Category: Sol Summary

Sol: 10

Summary Title: Happy Birthday Commander !

Author’s Name: Paula Peixoto Moledo – Crew Biologist and Journalist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a special day but our crew woke up at 7:30 am. As a birthday wish Marta asked for some pancakes for breakfast and thus Laurene, master of it, took the lead. After a very nice breakfast, Paula went to the GreenHab to do the maintenance and see if there was any leak as a consequence of the weather during the night (windy and shower the whole night). Marta, the birthday girl, had a Braided session today, it was a special one too! Meanwhile, the crew did some cake baking and updated the food inventory in preparation for the end of the mission. Afterwards, the crew continued working on the website of WoMars and some more astronaut training.
Cristina, Laurene, and Paula prepared a special meal to celebrate Marta’s birthday, including cake!!

After lunch, the crew played one game of blinded ‘The Mind’ as they already mastered the normal one.
Later, they went to the Science Dome to check some rocks they picked up in the last 2 EVAs and tested the salinity as previously done with other samples.
After a day’s debrief led by Marta, the crew started working on the reports and planned the special dinner for the day: PIZZA !

Happy Birthday, Commander !!!

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow the crew is planning a full day with one EVA in the morning and another one in the afternoon.

Anomalies at work: N/A

Weather: Showers, 8°C

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: 0

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary Report, Commander Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVAs Request

Support Requested: None, thank you Mission Support!

Sol: 9

Summary Title: Versatile day

Author’s Name: Laurène Delsupexhe, Crew Engineer

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up at 7:30 am. Paula went to the GreenHab as usual to water the plants and check the temperature and humidity. As we had a bit of time, we played The Mind, a card game we’ve gotten quite addicted to, and today we completed it fully for the first time !
Following that, Paula had her Braided Communications session with a friend of hers. Meanwhile, Cristina and Marta uploaded the data gathered the day before from the Dronomy robot.
After a lunch prepared by Laurène, Paula and Cristina prepared for their EVA with the help of Marta and Laurène. They then left to test the robot and explore the surroundings. Meanwhile, Laurène and Marta did some exercises from the « astronaut selection test book » by ESA astronaut Tim Peake.
After a day’s debrief led by Marta, the crew started working on the reports.

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow is Marta’s birthday ! If the weather allows it, she’ll head off for an EVA after a Braided Communications with her family. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew will analyze the salinity of some soils previously collected in the area.

Anomalies at work: N/A

Weather: Sunny, 18 °C

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: 1

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary Report, Commander Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVAs Reports

Support Requested: None, thank you Mission Support!

Sol: 8
Summary Title: Troubleshooting the Space Suits
Author’s Name: Cristina Vazquez Reynel, Crew Exec Officer and HSO
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up at 8:00 am and while having breakfast, Cristina had her last Latency Governed Messaging session. The day started in the ScienceDome, the crew analyzed the salinity of the soil collected in previous EVAs and started creating a map that will indicate the salinity in each area surrounding the MDRS.
For the rest of the morning, the crew continued with the troubleshooting of the EVA suits following the instructions from Mission Support. After a few iterations of measuring battery voltage and swapping chargers and suits, it was clear that 3 batteries were faulty and one suit had a different issue. The crew replaced the faulty batteries and continued troubleshooting the remaining suit.
The crew had a very tasty lunch together and straight after, Marta and Laurene started preparing for their EVA. During the EVA, they tested the robot Lazarus on new challenging circuits very successfully. Meanwhile, the crew in mission control continued checking the faulty EVA suit and found that it was discharging very quickly even with a new battery.
Look ahead plan: Tomorrow the crew will continue troubleshooting, Paula will have a braided session and the EVA crew will continue testing the robot from Dronomy and collecting soil samples.
Anomalies at work: EVA suit 6 still not working properly.
Weather: Sunny, 17 °C
Crew Physical Status: Good
EVA: 1
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary Report, Commander Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVAs Reports
Support Requested: EVA suit troubleshooting (ongoing), thank you Mission Support!

Sol: 8
Summary Title: Troubleshooting the Space Suits
Author’s Name: Cristina Vazquez Reynel, Crew Exec Officer and HSO
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up at 8:00 am and while having breakfast, Cristina had her last Latency Governed Messaging session. The day started in the ScienceDome, the crew analyzed the salinity of the soil collected in previous EVAs and started creating a map that will indicate the salinity in each area surrounding the MDRS.
For the rest of the morning, the crew continued with the troubleshooting of the EVA suits following the instructions from Mission Support. After a few iterations of measuring battery voltage and swapping chargers and suits, it was clear that 3 batteries were faulty and one suit had a different issue. The crew replaced the faulty batteries and continued troubleshooting the remaining suit.
The crew had a very tasty lunch together and straight after, Marta and Laurene started preparing for their EVA. During the EVA, they tested the robot Lazarus on new challenging circuits very successfully. Meanwhile, the crew in mission control continued checking the faulty EVA suit and found that it was discharging very quickly even with a new battery.
Look ahead plan: Tomorrow the crew will continue troubleshooting, Paula will have a braided session and the EVA crew will continue testing the robot from Dronomy and collecting soil samples.
Anomalies at work: EVA suit 6 still not working properly.
Weather: Sunny, 17 °C
Crew Physical Status: Good
EVA: 1
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary Report, Commander Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVAs Reports
Support Requested: EVA suit troubleshooting (ongoing), thank you Mission Support!

 

 

Sol: 7

Summary Title: Lazy Sunday on Mars

Author’s name: Laurène Delsupexhe, Crew Engineer

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up at 8:30 am with an extra hour of sleep, thanks to the time change. Laurène made some nice pancakes for breakfast while Paula went to maintain the plants in the GreenHab. The EVA suits were checked: one was working perfectly but the others seemed to have a lower than usual airflow coming from the fans. On the advice of Mission Control, we used a voltmeter to check the batteries: the values were indeed lower than expected for most of them, with one other spacesuit seemingly charged as well as the first one. Therefore, Laurène and Paula used those 2 suits for their EVA, on foot, to explore the region behind the station. Once Mission Support advised coming back to the hab to troubleshoot properly the suits, the crew cut short their EVA and headed back to the station to continue troubleshooting.
Meanwhile, on MDRS’s EVA Suit Support, Cristina and Marta opened up the rest of the spacesuits to troubleshoot them and take proper measurements.
After taking some first values, Marta and Paula prepared lunch. After it, the suit’s voltage was measured again and forwarded to mission control. We then watched a film, measured the batteries again, and started on the reports of the day. Paula then went again to the GreenHab while the rest of us prepared dinner.
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow, if the troubleshooting’s conclusion is positive, Marta and Laurène will go for an EVA on foot to continue the testing of Dronomy’s robot. Otherwise, the troubleshooting of the spacesuits will go on. In the afternoon, Cristina will test out Braided Communication’s communication system with her partner back in Switzerland.

Anomalies in work: Some of the fans from the EVA suits are not working properly (Very low airflow).

Weather: Sunny, 12°C

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: 1

Reports to be filed:
• Sol Summary Report from 6Nov2022
• Commander Report
• GreenHab Report
• Operations Report
• EVAs Reports
• HSO Report
• EVA Request

Support Requested: N/A, thank you Mission Support!

Sol Summary Report
Sol: 6
Summary Title: Stendhal Syndrome views on Mars!
Author’s name: Paula Peixoto Moledo, Crew Biologist and Crew Journalist
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary: Our crew woke up this morning at 8.30 am. We had some good coffee and some cookies prepared by the crew yesterday! Later in the morning Cristina and Marta went in their first on-foot EVA! They explore the surroundings of the station, a beautiful spot! And they also performed two different experiments with Lazarus, the robot by Dronomy. Both experiments were successful, and the EVA Crew took some amazing pics! Meanwhile, Laurene and Paula cleaned a little bit of the Hab.

Early in the afternoon, the crew fixed some issues with Lazarus in the RAM. Afterward, they went to the Science Building to explore some samples that the crew took from the 2 last EVAs. They came up with an idea to explore the soil around the station.

Later, the crew had a lot of reports to fill so they put themselves hands-on to finish by 7 pm!
Then Paula went to the Green Hab to maintain the plants and to harvest the crew’s first plants! Microgreens!

After a nice day in Mars, the crew cooked together a special dinner – PIZZA with our newly harvested microgreens!

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow Paula and Laurene are planning to explore the spot that Cristina and Marta explored today (Should be amazing). And the Crew is going to have a peaceful day – It is also Sunday on Mars!

Anomalies at work: Some of the fans from the EVA suits are not working properly (Very low airflow).
Weather: Sunny, 13 °C
Crew Physical Status: Good
EVA: 1
Reports to be filed:
· Sol Summary Report from 5Nov2022
· Commander Report
· GreenHab Report
· Operations Report
· EVAs Reports
· HSO Report
· EVA Request
· Weekly Research Report

Support Requested: Thank you Mission Support !

Crew 265 Sol Summary Report 06-05-2022

Sol: 12

Summary Title: Return to Earth

Author’s Name: Marc Levesque, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Our crew woke up this morning to the crisp desert air of Earth. The first order of business was to retrieve the repeater on North Ridge, a much faster process than setting it up in EVA suits. The rest of the sol was spent packing our equipment and personal gear, finishing reports, starting to clean the station, and meeting with the Station Director to review the mapping and communications projects.

After a busy sol, we enjoyed one last dinner together.

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow we’ll finish cleaning the Hab and then depart for our respective homes or other destinations. We’re tired but satisfied with what we have accomplished.

Anomalies in work: None

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: None

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Operations Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 265 Sol Summary Report 04-05-2022

Sol: 10

Summary Title: Yeoman’s Service

Author’s Name: Marc Levesque, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

The radio repeater battery finally called it quits after a cold night and yeoman’s service for nine sols, far beyond expectations.

Prior to the morning’s EVA departing, a discussion was held with the Station Director and crew members on how best to replace the battery, in sim or not. After some discussion, it was decided to quickly complete the replacement out of sim to maintain repeater operation, which was subsequently accomplished.

Following that, two EVAs were completed. Social media filming was done during a climb of Phobos Peak, and another EVA conducted comms checks south of the Hab in the White Rock Canyon and Barrainca Butte areas.

Look Ahead Plan: One EVA is planned for tomorrow and continued activity on mission projects. Work will also begin on end-of-mission reports, as the crew will be going out of sim on Friday morning.

Anomalies in work: None

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: None

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary
Operations Report
HSO Report
Crew Journalist
EVA Request
EVA Report
Pictures and Picture of the Day

Support Requested: None

Crew 265 Sol Summary

03-05-2022

Sol: 9

Summary Title: Descent into Candor Chasma

Author’s Name: Marc Levesque, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew completed another successful communications project test during an EVA deep in Candor Chasma. Commander Levesque with crew members Blanco and Licea conducted several communications checks with the Hab on a project VHF radio, while having no contact on an MDRS UHF radio channel. Walking down the sinuous canyon, they were awed by the sculptured walls shaped long ago by running water, similar to what scientists believed occurred on Mars eons ago. Along with Lith Canyon, Candor Chasma provides a great Mars analog setting for MDRS crews. Back at the Hab, video editing continued for the social media project.

Look Ahead Plan: One EVA is planned for tomorrow and continued activity on mission projects.

Anomalies in work: None

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: None

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Operations Report

HSO Report

Crew Journalist

EVA Request

EVA Report

Pictures and Picture of the Day

Support Requested: None

Crew 265 Sol Summary Report 30-04-2022

Sol: 6

Summary Title: Overlook of Phobos

Author’s Name: Marc Levesque, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

The primary activity of Crew 265 was an EVA to the Moon Overlook area as a representative journey to Phobos. Crew members Laude, Treadwell, and Licea traveled on rovers to this area and well to the north conducting communication checks with the test repeater along the way and recording road conditions. While there were some gaps in communications with the Hab, the team was able to call in once they reached Muddy Creek, 6.2 km from the repeater on North Ridge. Of note is that at no time along their route once they left Cow Dung Rod were they able to reach the Hab using a MDRS radio channel, proving the effectiveness of the test repeater for long distance EVAs.

Look Ahead Plan: No EVA is planned for tomorrow. The crew has been hard at it, so they have earned a well-deserved day of rest.

Anomalies in work: None

Crew Physical Status: Good.

EVA: EVA# 6 was accomplished.

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Operations Report

HSO Report

Crew Journalist

EVA Report

Pictures and Picture of the Day

Support Requested: None