Category: Sol Summary

Sol: 3

Summary Title: The sound of Martian winds

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We woke up with the smell of home-made brownies and coffee. The first EVA left at 10.00 am driving Curiosity and Opportunity rovers heading to Candor Chasma. The team collected excellent geological samples and had the chance to explore the area. Meanwhile, at the Hab, the team worked on new maintenance tasks. We checked the status of the EVA suits making sure they are fully operational. Batteries were replaced in those suits not working properly, making them now ready to be used. At the return of the EVA team, all the crew enjoyed together some Martian pasta with dried tomato and chicken sauce. In the afternoon, the second EVA team headed to explore the area surrounding the Hab.

The plan was to test Crew 205’s drone, collect samples and conduct photography. However, the Martian weather complicated the task. Winds were too strong to fly the drone. The team continued nonetheless, with its plans of climbing the Old Repeater Point. The view of MDRS was great from there! However, in the field, the rain started to hit and the space helmets started to become foggy. Walking on the hilly surface in such conditions was not easy. The team then decided to head back to the Hab, enjoy a warm coffee and tea, and continue working there. Tonight we plan movie night … maybe “The Martian”?;))

Look Ahead Plan: Most of the day tomorrow will be dedicated to working “from home” on the different projects. After a few days on Mars, we have started collecting many pieces of great science and data which need to be analyzed. A team will also head the Old Repeater Point and North Ridge for a short test the drone (if the weather permits), continuing with the initial plan of today.

Tomorrow is also Saint Valentine’s day so we plan a special evening and dinner with “Secret Valentine” presents included. In addition, it will be the first day we start rotating roles in the crew. The members in the position of commander and XO will be rotating for the next week.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Cloudy all day long, windy with light rain in the afternoon

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:
EVA#05: 0520300/4241100 (Candor Chasma)
EVA#06: 4250900/517950 (Old Repeater Point), 4251500/518600 (North Ridge, not reached)

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA report, EVA request, Operations Report, HSO Report, Astronomy Report, Science Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 205 Sol Summary Report 12- FEB – 2019

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Adapting to Mars

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We started the day with what is becoming our daily routine: waking up at 7 am, having coffee and breakfast together and by 8.30 am start our work. In the morning, the first EVA team set off on rovers Spirit and Opportunity Northwards on Cow Dung Road towards the “Moon” areas. They passed Galileo road (losing contact with MDRS as expected shortly after). Before reaching Cowboy Corner, Spirit reported having 75% SOC, Spirit’s battery reduced rapidly and the rovers were stopped between Tank Wash and White Moon with Spirit on 63% and Opportunity at 75%. The EVA was modified to be completed on foot by only visiting, exploring and sampling areas within White Moon and the easternmost fringes of Beige Moon. The turnings of the road that enter to the Moon were recorded on GPS for future use in EVAs. Some excellent samples of quartz and sulphur containing deposits were collected and will be analysed in the coming days before being described fully in the upcoming Science Report. Meanwhile, in the Hab, the rest of the team continue working in the GreenHab daily duties, EVA planning and astronomy projects. Lunch was ready for the returning EVA team and the crew ate together in good spirits.

Equipment was prepared for use in the second EVA of the day, including a drone with a vertical camera and the ability to connect to a laptop for images to be reviewed in the field. As planned, the EVA team started getting prepared for its mission to North Ridge. However, while preparing, it was found that some of the suits were not fully functional and others, were still charging from the EVA in the morning. The team initially thought only of the suits was to be fully charged and operational. For this reason, putting the safety of the crew as the top priority, the commander took the decision to cancel the EVA. After the fact, it was found that a second spacesuit was also fully charged. All crew members thus, stayed in the Hab working “from home” in their different duties and projects. Tonight, following our daily crew meeting, we plan to enjoy a “Martian-Spanish” tapas dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we plan to continue with the initial plan of today. A first EVA team will head in the morning will head to Maxwell Montes. A second team will head the Old Repeater Point and North Ridge to test the drone. GreenHab, astronomy and outreach activities will continue as usual.

Anomalies in work: EVA#04 (in the afternoon) was cancelled (please refer to EVA report and description above for further information)

Weather: Clear skies all day long

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#03: 4254500/516500 (Gray Moon, not reached), 4254350/516500 (Beige Moon), 4254550/517550 (White Moon)

EVA#04: No conducted (please refer to the EVA report and description above for more information)

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, Astronomy Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: Some spacesuits not working properly and we are missing a charger for one of them (please refer to operations report for further information).

Sol: 1

Summary Title: First day

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was the first day of sim. We woke up looking at the snowy Martian landscape from our small windows in the Hab. Slowly, we are adapting to the life here. We are getting familiar with our new home and our new crew family. We began the day by removing the snow from the ground in the tunnels and enjoying breakfast all together. Today we had the opportunity to experience our first EVAs. The snow however, introduced some changes to our initial plans. The first EVA team scheduled in the morning, originally planning to reach the White Moon area, was redirected to Kissing Camel Ridge. The team conducted some sample collection and explored the area. The second EVA team in the afternoon headed to North Ridge. Due to the hot weather, the team came back earlier than expected. We learned the challenges of moving around with the spacesuit under the “Martian” sun. Meanwhile, we started our project on food production in regolith; although it was challenged with some issues with the autoclave. We harvested some of the carrots from the GreenHab. We also performed our first astronomical observation (we expect to download the data later today).

In the evening, we did inventory of the food that we received today (shipped form “Earth”), arranged the kitchen and held our daily crew meeting. Tonight, a nice dinner including those Martian harvested carrots is waiting for us!

Looking Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we plan to also conduct two EVAs following the original plans scheduled for today: one team will head to The Moon area; the second team will head to North Ridge. We will test the drones for our EVA navigation projects, continue regolith sample collections, and continue working on the other research projects and duties (including photometry astronomical analysis, GreenHab and outreach activities).

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Light snow on the ground in the morning. Clear skies all day long.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#01: 4249300,518100

EVA#02: 4250500, 518400

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, EVA Reports, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, HSO report, Mission plan, Astronomy Report.

Crew 205 Sol Summary Report 10-Jan-2019

Sol: 0

Summary Title: Ready for Mars!

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a special day: the first day we woke up at the Hab! We spent the night together with Crew 204. The place was crowded but we had a great evening conversing and playing board games together.

We woke up full of energy and ready to prepare the final details for our mission. In the morning, we got our first pictures as a crew and proceeded execute crew handover with Crew 204. We came back to the Hab and settled in to our new home for the next two weeks. We enjoyed blueberry pancakes for breakfast, unpacked our bags, did some deep cleaning, took inventory, and loaded the water tanks.

In the afternoon, Atila and David joined us at the Hab to conduct training on mission protocols and operations. Then we split into two groups for EVA training using the rovers in the field. Finally, we practiced putting on the suits and using the earpieces.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we enter sim. We will start our new daily routine and plan to conduct our first EVAs. Stay tuned for our future reports. We have two weeks of full of exciting projects coming up! We are ready for Mars!

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Clear skies all day long, intermittent high intensity winds.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, HSO checklist, Crew Bios and pictures, mission patch

Support Requested: We could not find the astronomy handbook or astronomy laptop (neither in the Hab, Science Dome or RAM)

Crew 204 Sol Summary Report 09- FEB – 2019

Sol: 12

Summary Title: Expanding the family

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_Bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: The time has come for crew 204 to return home. There are mixed feelings in the mind of the crew members. It was a roller coaster ride but ended quite successfully. The crew woke up a bit later than usual, the last warm Martian breakfast with a sip of Coffee. The first thing on the list for the crew was to clean, clean and clean, the Hab as well as all the operation places. Post cleaning was the wait for the upcoming new crew. We were pretty excited to meet the International Emerging Space Leaders Crew (Crew 205). Finally, the wait was over. At noon our Martian family expanded. After the introductions and enjoying lunch together, our crew got to train them on all the basics to survive and efficiently operate around the Hab. The crew 204 handed over the Hab responsibilities to the new crew. Post training, both crews enjoyed burgers together in Hanksville. The crew 205 is an interdisciplinary team, full of enthusiasm and new exciting projects coming up.

Look Ahead Plan: The crew 204 is scheduled to deorbit around 0800 hours and reach Grand Junction for rendezvous with the spacecraft, moving forward to reenter home sweet home.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: None

Reports to be file: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3) Commander Report 4) Photos

Support Requested: None

Crew 204 Sol Summary Report 08-FEB -2019

Sol: 11

Summary Title: The End Game

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_Bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Time to go home. Is it happiness, eagerness or desperation to see actual beings around us, The Psychological game is going to end and what we learn in 2 weeks? Was it something changing?

Yes, of course not a life changing one but surely a lesson to live on limited water, food supply and strict protocols.

Experiencing some percentage of daily life of Astronauts. The first thing which the crew realized after waking up is the final day of the sim.

The crew had the morning breakfast and were in a rush for their morning EVA, Carbon Flight and MarsBag went for EVA while Cosmos and SpaceBot were in their daily Hab activities. Today’s in charge for cooking was SpaceBot, Post EVA, the crew had lunch together with challenges of Sim as a discussion topic. Today there were 2 EVA’s, one in the morning while the second after lunch. This time, it was SpaceBot and Cosmos turn for the EVA. While other crew members rested for a while at the Hab. Green Positive vibes all over the Green Hab. It’s sad that the crew won’t be able to see the growth of their planted seeds. This is the Ending and probably the last Sol Summary.

Look Ahead Plan: The crew has planned to clean the entire facility from top to bottom, from right to left. The crew will be eagerly waiting to welcome, meet and handing over the HAB to the Crew 205 for future simulation.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: 1) 516100 E; 4254550 N (Widows Peak) 2) 518250 E;
4255500 N (Quarry Road)

Reports to be file: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3)
Journalist Report 4) EVA Report 5) Photos 6) Mission Summary 7) End
Rotation Food Supply excel sheet

Support Requested: None

Crew 204 Sol Summary Report 07- FEB – 2019

Sol: 10

Summary Title: The 51 second excitation

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_Bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: What gives an excitation? A rover working from ~ 13000 km with live Audio/Video stream via rover will surely create one. Today was the judgment day for the child rover project. The crew woke up earlier than their assigned schedule, potato creamy soup is a good start of the day. The crew was on the run as the EVA was requested post breakfast.

SpaceBot and MarsBag carried out the walking EVA near the MDRS HAB premises. The main purpose of the EVA was to operate child rover from a remote location, India (13000 kms away). It was operated by students of Sipna College of Engineering. The demonstration was successful in exploring the Martian soil. The crew was happy as their project was a success. Still needs upgradation for sure.

Post EVA, the team discussed about the rover and Indian Mythology. Pre-Lunch, the crew members were on their assigned respective task. Lunch was prepared by CarbonFlight and SpaceBot, quite a lot food which will be used for dinner as well.

Post lunch, all crew members rested for a while. Carbon flight printed few bricks
for Martian habitat from his 3D Clay Printer a day ago and now they are dried and ready to be baked. There is a positive vibe from the Green Hab, every-day you eager to go to the GreenHab just to see the growth of the plants. The crew is still planning for some board games
post dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: The 3D clay printer has printed some bricks out of Martian soil composition which will be baked to test the inner dynamic structure and possibility to use the brick for future habitat. The End is 2 days short, the crew has scheduled the recleaning of the hab.

The sprouts and mix seeds have already started showing good results. Hoping to observe more growth.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: Hab Premise

Reports to be file: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3)
Journalist Report 4) EVA Report 5) Photos

Support Requested: None

Crew 204 Sol Summary Report 05- FEB – 2019

Sol: 8

Summary Title: The Friendship Algorithm

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: An Isolation is the best way to know yourself and your team. The friendship, the bond and the trust within yourself and on each other is one of the survival keys to any Space mission.

The gradual increase in trust, bond, and friendship between the crew has been visualized. The crew woke up as per their schedule. The roaring Martian gust has not stopped yet it’s been usual for the crew. Some cheezy pasta and hot chocolate for breakfast does not seem to be
a bad combination. Today’s topic of discussion was Geo-Politics! It’s good to gather knowledge and know the perspective of others.

By Pre-Lunch, SpaceBot and Carbon Flight had a technical support call from India for the rover project. The rover had a minor issue with its left wheel slippage which was resolved at the earliest. The lunch was cooked by

Carbon Flight and Mars Bag while the other members cleaned the kitchen and synced well with other. Post Lunch the crew started to work on their assigned projects. The positive news from the Green Hab, the newly planted seeds are sprouting well. The EVA around the hab was
done by SpaceBot and MarsBag. The purpose was to test the rover outdoor. The test was successful. The system worked well. Got some good photos from the rover. The crew has planned to watch a space movie post dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: The 3D clay printer will be tested manually using different soil composition and printing some samples (will start from 6th Feb). The work on the child rover will be to operate the rover from India. Finger crossed on weather and servers. The sprouts and mix
seeds have already started showing good results. Hoping to observe proper growth.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Cloudy, Strong Winds

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: Cancelled due to strong winds

Reports to file: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3)
Journalist Report 4) Photos 5) Science Report

Support Requested: None

Sol: 8

Summary Title: The Friendship Algorithm

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: An Isolation is the best way to know yourself and your team. The friendship, the bond and the trust within yourself and on each other is one of the survival keys to any Space mission.

The gradual increase in trust, bond, and friendship between the crew has been visualized. The crew woke up as per their schedule. The roaring Martian gust has not stopped yet it’s been usual for the crew. Some cheezy pasta and hot chocolate for breakfast does not seem to be
a bad combination. Today’s topic of discussion was Geo-Politics! It’s good to gather knowledge and know the perspective of others.

By Pre-Lunch, SpaceBot and Carbon Flight had a technical support call from India for the rover project. The rover had a minor issue with its left wheel slippage which was resolved at the earliest. The lunch was cooked by

Carbon Flight and Mars Bag while the other members cleaned the kitchen and synced well with other. Post Lunch the crew started to work on their assigned projects. The positive news from the Green Hab, the newly planted seeds are sprouting well. The EVA around the hab was
done by SpaceBot and MarsBag. The purpose was to test the rover outdoor. The test was successful. The system worked well. Got some good photos from the rover. The crew has planned to watch a space movie post dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: The 3D clay printer will be tested manually using different soil composition and printing some samples (will start from 6th Feb). The work on the child rover will be to operate the rover from India. Finger crossed on weather and servers. The sprouts and mix
seeds have already started showing good results. Hoping to observe proper growth.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Cloudy, Strong Winds

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: Cancelled due to strong winds

Reports to file: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3)
Journalist Report 4) Photos 5) Science Report

Support Requested: None

Crew 204 Sol Summary Report 06-FEB-2019

Sol: 9

Summary Title: The Old Paso Nacho Fusion

Author’s name: Kunal Naik (Space_Bot)

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: The food gives the energy to work. The delicious taste and savory give a satisfactory psychological effect which makes an individual happy plus productive and efficient work. This theory is
proven actually and on the fun part, we tested it today. The roaring Martian gust has stopped but bit chilly weather.

The crew woke up as per their assigned schedule; hot chocolate and crackers are the good starts of the day. Today’s round table topic of discussion was Intercultural exchange and Interdisciplinary! It’s good to know about different culture.

Pre-Lunch, SpaceBot was working on organizing the remote test of child rover from India. He was setting up software on the mobile device to operate remotely. Lunch was prepared by MarsBag and SpaceBot. A Taco with seasoned mashed potatoes, kidney bean gravy, layered with hot Mexican cheese and onion flakes was an experimental Tex-Mex lunch which was savored and loved by all.

Instead of resting post lunch, all crew members started working on their projects and assigned task. Carbon flight printed few bricks for Martian habitat from his 3D Clay Printer. These bricks will be dried and baked for Martian Habitat structure. The positive news from the Green Hab, the newly planted seeds are sprouting well.

The EVA around the hab was done by Carbon Flight and Cosmos. The purpose of the EVA was for general exploration. The crew is still planning for some recreational activities post dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: The rover will be operated from India and will test the local connection and delay in operation. The 3D clay printer has printed some bricks out of Martian soil composition which will be dried and baked to test the inner dynamic structure and possibility to use for future habitat. Finger crossed on weather and servers for an outdoor remote test. The sprouts and mix seeds have already started showing good results. Hoping to observe proper growth.

Anomalies in work: None Encountered

Weather: Cloudy, Strong Winds

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA’s location: Hab Ridge Road (518100 E; 4250750 N)

Reports to be filed: 1) Operations Report 2) Green Hab Report 3)
Journalist Report 4) EVA Report 5) Photos

Support Requested: None