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GreenHab Report Sol 10 – 21st March

Crewmember’s name: Frédéric Peyrusson (Biologist)

Date 21/03/2018

Environmental control:

Ambient with door open.

Shade cloth on.

Fan on, without cooling.

Average temperatures: 30°C
Low: 8°C
High: 34°C

Hours of supplemental light: 0 hours

Changes to crops: No change

Daily water usage for crops: 6 gal

Time(s) of watering for crops: 3

Moringa research observations: N/A

Changes to research plants: N/A

Measurements and pictures of hydrogel supplemented plants and crops. Interestingly, hydrogels seem to confer protection to hydric stress. All other plants have been watered.

Support/supplies needed: N/A

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Sol Summary – 21st March

Summary Title:
Embarrassingly intense Interview sessions

Michael Saint-Guillain (XO)

Mission Status:
Ready to continue simulation on Sol 11, 08:00

Sol Activity Summary:
8:15 Medic inspection
8:25 Breakfast
9:40 EVA: Martin (drug degradation), Maximilien (soil sampling), Ariane (soil sampling), Bastien (cartography)
11:05 End of EVA – Crew meeting – Relaxation
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Scientific & academic work – Interviews (Ariane)
18:00 Report redaction
19:00 CapCom

Look Ahead Plan:
Sol 11: See attached image

Notes: EVA for Mario (pictures), Sophie (must place her muon detector outside), Bastien (cartography), Michael (support). Scientific in the afternoon. Frederic has plenty of academic work to perform. Most of the projects should ideally be finished by sol 11, sol 12 (last simulation fay) being kept in backup.

Anomalies in work:

Weather:
Very cloudy in the morning, blue sky in late afternoon (allowing a one hour telescope session).

Crew Physical Status:
A bit tired.

EVA:
See EVA report.

Reports to be file:
Commander report
Journalist report
EVA#11 report
EVA#12 request for Sol11
Engineer report
Pictures

Support Requested:
None

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Astronomy Report – 21st March

Astronomy Report
Name: Sophie Wuyckens Crew: 190
date: 3/21/2018

Sky Conditions: Cloudy all the day long but clear sky from 4:00 PM.

Wind Conditions: no wind

Observation Start Time: 16:30

Observation End Time: 17:30

Summary: Today Mick wanted to learn how to manipulate the telescope. Therefore we have benefited from a thinning to go the Musk observatory during one hour. It was a short observation but efficient. We took one beautiful shot.
Objects Viewed: dark spot on the Sun + small prominences

Problems Encountered: iCap had some difficulties to open at first. But we have finally managed to work with it.

Cheers,

Sophie Wuyckens

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EVA#11 Report – 21st March

EVA Report:

EVA #11 Crew members: Martin ROUMAIN (EVA Leader), Bastien BAIX, Ariane SABLON, Maximilien RICHALD.

Location:

Along Cactus Road 1104: 521500E, 4252500N

Time:

Departure at 09:33 a.m.

End at 11:03 a.m. (instead of 12:00 p.m. as planned)

Duration:

1 hour 30 minutes

Narrative:

We left the few Martian animals (they really just look like black cows) who were blocking the main road. After a few minutes, they decided to let us go. At 0956 we arrived on Cactus Road (which was not really easy to find). We decided to go and explore a canyon by foot. Max and Ariane took samples for their respective experiments. At 1028, we were back to our vehicles. At 1040, we saw rain in the distance. As it was very cloudy, we decided to cancel the rest of the EVA and to immediately go back to the station. We arrived near the Station at 1055. We replaced the MDRS panel which fell because of the wind. We then headed back to the Hab.

Purposes:

Soil sampling for Maximilien

Sampling for Ariane’s bacteriology experiment

3D Mapping with Bastien’s drone

Check for Frédéric’s and Martin’s samples

Vehicles: 2 Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity)

9:33 a.m.: All crew members in the main airlock, ready for depressurization.

9:36 a.m.: Beginning of the EVA, took the rovers towards Cactus Road.

9:42 a.m.: Saw a few Martian animals on the main road who looked like black cows.

9:56 a.m.: Stopped on Cactus Road to explore a canyon by foot and harvest samples for Ariane’s and Maximilien’s experiments.

10:28 a.m.: Back on the road, took the rovers to go further down the road.

10:40 a.m.: Saw rain in the distance, we then decided to abort the EVA and go back to the the station.

10:55 a.m.: Back at the station, replaced the MDRS panel that fell because of the wind.

11:00 a.m.: All crew members in the main airlock.

11:03 a.m.: Back in the Hab, end of the EVA.

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Crew Commander Report – 21st March

Today, we started by a breakfast and participating to Martin’s experiment who is studying the impact of a Martian lifestyle on memory and reflexes. Afterwards, four crew members left for an EVA to “Cactus road”. We took pictures and soil samples for Ariane’s and Maximilien’s experiments. When we came back to the Hab, prior eating, we spent time reading and analyzing our data.

During the afternoon, everyone worked on their experiments and took time relaxing.

We are starting to feel the end of our journey on Mars and we are planning our return to Earth. Scientists are finishing their experiments little by little and gathering their last results.

For some of us, we are starting to feel that living in a confined area on Mars is quite difficult and we miss the easiness of living on Earth. However, it is partially due to the amount of scientific work which is decreasing every day. Meanwhile, the mood of the team is still good and no relational problem appeared during these last days. We are still as close as ever!

Tonight we will have dinner prior organizing the end of our mission and thinking about work that has to be done when we come back on earth.

Regarding the station, the water pump seems to make strange noise (see engineer report).

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Operations Report – March 20th

Crew 190 Operations Report 20th March 2018

SOL: 9

Name of person filing report: Bastien BAIX

Non-nominal systems: –

Notes on non-nominal systems: –

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 9.37 am and turned on at 6.45 pm.

Solar – SOC 77% (Before generator is run at night)

Diesel – ~45%

Propane – 81%

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 1 ½ full jerrycans.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 550 gallons

Water (third tank) – 0 gallons

Trailer to Static Pump used – YES

Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – YES

Water Meter: 132 470.8

Toilet tank emptied: YES

ATV’s Used: –

Oil Added: NO

ATV Fuel Used: YES

Hours the ATVs were used today: _

Notes on ATVs: –

Deimos rover used: NO

Hours: 116.6

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: NO

Notes on Deimos rover: the wheel is under reparation

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: NO

Hours: 26.2

Beginning charge: 71%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: NO

Opportunity rover used: NO

Hours: 25

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: NO

Curiosity rover used: NO

Hours: 20.7

Beginning charge: 82%

Ending charge: –

Currently charging: YES

HabCar used and why, where: –

General notes and comments: The water level of the aquapony system is lowering due to evaporation, should we refill it ?

Summary of internet: ~ 0 Mb remaining

Summary of suits and radios: –

Summary of Hab operations: Power charging to rovers resolved. Fuses were being blown when two outlets were being used. With one cord the issue is resolved.

Summary of GreenHab operations: –

Summary of ScienceDome operations: –

Summary of RAMM operations: –

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: –

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Greenhab Report – March 20th

Crewmember’s name: Frédéric Peyrusson (Biologist)

Date 20/03/2018

Environmental control:

Ambient with door open.

Shade cloth on.

Fan on, without cooling.

Average temperatures: 30°C
Low: 1°C
High: 34°C

Hours of supplemental light: 0 hours

Changes to crops: No change

Daily water usage for crops: 5 gal

Time(s) of watering for crops: 3

Moringa research observations: ?

Changes to research plants: N/A

Measurements of hydrogel supplemented plants and crops. No heating this night, GreenHab was quite cold, but no damage for plants, indeed we cropped a lot of lettuce and tomatoes (see picture)! All plants have been watered.

Support/supplies needed: N/A

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Journalist Report

Life in our small Martian community is passing quicker than most of us probably thought it would. When you realize you’re about to spend two entire weeks locked in a cylinder of 8 meters of diameter (with a common room of just 25 square meters), it is hard not to feel a bit of anxiety. In the MDRS, the space is located so that all the rooms give directly on the common room, with very little privacy. The ground floor is entirely dedicated to engineering. The outside parts are either reserved to scientific work or are too dangerous to stay in due to cosmic radiation. It is therefore almost impossible to ever be alone. For most people, this is a recipe for disaster. Our crew, however, has been quite lucky. We knew we worked well together as a group, and enjoyed each other’s presence during our brief meetings over the past year. Nothing, however, guaranteed that these feelings would pass the test of time (and in our case, the test of proximity) – but they did! Over the past ten days, we have functioned quite well as a group – there have been no fights, few tensions and many moments of laughter, and so, the time has passed us much quicker than we had thought possible.

One could say that our days at the MDRS all closely resembled each other, and this isn’t necessarily untrue. A typical day like today started with breakfast, another EVA for half the team, and a combination of scientific and academic work. Lunch, delicious as always, was once again cooked by Ariane from the dehydrated ingredients we are now well used to. It is always surprising to see how this unappetizing looking powder magically changes into the food we know so well from back on Earth. We always end up eating just like at home thanks to our dedicated cooks!

Time has indeed passed quick, but we still have work to do. Experiments are not finished and we still have three entire days to go! Thankfully we have received a brand new food shipment from earth, as well as a fresh harvest of tomatoes and greens from the GreenHab, so we are ready to go!

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Sol Summary – March 20th

Crew 190 Sol Summary Report
20 March 2018

Sol 9

Summary Title:
Here comes the sun.

Michael Saint-Guillain (XO)

Mission Status:
Ready to continue simulation on Sol 10, 08:00

Sol Activity Summary:
8:00 Gym
8:15 Medic inspection
8:25 Breakfast
9:40 EVA: Sophie (muography), Martin (drug degradation), Frederic (bacteriology), Mario (pictures), Michael (support)
11:35 End of EVA – Crew meeting – Relaxation
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Scientific & academic work
18:00 Report redaction
19:00 CapCom

Look Ahead Plan:

Notes:
Morning: EVA: Maximilien (soil sampling, pictures), Martin (samples checking), Ariane (soil sampling for bacteriology), Bastien (cartography, drone). Sophie will work on the telescope (scheduled on the morning, but could be switched with her analysis on the muon detector during the afternoon, depending on the sky).

Afternoon: Scientific and academic (not mentioned in the schedule) work for everyone.

Notes: busy days to come before the end of the rotation. We keep Sol 13 (March 24th) for clean up and crew switch with crew 191.

Anomalies in work:

None

Weather:
Cloudy in the morning, blue sky in late afternoon.

Crew Physical Status:
A bit tired today.

EVA:
See EVA report.

Reports to be file:
Commander report
Journalist report
EVA#10 report
EVA#11 request for Sol10
Engineer report
Pictures

Support Requested:
None