Science Report 19Feb2017
Experiment: Navigating on Mars
Person filling in the report: Arthur Lillo
I took the sextant during the EVA: it was easy to use and to read
despite the gloves and the fog in the helmet. However, the temperature
gradient decalibrated the mirror before long, and the calibration
screws are too small to be turned with the gloves. Therefore, I could
only take one measurement: I wrote down the angle between the Hab and
Marble Ritual, and the angle between Phobos Peak and Marble Ritual.
Back inside the Hab, I drew on the map the two arcs of a circle
corresponding to the two angles, and I obtained a point that seems to
be a few meters away from my position during the measurement. Thus,
the experiment was a success, now I need to code an app that does the
work of positioning.
Experiment: EVA Emergency Procedures
Person filling in the report : Simon Bouriat
Today was the first line of our abstract about emergency procedures on EVA. The idea is to build emergency procedures based on a study of the ones of mountaineering expeditions. To do that, we want to simulate, during our EVA, different emergency situations. Nowadays, such situations are not currently studied.
One member will make a planning to prepare two or three simulations during the next two weeks. No other member, except for the one that will simulate the incident, will know that an issue will occur. But before, we want to study and create emergency procedures that will be taught to the all crew. The simulations will be a way to apply these procedures.
This study will probably continue after the sim.
Since we had no PRIF for this experiment, we would like to know if we can carry it out.
MDRS is a project of:
EVA Report – February 18th
EVA Report:
EVA #5
Crew members (4 crewmembers): Louis Maller (EVA leader), Mouâdh Bouayad, Xavier Rixhon, Louis Mangin
Location:
• South of the Hab to check on the seismometer (12N 518500, 4250000)
Vehicles used: Deimos and the two 350 ATVs
Departure time: 8:56 AM
Return time: 10:03 AM
Duration: 1h07
Purposes:
– re-check if everything is in place around the hab after the strong wind that we experienced today
– Seismology experiment: check on the seismometer experiment, to be sure that the strong wind hasn’t displaced anything.
– explore the area around white rock canyon, take some pictures for PR purposes
Summary:
We left for the EVA early this time, as we had gotten prepared very quickly. The engineering check was done efficiently once again, and we then headed to the seismometer to check if it had not been displaced by the wind. Everything was perfectly in place. We swapped the flash drive that was being used for a clean one, in order to analyze the first set of data in the hab. Then we headed south towards white rock canyon. But as we were almost there, I noticed cows a bit ahead of us just next to the road. I was not confident in heading towards them, because I didn’t know if they would be very near to the point we wanted to explore, or how they would react (even if they are just curious they could come uncomfortably close to us), and also it didn’t feel right with the sim.
EVA #5
Crew members (4 crewmembers): Louis Maller (EVA leader), Mouâdh Bouayad, Xavier Rixhon, Louis Mangin
Location:
• South of the Hab to check on the seismometer (12N 518500, 4250000)
Vehicles used: Deimos and the two 350 ATVs
Departure time: 8:56 AM
Return time: 10:03 AM
Duration: 1h07
Purposes:
– re-check if everything is in place around the hab after the strong wind that we experienced today
– Seismology experiment: check on the seismometer experiment, to be sure that the strong wind hasn’t displaced anything.
– explore the area around white rock canyon, take some pictures for PR purposes
Summary:
We left for the EVA early this time, as we had gotten prepared very quickly. The engineering check was done efficiently once again, and we then headed to the seismometer to check if it had not been displaced by the wind. Everything was perfectly in place. We swapped the flash drive that was being used for a clean one, in order to analyze the first set of data in the hab. Then we headed south towards white rock canyon. But as we were almost there, I noticed cows a bit ahead of us just next to the road. I was not confident in heading towards them, because I didn’t know if they would be very near to the point we wanted to explore, or how they would react (even if they are just curious they could come uncomfortably close to us), and also it didn’t feel right with the sim.
So we headed back, and stopped near Robert’s rock Garden in order for Mouadh to show us where was the access towards Ridge Road. We started climbing the first hills but then Xavier experienced a problem with his bandana that fell on his eyes, while the rest of the team had a very limited visibility due to heavy fogging, probably because the air was very moist.
As we reached the ATVs it started raining slightly, so the time was right to head back to the hab, which is why the EVA was a lot shorter than expected. But our main task, checking on the seismometer, was a success, even if we didn’t exactly get the exploration we wanted to do done.
Sol Summary – February 18th
SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 6
SOL: 6
SOL: 6
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Martian downpour
Mission Status: Successful but shortened EVA, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, science work on different experiments, shortened EVA due to difficult conditions.
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow will see another EVA, with a junior crewmember as leader. we are hoping for the weather to improve.
Anomalies in work: /
Weather: very cloudy, experienced rain, particularly around 11am
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well
EVA: EVA #5 checked out the seismometer, which had not budged despite yesterday’s strong winds. Then the EVA had to be shortened due to a certain number of difficulties.
GreenHab Report – February 18th
Green Hab Report – Sol 6
Report written by: Victoria DA-POIAN (Crew Biologist)
Date : 02/18/2017
Functionality: The heater in the green hab is working well. Today was a very rainy and cloudy day ! I checked the temperature in the GreenHab this morning. It was around 21 Celsius degrees around 10:40 AM while the temperature in the tunnel was around 8.4 Celsius degrees. I did not switch on the cooler. The GreenHab temperature was 18 Celsius degrees at 5:00PM while it was 8.2 Celsius degrees in the tunnel. I watered the seedlings this morning and this afternoon too.
Status: The existing seedlings in the greenhab are continuing to grow well. There are spinach, lettuce, radish, and beans growing very well in the small pots.
The lettuces are growing well too and I think we will have one for tomorrow lunch.
The Vegidair has been installed 2 days ago and is functionning very well. We were able to see some sprouts of lettuce today in the Vegidair but not in the similar pots I put in the GreenHab.
Commander Report – February 18th
Dear Earth,
Sol 6 was DIY time.
The morning EVA had to be aborted quickly due to the rain. We found
four wet astronauts in the airlock after a single hour out of the Hab:
Xavier, Mouâdh and the two Louis were quite disappointed. Luckily,
they could confirm that the seismometer resisted the storm, and they
brought back the USB key that recorded the seismic data of the last 24
hours.
For the rest of the Sol, the Hab was turned into a two-story garage,
filled with this kind of DIY atmosphere that counters the monotony of
rainy days on Earth. Xavier, Simon, Louis Maller and I repaired two
broken walkie talkies, which will allow us to keep in touch with
crewmembers in the other facilities even when four of us are on EVA.
While we were soldering the electronic cards, we figured out a way to
turn the walkie talkies into a radio repeater aboard the atmospheric
balloon. It should let us keep a voice contact with the Hab during
EVAs, even if the line of sight is broken by a hill.
Xavier kept the MacGyver mood for the entire afternoon, turning a
stack of wood and cardboard into a robust piece of furniture. It is
now finished and sustains Victoria’s “Vegidair”, the
computer-controlled kitchen garden with which we share our living
room. Meanwhile, Mouâdh looked at the CCD camera of the observatory,
Louis Maller and Simon built a new platform for the balloon, Louis
Mangin worked on our communication plan with French journalists,
Victoria took care of the crops in the GreenHab, and I put a few drops
of filtered water and boiled water in the “Aquapad” petri dishes, to
compare bacterial pollution. Quite a busy afternoon despite the rain!
Ad Astra!
Arthur Lillo,
Commander of the MacGyver-ish Crew 175
Crew Photos – February 18th
Journalist Report – February 18th
Journalist report, 02/18/17 – Sol 6: Aborted EVA.
Today’s EVA was supposed to be short. We had to check the seismometer, to make sure that it didn’t move yesterday because of the wind, and then to collect its data. We were not able to use the balloon, because of the wind and the possibility of rain, so that we planned to explore a new area, and to take ‘official’ pictures, with flags and banners. I was going out along with Louis, as EVA leader, Xavier and Mouadh.
For the first time, we used two ATVs, along with a rover. After having reached the seismometer, we quickly saw it hadn’t moved. The panels we put over it must have done a great job yesterday. We picked up the USB key containing our seismic data, and left. This is when the first problem showed up: Xavier’s headband went down to his eye, making him almost blind. Of course, it seems trivial, but back then, we had no solution to help him, and having a headband is nearly essential, to keep our earplug in place. He tried to rub on the sides of his helmet, with no result. It was not too dangerous already, so that we kept going, I just had to take the wheel on the rover.
The weather was more and more cloudy, but there was no rain at the time. We kept going on the main road, to reach the canyon we were supposed to visit. After ten minutes, we stopped, cows were near the point where we had to go. We had to take a decision. Louis took it, briefly, we will head back, and find another place. Once again, the problem wasn’t that simple. Walk next to a few cows acting as if they were not there, with our suits and a half blind man could put us in a tough spot if cows decided to join us… We had nothing essential to do here, that is what we stepped back. Rain was coming slowly, and fog accumulating on our glass because of humidity. We tried to climb a hill on our way back to track potential future EVA locations, but fog was so handicapping for everyone that we just decided to go back to the base.
It was kind of a disappointment, because we remained no more than one hour outside, but it taught us something important. We have to react quickly in those situations, and stick to the leader’s order, in order not to put us in a difficult spot. At the same time, in the hab, the first sprout of lettuce showed up in our indoor vegetable garden Vegidair, two days after having been seeded, while Simon, Arthur and Xavier tried to fix up our broken radios.
Tomorrow, for the first time a junior crew member, Simon will lead us an EVA, in which we will test our radio system, hoping it happen better.
Louis MANGIN, crew journalist MDRS 175
Science Report – February 18th
Science report
Experiment: Seismometer
Experiment: Seismometer
Person filling in the report: Mouâdh Bouayad
We went to check the seismometer during today’s EVA; everything was just perfectly fine. Even the level of the seismometer didn’t move at all. We changed the USB key to read the collected data. I could analyze them by the time we got back to the Hab, and no problem. Unfortunately, I have a software pretty hard to use to analyze data. Actually, the digitizer cuts the data every hour. Thus, in order to view the signal on a long period of one axis, we need to merge the curves, which I don’t yet know how to do with the software (named PQL) that I have installed.
Other experiments ongoing (Aquapad analysis continued, work on the Balloon equipment, some tests with the AR glasses).
Crew Photos – February 18th
Journalist Report – February 18th
Journalist report, 02/18/17 – Sol 7: Rainbow over fog.
For today’s EVA, we had to go by foot: the ground was wet so that most roads were not practicable. We had two goals: test the radios and the sextant. The weather was cloudy, and rain was close. We had planned a short EVA, and I left with Simon, Victoria, and Arthur.
To begin with, we went as far from the hab as possible before losing the radio signal. Once here, a first pair stopped, and a second kept going. The first pair was holding a homemade radio relay (see pictures), done with walkie-talkies, in order to test the advantage of splitting, to reach the hab easily. At the same time, Arthur was using the sextant to locate us precisely, to help us get more accurate values. Both experiments were disturbed by the weather. Radio communications were very bad, and particularly unstable, and the sextant decalibrated, probably because of temperature changes. Arthur did not manage to calibrate it again with his gloves, so that we had only the first values. He will have to customise it to make it possible. To end with, fog was an issue once again, so that after one hour of tests, with very difficult communications, we decided to go back to the base, having done everything we were able to with both experiments.
In addition to casual work and reports, Xavier and I decided to track more precisely the use of water, counting showers, flushes, greenhab use, and drinking water. Simon gave us a personal feedback on our morning sport program he manages, Victoria will be able to get spinach from the greenhab tomorrow, and Arthur got the results from his test on our drinkable water, using the Aquapad experiment. The more impressive result we had was between boiled water and regular or filtered one. Boiling water kills almost every germ and the experiment shows it clearly.
As a conclusion, the Sun showed us a beautiful rainbow during sunset, ending our first week officially in sim.
Louis MANGIN, crew journalist MDRS 175