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Journalist Report – March 13th

Journalist Report :

This morning, the whole crew managed to wake up at the same time, at a reasonable 8am. This process was helpfully catalysed by Sophie’s uplifting music played on the loudspeaker, and before we knew it, we were downstairs, jumping, squatting and crunching on the first of many morning cereal (which is already starting to run out..), half the crew got ready for an EVA, travelling far to the north workouts to come. After the usual morning, where Max took some soil samples and Bastien made his first (an successful) attempt at drone mapping a patch of land. Meanwhile, the other four members got a head start on their day, beginning work on their experiments. Fred weighed, mixed and potted his Martian soil samples, added HydroGel in half his samples and then planted basil, mint and radishes in them. Michael worked on perfecting his scheduling program, and Max started taking pH measures on soil. On the other hand, Mario made big advancements on his hydroponics project, nearing completion of the first tower, whereas Ariane isolated her first bacteria, worked on her sourdough, and made some more bread prototypes. All in all, our SOL 2 has been the most productive yet, and this has been felt in the crew : the mood is becoming more productive and more exciting as we realise that our projects are finally taking place in the way we wanted them to.

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Commander Report – March 13th

Today we started our working day by a gym session given by our crew physicist Sophie. An EVA was planned for 4 of us, Martin, Ariane, Bastien and I, so we just had time to eat breakfast and get dressed with the spacesuits and all material needed for the outing. Everyone was motivated and all procedures were perfectly followed by the EVA’s team. We left at 9.30 a.m. with two ATVs and the Curiosity rover. After a few minutes, we reached “White Moon” on the northern side of the Hab. Our crew engineer Bastien was the EVA team leader and he started mapping the area using his drone. He is currently working on these data in view to create a 3D map. His results seem to be encouraging! During the outing, I collected 3 soil samples for further analysis at the station. Theses samples were collected on “White Moon” and on a hill near “URC North Site”.

We came back at the Hab at 10.30 a.m. after the EVA without unexpected event and we stayed a while in the Hab together having a discussion about missing reports and things that must be improved. We lunched together and then everyone started their experiments. Michael spent his afternoon in the ScienceDome, coding his automatic scheduler. Sophie tried to take pictures of the Sun with the telescope but she is still trying to deal with it.

Ariane began her bacteria culture and the selection of the right strains. Our GreenHab officer almost finished his first hydroponic tower and it will soon be ready for a first test. Regarding other experiments, I spent time with Martin in the ScienceDome analyzing our respective samples. We have already got some results on the soil samples collected in the morning showing a difference of acidity between the samples (“URC North Site” soil is more basic than the others). Frédéric, on his side, added a mix of hydrogel on Martian soil for his mint, basil and radish plantations. Ariane is currently baking bread for our supper and we will prepare dinner. Tonight we will probably play board games to relax and strengthen the team spirit.

Regarding the station, no particular problem was encountered. Tomorrow, we will continue the work on our respective scientific projects and some of us will go on EVA (see EVA request).

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EVA Report – March 13th

EVA Report

EVA #3 – 13th March 2018 – Soil 2
Crew members:
Bastien Baix (EVA leader), Ariane Sablon, Maximilien Richald, Martin Roumain

Objectives:
– First drone operations for the cartography project by Bastien.
– Drug samples check by Martin
– Soil samples harvest by Maximilien

Operations:
9:29 – Entering the airlock
9:33 – Leaving the MDRS with 2 ATVs and 1 Rover (Curiosity)
9:45 – Meeting with some local Martian life
9:52 – Arrival at White Moon, samples harvesting, drone cartography and pictures
10:05 – We ride our vehicles further to Beige Moon
10:19 – Leaving Beige Moon
10:27 – Meeting some Martian life again
10:30 – Stop at URC North Site to harvest some red soil samples.
10:35 – Arrival at the Hab
10:36 – Drug samples check, and generator switched off
10: 41 – Entering the airlock
11:05 Leaving the MDRS,

Narrative:

Our third EVA took place on soil 2 at 9:30. I’m Bastien Baix and I was EVA leader today. After our 3 minutes depressurization in the airlock, we were ready to leave the Hab with 3 vehicles. Our destination: White Moon. On our way to this site, we had the surprise to meet some special Martian life that stood on our road (it looked really like a black cow).
Arrived at White Moon, I had the opportunity to finally test my cartography project using the drone. Meanwhile, Maximilien helped by Martin and Ariane were harvesting some soil samples.

After 10 minutes, we decided to go further into Beige Moon and take some pictures and videos with the drone. Indeed, Maximilien had his camera but not his batteries… On our way back, the strange Martian life was still there and we had to get around the specimen. After a last stop at URC North Site for soil samples, we finally arrived at the Hab. Martin checked his drug samples that are located near the solar panels and we also switched off the generator.

This was a long trip but a short EVA in the end.

Vehicles

– Curiosity rover
– ATVs 2 & 3

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Astronomy Report – March 13th

Astronomy Report

Name: Sophie Wuyckens Crew: 190
date: 3/13/2018

Sky Conditions: Very clear sky

Wind Conditions: No wind

Observation Start Time: 12:00

Observation End Time: 15:00

Summary: I continued my training with the telescope. I got 2 pictures (see jpeg attached) of the Sun, they are not very fancy but unfortunately the Sun has no real relevant activity. I am trying to create gif and videos of the mini solar eruptions.
Objects Viewed: some little solar eruptions and surface of the Sun

Problems Encountered: No problems

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Sol Summary – March 13th

Crew 190 Sol Summary Report
13March2018
Sol 2

Summary Title:
First Rendez-vous with the Martian regolith

Michael Saint-Guillain (XO)

Mission Status:
Ready to continue simulation on Sol 3, 08:00

Sol Activity Summary:
8:00 Gym
8:20 Breakfast
9:30 EVA: Maximilien, Martin, Ariane, Bastien
9:30 Science/Experimental work: Sophie, Mario, Frederic, Michael
11:00 EVA ended; all crew members switch to SC-work.
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Scientific work: telescope (Sophie), cartography (Bastien), chemistry/biology (Ariane, Martin, Maximilien), GreenHab (Mario, Frederic), operations research (Michael)
18:00 Report redaction
19:00 CapCom

Look Ahead Plan: (automatically generated by our optimizer)
Sol 3:

Sol 3 to 7

Anomalies in work:
None

Weather:

Cloudy in the morning. Clear blue sky in the afternoon, enabling telescope activity. Warm.

Crew Physical Status:

In good shape and still enthusiastic.

EVA:
See EVA report. Mainly soil sampling.

Reports to be file:
Commander report
Journalist report
EVA request for Sol3
Engineer report
HSO report

Crew biographies

(Mission Plan)

Support Requested:
None

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Journalist Report – March 12th

Hi,

Here is today’s journalist report :

As the Martian sun rose on the Mars Desert Research Station, gently illuminating the station with its distant, white light, we woke up in our cramped dark rooms for our first real day on Mars. Like on any extra-terrestrial station, space is precious, and every area needs to be optimised to use as little of it as possible. Our rooms, while individual, are therefore barely a meter wide, and have beds that stack over or under the bed in the next room. In front of the doors of the rooms, the common room is where we spend most of our time, cooking, eating, relaxing and working on the central table and on the couches behind it.

While the common spaces are located on the first floor, all our utilities, including toilets and showers, as well as an engineering area and our exit vaults, are on the ground floor. In the back, a vault gives way to an over-ground tunnel which leads to the GreenHab, the Science Dome, and the Observatory. Apart from this, the station is completely isolated in a wide, hilly landscape coloured in red, brown and grey, and stretching as far as the eye can see.

It is in this epic landscape that we adventured on our first EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), riding our electric rover and two ATVs north of the base, on an already well-travelled dirt road, up to the entrance of a small canyon on our right hand side. With a photographer and a drone operator, we adventured into the mouth of the canyon, the hot morning sun hitting us through our helmets. As we walked through the dry sands and rocks, we realised how difficult it is to explore our surroundings in full space gear, while carrying additional equipment and under a hot sun.

The remainder of the day was dedicated to the start of our
experiments. For the first time, we unwrapped our equipment, entered the science lab and the greenhouse, and began working on our respective experiments. Despite some delays in our supply of equipment, we have all been able to begin working on our projects. Our SOL1 (first day on Mars) has therefore been a success, and we can’t wait to continue it tomorrow.

Good evening,

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EVA Report – March 12th

EVA Report

EVA #2
Crew members: Michael Saint-Guillain (EVA leader), Ariane Sablon, Bastien Baix, Mario Sundic

Objectives:
Bastien: Drone testing.
Mario: Pictures for Journalist’s Report.
All: First drive of ATVs and Rover with spacesuits.

Operations:
11:00 Entering the sas
11:05 Leaving the MDRS, disposal of some samples near to the solar panels, for Martin Roumain’s experiment on medecine degradation 11:14 Arrived at junction of the road from Pooh’s Corner and URC Nth and “Stream Bed Connector” (SBC in what follows) trail
11:15 Walk in SBC trail
11:30 Turn around after ±0.25 Miles in SBC trail
11:45 Use of the drone as support for finding the rover/ATVs 11:58 Arrived at MDRS

Narrative:
I’m Michael Saint-Guillain. At 10h30 we were all four ready yet for our very first EVA! Ariane an I went around the solar panels in order to dispose a pack containing a set of medecines, for Martin Roumain’s experiment on medecine degradation. That was the easy part, and we were already suffocating. We then took the ATVs/rover and drove the road from Pooh’s Corner and URC Nth, until we reached the junction with “Stream Bed Connector” (abbreviated SBC in what follows) trail. Driving in suits is actually quite refresching. We left the vehicles and continued by feet, so that Bastien would take views with the drone. Mario on its own took plenty of pictures, some beautiful. After a while, we noticied that we had no contact from the MDRS anymore… They were out of reach of our talkies. Mario and I decided to climb on top of some hill in order to try with a better range. Upon our rock, we were indeed able to see the MDRS. We heard a few words from them, but the signal was too bad to have any conversation. We went back down and continued to walk with Ariane and Bastien in SBC trail, until we were around a quartier mile away from the vehicles. We turn around and started our trip back to the vehicles… Except that I failed at remembering the path we took with enough details, and finding the vehicles revealed to be harder than expected! Lukily, we had a drone and after five minutes of flight it found for us what we were looking for. Happy to survive to this adventure, we drove back and reached MDRS just in time. Wonderful trip.

Vehicles
Opportunity rover
ATVs 1,2

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Sol Summary 12th

Crew 190 Sol Sumary Report
11March2018
Sol 0

Summary Title:
First Rendez-vous with the Martian regolith

Michael Saint-Guillain (XO)

Mission Status:
Ready to continue simulation on Sol 2, 08:00
New materials arrived, enabling Sophie’s experiments on Muon’s flows

Sol Activity Summary:
First EVAs: (see EVA reports)
9am to 10am: EVA1 with Maximilien, Martin, Martin and Sophie. 11am to 12am: EVA2 with Ariane, Bastien, Mario and I (Michael). Lunch
Crew meeting: 2pm to 3pm
First experiments from 3pm to 6pm

Global Look Ahead Plan: (generated by our automated scheduler)

Sol2:
(ScreenCapture1)
Adaptations: Ariane will participate to the EVA; Mario will switch with Martin.

Sol2 to Sol6
(ScreenCapture2)
Notes: The planning as modelled here does not mention any very short daily activities, such as checking out bacteries evolution (Ariane) or controlling plant grow (Mario). Also, some experiments (e.g. Martin) involve operations in the very beginning and then long period of wait, before final manipulations.

Anomalies in work:
None

Weather:
Clean sky, a bit cloudy. Warm.

Crew Physical Status:
In good shape and still enthusiastic.

EVA:
First outing for all the crew.

Reports to be file:
Commander report
Journalist report
EVA request for Sol 2
Engineer report

Support Requested:
None

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EVA Report – March 12th

EVA #1 Report:

EVA Crew members: Maximilien RICHALD (EVA Leader), Martin ROUMAIN, Sophie WUYCKENS, Frédéric PEYRUSSON

Location:

– Around the Hab

– Near Robert’s Rock Garden: 518300E-4249300N

Time: departure at 09:05 a.m. Duration: 50 minutes

Purposes:

– Clay, sand and rock sampling for Maximilien’s and Frédéric’s experiments.

– Test of localization for Martin’s experiment.

– First drive of ATVs and Rover with spacesuits.

Vehicles: 1 Rover (Spirit), 2 ATVs

9:05 a.m.: Team left Airlock

9:10 a.m.: Crew start the vehicles and left the hab

9:11 a.m.: Crew found a place for martin’s experiment

9:20 a.m.: Arrival on the working place and exploring the place

9:39 a.m.: Return to the ATVs

9:42 a.m.: Turning on the ATVs to go back to the Hab

9:50 a.m.: Arrival to the Hab

(Maximilien RICHALD) – We left the hab after the depressurization of the air lock and we directly took some soil sample around the station for Frédéric’s and Max’s experiments. After that, started the vehicles and we began to look for a place for martin’s experiment. The ideal area was found just next to the solar cell installation of the hab. After riding, about 10 minutes we arrived to the place of exploration called Robert’s rock garden were we had walk in our spacesuits. Everything went well and after taking some pictures we came back to the ATV and finally to the hab.

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Astronomy Report – March 12th

Astronomy Report
Name: Sophie Wuyckens Crew: 190
date: 3/12/2018

Sky Conditions: Very clear sky in the morning and some clouds in the afternoon

Wind Conditions: No wind

Observation Start Time: 11:30 – 13:00 & 15:30-17:30

Observation End Time: See above

Summary: First day of observations. I became acquainted with the telescope all the day long. I got 3 pictures (see jpeg attached) of the Sun.
Objects Viewed: Sun, a little solar eruption and surface of the Sun

Problems Encountered: I had some trouble in order to find the Sun in the afternoon but it was just due to the fact that I had to pass to PM mode given that I passed from the morning to the afternoon. A Beginner Error, I guess. Peter is the one who told me how to fix my bug. It was good after.