Category: Sol Summary

Crew 245 Sol Summary Report 12-04-2021

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Before the Simulation

Author’s name: Shayna Hume

Mission Status: Executive Officer

Sol Activity Summary:

– Woke up to “Good Morning” by Kanye
– Early morning hours: exploring the kitchen (no can opener at the time), making breakfasts and coffees, and talking about our thoughts on the start of the sim
– Late morning hours: met up with Dr. Rupert, began to do our trainings. Had an excellent and lively discussion. Felt confident in our pre-knowledge for the station.
– Noon: took the training quiz and passed as a team.
– Late lunch: Chef Julio prepared spiced potato au gratin and potato soup. We mixed the two together and it was wonderful. Running a bit late to meet with Dr. Rupert. Took photos of a group meal for GSI!
– Mid-afternoon: Tarped the tunnels between the hab buildings quickly as a team. Continued to our atv and rover training – what a blast! Do not use the kill switch. Aside: my (Hume) callsign is now “Killswitch.” I couldn’t be more pleased. After this, split while Dr. Rupert went to help/look for Atila. Tried on flight and spacesuits, figured out helmets. Got some great photos!
– Late afternoon: As we wait for formal last trainings with Dr. Rupert, each of us took on the below tasks:
Crew Engineer and Commander: Heater (filter replacement pending) & operations report
HSO and Commander: HSO Inspection
XO: Report-writing
Scientist and Botanist: Cleaning the lab.

– Evening: Meeting with Shannon to review spacesuits, assignments, and radio protocols while in EVA. Took photos, began dinner, sent this report.

Look Ahead Plan: We intend to begin sim overnight. We will be ready to begin sim just before we retire for the evening so this makes practical sense. Today was an exciting day, because although we aren’t in sim, we are 90% of the way there. The main difference is that we are still going outside at this time. We are eating in sim, using internet in sim, and working together in sim. We are ready to begin EVA’s tomorrow. It’s beyond exciting to be about to start our first analog mission, and the energy is definitely running through the crew. We have a vision of being able to work together as a crew many times in future, and this is the precipice of beginning that journey.

Anomalies in work: n/a

Weather: Warm in daytime, around 40 F at nighttime. Clear weather.

Crew Physical Status: No issues. HSO First Day Report coming in.

EVA: n/a

Reports to be filed: HSO First Report, Operations, EVA Plan

Support Requested: n/a

Crew 245 Sol Summary Report 11-04-2021

Sol: 1

Summary Title: Arrival at the Station

Author’s name: Shayna Hume

Mission Status: Executive Officer

Sol Activity Summary: Arrive at Station. Because of the late hour, the priority was to unpack and learn the essentials of living in the station safely. We settled into our staterooms. The Crew Engineer spent time with the station Director learning how the toilet operates and flushing old water out of the system. Commander and XO spent time preparing initial emails and reports.

The primary challenge that arose was an uncertain smell near the Crew Scientist’s stateroom. It was found that it was sewage gas and the flushing of the toilet took care of the issue. A full operations report on Sol 2 is following. Note: we are not yet in simulation.

Look Ahead Plan: On Sol 2, we will be beginning the training, taking the quiz, and assisting with last-minute repairs needed for the Hab, including putting up the tarps for between buildings. Before the end of the day, we intend to

Anomalies in work: n/a

Weather: Warm in the daytime, around 40 F at nighttime. Clear weather.

Crew Physical Status: No issues. HSO Report for before the sim coming on Sol 2.

EVA: n/a

Reports to be filed: n/a

Support Requested: n/a

Shayna Hume, Executive Officer
Red Planet People – MDRS Crew 245 "Team Patamars"
To Mars and Beyond – For All!

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 13-03-2020

Sol: 12 Summary Title: That’s all folk’s

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: crew out of sim

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 7:50am. The sport session began at 8:00am. Members are struggling to sleep, that is why we moved the sport session, knowing that the weather did not allow us to go outside in the morning. We did all the cleaning work on the hab, the GreenHab, the science dome and the RAM. As we had to Unmount our LOAC and MegaAres, the crew worked on the Human Factor experiment in the late morning.

We went out with a lot of wind and after 4 weeks of hard labour, the weather station fell down one hour before we were supposed to unmount it. but no worries, nothing is broken. The EVA was not so easy because of the wind.

We washed all the materials and we went out of sim. After a long debriefing on how we have lived the mission, we were ready to cook for tonight !

Look Ahead Plan : Unmount the outdoor experiments.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: rainy in the morning, 4°C at 8:30am then cloudy and windy in the afternoon.

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres unmounted

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report, Scientist, food inventory, Mission summary

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 12-03-2020

Sol: 11 Summary Title: Strange feelings

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Last full day of Sim

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. The end is close, a good team spirit was felt during the session. For the EVA, the crew explored the extreme North region of the campus. They were satisfied with what they have found. Red soil was everywhere and it made Marion happy. During the EVA, the three members in the hab prepared a joke for Florian. Indeed, they put a Jalapeño pepper inside his bread for lunch. This was a really funny moment, and with the bad news from the outside world it is good to share this. Then we talked a lot about the Covid19 consequences on the end of our year. Our school has been officially closed and those who were supposed to go to Costa Rica, Guyane or Italy are thinking about alternatives.

We stay really close from each other, which helps us to keep our spirit up!

Look Ahead Plan : Un-mount the outdoor experiments.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: cloudy in the morning, 0°C at 7:30am then cloudy and sunny in the late afternoon, 14°C at 7:00pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed, Northern region explored

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report.

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 11-03-2020

Sol: 10 Summary Title: Mars is safer than Earth

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Routine

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. A light rain and the night outside were telling us warmly to go back to bed, but quickly we thought about how lucky we are to be here. Without EVA planned for the morning because of the rain, the crew started to prepare the end of the mission, thinking about packing our experiments and writing reports about the science we did during the mission. For the afternoon, Blandine and Florian went out 30min to change the batteries and data from our experiments.

We have had news about the Covid19 at 4:00 pm.

It is strange to see it from here, we are really like martians on this.

Look Ahead Plan : Unmount the outdoor experiments.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: rainy in the morning, then cloudy and sunny in the late afternoon, 12°C at 5:00pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed.

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report.

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 10-03-2020

Sol: 9 Summary Title: Tired crew

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Routine

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. A few members of the crew have had a difficult night, and we have felt it during the day. Some of us took some rest after the EVA or at the beginning of the afternoon.

The EVA was a long range walk into candor, to go as far as possible. We have discovered new landscapes and really Martian Candor Chasma like.

We went through our classical science afternoon finishing with our Human Factor experiment and our relaxation and cohesive activity time.

Look Ahead Plan : Starting to think about packing our experiments.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: cloudy, 0°C at 7:00am, 12°C at 7:00pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed. Candle Chasma exploration exploration

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report, Science report,

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 09-03-2020

Sol: 8 Summary Title: Ambitious EVA

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Science is running

Sol Activity Summary:

Let’s go back to normal. Alarm at 6:45 and sport session at 7:00. After a rest day, it is difficult to warm up! After the common breakfast, the EVA team prepared itself. They chose to go to Copernicus with the ATV’s. First problem, two of them refused to start. They had trouble with fixing the batteries to the ATV’s. They decided to go with Persy to the LOAC and MegaAres.

It was time to clean the hab for us inside and to work on the greenhab.

The afternoon was dedicated to science work. The language experiment has changed for this week and we use Keep talking and nobody explodes. This cooperative game was new and fun.

Look Ahead Plan: Start well the second week

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: cloudy,-2°C at 7:00am, 6°C at 11:00am

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report, HSO report, Art report

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 08-March-2020

Sol: 7 Summary Title: Half a day off
Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Crew resting

Sol Activity Summary:

No alarm to wake us up today. Daylight saving time took an hour of sleep from us and we did not have a sport session today so everybody woke up at 9:00 am. We took a common breakfast and played a little game as the daily EVA was just planned to change the batteries of our experiments.

During the EVA we cooked for lunch. The crew took the time to record some scenes for a French scientific TV show for kids in the afternoon. Then, the normal activities of the end of the afternoon started. It was a rest day planned but in fact, we were quite busy.

Look Ahead Plan: Start well the second week

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: cloudy and windy, rare showers at 5:00 pm, 10°C at 10:00 am, 10°C at 5:00 pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request, Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report, HSO report, Art report

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 07-03-2020

Sol: 6 Summary Title: Quiet biodiversity

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Mid rotation

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. Knowing
that tomorrow will be our rest day regarding sport helped the crew to be
motivated by the session. Having a day without an exploration EVA and a
physical activity tomorrow is a good choice for the crew mental and
physical status. I don’t think it is mandatory for the scientific
purposes of our mission but it is the better way to have an efficient
and satisfying second week.
The daily EVA has been a new experience for me. Dealing with the
efficiency of communication has been interesting. We have proved that a
routine EVA can be performed with its complexity without saying a single
word. The protocol is complex to but not that hard to set up. I want to
thank Luc for having followed me on that idea. We explored the eastern
region of Reservoir Dam. The biodiversity there was completely different
from what we have been used to.
The oven has been set up outside and even without a perfect sun we
heated 600mL of water from 10°C to 67°C in 2 hours. We will give more
details in the future science reports. I have finally had time to start
working on our automatic water consumption device.

Look Ahead Plan: Taking some rest tomorrow.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: Mostly cloudy, rare sun lights, 0°C at 7:00am, 18°C at 3:00pm

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed. Quiet exploration

Reports to be filed: Journalist report, Operations report, EVA request,
Green Hab report, EVA report, Astronomy report, Science report, HSO report

Support Requested: None

Crew 223 Sol Summary Report 06-03-2020

Sol: 5 Summary Title: Mid rotation is coming to fast

Author’s name: Aurélien Mure – Crew Commander

Mission Status: Everything’s fine

Sol Activity Summary:

The crew woke up at 6:50am. The sport session began at 7:00am. Our
training is made of different exercises repeated 3 times 20s on Monday
and Tuesday, twice 30s on Wednesday and Thursday and once 1min on Friday
and Saturday.
The one minute duration exercise is really exhausting for the muscles
and it was a little bit painful this morning!
During the EVA, the team has changed the batteries of the LOAC and
MegaAres and then explored North Ridge. They were truly happy about what
they saw considering their smile at the end. I think our communications
are getting better and better in EVA. That is why we worked with Luc on
a protocole enabling us to perform a non verbal communication EVA.
Florian has worked on his astronomy researches for a while. Then I
worked with Florian and Blandine on the solar oven that is ready to go
our tomorrow.
Clément and Valentin took care of some cress and radishes for our Music
for plants experiment.
Marion tried to unlock the code for our display panel.
Tonight, we realise that midrotation is arriving too fast. For me it is
a real difference as I was involved in a 3 weeks rotation last year, it
changes a lot!

Look Ahead Plan:

The non verbal EVA planned is really exciting, and the solar oven will
be set up

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: Cloudy and Sunny alternatively, -2 at 7:00

Crew Physical Status: All crew members safe and sound.

EVA: LOAC and MegaAres batteries changed North Ridge exploration

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, Operations report, EVA Request,
Green Hab report, EVA Report, Astronomy report

Support Requested: None