Category: Sol Summary

Summary Title: Beautiful pictures brought back from the exploratory EVA.

Author’s name: Jean Jacobs (XO)

Mission Status: The mission reaches half of its length. EVA exploratory mission stories and pictures fill our heads with dreams. Julien’s brownie gives an energy boost to the crew.

Sol activity summary:

08:30 Breakfast
09:30 EVA departure
09:30 Tidying up the HAB
12:00 EVA return
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Data analysis from the sleep experiment and Cyril’s coding skills will enable future 3D modelisation of the HAB
16:00 Team cake eating
18:00 Report redaction
19:00 Capcom
20:00 Dinner
22:00 Hypnosis session

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny morning and cloudy afternoon, low winds

Crew Physical Status: The crew is in shape

EVA: EVA exploration of a canyon North East of the HAB.

Reports to be filed:

– Crew commander
– HSO
– Engineer
– Astronomer
– GreenHab officer
– Journalist
– Picture of the day
– Some pictures
– EVA request
– EVA summary

Support Requested: None at this time

Crew 227 Sol Summary Report 1stApr2022
Sol: 5
Summary Title: Added time put into use for scientific work.
Name of person filing the report: Jean Jacobs (XO)

Mission Status: Aborted EVA today due to lack of communication hits the crew’s morale. The free time was put into use to clean the HAB and scientific work.

Sol activity summary:
09:00 Breakfast
10:00 First images of the sun with the telescope + data analysis from Julien, Audrey and Julie’s experiments
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Various work for the crew
– Sleep data analysis
– First telescope’s images processing
– Cleaning of the HAB
– Check of the EVA suits status
18:00 Report redaction
19:00 Capcom
21:00 Dinner

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny day with low winds

Crew Physical Status: Crew is in shape

EVA: No EVA

Reports to be filed:
– Crew commander
– HSO
– Engineer
– Astronomer
– GreenHab officer
– Journalist
– Picture of the day
– Some pictures
– EVA request
– EVA summary

Support Requested: None at this time

Crew 227 Commander Report 29th March 2022

SOL: 2

Name of person filing report: Cyril Wain

Today was our first complete day without any contact with the external world. We can say that the simulation really started today.

We all woke up around 07h30 and we had breakfast at 08h00.
Ignacio, Sirga, Cheyenne and I did our first night with the polysomnographs. None of us have been bothered by it during the night, however removing all the sensors in our hairs and faces was a bit less fun. On the other side, the first results are already quite impressive!

This breakfast (8h00-8h45) was part of the experiment of Sirga. For a part of the team, it was not so easy but, at the end, everyone played the game without any questions. I am very proud of the crew for that point, each crew member is participating in all the different experiments with real interest and implication. During that breakfast, we also participated in the experiment of Jean which is taking some samples to get a look to the variations in our metabolism.
Finally, it is at that time that we were told that the EVA of the day was cancelled due to the bad weather. The team was a bit disappointed but took this information with a lot of professionalism.

Between 10h00 and 12h00, except Cheyenne who was performing some work for her experiment, we all participated in the experiment of Julie. First, we did the learning session and then Julie did a demonstration. The goal of this experiment is to allow anyone (not a medic) to be able to repair a broken leg (of a crew member that was hurt on EVA for example) with an innovative device. Now that we all have been formed, Julie will prepare some critical situations in which some of us will be asked to repair a fake leg. Everyone seems really excited by this experiment!

Between 12h20 and 13h20 we had lunch time. Today, it was soup with homemade bread that Julien did during the night. The bread was so good! I have to say that now we are all happy with not so much regarding food.

After lunch, Julie already simulated a critical situation: Julien, Audrey, Jean and Sirga were involved. At the same time, Ignacio and I worked on our experiments.

Around 16h00, we all worked on our reports.

Between 17h00 and 18h00 we did a second experiment with Julien but this time with Ignacio, Jean, Sirga and I. While we were doing this, Cheyenne continued her experiment in the greenlab. Julien and Audrey monitored our pictures.

Regarding the station, everything is functional.
We are just missing some trash bags and 2 of the 4 hot plates have damaged buttons. Ignacio is working to print a solution with the 3D printer.

Regarding the weather, the wind was less strong that yesterday, but we had some rain in the morning.

The team is really motivated and conscient of the opportunity they have while performing this simulation. All the experiments are starting as expected and we can expect to get amazing results if we keep that trend. The mood in the team couldn’t be better for now. We are all looking for tomorrow to perform our second real EVA.

This is it for today.

Crew 227 Sol Summary Report 30-03-22
Sol: 3

Summary Title: A successful EVA under inside instruction.
Author’s name: Jean Jacobs (XO)

Mission Status: The crew is getting more and more comfortable in its new environment.

Sol activity summary:

09:00 Breakfast and 3D printing of the new stove knob
10:00 Team “anatomy” and “mechanics” facing in Julie’s experiment
12:30 Lunch
13:15 Departure on EVA of 5 crew members
14:00 Cheyenne checked the environmental parameters in her experiment, Cyril calibrated his radar
16:00 Return from EVA crew
18:00 Report redaction and correction
19:00 Capcom
20:00 Dinner

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny day

Crew Physical Status: The crew is in shape

EVA: EVA to North Ridge

Reports to be filed:
– Crew commander
– Journalist
– GreenHab officer
– Engineer
– EVA report
– HSO
– Astronomer
– EVA request
– Some pictures
– Picture of the day
– Mission plan

Support Requested: None at this time

Sincerely,
Jean Jacobs

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-25-22

Sol: 6

Summary Title: Discussion of medical futility

Author’s name: Arian Anderson

Mission Status: Tragedy struck

Sol Activity Summary: EVA took a turn when a crew member suffered from a simulated cardiac arrest. There were multiple simulated injured patients but the patient in the simulated arrest did not "survive". Everything possible was done and the crew is devastated.

Look Ahead Plan: Tonight is movie night and planning for evac in the am

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Started getting hot

Crew Physical Status: Improving on idea of going home

EVA: See above

Reports to be file: Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-24-22

Sol: 5

Summary Title: We searched and we found

Author’s name: Ben Easter

Mission Status: 3rd Quarter but no syndrome!

Sol Activity Summary: We performed an EVA with a simulated search and rescue with multiple casualties. The team learned important lessons about management of complex incidents, leadership, and staying safe in the field.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow is our final EVA and our final day in sim

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny and warm- a beautiful day!

Crew Physical Status: Overall good. Some mild ailments for several crew members.

EVA: See above

Reports to be file: Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-23-22

Sol: 4

Summary Title: Tim’s Peak

Author’s name: Ben Easter

Mission Status: Made it halfway. Downhill from here.

Sol Activity Summary: We had a radio relay EVA that was successful. We also had a simulated blunt trauma and a broken leg that was treated at bedside with improvement.

Look Ahead Plan: Search and rescue mission

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: So hot

Crew Physical Status: Some Gi discomfort and headaches all around

EVA: See above

Reports to be file: Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-20-22

Sol: 1

Summary Title: A Successful Rocket Launch!

Author’s name: Ben Easter

Mission Status: We are a slightly different crew of 20 students as well as instructors from the University of Colorado. Our time at MDRS is part of a CU-Boulder course on Medicine in Space and Surface Environments. The students have learned Wilderness First Aid and CPR, and they will be learning how to provide this care during medical contingency simulations on Mars. The group arrived yesterday and erected a dome for our classroom space (see pictures).

Sol Activity Summary: Today we had an orientation to MDRS, the facilities, radios, rovers, and navigation in the field. We then performed an EVA to collect soil samples and simulate a medical contingency. We are currently preparing for the launch of a rocket tomorrow.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we are launching a rocket that is the student’s design project for the course. They have created a payload module for safe medication storage.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Overcast in the morning, growing windy this afternoon

Crew Physical Status: Crew passed Physical Readiness Test

EVA: Medical Contingency Simulation

Reports to be file: HSO, Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Crew 264 Sol Summary Report 3-21-22

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Rocket Recovery!

Author’s name: Ben Easter

Mission Status: We are a slightly different crew of 20 students as well as instructors from the University of Colorado. Our time at MDRS is part of a CU-Boulder course on Medicine in Space and Surface Environments. The students have learned Wilderness First Aid and CPR, and they will be learning how to provide this care during medical contingency simulations on Mars. The group arrived yesterday and erected a dome for our classroom space (see pictures).

Sol Activity Summary: Rocket launch successful. Sent supplies to other explorers in need. After a few technical issues, we were able to launch to 10000ft. We then tracked and recovered the payload successfully. Some minor damage to medications was involved but overall we provided care to a crew in need.

Look Ahead Plan: EVAs tomorrow to repair faulty weather balloon

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Gusty off and on and worsening throughout the day

Crew Physical Status: Crew passed Physical Readiness Test

EVA: Rocket launch and recovery

Reports to be filed: HSO, Operations Report

Support Requested: None at this time.

Crew 263 Sol Summary 11-03-2022

Sol: 18

Summary Title: Safe return on Earth

Author’s name: Cerise Cuny

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: This morning, during EVA we were able to disassemble the atmospheric experiment and the HF antenna, quite quickly. Valentine did the last session of the Human Factors Experiment. The rest of the day was dedicated to tidying and cleaning the Science Dome, the RAM and the Hab.

We were very moved to live our last moments on Mars. We broke the sim at 5:44pm. After enjoying Earth’s gravity and feeling the air on our skin, we jumped into the Crew Car to have burgers in Hanksville. We were getting less and less inspired with the dehydrated food, so we found the burgers particularly tasty. It was also kind of emotional to talk to strangers.

Look ahead plan: Tonight, we will stargaze and tomorrow morning we will go watch the sunrise. After that we will do the last of the cleaning and head back to Grand Junction.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Clear sky.

Crew Physical Status: Very good.

EVA: EVA 22 and EVA 23 in the morning, nominal.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, 2 EVA Report (n°22 and 23), Operations Report, Journalist Report, HSO Report, Astronomy Report, Mission Summary.

Support Requested: None.