Category: Sol Summary

Crew 211 Sol 9 Summary Report 30-APR-2019

Sol: 9

Summary Title: Storm over Mars

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: As we had numerous showers during the night, the morning EVA was unfortunately postponed to the afternoon and then cancelled as the weather deteriorated in the afternoon. We therefore worked all day on our experiments. We had an interesting meeting after the lunch to discuss with the crew journalist some articles of our Martian constitution. The experiment of the Commander and the Vice-Commander are now almost ready for field experiment.

Look Ahead Plan: Depending on the weather, we will try again to do a morning EVA to Kissing Camel and an afternoon EVA to Candor Chasma, as the end of our stay is approaching. We will in parallel work on our respective experiments and hopefully be able to start in the afternoon the field experiments with the cubelanders and the geolocation antennas.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Showers, mostly cloudy and very windy

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: The EVA has been cancelled due to bad weather.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Science Report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol 8 Summary Report 29-APR-2019

Sol: 8

Summary Title: Mars on TV

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: After a quick breakfast, the commander welcomed the PBS team in spacesuit outside of the Hab. We then made a tour of the MDRS campus with the TV crew, each member of the UCL to Mars team presenting part of the infrastructures and discussing his/her experiment. Half of the crew left then for an EVA with Liz Adeola to Cow Dung Road between the Robert’s Rock Garden and Zurbin’s head. The EVA team got back at noon and we all had a nice lunch together. The crew commander and the crew astronomer were then interviewed for about one hour. All the crew members went then back to work once the TV crew left the campus.

Look Ahead Plan: Depending on the weather, we plan to start the day with an EVA to Kissing Camel. We will then work on our respective experiments for the rest of the day preparing the first experiment related EVA for the commander and vice-commander which should be organized on Wednesday.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Showers, mostly cloudy and windy

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: Half of the crew explored the west part of Cow Dung Road with the PBS crew. Liz Adeola was part of the EVA team, as we her a spacesuit for the occasion. The EVA lasted for about an hour. The PBS team did a few drone footages and interviewed the EVA team members.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Science Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol 6 Summary Report 27-APR-2019

Sol: 6

Summary Title: No sign of ancient Martian life

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: After three attempts, we finally had a successful EVA to Special Region. The rovers worked nominally and we spent one hour in Special region to explore the surrounding and try to find traces of ancient Martian life. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any traces of microbial or more evolved life. After a nice lunch, we all returned to our experiments until the CapCom.

Look Ahead Plan: An EVA is planned in the morning to go to White Rock Canyon on the 1101 and then go back to Cow Dung Road between the Robert’s Rock Garden and Zubrin’s head. We have been there for the first EVA and members of the crew would like to go back to get more soil samples. Half of the crew will stay at the base to work on their experiments. The rest of the day will be devoted to these experiments.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Sunny in the morning and partly cloudy and windy in the afternoon.

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: Half of the crew managed to get to the Special region for a very nice EVA. After a one hour walk, we didn’t find any trace of ancient Martian life. However, we found a cavity which could be the entrance of a larger underground structure which may provide shelter to the crew. The cavity was not large enough to consider the possibility of creating an underground facility.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, HSO report, Science Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Good evening Atila,

Please find below the Sol 4 Summary.

Crew 211 Sol 4 Summary Report 25-APR-2019

Sol: 4

Summary Title: Rescuing a Martian

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: The day started with an EVA to explore the Special Region. Unfortunately the battery level of the Spirit rover decreased to fast so we couldn’t reach the Special region. After a short briefing with the Hab, we decided to explore instead the Galileo road 1104 for about 30 minutes. We then worked on our experiments until the lunch. After a nice lunch altogether, the HSO performed a quick check-up on the crew member who twisted his ankle three days ago. As the ankle was still pretty much swelled, we decided with Dr Rupert that it would be better to see a doctor. We therefore drove the crew car to the Bicknell Health Care center. Fortunately, the ankle was not broken and the crew member should be healed within a week. The rest of the team worked during the afternoon on their respective experiments.

Look Ahead Plan: An EVA is planned in the morning to explore Special Region. Half of the crew will stay at the base to work, as usual, on their experiments. The rest of the day will be devoted to these experiments.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Hot, bright and sunny most of the day, but windy in the evening.

Crew Physical Status: Twisted ankle still bloated but should be healed within a week

EVA: The aim of today’s EVA was to explore the Special Region. Unfortunately the battery level of the Spirit rover decreased to fast so we couldn’t reach the Special region. After a short briefing with the Hab, we decided to explore instead the Galileo road 1104 for about 30 minutes.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report , HSO report, Science Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol 3 Summary Report 24-APR-2019

Sol: 3

Summary Title: A day with Martians

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: After the daily medical check-up and a nice breakfast with chocolate pancakes, members of the crew left at 9:00 am for an EVA to get back Opportunity still stuck near Candor Chasma. To avoid any other issues with the rover, the EVA team got directly back to the Hab and continued its EVA on foot to explore the hills surrounding the base. The surprise of today came at 10:15 am when we learned that the student visit scheduled for tomorrow would in fact start 15 minutes later. We spent the next four hours with two groups of students visiting the different infrastructures of the MDRS and presenting our research works. These four hours have been very enriching for both the students and the UCL to Mars team. After the lunch, we all worked on our experiments. Tonight will be dedicated to sky observations with the remote controlled telescope.

Look Ahead Plan: An EVA is planned in the morning to explore Special Region. Half of the crew will stay at the base to work, as usual, on their experiments. The rest of the day will be mainly devoted to these experiments.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Hot, bright and sunny all day.

Crew Physical Status: Twisted ankle still bloated (See HSO reports)

EVA: The aim of this third EVA was to recover the Opportunity rover. Once recovered, we decided to explore on foot the hills surrounding the MDRS.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report , HSO report, Science Report, Operations Report, Astronomy Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report + Timelapse

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol 2 Summary Report 23-APR-2019

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Feeling like a true Martian

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: After the daily check-up performed by the HSO as part of his experiment, we enjoy a nice breakfast together. An EVA was planned at 9 am but as the Curiosity rover was not fully charged, we decided to postpone it. Most of the crew members worked therefore on their respective experiments while the crew astronomer and crew scientist got their first shots of the sun. We then worked altogether during the noon break on the writing of a Martian constitution with the crew journalist. During the early afternoon, some crew members prepared the first successful Martian bread. Half of the crew left at 4 pm for the planned EVA to Candor Chasma to look for possible shelters in case of high solar activity.

Look Ahead Plan: An EVA is planned in the morning to get back Opportunity near Candor Chasma and take additional soil samples. Half of the crew will stay at the base to work on their experiments. The crew astronomer will continue to take pictures of the sun in the morning and schedule a few observations with the Celestron telescope to get images from quasars. This will allow her to infer their luminosity and determine the evolution of their activity. The rest of the day will be devoted to the experiments.

Anomalies in work: No issues.

Weather: Hot, bright and sunny all day.

Crew Physical Status: Good, yesterday’s twisted ankle is less painful.

EVA: The aim of this second EVA was to explore the Candor Chasma region and look for caves. Underground structures could indeed be very helpful to protect the crew from solar wind/radiation in the case of increasing solar activity and CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections). Unfortunately no caves have been found and we lost Opportunity near Candor Chasma. We’ll try to get the rover back during tomorrow’s EVA.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report , HSO report, Astronomer Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol 1 Summary Report 22-APR-2019

Sol: 1

Summary Title: First day on Mars: first experiments and EVA

Author’s name: Carl-Henrik Dahlqvist

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We start the day with a fitness session of 15 minutes which definitely helped some crew members to wake up. After the breakfast, we spent one hour and a half to clean the Hab. Most of the crew members have then started their respective experiments (see crew scientist report) while the crew astronomer started to work on the solar telescope. After the lunch, we all worked on our experiments until 4 pm when half of the crew went in EVA. As the UCL to Mars crew likes challenges, we will try tonight to prepare the first Martian Sushis and end the day with a meeting to discuss about today’s achievements and tomorrow’s objectives.

Look Ahead Plan: An EVA is planned in the morning to explore the Candor Chasma. Half of the crew will stay at the base to work on their experiments. Depending on the weather, the crew astronomer will try to get the first pictures of the sun and observed some fainter structures as the visual observations didn’t reveal any large perturbations in the solar atmosphere. The afternoon will again be devoted to the experiments.

Anomalies in work: Water tank pump leaking, water heater and heater in the Hab lab not working

Weather: Hot, sunny and fresh breeze.

Crew Physical Status: Good except for one of the crew member who twisted his ankle.

EVA: We have had our first EVA this afternoon which lasted for two hours. We traveled to the hills on the left of the Cow Dung Road between the Robert’S Rock Garden and Zurbin’s head to take a few soil samples to be used by Chloé, the GreenHab officer, for one of her two experiments. The EVA went very well and the sunny weather allowed us to take some beautiful pictures of the Martian environment surrounding the MDRS.

Reports to be filed: Journalist Report, GreenHab Report , HSO report, Operations Report,Astronomy Report, Scientist Report, EVA report, EVA Request, Daily Photo Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 211 Sol Summary Report 20-APR-2019

Sol: /

Summary Title: Discovering the MDRS

Author’s name: Eléonore Lieffrig

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Today was a day of traveling and discovering the MDRS. Five members of the crew arrived at the station at about 1:30 pm. As Chloé, Julien and I discovered our new home, Carl-Henrik and Simon went back to Grand Junction in order to take the rest of the crew and give back our rental car. At the moment (7 pm), they are still on their way.

We took our marks here, cleaned a bit the Hab, chose our bedrooms and got to know the place. Shannon gave us a brief tour of the station, but a longer training is planned with the whole crew tomorrow morning at 10 am.

Tonight, we will read the Hab manual, welcome the rest of the team, and cook ourselves our first tasty Martian dinner.

For the crew 211,

Eléonore Lieffrig, astronomer

Anomalies in work: No problems.

Weather: Warm and windy

Crew Physical Status: Good.

EVA: No EVA today.

Reports to be filed: GreenHab Report, Operations report, Sol Summary Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 210 Sol Summary Report 19-APR-2019

Sol: 6

Summary Title: Writing and preparing for crew handover

Author’s name: Paul Sokoloff

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today the crew prepared to depart MDRS and leave it to our successors on Crew 211. We spent the morning cleaning the station, inventorying the food, and getting the spaces ship-shape for handover.

In the afternoon we continued to process plant samples and salinity measurements in the Science Dome, and collaboratively wrote a white paper outlining our multi-year biodiversity program, while Mike Irvine prepared an in-depth outreach proposal.

We will continue to prepare for our imminent departure this evening.

Look Ahead Plan: We plan to leave MDRS at 0800 tomorrow to head to Grand Junction, where we plan on handing over the crew car to Crew 211 by 1200.

Thank you to Mission Support, the Mars Society, and the management of MDRS for a great week in Utah; the five of us really appreciate your support.

Anomalies in work: No problems.

Weather: Hot and sunny.

Crew Physical Status: Good.

EVA: No EVAs today.

Reports to be filed: GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Daily Photo Report, Mission Summary, End of Rotation Food Inventory, End of Rotation Checklist (by tomorrow am).

Support Requested: None