Category: Sol Summary

Sol:12

Summary Title: Final Day on Mars

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Final day in full simulation mode before waking up on Earth again tomorrow morning.

Sol Activity Summary: Today was dedicated to cleaning the campus infrastructure, including both levels of the Hab, the Science Dome and the RAM. Dianne completed her food waste data collection in evening. 3 cooked meals were prepared today.

Look Ahead Plan: Changeover to Crew 215 will occur tomorrow, with 4 new crew members arriving, and 2 departing on Sunday.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Another sunny, clear day on Mars

Crew Physical Status: Crew in excellent health.

EVA: None undertaken

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalists Report, Greenhab Report, Science Report,

Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: None

Sol:10
Summary Title: Water from Stone
Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: Today Andrew succeeded in extracting water from gypsum crystals in the Science Dome for the first time this mission. Collection of samples for the micro-meteorite study continued during the morning EVA. Various Hab maintenance tasks were undertaken. 3 cooked meals were prepared, with Sandy baking a second loaf of bread.
Look Ahead Plan: We hope to complete the micro-meteorite sample collection from the active sample site by Friday. We are also planning the checkout process for our crew members who are leaving.

Anomalies in work: Broke sim briefly at around 4 pm to speak with 2 unexpected visitors in the hab environs, who were in fact lost.

Weather: Clear sunny day, no precipitation.

Crew Physical Status: Crew continues to be in good health.

EVA: Successfully completed.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Greenhab Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: None.

Sol:8

Summary Title: The Greenhab Comes Alive
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: A long morning EVA was undertaken to collect samples as part of the micro-meteorite samples. The Greenhab was partially planted up yesterday and routine watering commenced today. 3 cooked meals were prepared today, including a special dinner to mark Melbourne Cup. Information was collected on radio inventories and the condition of several space suits at the request of Mission support.

Look Ahead Plan: We are planning the remaining week tightly to complete our planned sample collection and allocate time to complete end-of mission tasks.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Another clear sunny day on Mars.

Crew Physical Status: Crew continue to be in excellent health.

EVA: See EVA report.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: Special delivery of supplies were greatly appreciated, especially the milk. There are 3 bags of rubbish to be collected from the back air lock (2 burnable, 1 non-burnable).

Sol:7

Summary Title: Day of Rest

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: Today was the crew’s first scheduled day off work since arriving on Mars. No EVA’s were consequently scheduled. Apart from some leisure activities, the crew caught up on Hab cleaning, washing and also prepared food for the following day. 3 cooked meals were prepared and consumed today.

Look Ahead Plan: The crew will return to its normal work program tomorrow, with a long morning EVA planned to continue the search for micro-meteorites.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: Clear skies, no precipitation. Below freezing overnight.

Crew Physical Status: All in good health.

EVA: No EVA’s scheduled.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: No further support requested.

Sol:6

Summary Title: Boomer 1 & 2 go on EVA
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Active.
Sol Activity Summary: The morning was spent attending to hab maintenance, cleaning tasks. During the afternoon, two crew members (Boomer 1 and 2) undertook an EVA to continue collecting micrometeorite samples. 3 meals were prepared today, including toasted sandwiches with Spam & Polish pickels.
Look Ahead Plan: Sunday 3 November (Sol 7) is a rostered day of rest for the crew, with no EVA’s scheduled. We will resume our normal work schedule on Monday 4 November.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Clear skies, no precipitation. Below freezing overnight.
Crew Physical Status: All in good health.
EVA:Afternoon EVA completed successfully, no problems encountered.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: No further support requested. The crew is enjoying the new dietary items that were provided to us in yesterday’s delivery.

Sol:5

Summary Title: About the Science
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Active.
Sol Activity Summary: Deliveries of both hardware and food supplies arrived today, many thanks to Capcom for arranging these. Today was about the science, which we hope our selection of photographs illustrate. Key milestones were reached in two research projects, with collection of our first magnetic samples from the field as part of the micro-meteorite study and the cataloguing of the remaining food inventory by Dianne McGrath. Two cooked meals prepared today, with a cold breakfast. Routine internal hab cleaning was undertaken during the afternoon.
Look Ahead Plan: We hope to complete a large proportion of our planned micro-meteorite collection tomorrow.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Clear skies all day, no wind, ideal for field work. Crew Physical Status: The crew continue to be in excellent health EVA: Successfully undertaken, see EVA report.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: Some milk would be appreciated if there are any further incoming deliveries. We do have alternative sources of calcium (including 2 cans dried cheese), so the lack of milk will not be detrimental to bone density for the foreseeable future.

Sol:4

Summary Title: Halloween Heliograph
Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: EVA 4 was undertaken this morning to the chosen sample collection site for the micrometeorite study. During the EVA a heliograph was experimentally used to signal the hab from the field. Baseline micro/macro nutrients have been inputted into the food stock database. We completed tying the remaining untied tunnel tarpaulin eye loops to all the tunnels. 3 cooked meals prepared, including a tuna risotto with pesto sauce for dinner with an apple crumble desert. General hab housework duties were undertaken.

Look Ahead Plan: The EVA program will continue for the remainder of the week subject to favourable weather conditions.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: After a very cold night, it was another clear, sunny day with no precipitation.

Crew Physical Status: Crew in good health.

EVA: Successfully undertaken, see EVA report.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: We are still awaiting the delivery of food supplies, the absence of which is beginning to constrain our diet. Several plastic funnels to assist with the reuse of cooking water and several tea towels are also requested.

Sol:3

Summary Title: First Full Working Day on Mars
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Full operational status achieved.
Sol Activity Summary: The morning was spent preparing for the afternoon’s EVA, maintaining the campus tunnels, and on other project and administrative work. During the afternoon the first full science EVA was undertaken with 3 crew members using the rovers. 2 cooked meals were prepared today. A few additional food supplies arrived today.
Look Ahead Plan: The EVA program will continue for the remainder of the week subject to favourable weather conditions.
Anomalies in work: None
Weather: Extremely cold night, cold temperatures but clear skies during the day. A colder night anticipated. No precipitation.
Crew Physical Status: Generally good. One crew member experienced a small cut on one hand from a protruding screw head when opening the RAM hatch. The cut has been cleaned and covered with a band aid. Crew member had already been vaccinated for tetanus.
EVA: First full EVA successfully undertaken.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: None. An additional food delivery is expected tomorrow.

Summary Title: Crossing the Threshold

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: 2nd day of full simulation, training still being undertaken.

Sol Activity Summary: This morning we were trained the use of the 1 piece and the 2 piece space suits by David Mateus. In the afternoon we undertook two separate training EVAs to familiarize all the crew with the airlock and radio procedures, and the rovers. 3 cooked meals were prepared.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we anticipate undertaking our first scheduled science EVA.

Anomalies in work: We were advised to hold off undertaking a morning EVA on account of weather conditions. Approval to undertake afternoon EVAs was subsequently granted.

Weather: Partially cloudy, no precipitation. Moderate winds commenced late morning. Very cold during the evening.

Crew Physical Status: All in excellent health.

EVA: 2 undertaken in afternoon.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Reports (2), Journalists Report, Science Report, Photo of the day.

Support Requested: None

Sol:1

Summary Title: Touchdown on Mars

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: The crew woke up on Mars this morning, this being our first day in full simulation mode.

Sol Activity Summary: The morning was dedicated to preparing and commencing use of the radios, as well as other minor maintenance, cleaning and administrative tasks. In the afternoon our 5th crew member David Mateus arrived. Crew geologist Andrew Wheeler continued preparation of equipment for the micro-meteorite collection study. Three cooked meals were prepared today.

Look Ahead Plan: Our goal is to commence our EVA schedule tomorrow, with David Mateus leading us on our first EVAs to learn about the procedures and equipment.

Anomalies in work: Not all the radios were found to be working.

Weather: Very cold overnight, clear and sunny daytime sky.

Crew Physical Status: All crew in good health.

EVA: Not commenced today.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, EVA Requests (2), Journalists Report, Science Report, Days Photos, Crew Car Collection Report, Mission Patch.

Support Requested: New batteries were requested to supplement the existing limited supply of working batteries for future crews.