Mars Desert Research Station

EVA Report – February 5th

EVA Report:
SOL: 07
Date: 02/05/2017
Person filling out the report: Arpan Vasanth
Crew members involved in the EVA: Mamatha Maheshwarappa, Sneha Velayudhan and Arpan Vasanth
EVA leader: Mamatha Maheshwarappa
Begin: 10:48 hrs
End: 14:13 hrs
Type of EVA: Walking + Rovers (Phobos and Deimos)
Purpose: Collection of soil samples for characterizing the transference of human commensal bacteria and few photos/videos were captured using drone for outreach activities.
UTM Coordinates: Northing: 4247314, Easting : 520331
Study of drone usage to ease EVA
UTM Coordinates: Northing: 4248000, Easting : 519350

Summary: We started the EVA at 10:48. The EVA included filling up of static tank and soil sample collection at the farthest point from the hab. Three samples were collected in Falcon tubes near Highway turnoff and stored for future analysis. This research aims at using metagenomics analyses to assess the degree to which human-associated bacteria could potentially contaminate Mars during the crewed mission to the surface.
The next objective was to study drone assistance for EVA, today it was used for around 30 minutes to understand the path ahead of rover along with 11 Satellites assistance. Pros and cons will be listed after few more planned EVA.

Kind regards,

Mamatha

Daily Summary – February 4th

Daily Summary
Sol-06
Earth Date: 02.04.2017
By: Saroj Kumar (Executive Officer and Crew Scientist)

‘A scheduled birthday and unscheduled EVA’s on Mars’

The Sol-06 had started with much awaited birthday celebration of our commander Mamatha at 00:00 hrs ‘Mars time’. During the mission any small celebration makes the bonding among crew members even stronger, this always helps in co-ordinating and improves decision making during unexpected stressful events. Well, the responsibilities for the birthday celebration were divided among the rest of the crew. Our Master Chef Sneha and Arpan had prepared a crazy looking but delicious cake. Myself and Sai Arun took up the responsibility to blow the balloons. The only challenge for us during this activity was to look for pink color balloons which is the favorite color of birthday girl, I was glad that we could find two such amongst the yellow ones. The crew celebrated the birthday and enjoyed the cake with pineapple toppings. The complete blockage of water supply in the hab due to pump failure was a shocker towards the end of the celebration. It was decided that Arpan and I will have to go on an unscheduled EVA before the sunrise to restore the water supply.

As per the plan, we got ready for early morning EVA at 06:00 hrs. It was still dark outside and the lamps were of hardly any use due to its glare on our helmets, fogging was again a big issue which reduced the visibility further. After the tiring EVA lasting for about an hour, we could store sufficient amount of water in the hab for our early morning use. Situations like this help us understand how even small engineering issues on Mars could lead us to take instantaneous decisions while mission support team is out of communication window from Earth. The planned EVA was cancelled due to an unexpected EVA in order to resolve water issues plus one of the crew memebers had severe backache – Health and Safety issues always take priority over other activities in all manned missions.

Our lunch for the day was special ‘Vegetable Pulao’ prepared by Mamatha. I had quietly sneaked into my bed for a short afternoon nap after a tiring early morning EVA and the delicious lunch. Arpan, Mamatha and Sneha continued to work on water supply issues and finally figured out a temporary solution which would avoid us having EVA’s only to supply water. The rest of the evening was spent on discussing the status of every crew member’s activity and getting ready for another exciting day to explore ‘Mars’.
Ad Astra!!

Thanks,

Mamatha

Crew Photos – February 4th

Measuring Root Growth under Misian Mars Lamp

Experiment Prep by Commander and Executive Officer

GreenHab Report – February 4th

Green Hab Report

Sol 06

Earth Date: 02.04.2017

Functionality: The temperatures have been high on Mars these days. The temperatures were monitored continuously, inside the Green Hab the temperature was around 41 deg C with humidity around 1%, under misian Mars lamp it was 17.6 deg C with humidity around 40%. The noted outside temperature was 10 deg C. The high temperatures in the green hab is reducing the humidity that might affect the growth of plants thus the thermostat of the Green Hab heater was reduced from 12.7 deg C to 7.2 deg C. Around 5:30 PM, the temperatures inside the hab was 17 deg C and the humidity around 17 %, under the misian Mars lap it was 25 deg C and the humidity was 40% while the outside temperature was 9 deg C.

Status: The experiment was conducted on the fenugreek seeds by watering the Earth soil pots with Vitamin Rich water. The root growth was measured and the average root growth for fenugreek in Mars Soil tabulated for the green hab and under the misian Mars lamp. The observed root growth is as shown in the graph.

The root growth was measured for the plants growing in Mars soil under the mission Mars lamp and the readings were tabulated. The observed root growth is as shown in Figure 2.

Planned activity: Monitoring and maintaining the Green Hab temperature. Tabulating the growth of plants with varied amount of Vitamin D.

Geology Report – February 4th

Geology Report
Prepared by: Sai Arun Dharmik Bhoga
Sol: 06
Earth Date: 02.04.2017

The primary goal was to study the distribution of magnetic minerals in the rock types present in the MDRS site. The field study of surface minerals for geological study is important as more specific applications such as resource extraction, ecology, engineering (civil), geophysical and geochemical research. The challenging part is to develop the field procedures and study the geology of the region wearing the simulated space suits and carrying life support system.

The previous studies done at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) reveals that the magnetic susceptibility did not vary much in the regions near the Hab site. Hence, I chose to visit the locations of various geological formations to study the distribution of magnetic minerals.

In our first EVA, we chose to visit the haematite concretions (Blueberries). The morphology of these concretions are similar to the ones found in Meridiani Planum on Mars. As the bulk susceptibility of the rock depends on the magnetic minerals present, we expected to get some good results. But the first ever EVA of the crew turned out to be slightly disappointing due to heavy fogging issues on helmet and GPS failure due to low battery. I couldn’t collect any samples from the haematite concretions. While few samples were collected near turtle hills region, that being a good landmark. They were sandstones, siltstones and occasionally flint.

In our second EVA, Saroj Kumar and myself went to the Dinosaur quarry to explore the locations and mark them. We found some Martian Flora in the Dinosaur quarry, along with some conglomerates and chert. The region was mostly under the influence of exfoliation. Enroute to dinosaur quarry, I have seen many stratified rock layers in exposed hillsides.The GPS was working, so I have marked the locations of rock samples collected near the reservoir as well as sedimentary outcrops and marked those locations. Those were primarily Basalt (porphyritic), Calcite, sandstone and siltstone. It was more of a recce to mark the locations of interest to study the magnetic susceptibility of minerals in those regions in the following EVA’s.

The primary aim for the follow-up EVA’s would be to visit the Haematite concretions, Sedimentary outcrops, Cattle grid regions and study the variation of magnetic susceptibility with variable humidity and temperature. If the time permits, I would be happy to explore Kissing camel ridge, Candor Chasma and White rock canyon to find any fruitful results.

Thanks,

Mamatha

Science Report – February 4th

Science Report:
Prepared by: Mamatha Maheshwarappa
Sol: 06
Earth Date: 02.04.2017
Title: Characterizing the transference of human commensal bacteria and developing zoning methodology for planetary protection

Project Advisor: Dr Lewis Dartnell, Professor of Science Communication, University of Westminster

Purpose: This research aims at using metagenomic analyses to assess the degree to which human-associated (commensal) bacteria could potentially contaminate Mars during a crewed mission to the surface. This will involve swabbing of interior surfaces within the MDRS habitat to characterize the commensal biota likely to be present in a crewed Mars mission, and collection of environmental soil samples from outside the MDRS airlock door and at increasing distances from the habitat (including a presumably uncontaminated site) in order to characterize transference of human commensal bacteria into the environment.

About the project: The internal samples (swab kits) are scheduled towards the end of the mission (but before anything has been cleaned or wiped down), so that the moist swabs with sampled bacteria spend as little time as possible before coming back to Earth for further analysis. As the external samples had no restrictions, it was scheduled on 4th Feb 2017.

With these soil samples, we are looking to see if human commensurate bacteria have escaped out of the MDRS habitat and into the surrounding area. Soil samples were taken (i.e. 3x Falcon tubes full of soil) immediately outside the airlock door, and then 1m, 2m, 5m and 10m from the airlock door. We are yet to collect at least a couple of samples from a location away from the MDRS that has not been visited before on previous missions as we need a ‘pristine’ sample of the desert soil that hopefully has not been contaminated with human commensurate bacteria escaping from the MDRS.

Equipment used:

⦁ 15 Falcon™ 50mL Conical Tubes (5 locations x 3 samples at each location)
⦁ Powder free Latex Examination Gloves
⦁ 70% Ethanol bottle
⦁ Personal Navigator

Protocol:

⦁ Squirt a small amount of 70% ethanol from the bottle and then rub it around the hands after putting on the gloves. Wait a few seconds for it to evaporate off.

⦁ Open one of the 50ml Falcon tubes and scoop up surface soil at the sampling location. Soil was collected at the surface across a wider area than digging a single hole really deep. Took total of three (3) 50ml Falcon tubes full of soil at each location, so that we get triplicate samples.

⦁ The indelible pen was used to label the outside of each Falcon tube with the sample number – e.g. 1a, 1b, 1c from the first site, 2a, 2b, 2c from the second location, etc.

⦁ The sample numbers and the location where they came from were noted and photos were taken for future reference. Also, the precise GPS coordinates were noted using personal navigator.

⦁ The collected soil samples were stored in the fridge.

Commander Report – February 3rd

Commander Report – Sol 5:

Prepared by: Mamatha Maheshwarappa

Sol: 05

Earth Date: 02.03.2017

As rightly said by India’s former President and one of the world’s greatest minds A.P.J Abdul Kalam “You have to dream before your dreams can come true”, my biggest dream/goal of my life is to become an Astronaut. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is one such step not just for me but to five other closest friends/colleagues of mine who are part of Crew 174. This opportunity came with many challenges, hurdles that demanded a lot of hard work, delays (Visa) in joining the rest of the crew, personal problems at crew’s family and equipment not arriving in time. But what kept us going was Chris Hadfield’s words “Some Astronauts get trained, do all the work but never leave Earth. I took this job knowing that I might be one of them, there is always a possibility of delay”. This made me think maybe we are getting trained for one such situation in future.

I/We never stopped getting ready … Just in case…

These situations have made us understand and appreciate the effort and hard work of thousands of people behind a manned mission. Just in the past few days I have learnt many things that I have not done and experienced before such as reacting to a stressful situation instantaneously, planning and be prepared for the worst case.

Though my arrival was delayed by a couple of days, it was worth it! I received the warmest welcome from the rest of the crew who have been doing a brilliant job at MDRS. Saroj Kumar, executive officer has done a commendable job by stepping in and taking up my role in my absence. Equal credits go to our Crew Biologist (Sneha Velayudhan), Crew Engineer (Arpan Vasanth) and Crew Geologist (Sai Arun Dharmik) who have supported at each and every step by carrying the spirit and enthusiasm even with these hurdles.

We have started experiments related to GreenHab, Geology, characterizing the transference of human commensal bacteria and developing zoning methodology for planetary protection which are all going according to the plan, the respective reports are being updated regularly.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors – QinetiQ (U.K), Rochester Institute of Technology (U.S.A) and University of Alabama in Huntsville (U.S.A), Faurecia (Germany) and others who have helped in our dreams coming true. Also, a big thanks to media back in India (Deccan Chronicle, Times of India) who have been constantly supporting us.

Thanks,

Mamatha

Crew Photos – February 3rd

Crew 174-Team Planeteers in front of their crew quarters

Arpan (Engineer), Mamatha (Commander) and Saroj (Scientist) in the airlock prior to their EVA

Collected soil samples to study human commensal bacteria around the hab

Growth of fenugreek plant in a controlled environment at GreenHab

Mamatha and Saroj trying to measure distance from hab to collect soil samples during their EVA

Enjoying Indian Desert – Gulab Jamun prepared by Master Chef, Sneha Velayudhan

Sol Summary – February 3rd

Daily Summary

By: Saroj Kumar (Executive Officer and Crew Scientist)

Sol-05

Earth Date: 02.03.2017

Finally, after few delays due to unavoidable reasons our commander had joined the mission. The crew was all pumped and was looking for a wonderful and a busy day with many activities. With most the schedule decided an evening before the crew was ready for the first morning briefing with the commander at 7:30 AM. Today’s schedule was completely packed with many activities such as collecting soil samples to characterize the transference of human commensal bacteria around the hab, monitoring of fenugreek plants in the greenhab, geological study on sample ‘Mars rocks’ collected during previous EVA’s, repairing of overhead water pump and finally ‘Team Planeteers’ official group photos. With lots to work on in the next couple of hours the team needed a perfect breakfast. We had cereals with powdered milk and a ‘Kadak Chai’ (Strong Tea). The team also had delicious ‘Gulab Jamun’ (Indian desert food) prepared by Sneha as a mark of celebration on our commander’s arrival.

Soon after the breakfast the team had planned to take official group pictures and believe me after all the permutations and combinations of the crew members for a perfect group photo, the complete session turned out to be more tiresome than all of my previous EVA’s. We do believe it’s equally important to share our work via pictures and reports so that we can ignite the spark of human space exploration among young minds. We soon started working on our respective tasks after the group photo and had short lunch. Sai Arun was trying to study the rock compositions and its formation from the samples collected during previous EVA’s. Sneha is continuously monitoring her fenugreek plants in greenhab and misian Mars lamp. We all are very excited to see the plant growth and just can’t wait to have fresh fenugreek and potato curry sometime soon 🙂

Our today’s EVA was one of the most technically challenging, we had to make sure we do not contaminate the soil samples by directly exposing ourselves into it and still collect the samples by only scratching the ‘Mars’ surface. In every EVA we try to study the challenges faced and make sure we do not to do any mistake where we would die on a real harsh Martian environment. In spite of all the difficulties faced during the EVA, I believe we finally did not do anything which would be catastrophic on a real mission and completed the EVA successfully. Finally, our last task for the day was to repair the overhead water pump.

Ad Astra !!

Green Hab Report – February 3rd

Green Hab Report:

Prepared by: Sneha Velayudhan
Sol 05
Earth Date: 02.03.2017

Functionality: A sunny day on Mars means regular monitoring of the Green Hab as temperature rise quickly. Morning the temperatures were measured. The outside temperature was 9 deg C while the green hab temperature was 38 deg C and under misian Mars lamp it was 20 deg C at around 10:30 AM. Post lunch, the skies were clear and the temperature was high. It was an indication to me that the temperatures in the Green Hab would be high. I went to the green hab to find the inside temperature to be nearly 50 deg C. I switched on the cooler and watered the plants again. The humidity was checked and it was around 30 %. The cooler was left on in order to control the temperature of the Green Hab. In the evening, the outside temperature was 8 deg C, Green Hab temperature was 20 deg C and under the misian Mars Lamp temperature was 22.5 deg C. The Humidity noted inside the hab was 15% and under the misian Mars lamp was 30%.

Status: In the green hab, the plants and seedlings were watered. Special attention given to the Fenugreek seeds. The root growth in the Earth Soil was impressive. The leaves were sprouting out of the seed coat and it was greenish. It was a great relief to see the seedlings grow!!! Unfortunately, there is no much growth observed in the seeds sowed in the Mars Soil. It was expected but that was little depressing 🙁

Under the misian Mars Lamp, the seedlings were watered and observed for growth. The earth soil seeds showed some growth but it looks like plants enjoy sunshine more that the artificial lamp light! Similar to the green hab, the Mars soil pots did not show any impressive growth. The root growth was measured in both Earth and Mars seedlings. In the evening the plants were watered with Vit D in incremental measurement and the temperature was monitored.

Planned activity: Monitoring and maintaining the Green Hab temperature. Tabulating the growth of plants with varied amount of Vitamin D.