Posted on

Commander Report – February 08th

Maria Grulich

Commander

Crew 221, MDRS Sol 6

Crew 221 Commander Report 08FEB-2020

Author: Maria Grulich, Commander

Title: First problems to solve

Yesterday, during dinner, the crew 221 Earth2Mars realized that when the oven is on, there is a clear smell of propane more than usual. It was immediately reported to mission support during the comms window. At all times the crew was safe, as it was clear that when the oven is off, no propane gas could be smelled. This morning, after half the team went out for EVA, crew commander M.Grulich together with mission support started to investigate the source of the propane issue. It took a bit of time to read through the manual and check the oven, but after one hour the hypothesis was made that probably the oven was not configured to be used for propane gas. Per default the oven comes from the manufacturer to be used with natural gas instead of propane. In order to change this several grooves and an orifice spud on the stove and oven had to be replaced.

Mission support was very helpful, in supporting the theory and immediately organized support, such that in the afternoon, the oven was fixed with the help of the team. It was identified that the hypothesis was correct and after exchanging the parts, the gas issue seems to be solved. No propane smell can be detected now and also the gas detector was clear and the crew’s air quality detector improved significantly.

Besides this real issue, the team managed to do some science in the science dome, Greenhab and RAM.

The EVA team had some mishaps finding stream bed connector and they reported that the walk took more than 20 min as the soil was harder to walk on than expected. That resulted in a tired team that did not manage to explore the chasma as deep as they were planning on.

The team is in good shape and the cultural nights really add to the mission. We are making good progress on the projects; we are just not patient enough to see the results of the microbiology and ISRU plant experiments.

Commander Grulich

MDRS Station

Posted on

Science Report – November 25th

Crew 221 Science Report 08-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha

1. Microbiology Research
Today, we tried to investigate the samples with bacteria growth under a microscope. One of the results was very exciting and is attached in the photo report.

2. ISRU project
Today, we tested the nutrient levels of the soil being used to grow black corn. We used a soil test kit, which involved putting in soil and water and a specific nutrient capsule (Phosphorous, Potassium, Nitrogen). The solution then changed to a specific shade after 10 minutes, and we could identify the state of soil healthy by looking at the coloured scale provided for each nutrient.

3. Mung Beans

We planted Mungbeans in 3 variations of soil, 100% martian soil, 50% martian soil and 50% earth soil, 70% earth soil and 30% martian soil. The soil used was from the EVA conducted at Condor Chasma yesterday. After planting, we inserted a conductivity probe and measured the salinity and water content of the soil with Arduino sensors. We need to convert the relative values to actual units.

4. Radio Communication

Crew Engineer constructed an antenna and got the radio to receive signals in the hab today! The antenna is 20 metres long, and it is in the RAM right now. It was listening at 40 m and 80 m wavelengths today, and managed to capture some interesting conversation all the way from Phoenix, Arizona: 465 miles away!

Posted on

Astronomy Report – February 08th

Astronomy Report

Name: Ghanim Alotaibi

Crew: 221
Date: 08 Feb 2020

A Photometry measurement was submitted yesterday for V CAS (measurement performed 5 Feb). The V Mag was found to be 10.766 with an error of 0.0044.

The following table shows the new search pattern

(Re, Dec) (Re, Dec) (Re, Dec)
(15:00:00, +30:00:00) (15:03:00, +30:00:00) (15:06:00, +30:00:00)
(15:00:00, +30:45:00) (15:03:00, +30:45:00) (15:06:00, +30:45:00)
(15:00:00, +31:30:00) (15:03:00, +31:30:00) (15:06:00, +31:30:00)

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-14

Objects to be Imaged this Evening:

  1. V CAS
  2. Search pattern (submitted today): Only the first raw was submitted to familiarize the crew astronomer with the analysis procedure using Astroimage J.
  3. V0960 Mon (Submitted today).

Images submitted with this report:

  1. The attached image is the uncalibrated image taken by the MDRS-14 as per the request for Skynet mentioned in astronomy report 3 Feb 2020.
  2. The attached image is the uncalibrated image for V0960 MON.

Problems Encountered: The data pic for V0960 MON contains many stars with doughnut shape.

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 08th

Crew 221 Sol Summary Report 08-Feb-2020

Sol:6

Summary Title: Well done…

Author’s name: Maria Grulich, M.Sc.

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

Update since last Sol Summary: Crew 221 played the rover game last night from the Planetary Volatiles Lab at York University, from Crew Journalist H. Kalucha before heading to an early night’s sleep.

Today, half the crew ( J.Todd, R.Alshammari, G. Alotaibi) went on an EVA towards Candor Chasma ,walking along Stream Bed Connector. The weather was beautiful and sunny and actually, the team reported that they were a bit too warm under the space suits. They did not achieve all their objectives but identified places to use the rover on future EVAs.

The other half of the team was staying in the hab. L. Monge and H.Kalucha were working in the science dome on soil health experiments, investigating the quality of the Martian soil being used to grow black corn. They attempted to determine if the black corn and mung beans have a chance to survive.

Commander M.Grulich was working on the oven issue, reading through the manuals and communicating with mission support to find a solution to our high propane measurements in the upper deck. The hypothesis was that the oven was not configured to be used with propane gas as the gas pressure regulator showed no change in configuration. Mission support was very helpful, checking information about the oven speedily, and eventually came to the same hypothesis.

In the afternoon, Crew 221 got external support and together with Dan, configured the oven to be used for propane. Since then, the flames of the stove are way smaller and the oven does not trigger the gas detector anymore. There are also no visible flames in the oven anymore, so the issue is solved!

This afternoon, the team worked on planting mung beans in the Greenhab that hopefully sprout soon. The crew already set a jar of mung beans aside that are sprouting since today to be hopefully ready to eat within the next couple of days.

Crew Engineer worked on his antenna project and managed to receive some signals from Arizona. Last but not least the microbiology experiments seemed to show first signs of growth on the soil samples. Tonight we will have Costa Rican pinto with a mocktail and the Costa Rican Cultural night, which we are all very excited about!

Look Ahead Plan: Sports Session, Meditation Session, Cultural night Costa Rica, Preparation rover and further microbiology samples and ISRU experiments

Anomalies in work: None

Update mouse in hab: still no joy in catching it.

Weather: sunny no winds in the morning, windy in the afternoon, no precipitation

Crew Physical Status: Good

EVA: 10:00an to 13:00pm

Reports to be filed:

Sol Summary

Commander Report

Photo Report

EVA Report

Operations Report

GreenHab Report

Science Report

Astronomy Report

Support Requested: None

Posted on

EVA Report #6 – February 7th

Crew 221 EVA Report 07 Feb 2020

EVA # 6

Author: Luis Monge (Engineer)

Purpose of EVA: Collection of microbial samples at Candor Chasma deeper into the canyon for geobiology experiments being conducted in the science dome. Collection of more regolith-type substrates for the scientific objectives of the ISRU project (growing plants in Martian soil).

Start time: 09:55 am

End time: 12:30 pm

Narrative: Today we planned our second long EVA. L.Monge, H.Kalucha and M.Grulich went out to drive towards Candor Chasma with the aim to collect samples mainly for microbiology projects. The Martian weather is currently very much in our favor and at some point during the EVA all participants complained about the heat. The sun shining high and there was almost no wind. M.Grulich took the lead on spirit to guide the team stopping on the way to check the maps and road conditions. Once near the destination, the EVA crew left the rovers.

Once at Candor Chasma, Crew Commander M.Grulich was looking for geology traces where microbes could be found. Samples at seven different locations were collected, and in one location it was dug to get a sample form at least 40cm deep into the ground.

While taking samples for microbiology, Crew Commander M.Grulich was very careful using extra nitrile gloves on top of the EVA gloves and sterile sample containers and little shovels that have had been cleaned prior to the EVA. On the way back to the rovers a bag of regolith was collected for Greenhab experiments. All objectives of the EVA have been accomplished.

Destination: Candor Chasma.

Coordinates (use UTM NAD27 CONUS): 519750/4251900 (Parking), Stream Bed connector; 520378/4251094

EVA Participants: Maria Grulich (Commander), Luis Monge (Engineer), Hemani Kalucha (Journalist)

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: North on Cow Dung Road (0110) to Galileo Road (1104), East along Galileo Road and park the rovers. Walk along Cactus Road towards Candor Chasma.

Mode of travel: Driving and walking

Vehicles used: Spirit and Curiosity

Posted on

Commander Report – February 7th

Commander

Crew 221, MDRS

Crew 221 Commander Report 7FEB2020

Author: Maria Grulich, Commander

Title: First days

The crew 221 Earth2Mars settled in and started they science projects. The crew did not realize how much also the daily duties of cooking, cleaning and checking on the habitat takes time. Going on EVA starting to become a routine: checking the bags, the radios, comms-check, suiting up the crew members, depressurization and post-EVA and pre-EVA checklists.

Also, the crew cultural nights, sport sessions and meditation sessions coming along, even though we do not manage to do it every evening as it was planned beforehand. We make good progress on our science projects, which works better than expected and the crew’s cooking skills improve every day. The crew is very conservative with water usage, which results that the crew can take a 3min showers every 2-3 days which everyone is excited about. We are all caught up on the several surveys we have to fill and try to keep track of our samples and EVAs even though not all the time the GPS tracker works as expected. The Martian weather is very much in our favour and we hope that it will stay like this.

The first week the focus was put on microbiology and ISRU projects as they need time to develop. The following week will have a focus on the Human Robotic projects and technology demonstrations. Looking forward to more days on Mars.

Commander Grulich

MDRS Station

Posted on

Operations Report – February 7th

Crew 221 Operations Report 07Feb2022

SOL: 5

Name of person filing report: Luis D. Monge

Non-nominal systems:

Notes on non-nominal systems:

Generator: off (at 8pm) waiting for SOC to reach 80% to be turned on

Hours run: 11:00

From what time last night: 8:00pm

To what time this morning: 7:00am

List any additional daytime hours when the generator was run : 0

Solar— SOC % (Before generator is run at night) 84%

Diesel Reading – 98%

Station Propane Reading – 60%

Ethanol Free Gasoline – gallons

Water (loft tank): 35 gallons

Water Meter: 148 units

Water (static tank) – 320 gals

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water in GreenHab – 232.5 gals

Water in ScienceDome: 0 gallons

Toilet tank emptied: no

Deimos rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: yes

Hours: (before EVA) : 129.5

Beginning charge: (Before EVA) 100%

Ending charge: (On return from EVA, before recharging) 63%

Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no

Hours: n/a

Beginning charge: n/a

Ending charge: n/a

Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: yes

Hours: 135.7

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 45%

Currently charging: yes

Notes on rovers:

ATV’s Used: (Honda, 300, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3) not used

Reason for use: not used

Oil Added? not used

ATV Fuel Used: Gals not used

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: not used

Notes on ATVs:

HabCar used and why, where? yes, for mail run by Atila

CrewCar used and why, where? not used

General notes and comments: not used

Summary of internet: operational

Summary of suits and radios: operational, lose cable on suit 7 fixed

Summary of Hab operations: nominal.

Summary of GreenHab operations: operational, black corn experiment continues watered with 4L. watering of the plants carried out as per procedure

Summary of ScienceDome operations: 2 incubators running, microbiology experiments going on and cultures are being grown in agar plates.

Summary of RAM operations: robot assembly is ongoing and expected to continue.

Summary of any observatory issues: nominal

Summary of health and safety issues: crew member had epistaxis, treated inmediately by crew doctor, HSO report submitted.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: every time the oven is turned on there is a heavy gas smell.

Posted on

GreenHab Report – February 7th

Crew 221 GreenHab Report 07FEB2020

GreenHab Officer: Jessica Todd

Environmental control: Heating. GreenHab door shade cloth (40%) (30%) on.

Average temperatures: 23.75°C

Hours of supplemental light: 19:30 to 00:00

Daily water usage for crops: 10 gallons

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: 0.5 gallons

Water in Blue Tank: 232.5 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 3

Changes to crops: Ginger has sprouted! The wilty tomatoes look much better today after a healthy watering. Butter lettuce also has bugs so I gave it a little spray with the pesticide. One of the strawberry plants has flowered!

Narrative: I performed a moisture check on all the plant beds to give me a better idea of their water needs. The lettuce plants take up water quite slowly, whereas the herbs and the tomatoes require at least two waterings a day. Luis and I also checked on our Blue Corn experiment. Unfortunately the Martian soil is basically like cement or clay when it gets wet and so the corn is likely struggling. We’ve halved the soil samples and mixed half with Earth soil to see if that makes a difference. Maria and I are also planning a mungbeans experiment, looking at different Martian soil to Earth ratios to see if we can grow anything in the next week. We will set that up tomorrow.

Harvest: NA

Support/supplies needed: NA

Other Notes: N/A

 

Posted on

Science Report – February 7th

Crew 221 Science Report 07-FEB-20
Crew Science Officer: Hemani Kalucha

1. Microbiology Research
Today, we continued our microbiology experiment. We observed further growth in bacteria in the dirty space suit sample. The bacteria was primitively identified as Bacillus subtilis. We also successfully made some Agar today. We added sugar, water, gelatin, and beef boullion to make the Agar. We then added the Agar to 12 petri dishes. All samples were weighed and put into the catalogue. Lastly, we did some preliminary pH soil testing on the samples.

2. ISRU project
The martian soil was cracked and inhospitable to plants, so we adjusted the ISRU experiment to be half martian soil and half earth soil, with all the same other parameters. Hopefully, the results will be kinder.