EVA Team Suiting Up
Crew Photos – January 12th
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Sol Summary – January 12th
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
Our Crew Engineer, Troy Cole wrote today’s Sol Summary. Here is his take of our crew activities from an Engineer’s point of view:
Hello from Mars! We are in the home stretch of our mission here, and I honestly feel odd about our eventual deviation from our Martian daily routine. Today we awoke for our brief breakfast and overview of the day’s activities. The weather took a turn for the worse , so we delayed our planned EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) until the afternoon giving each crew member time to go about their personal tasks and projects beforehand.
My tasks today as Crew Engineer mostly involved tidying up my little domain, the Engineering Bay, in preparation for handoff to the next crew’s engineer. After a couple hours of task/project work, it was time for lunch which I happened to be assigned cooking duty. I treated my (meat-eating) crewmates to the first taste of bacon we’ve had since our mission began – which they greatly enjoyed. After our space nap, our French colleagues accompanied by our crew journalist, ventured forth onto the Martian surface to continue testing their geo-location recorder. The excursion proved successful and the crew settled in for dinner, report filing, and some well-deserved R&R.
From an engineering perspective this mission has been most enlightening and really helped broaden my perspective on how engineers in the future will work extra-terrestrially. For example, little innocuous irritations can have outsized and grave consequences on places “off planet.” One such irritation is when you are out on a warm sunny day and once you enter an air conditioned room your glasses tend to fog up. Now this is no big deal, you merely remove them from your face, wipe them off, and go about your business. However, if instead of glasses it was your EVA helmet fogging up while walking around on severely rocky conditions with no way to wipe it off, then that minor annoyance becomes a major one really quickly. This particular irritant has been a constant during our mission and we all have had to learn ways to mitigate it as best we can and when that is not enough adjusting our operating procedures to maximize crew safety.
Another feature of working in a remote location is the lack of access to information. On Mars we have a severely limited internet access, with only 500 MBs of total data available to a crew of seven. That means I can’t quickly Google search for the operating manual to a random AC power supply in the tool chest to verify if the voltage is compatible with charging batteries for a science experiment. All you have is your own knowledge and experience to work with, so you must be comfortable with the “trial and error” approach to making repairs with anything available on hand and the inherent risks that some with that. The vast majority of repairs I’ve had to make during this mission were things I have never fixed before but knowing that mine and my crews continued survival depended on me doing a good job steeled my nerves against self-doubt and focused on working the problem. While tending to things in the Hab, I’ll regularly steal a glance at the Order of the Engineer ring I wear everyday and recall what it symbolizes, “Do your best work possible, for the lives of the public depend on it.”
These past two weeks have pushed my engineering skills to their limits and I’m glad to know that I have the capacity to handle most any problem that comes my way and keep people alive. Crew 172 signing off.
END TRANSMISSION
GreenHab Report – January 12th
GreenHab Report
Current Setup
I currently have all plants on the first floor of the GreenHab under our one grow light. We are growing 27 spinach seeds for Crew 173’s hydroponics experiment, I have just recently planted onion and lettuce for future crews, and are continuing the growth of all Crew 171’s plants for future crews.
GreenHab Update
The heater is still not working and temperature swings are still too much for plants to handle. It was 105 yesterday at 1PM in the GreenHab just from solar heating. So it seems nearly certain that the A/C and heater must work in conjunction even in the middle of the winter.
I currently have all plants on the first floor of the GreenHab under our one grow light. We are growing 27 spinach seeds for Crew 173’s hydroponics experiment, I have just recently planted onion and lettuce for future crews, and are continuing the growth of all Crew 171’s plants for future crews.
GreenHab Update
The heater is still not working and temperature swings are still too much for plants to handle. It was 105 yesterday at 1PM in the GreenHab just from solar heating. So it seems nearly certain that the A/C and heater must work in conjunction even in the middle of the winter.
Attachments
Best,
Patrick Gray
GreenHab Officer – Crew 172
Journalist Report – January 11th
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
Greetings Earthlings! Guest writer Pierrick Loyers wrote today’s Sol Summary. Let’s see what he has to say about Crew 172’s activities…
We woke up this morning at 07:30 am in great shape for the most of us. Martian crepes were added to the breakfast menu this morning. Honestly, Martian crepes made with powder eggs and powder milk are not as good as Terrestrial crepes but no time to complain! The EVA this morning started 30 minutes earlier than normal in order to clean the ATVs and Deimos (Rover) of mud.
After everything was checked and batteries for the scientific equipment fully charged, Gwendal, Ilaria, Nick, Patrick, and I opened the main hatch at 09:30 am sharp. After 40 minutes of cleaning our vehicles, Patrick (who accepted to help us for this task) returned back to his work within the HAB while the rest of the EVA team heading to the South. We parked near “Zubrin’s Head” (A rock face named after Robert Zubrin – the founder of The Mars Society), in front of a stunning Martian landscape.
We decided to start hiking one of the hills, avoiding to take rocky paths which could be dangerous in our suits. The trail was quick but “physically challenging.” We reached the top of our objective, out of breath, but so satisfying because of the rewarding view of this infinite and chaotic desert. Beyond this poetic hike with epic scenery, Gwendal and I still had a scientific objective. The objective of the 3D cartography system that we have designed is to follow and record the profile of the field encountered while the astronaut is walking through it. After going back down the hill, we investigated the area which seemed to be appropriate for a geophysical analysis with the GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) and then returned to the HAB for lunch.
The lunch of today, prepared by Patrick, was composed of scrambled eggs (protein!), several vegetables (healthy!) and the inevitable dehydrated cheddar cheese – which has become an addiction for many of the crew members. After a good meal and the physical activities of this morning, our daily space nap (with the sleep mask on obviously) was necessary and we slept well.
Half an hour after the space nap began the crew woke up feeling refreshed. Troy, Nick, Gwendal, and I prepared for the crew’s second EVA of the day. We decided to head back to the area of this morning for GPR investigations and continuing altimetry measurements of it. During this EVA, we split into two group: Gwendal and I were doing soil probing with the GPR, while Nick and Troy (bravely) accepted to climb another hill. (This ridge being higher than the one of this morning and having to lug the 3D cartography system all the way up there was not for the feint of heart.)
50 minutes later, the mission had to be aborted because of the weather conditions. As everyone knows, electronics and rain are not really good friends and we preferred not to try to prove the opposite. Troy and Nick went back down their hill, slowly but safely. It was not an easy hike apparently but as Troy said: “It was an honor for me to help to expand the sum total of the scientific knowledge of Humanity.”
We came back to the HAB where our biologist, Anushree , prepared Masala tea – Spicy but so so good! Physically tired from the day, crew members easily melted into the couches to read space books with some good tunes in the background. We are on a Moby, Artic Monkeys, and Coldplay kick the past few days. Tonight, Patrick is making dinner (again!). Our chef is going to cook mashed potatoes with crumble sausages, and I know it will be delicious. Crew 172 signing off.
END TRANSMISSION
Crew Photos – January 11th
Creative Report – January 11th
My Sol 86 – “HabCom, HabCom, This is EVA Team… Over” – An unforgettable EVA
By Anushree Srivastava
Crew Biologist – Mars160 Twin Desert-Arctic Analog Mission
Executive Officer and Crew Biologist – Crew 172
It was Sol 86. Actually, for Crew 172, it was Sol 6, but I would call it Sol 86 because for me this mission is an important continuation of Mars160 science operations. So, we all woke up at 7 am and got ready for breakfast by 7:30 am. This was going to be a busy Sol for me because at 8:30 am, I was supposed to meet with an Earth-based Microbiologist Dr. Rebecca Merica and in the afternoon I was to be part of an Engineering EVA. So, after about 2 hours meeting with Dr. Merica, I performed my cleaning duties both in the Science Dome (which my crewmates call “Anushree’s Lab”. And I love it :), and the lower deck. We had rehydrated spinach pasta with quinoa in lunch at about 12 pm. After one and a half hour, we started Space Nap wearing a mask as part of Photic Sleep Enhancement study in simulated Mars mission. Space Nap usually lasts half an hour. We woke up at 2 pm and started gearing up for the EVA.
The EVA team consisted of Troy Cole, our Crew Engineer, Patrick Gray, our Green Hab Officer, and I. This EVA was basically focused on the routine engineering check. We usually consider the engineering EVAs – short and sweet, but after this EVA, our Crew Engineer Troy (a person who talks to himself and we call him Mr. Helpful because he can fix almost everything 🙂 decided to stop calling it so J The reason is interesting, believe me!
As soon as we got ready in our spacesuits, we did the radio check and commenced three minutes depressurization inside the EVA airlock. After three minutes, we egressed the habitat, being oblivious of the fact that the 15 minutes EVA is going to be the two hours procedure. We opened the front hatch and exposed to a beautiful milky white landscape, entirely covered with a sheet of snow. The temperature outside was as low as minus 5 degrees C. So, we started with diesel and propane level check and notified the HabCom Nicholas McCay, who is our Crew Journalist. After finishing the fuel check, we proceeded to the water tanks. We were supposed to check the present level of water in the static tank. The static tank is the source from which the water is pumped to the loft tank inside the habitat for daily usage. First, we were not able to see the level of water inside the static tank because our helmets were fogged up due to the extremely cold temperature outside (sometimes we get icicles formed inside our helmets). But anyways, we had to perform our duties as EVA team as best we could. Somehow, we managed to see the level of water and notified the HabCom. The water in the static tank was supposed to be transferred to the loft tank. However, we found the pipe attached to the pump as well as the pipe that goes inside the hab was completely frozen and blocked. Now, the adventure began!
During all that, we were constantly in conversation with our HabCom through radio transmission. We decided to break the ice inside out the pipe, somehow. We requested HabCom to provide us few tools and equipment, such as hammer and screwdriver. One by one, we all three tried our hands with these tools. We were succeeding. However, the ice inside the pipe was still as hard as a rock. We thought only hammering and scraping will not work and we need some hot water to melt the ice. We had to be cautious to not to damage the pipe in this process as well. So, we requested a bucket of hot water. Usually, engineering airlock (rear hatch) is used for these operations. Once we received the hot water we started pouring it inside out the pipe many rounds. It took us 20-25 minutes. But, to our delight, it worked! Little chunks of ice remained in the pipe, but we decided to attach the pipe back and tell the HabCom to turn on the pump to see if it works. We did the same. But as soon as the pump was on, pipe got detached and thrown away by the flow. It was not screwed properly (our helmets were fogged up and barely could we see anything). So, we lost almost a bucket of water, which means a lot on Mars. We told the HabCom to stop the pump immediately. We repeated the procedure but this time with a great care. In the meantime, I noticed that one of the pipes attached to Patrick’s oxygenator got dysfunctional. So, again our Crew Engineer Troy – Mr. Helpful – stepped in and fixed his suit on spot!
The pump was about to on and we crossed our fingers. This time, it worked! Buuut… we found a leakage in the pipe. Complications seemed to be unending. We had to stop the pump again and requested duct tape and scissor. We secured the pipe with the duct tape and turned on the pump.
Finally, our “operation water” was successful!
I would say this EVA was the best example of a great team work. I had been part of many such EVAs when I put myself into precarious situations and challenged my physical and mental strength; having said that, this EVA gave me a new perspective of living on Mars. I learned that on Mars, you are not just a scientist, an engineer, a doctor, or a journalist. On Mars, you have to be everything. It’s not only about performing herculean tasks or conducting field science, but also, using the presence of mind to solve household puzzles. It is also about taking care of your home and ensuring a smooth life for the people living inside that home.
On Mars, you may not have similar issues but your attitude towards those issues would have to be the same. I think that’s the essence of being part of a simulation.
When we entered back into the front hatch for re-pressurization, our Crew Engineer Troy (Mr Helpful) screamed with joy – “Oh I got a new job! Now I’m a plumber as well!” 🙂
Crew Photos – January 10th
Sol Summary – January 10th
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
It looks like we are on Mars again! The snow that kept us around the MDRS campus for the last four days finally melted. Instead of a winter wonderland, the landscape is now reddish/brown for as far as the eye can see. (Except for the top of Olympus Mons aka Mt. Hunter in UT which is perpetually snowed in)
Today we woke up as a crew and had our normal breakfast of cereal (as well as: dehydrated fruit – Apples, Strawberries, and Blueberries mixed in powdered milk mix) and oatmeal. Along with coffee and Tang to wash it all down. Due to the weather over the last few days we scheduled our EVA in the afternoon, so the crew worked on projects, read, and fixed things around the HAB.
The Frenchmen’s research unit has had many electronic failures due to the cold, harsh environment, so we all got to play “Macgyver” in trying to fix the issues with the limited resources available here on Mars. Their HUD micro-controller blew, but was brought back to life after some soldering and TLC – good thing they brought extras for this exact reason. The batteries that power the unit have been losing their charge quicker than expected due to the cold, so some bubble wrap and aluminum foil were used to insulate. And finally, their battery charger stopped working due to the harsh climate, and it had to be replaced. Great lessons in always being ready to adapt in a foreign environment and using whatever you have you around to get the job done. The Frenchies finally prevailed!
After lunch and our daily space nap, Gwendal led Pierrick and Patrick to test their improvements in the muddy landscape using Deimos (Rover) and one of the ATVs. Success! Their equipment worked great, and communicated all the necessary data back to the HAB without issue. Hopefully tomorrow the terrain will have dried enough for them to take their full scientific suite including GPR(Ground Penetrating Radar), terminal, and controller. They have been itching to get out there and utilize their equipment, as we now only have three days left for scheduled EVAs (Wed, Thurs, Fri). I think we may do a chant to the weather gods tonight to increase their chances.
After the EVA was completed, the crew filled out our daily reports and scheduled tomorrow’s day. Hard to believe that tomorrow it will be ten sols since arriving on Mars. As the absolutely cliché saying goes – Time flies when you are having fun…Maybe too much fun? Never. We are killing it as a crew, and could for sure stay here for a little while longer if we needed/wanted to.
Dinner and CAPCOM are coming up and Pierrick is trying to translate his electronic Macgyvering skills into the kitchen by cooking a French specialty – CREPES! Let’s just say the crew is pumped to try. Now just what to put into these crepes: Nutella? Definitely. Honey? Absolutely. Peanut Butter? Yes, Yes, Yes. Or for me: all of the above! I can almost taste the fluffiness. I hope you can too back on Earth. Crew 172 signing off.
END TRANSMISSION
Creative Report – January 10th
My Sol 86 – “HabCom, HabCom, This is EVA Team… Over” – An unforgettable EVA
By Anushree Srivastava
Crew Biologist – Mars160 Twin Desert-Arctic Analog Mission
Executive Officer and Crew Biologist – Crew 172
It was Sol 86. Actually, for Crew 172, it was Sol 6, but I would call it Sol 86 because for me this mission is an important continuation of Mars160 science operations. So, we all woke up at 7 am and got ready for breakfast by 7:30 am. This was going to be a busy Sol for me because at 8:30 am, I was supposed to meet with an Earth-based Microbiologist Dr Rebecca Merica and in the afternoon I was to be part of an Engineering EVA. So, after about 2 hours meeting with Dr Merica, I performed my cleaning duties both in the Science Dome (which my crewmates call “Anushree’s Lab”. And I love it :), and the lower deck. We had rehydrated spinach pasta with quinoa in lunch at about 12 pm. After one and a half hour, we started Space Nap wearing a mask as part of Photic Sleep Enhancement study in simulated Mars mission. Space Nap usually lasts half an hour. We woke up at 2 pm and started gearing up for the EVA.
The EVA team consisted of Troy Cole, our Crew Engineer, Patrick Gray, our Green Hab Officer, and I. This EVA was basically focused on the routine engineering check. We usually consider the engineering EVAs – short and sweet, but after this EVA, our Crew Engineer Troy (a person who talks to himself and we call him Mr Helpful because he can fix almost everything 🙂 decided to stop calling it so J The reason is interesting, believe me!
As soon as we got ready in our spacesuits, we did the radio check and commenced three minutes depressurization inside the EVA airlock. After three minutes, we egressed the habitat, being oblivious of the fact that the 15 minutes EVA is going to be the two hours procedure. We opened the front hatch and exposed to a beautiful milky white landscape, entirely covered with a sheet of snow. The temperature outside was as low as minus 5 degrees C. So, we started with diesel and propane level check and notified the HabCom Nicholas McCay, who is our Crew Journalist. After finishing the fuel check, we proceeded to the water tanks. We were supposed to check the present level of water in the static tank. The static tank is the source from which the water is pumped to the loft tank inside the habitat for daily usage. First, we were not able to see the level of water inside the static tank because our helmets were fogged up due to the extremely cold temperature outside (sometimes we get icicles formed inside our helmets). But anyways, we had to perform our duties as EVA team as best we could. Somehow, we managed to see the level of water and notified the HabCom. The water in the static tank was supposed to be transferred to the loft tank. However, we found the pipe attached to the pump as well as the pipe that goes inside the hab was completely frozen and blocked. Now, the adventure began!
During all that, we were constantly in conversation with our HabCom through radio transmission. We decided to break the ice inside out the pipe, somehow. We requested HabCom to provide us few tools and equipment, such as hammer and screw driver. One by one, we all three tried our hands with these tools. We were succeeding. However, the ice inside the pipe was still as hard as a rock. We thought only hammering and scraping will not work and we need some hot water to melt the ice. We had to be cautious to not to damage the pipe in this process as well. So, we requested a bucket of hot water. Usually, engineering airlock (rear hatch) is used for these operations. Once we received the hot water we started pouring it inside out the pipe many rounds. It took us 20-25 minutes. But, to our delight, it worked! Little chunks of ice were remained in the pipe, but we decided to attach the pipe back and tell the HabCom to turn on the pump to see if it works. We did the same. But as soon as the pump was on, pipe got detached and thrown away by the flow. It was not screwed properly (our helmets were fogged up and barely could we see anything). So, we lost almost a bucket of water, which means a lot on Mars. We told the HabCom to stop the pump immediately. We repeated the procedure but this time with a great care. In the meantime, I noticed that one of the pipes attached to Patrick’s oxygenator got dysfunctional. So, again our Crew Engineer Troy – Mr Helpful – stepped in and fixed his suit on spot!
The pump was about to on and we crossed our fingers. This time, it worked! Buuut… we found a leakage in the pipe. Complications seemed to be unending. We had to stop the pump again and requested duct tape and scissor. We secured the pipe with the duct tape and turned on the pump.
Finally, our “operation water” was successful!
I would say this EVA was the best example of a great team work. I had been part of many such EVAs when I put myself into precarious situations and challenged my physical and mental strength; having said that, this EVA gave me a new perspective of living on Mars. I learned that on Mars, you are not just a scientist, an engineer, a doctor, or a journalist. On Mars, you have to be everything. It’s not only about performing herculean tasks or conducting field science, but also, using the presence of mind to solve household puzzles. It is also about taking care of your home and ensuring a smooth life for the people living inside that home.
On Mars, you may not have similar issues but your attitude towards those issues would have to be the same. I think that’s the essence of being part of a simulation.
When we entered back into the front hatch for re-pressurization, our Crew Engineer Troy (Mr Helpful) screamed with joy – “Oh I got a new job! Now I’m a plumber as well!” 🙂
EVA Report – January 10th
SOL: 09
Earth date: 10/01/2017
Person filling out the report: Gwendal Hénaff
Crew members involved in the EVA: Gwendal Hénaff, Patrick Gray, Pierrick Loyers
EVA leader: Gwendal Hénaff
Begin: 14:30 am
End: 17:00 am
Type of EVA: Driving and Hiking
Purpose: 3D cartography measurements
UTM Coordinates: Northing: 4252073 Easting: 520369 Zone/Sector: 12S
Northing: 4252066 Easting: 517460 Zone/Sector: 12S
Summary:
Due to the bad weather conditions and following Shannon’s advice, we postponed the EVA to the afternoon. The objective was to reach Green Mars View but due to the risk of rain, we decided to stop closer, nearby Dinosaur Quarry. We get the necessary elevation measurements to scan the subsurface in the next days. Everything went fine. We went back to the hab 2 hours and 30 minutes after the beginning of the EVA. We noticed lot of mud on both Deimos and the ATV due to the wet areas we had to cross on the road. The sun was already low, and we decided to postpone the cleaning to tomorrow morning.