Astronomy Report December 6th

Astronomer: Andrew Foster

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-WF (05 DEC)

Requested objects – Requested yesterday (05 DEC) 46/P Wirtanen (wide field),

MDRS-14 imaging update:

46/P Wirtanen (cometary coma imaging) – Active

3C 273 (Quasar) – Active

AG Peg / RW Aur (photometry measurements) – Images available (will download post-mission for processing).

Objects Viewed: None

Image attached: None.

Problems Encountered:

Poor weather conditions (Cloudy conditions continue today).

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: Short observation of Sun through eyepiece w/ high cloud conditions, no detail visible. Carried out short test of Imaging Source DBK camera (no image captured).

Notes

Carried out minor repair on Solar observatory dome – loose seal secured (see attached photos).

Both observatories are clear of snow this evening.

End report.

Greenhab Report December 6th

Crew 200 Greenhab Report 06-DEC-2018

Greenhab Officer:
Makiah Eustice

Environmental Control:
Heating
40% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:
Low: 14 C
High: 40 C

Hours of Supplemental Light:
5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:
2.5 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):
29%

Times of Watering for Crops:
1200

Changes to crops:
Took out wilting snap peas.

Narrative:
Soaking Snap peas, salad green mix, and sunflower seeds to sow
tomorrow. Got some Oregano for our dinner and planning on a good salad
tomorrow!

Harvest:
5g Oregano

Support/Supplies Needed:
Let me know if there is any comment on a pulley system that could be
implemented to easily lower and raise the lights.

Astronomy Report – December 4th

Crew Astronomer: Andrew Foster

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested: MDRS-14 / MDRS-WF / None

Objects Viewed: None

Image attached: Messier 45 (Pleiades Cluster) – finished processing from MDRS WF practice image. 50min exposure LRGB.

Problems Encountered:

Poor weather conditions (Cloudy conditions today).

MUSK OBSERVATORY

Solar Features Observed: None (no observations made today due to weather).

Notes

Both observatories are clear of snow this evening.

End report.

Sol Summary – December 4th

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Safety training, middle school outreach, and science experiments

Author’s name: Lindsay Rutter

Mission Status: Crew practiced emergency training, science experiments underway, public outreach underway

Sol Activity Summary: We discussed and acted out various
emergency/health scenarios, such as strokes, electric shock, hypothermia, fire, and CPR cases. Safety checklist was completed in regards to fire alarms, CO alarms, and medical kits. Microscopes were inspected. Questions about living on MDRS and Mars from eighth graders were answered. Personal experiments were underway.

Look Ahead Plan: Weather-pending EVAs for drone mapping and infrared camera shots will be conducted. Science experiments will continue.

Anomalies in work: No astronomy possible due to cloudy conditions.

Weather: Cold with snow and mud on the ground.

Crew Physical Status: No crew members reported physical problems today.

EVA: N/A

Reports to be file: N/A

Support Requested: N/A

Commander Report – December 4th

Crew 200

04-DEC-2018

Commander Report

Although my crew has been though different changes throughout preparation, I am proud of their efforts and attitude. The unexpected weather conditions have contributed to have vibrant brainstorming.

As Commander, I am learning more about communications. It is challenging to find the right keywords to quickly establish an effective communication with the crew, when environmental conditions are changing. Crew dynamics is always different, although common patterns.

My crew is learning together, and this is a good start.

Commander Ilaria Cinelli

[end]

Operations Report – December 4th

Crew 200 Operations Report 04-Dec-2018

SOL: 3

Name of person filing report: Antoine Bocquier

Non-nominal systems: generator autostart, generator functioning Notes on non-nominal systems: generator was not working this morning (SOC 61% at 8:00), I did not press strong enough the transfer button in the science dome yesterday (did not connect the generator to the power system). Given solar panels were giving enough power, we did not restarted the generator before night (SOC reached 100% during the afternoon).

Generator (hours run): From 5:50 pm last night but stopped at some point during the night. On tonight at 5:00 pm.

Solar— SOC 91 %
Diesel Reading – N/A %
Propane Reading – N/A %
Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A gallons

Water (auxillary tank) – 0 gallons
Water (static tank) – 450 gallons
Auxillary to Static tank transfer – no
Gallons transferred: 0
Water in GreenHab – not noted gallons, low.
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water Meter: 9

Toilet tank emptied: yes

Deimos rover used: no, still not functional
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: No
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes

Spirit rover used: no
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes

Opportunity rover used: no
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes

Curiosity rover used: no
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: yes

Notes on rovers: Rovers were not used or moved since Sunday, in charge from Sunday afternoon.
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: 0
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were taken out of active service and are now parked away from the station

HabCar used and why, where? No
CrewCar used and why, where? No

General notes and comments: Due to snow and mud conditions, EVA and engineering tour were not allowed. This was approved by Shannon. Thus some of the measurements could not be performed.

Summary of internet: Everything is fine. To avoid using data during the day (indirectly via phone connections), we chosed to switch off the modem when not needed.

Summary of suits and radios: I found out what was wrong with the suits, it is not the suits but the wall electric plugs (the right wall plugs when coming from the indoor). The plugs are not working, thus the chargers were not working. I charged them on another wall plug but it will be needed to have a look at the wall plugs not working. 1 radio seems not to be working.

Summary of Hab operations: we performed first rescue training together this morning. Regular activities went on.

Summary of GreenHab operations: Lights stopped sooner than midnight, permission is asked to fix the clock.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: I looked in detail at the microscopes, I confirmed they are working.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report

Summary of any observatory issues: Musk Solar observatory – Nominal. Robotic Observatory – Nominal.

Summary of health and safety issues: Fire extinguishers were transfered for maintenance, Shannon took them.

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
To Peter: can we access the weather station data? This would be very useful for my energy modelling project to be able to have daily environmental data (especially temperature)
For “water meter” (loft tank), do you mean what is the delta (i.e how much was refilled according to this scale) or the current level? Thanks. [end]

Journalist Report – December 4th

Sol 3: Life through the porthole

Acting Journalist: Andrew Foster

12-04-2018

The snow from Sol 1 remains, and with temperatures plummeting last night we stay in the safety of the Hab with our EVA plans on hold for the time being. The crew is working very well together, continuing with science projects this morning and adapting plans as best possible to the weather conditions. Our Commander very kindly gave a first aid refresher followed by a delicious lunch of rice, potato and pea mix. There are no leftovers and plates barely need cleaning!

In the afternoon, we had a group discussion and a welcome team building exercise. The group considered questions from one of our outreach projects – Can plants survive on Mars? How will we get water? How can we generate electricity? What is the best way to cover large distances and could we ever fly on Mars? What is the best way to produce our oxygen? So many questions to be answered before we can journey to and live on the Red Planet.

Although the weather has curtailed our EVA activities, the crew has showed great bonding in a short space of time, being patient, kind, and supporting each other.

We look through the porthole – the cold conditions outside are fairly close to a spring day on the Martian equator, and think of living and working on a world so similar and so different to our own..

Mission Plan – Crew 200

Mars Desert Research Station Mission Plan
Crew 200 – Mars Society International Crew
Dec 1st- 9th, 2018

Crew Members:
Commander: Dr. Ilaria Cinelli
Executive Officer: Oakley Jennings-Fast
Astronomer: Andrew Foster
Geologist: Dr. Jun Huang
Engineer: Antoine Bocquier
GreenHab Officer: Makiah Nicole Eustice
Health and Safety Officer: Dr. Lindsay Rutter

Mission Plan:
Crew 200 Mission Plan is an international mixture of science work, education and outreach. The Mission’s key values are:
1. International
2. Diversity
3. Education

Laid out here are the crew’s planned research objectives while at the MDRS:

1. Crew Projects
Mapping emotions (by Commander, I. Cinelli):
Introduction: Emotions and feelings are altered by the environment, and isolation has been
shown to impact human behaviours. Arts is used in this project to communicate how a person could experience endurance in isolation using colours.
Rationale: Mapping emotions in isolation for envisioning endurance
Methods: Since young age, I. Cinelli associates words and numbers to colours, that she sees distributed in space with an order depending on their meaning. Emotions and feelings will be mapped throughout the adaptation in isolation. Acrylic colours will be used to map emotions on a flight-suits.

Cement using Martian Regolith (Oakley Jennings-Fast Executive Officer)
Introduction: Objective is to test the strength of premix concrete (cement plus Earth soil as aggregate) and Portland cement plus local soil. Supplies set up in science dome and calculations started for weights of each material. Rationale: Important for understand building structures on Mars using available materials on the planet.
Methods: Mix various ratios of cement and local soil and water and test the strength with known weights until failure.

Search for Extremophiles: (by Lindsay Rutter, Health and Safety Officer)
Introduction: Understanding what microbes survive the Mars-like environment around the MDRS can serve as a proxy to the type of microbes that may survive Mars itself. Identifying sample microbes can be achieved with commercial-made microscopes, but can also be achieved with homemade microscopes in the event that a more official microscope is not available.
Rationale: Microbe survival in Mars environments has important implications for planetary protection and crew immunity.
Methods: Build homemade microscopes from economical material, namely by removing the lens from laser pointers, attaching them to camera phones, and placing the sample on a flashlight covered by paper and plastic slides. Collect microbes from nearby the MDRS. Take photos of magnified microbes using both commercial and homemade microscopes.

Energy Exchanges: Modeling and measurement of the thermal exchanges of the Habitat. (by Antoine Bocquier, Crew Engineer)
Introduction: Modeling the energy behaviour of the Habitat is key to optimize the use of available resources. By building an energy model of the Habitat that can be validated by in site measurements, it would be possible to adapt it to a Martian environment.
Rationale: A Martian station will need to be a “smart building” enabling to monitor resources use and perform failure detection and recovery. In MDRS, it will be useful to have a better assessment of the thermal power dissipated compared to the one generated.
Methods:
1) Build a simplified energy model of the Habitat using the bond graph method
2) Take measurements via an infrared camera of the Habitat and find out its parameters to refine the model
3) Compare software simulations with measurements to validate the model
4) Adapt the model to a Martian environment

GreenHab Outreach (By Makiah Eustice, Greenhab Officer):
Introduction: Grow experiment at same time as a school in Canada
Method: Plant salad seed, check height each day
Rationale: Outreach to promote Mars exploration and green livinac

Mars VR (By Makiah Eustice, Greenhab Officer)
Introduction: Develop and film walkthroughs of training scenarios
Rationale: Crew 197 didn’t complete these tasks.
Method: Decide on training scenarios, practice, and film (annotate)

MDRS Digitization (By Makiah Eustice, Greenhab Officer):
Introduction: Understand sensors and electronic systems an find ways to implement “Smart Hab” system
Rationale: Mars would have smart systems that are connected, controlled, and archived for real time decision making
Method: Track all systems (water, power, environmental, telemetry) and find ways to improve

Schools Outreach (By Andrew Foster, Crew Astronomer)
Introduction: Inspire the scientist and engineers of the future through a schools outreach project
Rationale: The colonization of Mars will involve people of many nationalities and backgrounds working together towards a common goal. Education and outreach is the foundation for this great project.
Method:
Engage school and community in Western Qatar with a variety of exciting projects:
1. School
1.1 Year 8 HAB design – HAB design questionnaire “Ask The Experts” (from PHSE lessons), to be carried out @ MDRS. Questionnaire results to be presented in PHSE lesson late December.
1.2 Year 7 Science club – Introduced science project list. Follow up questions to be sent before mission start.
1.3 Primary Yr 6: Light project, two experiments:
i. Measure and compare Naked Eye Limiting Magnitude at Dukhan and MDRS, using star chart for Cygnus.
ii. Construct a Cooking Oil Differential Photometer, measure and compare sunlight transmission at Dukhan and MDRS.
1.4 Primary (Yr 3-6) Question List – Compilation of all questions from classes
1.5 Oryx award students (yr 12): Climate change project- Assess energy supply and usage at MDRS, use as input for a sustainable energy project.
1.6 Outreach: Maintain blog site, send at least daily updates for all projects. (text / photo / video) during the mission.

2. Scouts
(Dukhan Troupe 33101) – Mission logo design competition complete. 2 x science experiments:
i. Biology / Greenhab food growth rate comparison “Cress Race” comparing GreenHab to local growing conditions.
ii. Human factors / space suit / EVA impact on heart rate using fitness monitor & app.)

Mission Astronomy (By Andrew Foster, Crew Astronomer)
Introduction: Carry out a mixed Astronomy program consisting of science measurements and astrophotography. Take some beautiful images and share them with the community.
Rationale: Utilise the great astronomy facilities at MDRS, demonstrate the capability of the MDRS observatories by contributing to the science community and delivering some beautiful astrophotography as a means to engage the public.
Method:
i. Science / Astrophotography – Differential Photometry w/ American Association of Variable Star Observers
ii. Cometary Coma Morphology imaging (Planetary Science Institute campaign)
iii. Wide field astrophotography campaign.
iv. Solar prominence time lapse imaging.

Journalist Report – December 3rd

Journalist Report:

Today at the habitat we shared our experience with our guests who were visiting. We demonstrated our cooking ability for them and the creativity of cooking with dehydrated food. Our guests were impressed with the facilities and the cooking. The crew has been working together superbly. Crew members are jumping in to help each other, often without being prompted. One example of collaboration was maintaining the solar observatory. Three Martians aided in the repair of the observatory. This required cooperation during cold conditions coordinating directions both written and received remotely from Earth. In addition, the snow yesterday was simultaneously stunningly beautiful and nerve-racking. The snowy perfection represented the unknown. What would these conditions mean for the mission? But we pressed forward and continued our training. Well before the mud and conditions were too severe, we ceased EVAs and continued our training in the safety of the Hab. This demonstrated our crews resilience and flexibility. We are thinking like Martians.

Oakley Jennings-Fast-Zubrin