a system to maintain, water, and monitor a single row of crops that would have been a proof-of-concept to scale up to create a kilometer-long automated greenhouse with multiple rows of crops. This idea was worked on by the Nexus Aurora collective for several months with some solid design prototyping activities, but when the Covid pandemic forced us to delay our mission, this team discontinued work.

The second experiment is what is now the Scout Platform which originally started out as a sample collection solution that used multiple small rovers and a base station. The original concept would have our crew deploy the rover system on a EVA, in an interesting location, and the multiple small rovers would autonomously collect several samples and return to the base station, which would be retrieved by the crew on another EVA.

This solution, while innovative, proved difficult to implement, and so the team decided to pivot to the current solution, that of a Sojourner-sized rover with an open hardware platform that is designed to be easily extended multiple instruments and experiments. Essentially, if Scout is realized, it would be the first commercially available Mars rover that can be fully customized for different mission objectives.

Unfortunately, for our mission, Scout was not ready in time to arrive at MDRS prior to the crew, and the Nexus Aurora team ran into some challenges with the logistics of getting a large complex electronics payload from North Carolina to Utah expeditiously. As of the time of this writing, the Scout rover is apparently sitting on a loading dock in Salt Lake City, and we have no estimate of when it will be arriving at our package receiving facility in Hanksville.

Our plan is to work with the upcoming crew, the upcoming University Rover Challenge staff, and the MDRS mission support team to uncrate & set up the rover, and allow the Nexus Aurora team to perform some remote testing at the MDRS before the system is sent back to them.

We are all sad that we were not able to test out the Scout rover during our mission, but we are grateful for all the hard work, support and dedication that the NA team has provided to our crew and to the Mars Society. We as individuals look forward to working with the NA team on future projects.

MARSCOIN NODE WITH BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES
(PI: Lennart Lopin, Marscoin Foundation)

The Marscoin project was started in 2014 by Lennart Lopin with the goal of creating the first digital currency for Mars. It is based on Litecoin, which is based on the initial Bitcoin implementation in 2009. In effect, Marscoin is an early version of Bitcoin, frozen in time, and customized to the specific needs of an early Mars settlement. The Marscoin development team has successfully maintained the Marscoin blockchain since 2014 with no significant issues, and the project is listed on multiple crypto exchanges.

The Marscoin development team has created many software products on top of its stable blockchain, including the Martian Republic, a proof of concept of an eGovernment application that allows citizens to have identity services, direct voting and to save data to the blockchain such as Inventory logging and file attachments. Commander Burk and Crew 261 provided requirements to the Marscoin development team as part of our mission planning that eventually made it into the Martian Republic software.

The intent of our mission was to be the first crew at the MDRS to utilize blockchain technology to track inventory and perform e-voting, using our own native Marscoin node running at the station, along with a console running the Martian Republic application that could be used by any crewmember.

The experiment was envisioned to be running on the File Server with a cloud-based redundancy. Due to the issues with power (see File Server), we chose not to set this up on the File Server and instead we conducted an initial demo of the experience using a cloud instance of the Martian Republic application.

As part of our normal duties, we performed an HSO supplies inventory and a Food Inventory. We saved the results of these inventories into the Marscoin blockchain using the Martian Republic application, successfully becoming the first crew on Mars to use the blockchain for routine functions such as inventory management.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Transatlantic Mars Crew 261 conducted a wide range of experiments and projects aimed at advancing research and technology for future Mars missions. Despite encountering challenges and limitations, the crew made significant progress in various scientific fields and contributed valuable data to the Mars Society and the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) program.

The crew successfully conducted experiments such as COSMOS and PASKAL, which focused on cardiovascular monitoring and pharmacology in space. These studies provided valuable insights into the impact of extreme environments on the human body and drug metabolism in space conditions. The BIOSTIMULATION project aimed to enhance plant growth using Spirulina, while the ALGACRAFT project explored the growth of Spirulina in a photobioreactor for potential use in closed-loop life support systems.

The crew also conducted experiments related to astronomy, safety drills, power control systems, coping strategies in extreme environments, and the integration of virtual reality technologies. The outcomes of these experiments and projects included improved understanding of the Sun’s dynamics, enhanced crew safety protocols, advancements in power control systems, and insights into behavioral reactions in extreme environments.

Despite some setbacks, such as the delayed arrival of the SCOUT ROVER and technical issues with the ADAPA 360 drone, the crew remained committed to their mission objectives and expressed gratitude to their partners and collaborators for their support.

The achievements of Crew 261 contribute to the collective knowledge and progress in human space exploration, particularly in the context of future Mars missions. The valuable data and experiences gained during this mission will inform future research and mission planning, and the crew looks forward to continued collaboration and involvement in future projects.

Crew 261 Mid-Mission Research Report 07-05-2023

Overview

Transatlantic Crew 261 began planning our experiments in 2019 when we conducted a call for ideas from the worldwide Mars analog research community. Commander James Burk and XO Aline Decadi worked in partnership with our crewmembers and researchers from across the world to select these experiments that would cover many scientific and technical disciplines. Over the three and a half years we spent planning the mission, the roster of experiments has shifted, but many of them have been in continuous preparation for that entire duration. Two crewmembers (Crew Roboticist Erin Kennedy and HSO Audrey Derobertmasure) originally started out as experiment PIs but were added to the crew due to other vacancies and circumstances that came up during the multi-year planning process.

We believe that our final suite of experiments can help towards solving some of the challenges faced by future Mars astronauts, while also advancing technology and research for long-term human presence on Mars. Some of the work that our crew is conducting during our mission will also directly support the overall Mars Desert Research Station program and the Mars Society’s worldwide analog research efforts.

 

1. COSMOS – Cardiovascular measurements (Audrey Derobertmasure, HSO)
Test a new approach to pharmacological studies with the aim of optimizing, adapting and individualizing drug treatments.

Our aim this week was to evaluate the impact of extreme environments and confinement on markers of early vascular aging. To do so, we utilized the pOpmeter, blood pressure monitor, and connected scale body cardio from Withings to monitor cardiovascular parameters and metabolic composition. Early vascular ageing refers to an increase in the thickness and stiffness of the aortic wall, which is associated with systolic hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Arterial stiffness can be easily detected by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV).

We measured the PWV between the finger and toe using the pOpmeter device equipped with two photodiode sensors placed on the finger and toe, respectively. These measurements only took 12 seconds. During this first week, we assessed the blood pressure and PWV of six crewmembers every morning, supervised by two crewmembers previously trained by the INSERM U970 team. Measurements were also taken after the EVA to assess its impact on cardiovascular parameters.

Additionally, crewmembers weighed themselves every morning on the connected scale, which analyzed their body composition, calculated their BMI and PWV.

We will continue this protocol next week, with an additional PWV measurement on sol 10 in the evening to obtain a complete set of data for result analysis.

 

2. BIOSTIMULATION – GreenHab Spirulina Experiment (Cecile Renaud, GreenHab Officer and Crew Biologist, as part of MELissa Program, UMONS)
Use of Spirulina to improve plant germination and growth.

Two experiments are conducted on biostimulation using Spirulina. Spiruline is used to 1. improve the germination and early gorwth of tomato seeds, and 2. improve health and growth of tomato plants. As of today, first experiment is running since SOL 4 and data will be collected at SOL 12. Leaves of the second experiment will be harvested at SOL 10 for further investigation.

 

3. ALGACRAFT – Photobioreactor (Cecile Renaud, GreenHab officier and Crew Biologist)
Test growing spirulina as a component of a future closed loop life support system.

After much work by GreenHab Officer assisted by Crew Engineer Julian Villa-Massone, the Algacraft Photobioreactor has been set up and running.

A Spirulina harvest will be conducted on SOL 8.

 

4. ATMOSPHINDER – Kite Propulsion Exploration Rover (Erin Kennedy, Crew Roboticist)
Experimental rover investigating seasonal jet eruptions on Mars while propelled by wind.

Atmosphinder arrived, was built, and iteratively developed throughout testing milestones this week. Quantitative and qualitative testing was performed on both the prototype and electronics. The plethora of testing and work resulted in this key learning:

-> Tensegrity robots, in combination with rigid structural components, have merit for use in extreme environments, such as Mars.

The reasons for this is because:
1) The compliant structure nature of the structure is able to adapt to the uncertain landscape – as seen on EVA-9, EVA-4
2) Rigid structure enables the robot to harness and endure the power of the wind and the environment – as seen on EVA-9, EVA-6

Overall, Atmosphinder performed as expected for an early small scale prototype. It was enthralling to observe the interaction between the robot and its environment! The structure passively waned as gusts of wind occurred. The mechanized sail trim motors functioned better than expected to control the direction of the sails. Finally, the ultra-bright Neopixels were dazzling and visible outdoors. Surprisingly, the three ball bearings (sealed) have not encountered any challenges regarding jamming from dust / sand.

Areas of improvement include: The known weak pieces did break, while the known stronger pieces did not. Duct tape and hot glue was pinnacle to the repairs. Some tubes rotate in place in the 3D printed pieces, which was detrimental to the sail frame structure wind testing. A missed opportunity was swapping the blades on the hoof sub-assemblies for a smoother revision, which could have assisted in a smoother rolling gait, and thereby further rolling distances.

Additional information, including graphs, maps, and photographs can be found at: http://robotzwrrl.xyz/atmosphinder/

Code and datasets can be found at: https://github.com/RobotGrrl/Atmosphinder

Extracting the above key learning from the testing and work demonstrates the value in pursuing the idea further for a higher fidelity prototype, perhaps via an internship at NASA JPL.

The electronics of Atmosphinder has been used to data log environmental sensor data at 1 Hz on EVAs. These datapoints are mapped to GPS coordinates. The sensor data now includes: Anemometer, Pressure, Humidity, Temperature, PM 2.5, PM 10, NH3, as well as: battery voltage, servo motor rail current, and information related to an internal state machine. The sensor data can then be graphed and plotted on a map using a web app developed by Robot Missions Inc. The addition of sensors grew each day, making use of the soldering equipment in the RAM.

When interacting with the Atmosphinder electronics, the key learning was:

-> Human-Robot Interaction (HRI / HCI) is challenging when fully suited in astronaut gear

This key learning was noticed when reaching for the electronics situated in the electronics payload bay of the robot, which was limited by the astronaut helmet. Activating the electronics has to take into account the astronaut gloves. Something that worked well were separate status LEDs blinking to show the data logging, GPS fix, and microcontroller status is nominal, as this can be checked at a glance. A stretch goal hypothesis to test is mentioned below as an experiment.

While on the mission, the next objectives for Atmosphinder is to gather additional information and observations in order to serve as design and testing requirements for future development on Atmosphinder. This will be done by visiting locations with features analogous to the Mars south polar region.

In the Mars south polar region, there are three major geological features:
– Erosion features
– Ridges
– South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD)

At the Mars Desert Research Station, regions of interest about those geological features include:
1) Glistening Seas (eruptions)
2) Erica’s Hill (erosion features)
3) Barroom Outcrops (SPLD)
4) Skyline Rim (SPLD)
5) Additional locations may be added

The remaining EVAs will embark to those locations. Atmosphinder half-sized robot prototype will join for the journey. Limited dynamic testing will take place. The electronics payload will continue to be used to collect environmental sensor data. A stretch goal will be to implement IMU data logging at a fast frequency to be later used for training a model to recognise the terrain type.

For background: Atmosphinder’s destination on Mars is the south polar region to observe the CO2 gas jets from the surface level and contribute data from these activities to the global Mars climatic model. The research conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station is in line with these goals by demonstrating an original robot prototype and by logging environmental sensor data.

A remaining technical stretch goal for Atmosphinder development and testing is a Human-Robot Interaction (HRI / HCI) experiment involving fully suited astronauts controlling the robot by showing coloured signs in front of the robot’s camera. This is dependent on a firmware update for the embedded computer vision camera, which is pending a response from the developers.

 

5. ASTRONOMY ACTIVITIES (Aline Decadi, Executive Officer and Crew Astronomer)
Conduct astronomical observations using multiple observatories include the onsite Musk Observatory and the offsite Montana Learning Center (MLC)’s New Mexico observatory.

MUSK OBSERVATORY has been used for solar imaging and processing. Sun chromosphere, prominences, granules, sunspots, and filaments have been observed. The sun observation has been performed first with the zoom eyepiece, then with the dedicated camera to capture several thousands of frames and process the images with the following software: AUTOSTAKKERT to stack the images, REGISTAX to add wavelets to bring out fine details, and PHOTOSHOP to merge all in one. The operation of the dome, telescope and computer were nominal. The processed images didn’t show any tracking errors. The only thing is that some frames are dark (underexposed) and others bright (overexposed); that could be fixed by finetuning the gain and exposure on Sharp Cap. Which is a very interesting artistic look. We reached very good chromosphere detail (although dark). Some practicing will happen next week.

 

6. MARSVR VIRTUAL REALITY COORDINATED FIELD SCIENCE DEMONSTRATIONS (James Burk, Commander. PI: Jeff Rayner, MXTReality)
Demonstrate the ability for EVA crewmembers to get direct support from HabComm, other crewmembers, and remote science team using virtual reality technology.

We conducted an initial orientation session with crewmembers on SOL 3. Commander James Burk provided an overview of the history behind the project which he’s led for 6 years and demonstrated to hundreds of event participants in Seattle and at our annual Mars Society conference. He demonstrated both the MDRS VR experience (single user), which is a digital twin of the MDRS campus and a 2km terrain segment, as well as the new MarsComms VR experience with multiple user capabilities that is designed to work in tandem with the EVALink devices. He demonstrated the ability for crews to access the Map mode of MarsComms and discussed the possibility of our crew using it to plan and support EVAs using the technology.

Prior to the mission, we procured three new Meta Quest 2 headsets for use by the crew, which arrived safely and were unboxed on SOL 1. Since then, we have had significant difficulties getting them properly set up due to various external factors such as the complexity of creating and pairing the headsets to new Oculus/Meta users which are effectively test accounts not assigned to any individual. This has been mostly due to the immaturity of the Meta user authentication products and their lack of solid documentation. We do have one working Quest 2 headset (James’ personal headset) which had both experiences pre-loaded, and that was used for the demo.

Our plan is to continue to troubleshoot this problem with the remote support of the MXTReality team, and to conduct another VR acclimation session with the full crew on SOL 9.

 

7. EVALINK (PI: Eric Kristoff, Mars Society Chicago)
Integrated system using Meshtastic low-bandwidth open source hardware devices to improve science, situational awareness, and crew member safety at analog research stations.

For this initial test of EVALink operations while an MDRS crew is in sim, we are utilizing two sets of Meshtastic devices, one managed by the Mars Society Chicago chapter, and one managed by the Mars Society Seattle chapter with our partners MXTReality. There are a total of 10 Meshtastic devices on site including 9 field units and 1 relay unit that facilitates the writing of data to a cloud-based server.

We have ensured that all devices are powered and each EVA crewmember has carried one or more devices on their person during EVAs, typically within the front pocket of the crewmember’s EVA radio harness.

The devices arrived with two different configurations and it is unknown if the data from the first week of EVAs was collected comprehensively. We have received anecdotal evidence of data collection and visualization for one of our EVAs.

On SOL 7, Commander Burk worked with the remote EVALink support team to reflash several of the devices to ensure they were all using the same Firmware version and are able to connect and see each other.

Our crew has also developed our own internal system called EVA Monitor, led by Crew Engineer Julian Villa-Massone, which mimics the eventual functionality of real-time EVA telemetry and visualizations using a solution comprised of a custom software stack and off-the-shelf commercial Garmin inReach devices that have satellite-based positioning functionality.

The crew has found this solution extremely useful as an enhancement to our typical radio communications and situational awareness of EVA crew position & status. Much like EVALink will be able to do, our Garmin-based solution is able to see Crewmembers visualized in near-real time (2-10 min delay). It also enables the ability for a crewmember to send “Points of Interest”, or GPS waypoint pings, at times and places of EVA crewmember’s choosing, which based on the context of the point, can provide levels of information to HabComm. Finally, and rarely used by our crew so far, it can send short SMS-style text messages between the Hab and crewmembers.

We have provided feedback to the EVALink team on the overall status of the project and we are hopeful to perform some end-to-end testing of the system as well as distance testing during the rest of our time here.

 

8. FILE SERVER (James Burk, Commander)
Installation of Synology NAS file server with hybrid cloud capabilities to be used for research sharing between crews and other purposes

The server arrived safely and was unboxed and set up on SOL 2. It was qualified for use on SOL 3. However, it has lost power nearly every day and requires manual intervention to restart.

Due to the ongoing intermittent power outages that we have been experiencing, instead of putting this server into operational use, we are focusing on the power monitoring work that is being conducted by Crew Engineer Julien Villa-Massone, which will be important for the long-term hosting of this or a similar server onsite at the MDRS.

It was not critical to any other experiment to have this onsite server available, as we have cloud-based redundancies for all experiments that were going to use this one. Our crew’s file sharing activities and our permanent storage of research will happen using cloud-based services such as Google Drive, Google Photos, and similar tools.

The plan at the end of our mission will be to pack up the server and ready it for the beginning of the next field season.

 

9. SAFETY DRILLS (Aline Decadi, Executive Officer and Crew Geologist)
Conduct emergency procedure training and practice to improve crewmember safety.

A Safety Drill has been performed during Sol 4. During the last part of the EVA, the crew experienced an anomaly. While exploring an area approximately west of Pooh’s Corner, Executive Officer Aline Decadi started to smell what she described as a “burning plastic smell”. This was confirmed by GreenHab Officer Cecile Renaud who also smelled what she described as a “sulfur smell”. Fearing that XO Decadi’s backpack components were burning, the EVA team quickly worked to take off her helmet and suit. By the time they had done that, XO Decadi started to feel ill, and felt like she was going to faint. She was assisted back to the rovers by the three other crewmembers: GreenHab Officer Renaud, HSO Audrey Derobertmasure, and Crew Journalist Kris Davidson. The team performed a debriefing session and many issues were raised and discussed. A list of them is below. We also created a set of “Outcomes”, or recommendations, for both our crew’s future operations and the program in general.

Issues Experienced During EVA 5 Safety Drill

1. [Technical] XO Decadi’s EVA gear seemed to create a smell that made her sick, briefly.
2. [Medical] XO Decadi experienced light-headedness due to issue #1. At one point, she was leaning hard on the other crewmember and felt like she was going to faint.
3. [Procedural] When individual crewmembers experienced Comms issues, not all crewmembers worked together to resolve them.
4. [Procedural] Rovers did not stay together at all times, and certainly within sight of each other. One rover should never be out of sight of the other.
5. [Procedural] Crew members would often talk at the same time.
6. [Procedural] One crewmember stayed on Channel 1 during the entire EVA, despite the Comms issues. Crew members should switch to Channel 2 when having comms issues between each other.
7. [Procedural] Removing XO Decadi’s helmet in an emergency situation was done in a suboptimal way.
8. [Technical] Our Garmin device did not trigger an email to Mission Support, as was designed.
9. [Procedural] It is safer to go to the furthest point of the EVA and then work your way back closer to the Hab. Instead, the EVA team first stopped near Marble Ritual and then north of Pooh’s Corner, with the intent to eventually get to Gateway to Candor. Instead they should have driven all the way to Gateway and worked their way back in the direction of the Hab.

Outcomes from EVA 5 Safety Drill

• Air flow of a backpack can be left on while the helmet is removed. In today’s case it was rightly switched off by one crew member while two others were removing the helmet, because of the nature of the perceived issue (burning component in backpack). In other emergency cases, keeping air flow on would be desirable.
• We need to be using hand signals, especially to communicate comms outages or when driving a rover with a sick crewmember in passenger seat (ie, “Are you ok?”)
• Crewmembers should always carry water on their person, and there should be at least one emergency water bottle carried by the EVA crew in the rover. By utilizing a carabiner clip with a water bottle that has a loop at the top, a crewmember can easily stow it on their person so that both hands are free.
• EVA members should have a mandatory water break every 20-30 mins, to keep ahead of any thirstiness or dehydration. We have noticed this can creep up on you quickly, and we keep powering through minor thirstiness only to suffer severe thirst later in the EVAs. Often, peer pressure or psychology prevents people from being the first to pause the EVA for reasons like this.
• When two rovers are driving, the person driving the rover should communicate with the other rover driver, and the other two (passenger) crew members should remain quiet.
• There should be a mandatory comm check at the beginning of every traverse. In today’s case, one rover lead was trying to communicate with the other, but they were not heard.
• The EVA suits should support rapid removal of helmet and backpack battery in the case of an emergency.
• EVA teams should carry sugar packets to help ill crew members. In today’s case that would have helped.
• For our crew’s HSO, the threshold for breaking sim would have been an actual fainting, not an “almost” fainting. In today’s case, the incident did not meet the threshold, although we broke the sim anyway due to the backpack smell issue.

Training Session on Emergency Procedures
During Sol 5, XO Decadi conducted a training session with all crewmembers for emergency in the field with the purpose to expose what kind of hazards may happen on the field, how to detect and make decisions on the most appropriate “way for action”. Then we trained on how to remove the helmet/backpack in different degraded situations as quick as possible.

10. STATION RESOURCES MONITORING (Julien Villa-Massone, Crew Engineer)
Improve monitoring tool sets for conservation of water and power at the station (both by our crew and future crews)

Water – Manual measurements performed several times per day and plotted on a chart, with trend projection to end of mission. Bringing this information to the attention of the crew daily has been helping everyone own the management of this resource and adapt usage accordingly. Currently trending towards the limit of 120 Gallons on Friday 12 May at night, which is acceptable as this is when our sim ends, and a water resupply can be performed.

Power – Automated measurements available from power system via online interface. There are several inconsistencies in the data provided in this measurement system, therefore, it is difficult to analyze the data with precision and confidence. However, there is sufficient data to be able to manage the system. The main action has been to start and stop the generator, which has been a decision and action taken by Mission Support. Less emphasis has been put on power usage management by the crew, beside turning lights off whenever they are not useful, and not plugging in rovers when sunlight is insufficient.

The Algacraft Bioreactor has been programmed to halve its power consumption in the night hours (between 1 hour before sunset and 1 hour after sunrise). Project to control the bioreactor power consumption based on actual power available is ongoing.

 

11. COPING STRATEGIES SURVEY (PI: Andrees Kaoosar, University of Central Florida)
Study crewmember behavior in extreme environments

As part of the behavioral study in extreme environments conducted by Andrees Kaoosar, we are completing self-assessment scales to evaluate potential changes in mood, anxiety, and social behavior during our mission. A daily journal entry is also proposed in this study. These daily surveys can help us become aware of our own feelings and better understand them. It can also help improve communication with other team members. Writing down our emotions and interactions is also a way to release emotions and reflect on solutions to manage them more effectively. The consensus among the participating crew members is that the opportunity to journal daily is welcome. The questions prior to the optional journal entry are consistent from sol to sol, which is helpful. The questions are also brief, which is helpful with busy schedules.

 

12. PROOF-OF-CONCEPT OF RECON & EMERGENCY DRONE W/ 8K 360 VR CAPABILITIES (PI: Ali Zareiee, Adapa 360)
Testing of advanced high-performance drone with ability to capture 8k 360 video for playback in virtual reality.

The experiment has not started yet.

 

13. SCOUT ROVER (PI: Cameron Rough, Nexus Aurora)
The Scout, Sample, and Map (SSAM) rover is a prototype of a rapid, cost-efficient, and redundant system for high-fidelity mapping and exploration of mission areas.

The rover has not arrived yet. The rover should arrive at MDRS on Sol 8.

 

14. MARSCOIN NODE WITH BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES (PI: Lennart Lopin, Marscoin Foundation)
Proof-of-Concepts for Blockchain-enabled Inventory Management & Small Settlement Governance Voting

The experiment was envisioned to be running on the File Server with a cloud-based rendundancy. Due to the issues with power (see File Server) we have not had time to set this up on the File Server and will likely conduct the experiment activities on a cloud-based instance.

Crew 275 Mid-mission research report 26Feb2023

Physics

Two experiments from the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS) have been performed at the MDRS for several years already. We are gathering additional data for this season as well. These activities require EVAs. There are three types of measurements: The Field Mill and Mega-Ares measure the electric field; the weather station measures wind and temperature; and the Purple Air instrument as well as the LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter) collect and classify particles. The installation of these instruments was not easy, as the weather was not kind to us. After a long snow fall, we had to wait for the snow to melt completely so that we could set up the instruments safely. The Mega-Ares had a problem with its sphere-shaped antenna (no conductivity between the two hemispheres). We also had a problem with the battery wire of the Field Mill. All these problems required 4 EVA to set up all the instruments correctly. At Sol 13, we managed to simultaneously collect our first data with all the instruments.

Technology

Three technology demonstrations are planned, one of them being the continuation of last year’s mission of ISAE-Supaero (Crew 263). They are based on technologies developed by the French Space Agency (CNES) and its health subsidiary (MEDES), as well as a private company (Nucleus VR).

· AI4U: AI4U is an artificial intelligence designed by French space agency (CNES) and the company Spoon to assist the astronauts during their mission. We started to set up the main functionalities of « Ed » (its name), which is a depressurization alert assistant that helps us with the protocols in case of emergency. We tested the dialog flow to ease vocal recognition. With the environmental sensors installed on the whole campus, we will soon connect them to Ed so that it can inform us about the conditions at different locations through the station (humidity in RAM, or temperature in Greenhab, for instance).

· Echofinder: EchoFinder is an experiment conducted in collaboration with CNES, consisting in testing a protocol for astronauts to perform ultrasounds without any prior training. This experiment has already been conducted in the past by ISAE-Supaero crews. This year, the aim is to test a new Augmented Reality interface coupled with an organ detection AI. So far, we have gone through 6 sessions, each performed in pairs: the two crewmembers take turns in performing the ultrasound and being subject to the experiment. We have had several issues with this experiment, mainly because our hardware did not support the EchoFinder software very well. With the help of the researchers from CNES, our crew engineer managed to transfer the software to a more powerful device which has made the last two sessions much easier to perform. We aim to go through six more sessions to provide the researchers with a complete set of data, so they can evaluate the accuracy of their AI and how the AR interface can be improved.

· Digital twins: Evaluation of a digital twin training method to help astronauts using hardware and better visualizing how to fix or use an object. The aim of this experiment is to use a digital environment with a numerical 3D model of an object. However, we did not have time to work on this experiment so far.

Human Factors

Three human factor experiments are planned for this season. They are the result of a collaboration with the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), the French Military Institute of Biomedical Research (IRBA), and the University of Burgundy (France).

· KTHitecture: Measure of the stress of analog astronauts and of the influence of environmental parameters on the stress. We successfully deployed environmental monitoring sensors to measure temperature, pression, humidity, and luminance in each room of the station. After the IRB review was accepted and forwarded to MDRS representatives, we started physiological measurements with chest band sensors (ECG, actigraphy) and psychometric tests. We are now finishing the implementation of the indoor location tracking system. The aim is to record the position of each crew member and hence have information concerning their environment when analyzing the data. Finally, the crewmembers regularly fill Sociomapping questionnaires about their social interactions, the crew’s atmosphere and performance, etc. In addition to the scientific interest of such maps, they enable us to detect social problems and enhance the global performance of the crew.

· ETERNITI: Study of the psycho-physio-cognitive functioning and of the benefits of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) in the context of Mars analog missions. taVNS consists in a non-invasive stimulation of the vagus nerve at the level of the ear. It is a very encouraging candidate as a countermeasure to mitigate the harmful effects of future interplanetary missions and improve individual performance. In the recent years, taVNS has indeed shown its potential to reduce symptoms, improve cognitive performance, and enhance recovery. We did not start these protocols, as we have not received the IRB approval yet. The IRB came back to the investigators with the request to get a letter from the Mars Society mentioning that they had no problem implementing the experiment, should they accept it. We sent three emails to ask for such a letter from the Mars Society, but did not get any answer.

· Adapt Mars: Self-report questionnaires to explore some aspects linked to individual and social adaptation to isolated and confined extreme environments. The aim is to examine the social, emotional, occupational, and physical impact of these environments. Other objectives include: the impact on individual psychological adaptation factors (stress, recovery, defense mechanism, etc.) and interpersonal relationships (cohesion, leadership, etc.). We did not start these protocols, as we have not received the IRB approval yet.

Botany

Two botany experiments are taking place at the Green Hab. They are designed with the support of researchers from ISAE-Supaero and NASA.

· Aquapony: The aim of this experiment is to test aquaponics systems inside the Green Hab and to evaluate their viability in Mars analog missions. The aquaponics system has been in place since Sol 2. It works well, the water tests show a good environment for the fish. Plants are growing well; however, we can notice that the parsley is not really accommodating to it, and the basil shows a little bit of struggle too. We keep an eye on every plant growing and we can clearly see their roots are way denser than at the beginning of the mission. Overall, everything goes to plan.

· Microgreen: The idea behind this activity is to grow crops of microgreens in the Green Hab. One of the main advantages of microgreens is that they grow quickly and can be included in the food consumption of the crew. This experiment began late because we unfortunately did not receive the kit we should have started with. But as there are microgreens seeds in the GreenHab we decided to launch the experiment with these (Beta vulgaris seeds) on Sol 8. Since then, they have been calmly growing, we can now see their little leaves popping out of the dirt. Photographs have been taken to monitor their growth.

Geology & Exploration

Two geology and exploration experiments are being implemented and require dedicated EVAs. They have been prepared together with scientists from CNRS and ISAE-Supaero. One of the experiments includes the use of a drone for which a license has been obtained by a crew member (Quentin Royer).

· MetMet: Test of material used to measure the magnetic susceptibility and electrical conductimetry of rocks to rapidly assess their type. This material is currently used to differentiate meteorites from terrestrial rocks. This experiment started only on Sol 13, with an EVA to Kissing Camel Ridge W. The tested material was found to be very user-friendly, and the EVA was overall a great success. A lot of samples were taken thanks to this field work. They will be studied further next week. Another EVA is planned at the end of the week to couple both geology and photogrammetry information.

· Photogrammetry: Test of the added value of having a 3D map of a terrain (mapped with a drone from Parrot) to prepare EVAs and facilitate exploration. These tests include the localization and identification of specific points of interest during EVAs, with prior familiarization with a 2D map or a 3D render of the terrain. We conducted 3 EVAs related to photogrammetry during the second week. Photogrammetry of the North Ridge area was performed during the first of these EVAs. Two additional ones were then performed, and Crew members who had access to either a 2D map or a 3D render had to find predefined checkpoints in the field. We measured the accuracy and efficiency to find the checkpoints. At least 3 more EVAs will be performed during the 2nd half of the mission, in order to reproduce the same process on a different field.

Biology

One biology experiment has been prepared with the university of Hawaii and makes use of the EVAs planned already for the MetMet experiment.

· Biofinder: The aim of this experiment is to identify traces of life with a fluorescence technology instrument during EVA. The first samples were taken during the EVA of Sol 13 and will be studied during the next week. Another EVA is planned at the end of week three to collect more samples.

Astronomy

One astronomy project has been prepared with Peter Detterline at the Mars Society.

· Asteroid characterization: The aim of this project is to measure the lightcurve, velocity, and rotation rate of pre-identified asteroids. It makes use of robotic observatory available at the MDRS. Because of the cloudy weather, this project has not really started so far. We hope the weather conditions will improve in the next days so that the first observations can be performed.

Alexandre Vinas, Crew Astronomer
After a preparatory classes at the Pierre de Fermat school in Toulouse, it is at ISAE-Supaero that this space lover from Bordeaux can fulfull his space exploration dreams. Now in first year of Master, he will be Crew 275’s astronomer and will conduct an astronomy project about asteroid lightcurves at the Mars Desert Research Station.

Alice Chapiron, Crew Scientist
Alice Chapiron is a first year Master student at the French engineering school ISAE-Supaero located in Toulouse. She joined this school after two years of preparatory classes in the Lycée du Parc in Lyon. She chose this university in order to cultivate her passion for space exploration. She is passionate about science and wishes to complete a PhD in planetology.

Adrien Tison, GreenHab Office
Adrien has always had his eyes on the stars and also dreams of reaching the Moon (or even Mars). He joined ISAE-Supaero to give himself every chance of realizing this dream. Famous students from his school have shown the way and now he wants to participate and bring his convictions, values, seriousness, and skills to space exploration. He aims at contributing to technological advancements and being part of this formidable human adventure that breaks all borders. He will take part in this mission as GreenHab officer.

Marie Delaroche, Crew Journalist
After graduating from High School at the Lycée Français de New York and attending preparatory classes in Versailles for two years, Marie joined ISAE-Supaero with a single dream in mind: contributing to space exploration. As an aspiring writer and photographer, she will be Crew 275’s onboard journalist, in charge of outreach and documenting the mission.

Corentin Senaux, Health and Safety Officer
Corentin SENAUX is a first year Master student in aerospace engineering at ISAE-Supaero. Passionate about space, he aspires to work in a space agency to prepare future missions. Aware of environmental issues, he sees space as a way to get closer to Earth by knowing it better through space sciences. Athletic and joyful, he is committed to maintain the crew’s mental and physical health throughout the mission.

Quentin Royer, Crew Engineer
A long time space enthusiast, Quentin Royer joined MDRS Crew 275 as Crew Engineer. As a student in aerospace engineering at ISAE-Supaero, he will seize the opportunity of this MDRS analog mission to perform experiments and testing equipment that could be used in space in the future. Quentin is interested both by research and engineering and would like to work in human spaceflight or satellite operations. During the mission, he will have to make sure that all the vital equipment works properly, as well as all the technical experiments.

Jérémy Rabineau, Commander
After completing a Master’s degree in aerospace engineering at ISAE-Supaero, Jérémy Rabineau is now studying Space Physiology at Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium). He especially focuses on the cardiovascular system of astronauts and crews on Antarctic stations. He will be the Commander of Crew 275 during this month-long mission at the MDRS.

 

 

Title: Self-Sustainment Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study focuses on the efficiency of a self-sustainment diet for astronauts in spaceflight and on interplanetary missions. Meals are prepacked, dehydrated, and curated to the individual astronaut’s needs. Understanding the metabolic needs of astronauts and requirements for self-sustainment will enable a low-impact resource management capability for early exploration. Meals use no grid energy and in some cases are heated purely by solar energy (placing canisters in the window). As this mission closes, preliminary data shows that one female analog astronaut prepped with 15lbs of sustenance used ~28 liters of water (this includes meal prep, hydration, and hygiene), produced less an 2 lbs of material waste, and consumed ~21,000 calories over 11.5 days.

Title: Dandelion Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study was a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland who aspires to be an astronaut. The submission inquired if dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) can grow in Martian regolith. Crew 274 was happy to comply and donated Martian and Lunar regolith from ExoLabs to the study. The dandelions did not sprout, but Crew 274 was happy to mentor a budding astrobiologist and hopes this project continues to inspire young minds.

Title: Cosmic Fruit Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study was a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland who aspires to go to Mars as an astronaut. The submission asked what happens to fruit exposed to the elements on Mars and if they would be protected in the habitat. Crew 274 was happy to support this study in conjunction with the logistics cache. HSO Pender accommodated the fruit (two oranges) in his logistics cache and placed the cache and the fruit on the “Martian terrain.” Two additional oranges were placed in a crate next to the cache. Both samples had temperature monitors and radiation tags. As the EVA crews access the cache over the mission duration, the oranges will be monitored, and data collected on their performance. At the end of the mission, it was observed the interior oranges became soft and deteriorated faster (with soft spots), likely due to warmer temperatures inside the cache. The oranges left outside the cache remained firm and undamaged. Neither of the orange samples detected radiation. While there is more data to analysis from this study, we hope this project continues to inspire young minds to inquire about exploration.

Title: Evaluating Contingency EVAs and Rescue Techniques for Planetary Surface Missions

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study investigates contingency extra-vehicular activities methods and protocols. It is a continuation of a study from previous analogs but enhanced over time. This specific study will utilize an engineered rescue vest. It has yet to be performed at this point in the mission. Three EVAs were completed using single and two-person carrying of the KURT dummy at Gateway of Candor. This observational study aims to develop assistive rescue devices and methods for contingency EVAs. While data is still being analyzed, the preliminary results and feedback showed that rescues are a challenge and require thoughtful consideration. The vest grip points aided rescues to be possible.

Title: Digital Measurement of Stress and a Potential Stress Mitigation Technique in Analog Astronaut Environments

Crew Member: Alexis “Kepler” Lojek

Role: Crew Engineer

The crew are wearing their Garmin devices and it is tracking their stress levels based upon Heart Rate Variability. Focused breathing as a potential; mitigation technique for stress begins this evening after the Comms windows closes. Stress levels are being tracked and recorded via Garmin Connect. The data collected from MDRS and other analogs is showing that in order to be effective at reducing stress in any way, training in focused breathing techniques is required, while a long-term analysis of focused breathing is pending after further data collection during the next two weeks.

Title: Heliophysical Phenomena

Crew Member: Noah “Phoenix” Loy

Role: Crew Astronomer and Heliophysicist

Musk Solar Observatory operations have rendered many successes at this halfway point mid-mission. Dozens of heliophysic phenomena have been observed in the forms of solar dark spots, solar chromosphere granolas, solar prominences, and convection cells. Over 110k images/videos have been captured. Some of these have been analyzed through astrophotography software. Flats have been integrated across 30k solar dark spot images. The size, distribution, and frequencies of solar granules and solar dark spots have begun to be measured. All in all, lots of clean and useful heliophysics data have been gathered, saved, and analyzed for a solar cycle 25 report. The data collected from solar observation is now ready for the next stage of analysis through a personal python analysis tool. The findings from this software analysis will enable a report to Space Operations Command regarding an operational plan to safeguard US orbital assets in the likely event of a solar superstorm breaching Earth’s sphere of influence.

Title: Case Study of the MDRS Design as a Planetary Surface Habitat

Crew Member: William “Titan” O’Hara

I have made significant progress on my research goal. In the first half of the mission I have completed a detailed review of the architecture of the Musk Observatory, Science Dome, Green Hab, RAM and connecting tunnels from the POV of a crew member. In each case I have created sketches and completed a detailed questionnaire built to systematically review each habitable space. The data collected thus far captures characteristics such as layout, use-of-space, activity volume allocations, traffic flow, outfitting and stowage volumes. Data collection for the habitat architecture case study concluded nominally with generation of 20+ pages of notes plus sketches.

Title: Generating Multi-bandpass Lightcurve (LC) Data on HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR

Crew Member: Salina “Nova” Peña

Role: Crew Astronomer

Images of HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR were taken before the mission. Fifteen images were taken on January 13, 2023, using the filter “V,” and sixty were taken on January 27, 2023, using filters B, V, and R. Once the correct duration for each filter was established, then 180 images were taken at MDRS using the same filters. So far, there have been two days where no observations were made due to weather conditions. Therefore, they were canceled. While in the waiting process, I started the calibration process with the first set of images in the 45s duration visible. The raw images collected from the MDRS-14 Robotic Telescope (using filters V, B, and R) are being used to monitor the flux in HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR. Further analysis is needed and images will be collected up to the end of February.

Title: Germination Studies of Long-Duration Space-Exposed Seeds

Crew Member: Tyler “Houston” Hines

Role: GreenHab Officer

Approaching the mid-way point of the mission, all expected research progress and general germination are going according to plan. Following the initial setup of supplies along with consistent daily maintenance and watering of nutrient-rich additives, early signs of germination were noted as early as Sol 3 in the mission, specifically with the cress and broccoli, with the other sets of microgreens being closely monitored in parallel. As a significant and optimistic milestone in the anticipated seed germination timeline, early signs of LDEF seed germination were noted on the morning of Sol 6, with the plan to continually maintain current temperature and humidity levels in addition to watering times to support future growth. Based on the overall results, while data from the secondary microgreen seed set was shown to meet germination expectations, the most significant results from the primary extended space-exposed LDEF seed set show that such seeds can not only germinate following exposure to a high-radiation environment in Earth orbit, but can initially germinate in the nutrient-lacking simulated Martian regolith, thereby proving the foundational durability of certain nutrient-dense seeds and crops that can be potentially utilized for future crewed missions to Mars.

Title: Supply Cache Use for Extension of Human Exploration on Mars

Crew Member: Nicholas “XMan” Pender

Role: Health and Safety Officer

Three of seven EVAs planned for this research experiment have been accomplished. The first EVA series (EVAs 3 and 4 combined) established a baseline distance of how far is reasonably possible to travel on foot in 30 minutes while in a space suit. A distance of 1 mile per 30 minutes of walking was discovered, which allowed for future planning of the contingency scenario route utilizing the supply cache. This phase also presented the opportunity to test staking into the local soil for future supply cache solar panel placement. This test was conducted on top of both Kissing Camel Ridge and on the side of Cow Dung Road. Finally, I was also able to prove the ability to use a hydration system with the space suit and consume GU energy gel packs while in the space suit. EVA 5 demonstrated effective deployment of the supply cache as a mobile EVA support platform, positioning it 2 miles (1 hour) from the hab. Upon activation, all powered systems for the cache were operating nominally. Initial readings on interior/external temperature were performed, as well as power consumption data and initial condition. EVA 6 consisted of a status check on the cache to ensure it was operating nominally, and it certainly was. The cache was maintaining temps above 40 degrees and power consumption of the internal heater was negligible. One external concern, it was found that the ropes securing the solar panels to the ground had loosened. Stakes were repositioned to ensure a secure placement. Follow-up surveys on and debriefs on EVA’s 5 and 6 validated the experiment design and also revealed potential design improvement recommendations for the cache system. The cache is now ready for its big test in an emergency scenario exercise on EVA 7. The supply cache concept explored at MDRS was the first research of its kind conducted in a Mars-analogous environment. Preliminary results show that supply cache technology applications in the field of space exploration are effective, particularly in analog, and show great promise for shaping EVA safety policy and processes.

Title: Self-Sustainment Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study focuses on the efficiency of a self-sustainment diet for astronauts in spaceflight and on interplanetary missions. Meals are prepacked, dehydrated, and curated to the individual astronaut’s needs. Understanding the metabolic needs of astronauts and requirements for self-sustainment will enable a low-impact resource management capability for early exploration. Meals use no grid energy and in some cases are heated purely by solar energy (placing canisters in the window). The analysis of this study is completed at the end of the mission. The prepacked meals have been ample in caloric intake and consumption has varied based on activity. Moreover, as noted by the crew, the self-sustainment study shows there is little to no prep time, little waste, or cleanup, and has no impact on the daily activities. While halfway through the mission, there has been no need to break from the meal plan and is on track to be sufficient until the end of mission. Moreover, concerns if the meal would be disruptive have proved to be just the opposite. Not only is it supported by the crew as a specialized diet, but it has also generated meaningful conversations and even accolades, with some crew members quoted “I wish I was doing this.”

Title: Dandelion Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study was a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland who aspires to be an astronaut. The submission inquired if dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) can grow in Martian regolith. Crew 274 was happy to comply and donated Martian and Lunar regolith from ExoLabs to the study. The dandelions were planted in a nitrogen enriched pods with the sample regolith simulant on Sol 3 and are patiently waiting for results.

Title: Cosmic Fruit Study

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study was a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland who aspires to go to Mars as an astronaut. The submission asked what happens to fruit exposed to the elements on Mars and if they would be protected in the habitat. Crew 274 was happy to support this study in conjunction with the logistics cache. HSO Pender accommodated the fruit (two oranges) in his logistics cache and placed the cache and the fruit on the ”Martian terrain.” Two additional oranges were placed in a crate next to the cache. Both samples had temperature monitors and radiation tags. As the EVA crews access the cache over the mission duration, the oranges will be monitored and data collected on their performance.

Title: Evaluating Contingency EVAs and Rescue Techniques for Planetary Surface Missions

Crew Member: Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie

Role: Commander

This study investigates contingency extra-vehicular activities methods and protocols. It is a continuation of a study from previous analogs but enhanced over time. This specific study will utilize an engineered rescue vest. It has yet to be performed at this point in the mission.

Title: Digital Measurement of Stress and a Potential Stress Mitigation Technique in Analog Astronaut Environments

Crew Member: Alexis “Kepler” Lojek

Role: Crew Engineer

The crew are wearing their Garmin devices and it is tracking their stress levels based upon Heart Rate Variability. Focused breathing as a potential; mitigation technique for stress begins this evening after the Comms windows closes. Stress levels are being tracked and recorded via Garmin Connect.

Title: Heliophysical Phenomena

Crew Member: Noah “Phoenix” Loy

Role: Crew Astronomer and Heliophysicist

Musk Solar Observatory operations have rendered many successes at this halfway point mid-mission. Dozens of heliophysic phenomena have been observed in the forms of solar dark spots, solar chromosphere granolas, solar prominences, and convection cells. Over 110k images/videos have been captured. Some of these have been analyzed through astrophotography software. Flats have been integrated across 30k solar dark spot images. The size, distribution, and frequencies of solar granules and solar dark spots have begun to be measured. All in all, lots of clean and useful heliophysics data have been gathered, saved, and analyzed for a solar cycle 25 report.

Title: Case Study of the MDRS Design as a Planetary Surface Habitat

Crew Member: William “Titan” O’Hara

I have made significant progress on my research goal. In the first half of the mission I have completed a detailed review of the architecture of the Musk Observatory, Science Dome, Green Hab, RAM and connecting tunnels from the POV of a crew member. In each case I have created sketches and completed a detailed questionnaire built to systematically review each habitable space. The data collected thus far captures characteristics such as layout, use-of-space, activity volume allocations, traffic flow, outfitting and stowage volumes.

Title: Generating Multi-bandpass Lightcurve (LC) Data on HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR

Crew Member: Salina “Nova” Peña

Role: Crew Astronomer

Images of HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR were taken before the mission. Fifteen images were taken on January 13, 2023, using the filter “V,” and sixty were taken on January 27, 2023, using filters B, V, and R. Once the correct duration for each filter was established, then 180 images were taken at MDRS using the same filters. So far, there have been two days where no observations were made due to weather conditions. Therefore, they were canceled. While in the waiting process, I started the calibration process with the first set of images in the 45s duration visible.

Title: Germination Studies of Long-Duration Space-Exposed Seeds

Crew Member: Tyler “Houston” Hines

Role: GreenHab Officer

Approaching the mid-way point of the mission, all expected research progress and general germination are going according to plan. Following the initial setup of supplies along with consistent daily maintenance and watering of nutrient-rich additives, early signs of germination were noted as early as Sol 3 in the mission, specifically with the cress and broccoli, with the other sets of micro greens being closely monitored in parallel. As a significant and optimistic milestone in the anticipated seed germination timeline, early signs of LDEF seed germination were noted on the morning of Sol 6, with the plan to continually maintain current temperature and humidity levels in addition to watering times to support future growth.

Title: Supply Cache Use for Extension of Human Exploration on Mars

Crew Member: Nicholas “XMan” Pender

Role: Health and Safety Officer

Three of seven EVAs planned for this research experiment have been accomplished. The first EVA series (EVAs 3 and 4 combined) established a baseline distance of how far is reasonably possible to travel on foot in 30 minutes while in a space suit. A distance of 1 mile per 30 minutes of walking was discovered, which allowed for future planning of the contingency scenario route utilizing the supply cache. This phase also presented the opportunity to test staking into the local soil for future supply cache solar panel placement. This test was conducted on top of both Kissing Camel Ridge and on the side of Cow Dung Road. Finally, I was also able to prove the ability to use a hydration system with the space suit and consume GU energy gel packs while in the space suit. EVA 5 demonstrated effective deployment of the supply cache as a mobile EVA support platform, positioning it 2 miles (1 hour) from the hab. Upon activation, all powered systems for the cache were operating nominally. Initial readings on interior/external temperature were performed, as well as power consumption data and initial condition. EVA 6 comprised of a status check on the cache to ensure it was operating nominally, and it certainly was. The cache was maintaining temps above 40 degrees and power consumption of the internal heater was negligible. One external concern, it was found that the ropes securing the solar panels to the ground had loosened. Stakes were repositioned to ensure a secure placement. Follow-up surveys on and debriefs on EVA’s 5 and 6 validated to the experiment design and also revealed potential design improvement recommendations for the cache system. The cache is now ready for its big test in an emergency scenario exercise on EVA 7!

 

 

Crew 274 – ARG-1M

Crew Commander: Sarah E. Guthrie (USA)

Crew Engineer: Alexis J. Lojek (USA)

Crew Astronomer: Salina Pena (USA)

Health and Safety Officer: Nicholas Pender (USA)

Crew Journalist: Anthony DiBernardo (USA)

Green Hab Officer: Tyler Hines (USA)

Heliophysics: Noah Loy (USA)

Habitat Structure Specialist: Bill O’Hara

MDRS Crew 274 is a pioneering academic analog research group from the American Public University System (APUS) under the designation ARG-1M. The APUS Analog Research Group (AARG) leads space study undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students in multidisciplinary scientific research investigations analogous to the space environment. This crew aims to examine extra-vehicular (EVA) activity logistics, EVA contingency protocols and methodologies via rescue devices, mindfulness and focused breathing, solar and variable star studies, and terrestrial spaceflight habitat efficiency.

 

 

Sarah E. Guthrie: Commander (Baltimore, MD, USA)

Sarah E. Guthrie is a Space Studies (astronomy) graduate student in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math with American Military University. She is a three-time analog astronaut and the first female commander for the APUS Analog Research Group. In addition to her academic studies, she is also a 20-year active-duty veteran in the United States Air Force. Her unique deployment experience with multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan provided her an opportunity to bring combat rescue techniques to needed lunar surface operations. Additionally, she is a co-investigator on various projects that focus on adaptive mobility load distribution systems for extra-vehicular activities, astronaut resource impact, and behavioral health studies for long-term space flight. She is also a research advisor for Space4All on analog research projects at terrestrial habitats. Her call sign is Ceres.

Alexis “Lex” Lojek: Crew Engineer (Oahu, HI, USA)

Lex is a second-year Master’s thesis student within the School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics at American Military University. His research is in the realm of Spaceflight Human Factors and is focused on measurement of stress using physiological factors, specifically heartrate variability, through the use of a Garmin VivoSmart 4 device, and a potential mitigation for stress – focused breathing. He graduated with a degree in Applied Science and Technology from Thomas Edison State University in 2020. He is Active Duty in the United States Navy and has been for over 17 years. During his time as a US Navy Sailor, he has deployed four times; three as an Aviation Electronics Technician for the F/A-18F Super Hornet onboard three aircraft carriers, and once to Djibouti City, Djibouti as a Cryptologic Technician. He has hopes to pursue a commission into the US Space Force as a Space Operations officer after completion of his graduate school degree in June. His crew call sign is Kepler.

Nicholas Pender: Health and Safety Officer (Brownsville, TX, USA)

Nicholas Pender is a second-year master’s thesis student in the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at American Military University. He also has a Bachelors of Science in Supply Chain, Logistics, and Transportation Management at Bellevue University. His research is focused on the application of supply caches to extend extravehicular activities (EVAs) on Mars and leveraging supply cache technology as a basis for future EVA policy. Nicholas is a Logistics Planner in the U.S. Air Force and an Education with Industry Fellow at Space Exploration Technologies, Corp (SpaceX). His call sign is X-Man.

Noah Loy: Heliophysics (Denver, CO, USA)

Noah Loy is a Space Studies and Civil Engineering undergrad at the American Military University and the University of Colorado, respectively. Noah is researching heliophysics phenomena to analyze space weather and its implications for orbital assets. Noah is a space engineer and intelligence analyst for the United States Space Force, where he is also collaborating with multiple DoD Space Test Programs researching space vehicle development and orbital Starlink internet reliability. His crew call sign is Phoenix.

Tony DiBernardo: Media & Communications (Mission Viejo, CA, USA)

Tony DiBernardo is a Space Studies grad student at the American Public University. Currently, he focuses his education and outreach to educating the general public about space on platforms like Youtube, Instagram, and Podcast form. In this mission, Tony will take high fidelity footage of the Mars analog environment for use in experiment spotlights, documentary, daily vlogs, and educational resources for social media. His crew call sign is Ironman.

Salina Peña: Crew Astronomer (Pier Pont, South Dakota, USA)

Salina Peña is a master’s student at American Public University. Her interest is in the field of astronomy. She is currently working on her thesis in the area of Variable Stars. As a student, she participates in the APUS Supernovae group as a team lead and processing images. Salina holds another master’s degree focusing on education with a certification in STEM. Currently, she is a middle school science educator. After completing the Space Studies Master’s program at APUS, she will continue her education, looking for a Ph.D. program at a university in astronomy or astrophysics. Her crew call sign is Nova.

Tyler Hines: GreenHab Officer (Parkersburg, West Virginia, USA)

Tyler Hines is an undergraduate student at American Public University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Space Studies concentrating in Aerospace Science and a minor in Business Administration. As an active extracurricular student, he currently serves both as the university’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) President and Chief of Staff for the Analog Astronaut Research Group (AARG). In his spare time, he volunteers as a docent for the American Space Museum in Florida and as a member of NASA’s Solar System Ambassador Program, where he conducts outreach presentations to the general public on the story of the nation’s space program. During the mission, his research focus will be to conduct germination studies on long-duration space-exposed seeds in simulated Martian regolith samples. His
crew call sign is “Houston”.

William O’Hara: Habitat Structure Specialist (Loveland, CO, USA)

Bill worked at the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas for 20 years. During that time he held a variety of positions including astronaut instructor, MCC flight controller for NASA’s International Space Station program, Orion Life Support System Lead, and advanced life support systems development project engineer. He relocated to Denver Colorado in 2018 to develop orbital and lunar habitats and landers for Sierra Space. Currently, Bill is the Lunar Habitat Formulation lead for Blue Origin’s Advanced Development Group. He specializes in the design and development of deep space and planetary surface habitats as well as robotic landing spacecraft. Bill is a part-time instructor for the American Public University System’s Space Sciences department and supports the APU Analog Research Group as a faculty advisor. Bill is also a part-time PhD student at the University of North Dakota where he is researching the development of a habitat architecture that could enable humans to live on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. A veteran of NASA’s human test subject program, he flew on nine flights aboard the KC135 Vomit Comet. He has been a crewmember on three analog missions. In 2014 he was a member of the third crew to live in NASA’s Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) habitat. In 2018 he was a member of an expedition to the Haughton Mars Project Research Station (HMPRS) located on Devon Island in the high Canadian Arctic. In 2021 he served as a crewmember to the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) as well as the University of North Dakota’s Inflatable Lunar-Mars Analog Habitat (ILMAH). His crew call sign is Titan.