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Journalist Report – March 4th

Journalist report, 03/04/18: Second day off / Special edition 2: About the MegaARES

Our second day off was quite welcomed today after such a busy week. All the crew could catch up some sleep, and spent some time chilling in the Hab, around films and card games. As intended, I will talk today about our second large outside experience and its instrument: the MegaARES.

The Mega Atmospheric Relaxation and Electric field Sensor is an instrument developed by Grégoire Déprezand his team of researchers at LATMOS (French atmosphere and spatial observations laboratory). Several versions of ARES have been developed before, the most advanced being the MicroARES, which was part of a group of sensors on the DREAMS payload of the ExoMars Schiaparelli module which attempted an automated landing on Mars on 19 October 2016. However, the signal was unexpectedly lost shortly before the planned landing time, and Schiaparelli crashed. MicroARES was thus destroyed and could not take any measure on Mars.

This device is able to record the electric field in favorable weather conditions and is precise enough to catch electric field variations phenomenon known as Schuman and Transverse Resonances. On a planet, such electric phenomenon occurring in the atmosphere could indeed have a major role and link with the planet’s climate and chemistry. Being able to measure the electric field precisely is thus a quite interesting challenge for planetology. Utah Desert’s electric field matches Mars’ atmospheric one on several points. Interesting phenomenon hypothesized to occur on Mars could indeed be caught in the Utah Desert.

Scientists of the LATMOS team will have to wait for the next Martian mission to deploy their instrument, and want to use the time left to improve its performance. Analog mission are thus their best opportunity to work on the device. Through MegaARES, specially developed for Earth measures, data recording, data analyzing and hardware can be tested for a certain length of time at MDRS station. The instrument is used simultaneously with the LOAC, in order to study cross effect between sand and electric field dynamics. LOAC and MegaARES will thus give a large and precise database which could be used for future experiments on the MDRS.

We would like to thank Grégoire Déprezand and his team for having accepted to lend us this instrument, and for their trust in us for its use.

Alexandre Martin, Crew 189 Journalist, with the help of Gabriel Payen, Crew 189 Engineer, in charge of the MegaARES experiment.

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Operations Report – March 4th

Crew 189 Operations Report 4March2018

SOL: 14

Name of person filing report: Gabriel PAYEN

Non-nominal systems: –

Notes on non-nominal systems: –

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 08:45 and turned on at 1814

Solar— SOC 88 % (Before generator is run at night)

Diesel – 49 %

Propane – 25 psi.

Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 3 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.

Water (static) – 550 gallons (100%)

Note : Dr Rupert and Atila realized that the tanks are 550 gallons one instead of 500.

Trailer to Static Pump used – NO

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

Water Meter: 131 656.6

Toilet tank emptied: NO

ATV’s Used: NO

Oil Added : YES

ATV Fuel Used: Gals

Hours the ATVs were Used today: –

Notes on ATVs: The ATVs are full and ready to go

Deimos rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Opportunity rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Curiosity rover used: NO

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

HabCar used and why, where : Used to get 120 water, for garbage and to stored parts of the aquaponics system

General notes and comments: –

Summary of internet: –

Summary of suits and radios: –

Summary of Hab operations: –

Summary of GreenHab operations:

Summary of ScienceDome operations: –

Summary of RAMM operations:-

Summary of health and safety issues: –

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: –

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GreenHab Report – March 4th

AUCLAIR Jérémy

4th March 2018

Environmental control:

(door closed)

Heating once the sun was down

80 % Shade cloth on

Average temperatures:

Around 24 °C at 11:30 am, around 18 °C the rest of the day

Hours of supplemental light: from 7pm to 9pm

Changes to crops: 9 cherry tomatoes

Daily water usage for crops: around 10 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 11:30 am and 6pm

Narrative: I was a bit surprised and sad to find out that the salads I planned to harvest for dinner had been taken, the crew was looking forward to eating some greens. Perhaps next time the Martians could tell us in advance, so we can plan our meals accordingly.

Support/supplies needed: none

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Sol Summary – March 4th

Sol 14

Summary Title: The last Sunday on Mars

Author: Victoria Da-Poian

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was our second day-off and our last Sunday on Mars. We took time for ourselves and worked on some experiments. This day-off was really appreciated by the whole crew.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow will be the beginning of our last week on Mars. Everyone seems really motivated to work hard during these last days and to welcome the journalists on Tuesday!

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny and windy

Crew Physical Status: Fine

EVA: None

Reports to be file:

Commander

Journalist

Engineering

Greenhab Officer

Support Requested: None

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Commander Report – March 4th

Hi Jennifer, Hi Capcom,

Here the Crew 189 Commander Report 04Mar2018

Sol 14

Title: Third and last Martian Sunday

Dear Earth,

Yesterday, a French journalist, Laure Andrillon, joined the crew for our typical tasks: physical training, breakfast, morning EVA to check the air-sensors experiments and explore the vicinity, EVA debriefing, experiments and personal interview… It was really nice to see a new face after two weeks confined with the same people.

Today was our third Martian Sunday and our second day-off (really needed and appreciated by the whole crew). There was no need to wake up early in the morning, so our Saturday evening was dedicated to cards games (altogether) and lot of fun! As I do not need many sleeping hours, I woke up naturally at 8am, and I was so happy to have my breakfast in this quiet station once again! Living with six men is (quite) noisy sometimes. After this peaceful moment, I went to bedroom, watching the martian environment from my window. The other crewmembers cooked a nice brunch and then everyone took time for themselves (shower, movies, reading, playing…) Louis, Gabriel and I played cards again (we are addicted to the new game we learnt called “Hanabi”). Even if it was our day-off, as I miss practicing sports, I convinced Louis to make our physical training this afternoon, and we did well! (but perhaps the other crewmembers will think we are crazy).

After this, Jérémy did his human factors experiment and everyone was busy: we worked on reports or we cooked.

Tomorrow will begin the last week of our mission on this beautiful planet! Let’s work and have fun altogether for these last days!

Ad Astra!


Victoria Da-Poian

Commander of the still-very-motivated Crew 189

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Sol Summary – March 1st

Crew 189 Sol Summary Report 01 March 2018

Sol 11

Summary Title: The first EVA without veterans

Author: Victoria Da-Poian

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary: This morning, the crew woke up lately (35 minutes late) , and we decided not to do our physical exercise as an EVA was planned at 9am. After our breakfast, Alex (EVA leader), Jérémy, Laurent and Benoit went outside to perform their first EVA without Louis or me in the team. I have to say I was quite worry to let my “little martians” go outside without Louis or me. The EVA went well even if we faced some radios issues (our Habcom Gabriel was hardly able to communicate with the EVA team …) The afternoon was dedicated to our human factors experiments (the competition is really funny to observe).

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow, we will all work on our outside experiments (MegaARES and LOAC), on the radios issues and will explore again Mars. On Saturday, we will welcome a French journalist and everyone seems happy to see a new face. We will all work on our experiments and have our routine (physical training in the morning, human factors experiments, bread competition…)

Anomalies in work: Water leak in the Hab Lower deck

Weather: Cloudy and windy

Crew Physical Status: Fine

EVA: 8th

Reports to be filed:
Commander
Journalist
Engineering
Greenhab Officer
EVA

Support Requested: None

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Greenhab Report – March 1st

GreenHab Report
AUCLAIR Jérémy
1st March 2018

Environmental control:

(door closed)
Heating once the sun was down
80 % Shade cloth on

Average temperatures:
Around 30 °C at 10am, around 24 °C the rest of the day

Hours of supplemental light: from 7pm to 9pm

Changes to crops: One cucumber plant died

Daily water usage for crops: around 8 gallons

Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:00 am and 7:30pm

Narrative: none

Support/supplies needed: none

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Commander Report – March 1st

Crew 189 Commander Report 01Mar2018

Sol 11
Today started with a long EVA on the outside lead by Alexandre, to explore Lith Canyon. It was also the first time that an EVA left Victoria and I in the Hab, so that no senior crewmembers were on the outside. Quite a strange feeling to let our fellow crewmembers take care of themselves after having watched over them for more than 10 days, but surely normal and necessary. Obviously, nothing went wrong, and they managed their time well.

The only problem we faced today was walkie-talkies working very poorly, probably due to the weather. Gabriel, being Habcom struggled giving instructions to the team while we were hearing what was happening on the outside. It was very frustrating, and lead to some minor misunderstanding, and the EVA team having to knock at the door… We planned to investigate further on that tomorrow, to try to understand better the talkies ranges.

During the afternoon, we struggled defusing bombs while playing Gabriel’s experiment. It is very enriching as you can see accentuated personalities, and group dynamics in action. It surely helps us communicate efficiently, avoid common mistakes while trying to hurry.

The game is very frustrating as you have to deal with missing (and sometimes false) information to help a defuser you cannot see, obviously leading to mistakes. As everybody here is very competitive and wants to score as much as possible, the result might be very funny to watch from the outside. We had our series of success, failures or rage, and it clearly kept everybody awake.

We then spent time working on several experiments, and for instance, I helped Benoit on GPS navigation today. Very cool to come back to some low-level development to create a simple user interface to be used in EVA!
Everybody seems to be fine at Sol 11, exercising well, being in a good mood. Food supplies are more than half full, so that we might start increasing the doses, to help us live this last week to come on Mars!

Louis Mangin,
Crew 189 Commander

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Operations Report – March 1st

Crew 189 Operations Report 1 March 2018

SOL: 11

Name of person filing report: Gabriel PAYEN
Non-nominal systems: Pipe leak, radios
Notes on non-nominal systems:
– The pipe still leaks at the low deck
– During the EVA, I was the HabCom and had troubles to communicates with EVA members: the range of emission of my radios (I tried three) were very short (~10 meters around the Hab) even if their reception worked well. It led to misunderstandings between EVA members and the Hab, fortunately without consequences (except a loss of time). Nevertheless, it could have worst issues in case of emergency, then we’ll do several checks (mainly about communication range) during the EVA planned tomorrow.

Generator (hours run): Generator turned off at 4:00 AM and turned on at 6:15 AM Solar— SOC – % (Before generator is run at night)

Diesel – Not checked
Propane – 28 psi.
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV) – 5 gallons.

Water (trailer) – 0 gallons.
Water (static) – 380 (~75%) gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used – NO
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – YES
Water Meter: 131 570.2
Toilet tank emptied: NO

ATV’s Used: 1,2,3 & Honda
Oil Added : NO

ATV Fuel Used: Gals

Hours the ATVs were Used today: 3 hours
Notes on ATVs:

Deimos rover used: NO but back after being repaired
Hours: 112.7
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: NA
Currently charging: ?

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging:

Spirit rover used: NO
Hours: 21.9
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: NA
Currently charging: YES

Opportunity rover used: NO
Hours: 18.0
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: NA
Currently charging: NO

Curiosity rover used: NO
Hours: 15.3
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: NA
Currently charging: YES

HabCar used and why, where : Used to get a load of 110 gallons and for garbage

General notes and comments:
Summary of internet:
Summary of suits and radios: –
Summary of Hab operations:
Summary of GreenHab operations:
Summary of ScienceDome operations:
Summary of RAMM operations:
Summary of health and safety issues:
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: