Category: Sol Summary

Crew 206 March 2nd 2019
Sol 6

Summary Title : TELEHOPE

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Waking up was even harder today. Even if we didn’t have a planned EVA we got up at 07:00 to workout. After breakfast, we spent a little more than an hour to clean the Hab, upper and lower deck. It was necessary, there was dust everywhere. Before lunch, half of us went to the GreenHab to plant some watercress, the rest of us helped Cerise to bake some cookies. It started raining when we started preparing lunch. After that most of us went to take a nap.

After 02:30 pm I started working on TELEOP again. I still don’t understand the connection issues I’m having, the experiment doesn’t work in the conditions I tested in Toulouse before leaving or even in the conditions that worked during MDRS mission 189. But I managed to find a set-up that worked: the rover and the subject in the science dome. It’s not ideal, it might change the analysis of the results but at least it allowed me to get some data. The simulated rover’s computer still doesn’t work, but we are not losing hope!

Tonight is going to be a rest night, we are going to watch a French comedy movie.

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow is our rest day, we will find some nice board games to play and sleep as much as we can.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Cloudy all day, started raining at 12h

Crew physical status: Fine

EVA : None, Bad Weather

Reports to be filed: GreenHab, Journalist, Operation

Support Requested: Birthday candles for two incoming birthdays (if it’s possible), Swiffer dust removers.

Crew 206 March 1st 2019
Sol 5

Summary Title : Debating Day

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status : All nominal

Sol Activity Summary : Waking up was harder this morning, we all felt
quite tired. Muscle aches have gone but sport was hard nonetheless.
Benjamin, Cerise and Gaspard went by foot on top of the Hab ridge for
their EVA. They loved the view and did a wonderfull EVA, but they were
kind of hot around 10:00 am. Aurélien, Norbert and I worked on various
projects in the Hab. Norbert worked in the GreenHab, Aurélien prepared
some lunch while I tried to fix some issues with the TELEOP experiment.
There’s some improvement, but it’s not yet done. We ate a light lunch,
and after that we talked for a while. We are all feeling some effects of
isolation and confinement, but we are doing fine. Some of us took a nap
during the afternoon while others worked on their experiment. Aurélien
prepared some bread for diner, it looks great. As the sun sets we are
more and more tired, tonight will be a long night for most of us.

Look ahead plan : Tomorrow morning 4 of the crew will go on an EVA to
test the simulated space suit, they are impatient. In the afternoon I
will try to make TELEOP work, and tomorrow night will be movie night
before the rest day.

Anomalies in work : None

Weather : Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, wind
increased after 04:00 pm.

Crew physical status : Fine

EVA : Hab Ridge

Reports to be filed : GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA
Request, Astronomy

Support Requested : Lunar calendar (we want to take night time picture
of the sky)

Crew 206 February 28th, 2019
Sol 4

Summary Title: French bread in the Station

Author: Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Muscle aches from the morning workout have finally passed, it feels pretty good. Our sleep patterns are getting better. This morning’s EVA’s purpose was to change the LOAC battery (which went perfectly) and to explore White Rock Canyon. The rovers performed better than yesterday, we managed to arrive at White Rock Canyon with more than 85% of charge. The exploration lasted for about 1h30, the view was exceptional and we took great pictures. The mud is still bothering, but nothing that we can’t overcome. We arrived at the Hab a little tired. For lunch, we ate pasta and we cooked our first bread!

This afternoon I worked on TELEOP again, but I encountered new issues: the computer charger is broken, and we haven’t found an equivalent one. I managed to connect the physical rover to my computer by there is still connection issues. To sum up: both TELEOP versions are currently not working. It was a hard day for me, but the rest of the crew had more luck. Cerise got a response from the BioMérieux lab: our water is not infected (we feared there were some bacteria), it’s safe to drink, but it’s not as clean as tap water. We are still experiencing internet issues, it seems to be coming from the router (I couldn’t connect before 07:08 pm).

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow will be a regular day, we will try to fix some issues on our experiments. The crew is impatient for Sol 6; they will try their space suit for the first time in real conditions.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon

Crew physical status: Fine

EVA: White Rock Canyon

Reports to be filed: GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested: New water filters for the jug

Crew 206 February 27th 2019
Sol 3

Summary Title : Taking care of the Hab

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status : All nominal

Sol Activity Summary : Once again we got out of bed at 07:00 am to
workout, but everybody had slept well, we went to bed early yesterday.
Our Dreem Headbands showed that we had an effective time of sleep
ranging from 6h20 and 8h20, I slept more than everyone else ! After
breakfast we prepared the EVA. It was the first EVA without a veteran,
Aurélien was EVA leader. It went very well, Opportunity’s battery
decreased quickly so they went for plan B. They explored the moon areas.
During the EVA Cerise and I cleaned the Hab’s lower and upper deck. I
then took care of the water consumption data : on Sol 2 (yesterday) we
used 77,4L (20,5 Gallons), with 41% for the GreenHab, 25% for drinking,
13% for flushes, 6% for dishes, 5% for cooking, 2% for hygiene (no
showers yet) and 8% of unmeasured consumption. Unmeasured consumption
comes from inaccuracies and small mistakes in counting, this part of
daily consumption should decrease during the mission. After lunch,
everyone worked on their experiments (except me, I took a good nap).
Aurélien, Benjamin, Gaspard and Norbert did some pre-EVA tests on their
space suit, all the vital functions work, but it still needs to be
improved the ergonomic standpoint. Cerise worked on Aquapad to measure
the microbial quality of our water. First results suggest that the water
drinkability is problematic, but it is surely a manipulation or data
interpretation, we have sent a mail to the BioMérieux laboratories to
have an explanation. Before the COMMS, as planned, we participated to the
Virtual Reality experiment.

Look ahead plan : Tomorrow is once again going to be a busy day, we have
4 experiments planned. Tomorrow’s EVA will allow us to train the last
members of the crew.

Anomalies in work : None

Weather : Mostly cloudy

Crew physical status : Fine

EVA : Beige moon area

Reports to be filed : GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA
Request, Astronomy

Support Requested : None

Crew 206 February 26th 2019
Sol 2

Summary Title : Busy Day

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status : All nominal

Sol Activity Summary : Today we slept half an hour more than yesterday, we woke at 07:00 am. After our 30 minutes workout, we ate quickly to have enough time to prepare our EVA. We had to gather all the necessary tools and organise the different pieces of the weather station and the LOAC. Around 09:00 am, we were almost ready. We left the airlock at 09:17 am, and took the rovers to carry our equipment to the site we had found on EVA #1. The installation went fine, even though we had to go back to the Hab twice to get additional tools. The two instruments are installed, but we still have to make some adjustments. We finished the EVA at 10:30 am. After that we worked on our experiments and our reports. For lunch Aurélien and Norbert made some pizzas, they were great. The first main activity of the afternoon was TELEOP, the human factor experiment. We had an issue with the tele-operated rover, so today we only worked with the simulated rover. This part of the experiment worked fine. After that we participated in the Virtual Reality experiment once again.

Look ahead plan : Tomorrow we will start working on the simulation space suit, and it will also be a little rest day for Cerise and I that did two EVAs in a row. We will follow up our work on our various experiments.

Anomalies in work : none

Weather : Quite sunny all day, just a few small clouds

Crew physical status : small aches from physical training but fine otherwise

EVA : 500 meters from the Hab (North East), 40 meters from Cow Dung road. Installation of the LOAC and the weather station

Reports to be filed : GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested : a new frying pan, a new sponge for the dishes, a rag and a tissue napkin to prevent using too much paper towels

Crew 206 Sol Summary February 25th 2019
Sol 1

Summary Title : Foggy morning, but sunny day

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status : All nominal

Sol Activity Summary : After our change of schedule for this morning’s EVA, we had to get out of bed at 06:30 am. A few minutes after that we started our daily physical training. We managed to start breakfast around 07:10 am. We had a hard time making pretty pancakes with the old pan we have. We managed to start preparing for the EVA at 07:40 am. This first EVA is mainly used to train the new crew members, but we also looked for a appropriate spot to install our two instruments, LOAC and the weather station. But this EVA was very annoying for me: 10 minutes after the beginning my visor was completely fogged, but we managed to finish the EVA (I didn’t drive obviously). Otherwise the EVA went very smoothly. After lunch, around 02:00 pm, everyone went their own way to prepare their experiments. Cerise worked on Aquapad, to test the microbiological quality of our drinking water, Aurélien went to the solar observatory to get used to it, Norbert worked on his plants. After that we all participated to the virtual reality (VR) experiment. Its goal is to study the efficiency of VR as a countermeasure to confinement and isolation.

Look ahead plan : Tomorrow will be a big day, a lot of our main experiments will be installed and performed for the first time, so we are preparing as much as we can today. The crew is slowly getting used to the life in the station. Water consumption monitoring is heading in the right direction, everyone follows the plan correctly.

Anomalies in work : none

Weather : a little cloudy until 2 pm, after which the sky was quite clear.

Crew physical status : small aches from physical training but fine otherwise

EVA : Pooh’s Corner and Stream Bed Connector

Reports to be filed : GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested : a new frying pan, a new sponge for the dishes, a rag and a tissue napkin to prevent using too much paper towels

Sol: 0

Summary Title: First Marks

Sol Activity Summary: After a small and difficult night of sleep in
the science dome (we let the leaving crew in the hab so they could
finish packing their bags), we got out of "bed" at 7, to say hi to
crew 205 and to do our first daily physical training. We ate breakfast
before unpacking our bags and getting settled in the hab. At 10 we
started preparing our experiments (e.g. water consumption monitoring)
and working on the food inventory.

We prepared lunch around 12h30 and ate until 2, when Atila came for our
training. The training went fine, we learned the last few details for
the mission. After that we each continued working on our experiments
and our reports, to be on time for the COMMS.

Anomalies in work: none

Weather: sunny

Crew Physical status: fine

Crew 205 Sol Summary Report 23- FEB – 2019

Sol: 13

Summary Title: Bienvenus à MDRS!

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We woke up knowing that it would be our last morning on Mars. Following some last cleaning around the Hab, the crew took the opportunity of being out of sim to do some hiking around North Bridge. Upon our return, we met Crew 206 coming directly from Supaero (France). They will be taking over the operations here after our departure tomorrow. We spent the afternoon training them on all details about the “Martian life” and took the usual official crew pictures. At night we have the chance to enjoy delicious hamburgers together in Hanksville.

Tomorrow we will start our “re-entry back to Earth”. After our mission on Mars, the “de-orbiting period” to get back to normal life might be challenging! Thank you “Red Planet” for two demanding, enjoyable, and unforgettable weeks here…

Look Ahead Plan: Stay tuned for the new stories for Crew 206, they have very exciting research projects coming up!

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny all day

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

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

Support Requested: Plastic wrap and pot holders for the kitchen

Crew 205 Sol Summary Report 21- FEB – 2019

Sol: 11

Summary Title: Covered in White

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a quiet day. We woke up surrounded by a white Martian landscape. The snowfall from last night left us with approximately 10 cm of snow on the ground. The Martian weather has been challenging our mission during the past days but despite those challenges, we have been advancing well in our research projects.

It has been 11 days since we arrived to these lands. We can see the end of our mission rising on the horizon. As such, the crew focused today on wrapping up the different projects, start the deep cleaning of the RAM, Science Dome and GreenHab. We also started drafting our mission summary and filmed some last outreach videos. As usual, we have enjoyed a fantastic lunch prepared by our “Martian Chef de Cuisine” Hannah which mastered some home-made Martian Pizza.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will perform a deep cleaning of the Hab to make sure everything is ready for the next crew, finish up our mission summary, take some last official pictures and start packing to come back to “Earth”.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Consistent snow during most of the day.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVA request (just kidding 😉 we know it is fully covered in white outside)

Support Requested: Paper towel and Febreze spray will be largely appreciated for deep cleaning of the Hab.

Sol: 10

Summary Title: More Puzzling Weather on Mars

Author’s name: Hannah Blackburn

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We woke up to an overcast sky and biscuits with sausage gravy. The crew worked on a jigsaw puzzle of Mars while drinking their morning coffee. The EVA 14 team left the Hab at 1300 and quickly realized that Spirit and Opportunity did not fully charge. Atila reset the RAM’s external breaker which solved the problem. Approximately one hour later, the EVA 14 team set out again towards Candor Chasma on Spirit and Curiosity. However, when they had nearly reached their destination, they noticed fast-moving clouds and decided to return to the Hab to prevent weather-related issues. Later in the afternoon, light precipitation occurred while the crew ate chocolate lava cake and continued to piece together the puzzle. We finished the evening by enjoying movies from the Hab collection. Apollo 13 is a crew favorite.

Look Ahead Plan: If weather and ground conditions allow, although it currently seems unlikely, part of the crew will go on EVA 15 to The Moon. We will continue to work on developing Standard Operating Procedures for future crews.

Anomalies in work: Spirit and Opportunity did not fully charge. Resetting the RAM’s external breaker fixed the issue.

Weather: Overcast, light flurries starting at 1530

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: EVA 14

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

Support Requested: We did not receive any cloth towels with the initial supplies and therefore are on our last roll of paper towels. We would appreciate more paper or cloth towels for cleaning.