Mars Desert Research Station

Mission Summary Report – March 31st

Crew 177 Mission Summary Report

March 31, 2017

Crew 177, Lone Star Highlanders, a team representing McLennan Community College, from Waco-Texas, stationed at Mars Desert Research Station, MDRS, from March 26th until April 1st, for a one-week rotation as a part of McLennan Community College Mars 101 program with the main goal of providing an introduction to analog field research and training in all aspects of MDRS sim.

The team consisted of eight participants, six students conducting independent projects, and two faculty members serving a Commander and Co-Commander. Projects conducted by students were engineering and biology related.

Pitchayapa Jingjit is a freshman at McLennan Community College. She is planning to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a degree in science in hope to attend a medical school. Her research project is trying to find bacteria producing antibiotics in order to combat the antibiotic resistance crisis. She collected soil samples containing bacteria from a different point of interest around the Mars Desert Research Station and bring those samples back to McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas to begin the laboratory work. Furthermore, she conducted a microbiology EVA to find the presence of Gram negative enteric bacteria and Gram-positive staph bacteria in the HAB and the Green HAB. As expected, she found both Gram positive and negative bacteria in both the HAB and the Green HAB.

Caleb Li is a sophomore year student of McLennan Community College, majoring in Electrical Engineering. He was planning to design a LED digital clock that put on the air lock to optimize the crew member’s experience while waiting to go out to do EVA. He was using the FPGAs on the Basys 2 Board to implement the clock function, time counting function, and alarm system. On Sol 4 he installed the clock in the air lock. The afternoon EVA crew used his posted instructions to operate the LED clock when they returned to the Hab. He will continue working on the alarm system and more advanced functions back to the school.

Elijah Espinoza is a freshman Mechanical Engineering student at McLennan. He is at MDRS working on a robot with Victoria LaBarre. His part of the robot is an arm that is attached to the robot that can pick up various objects such as rocks. The robot is in the early stages of a long project that will eventually be able to go out on its own and rescue an astronaut that is hurt. It is designed to be a rescue ambulance called the Emergency Medical Service Rover (EMSR). He is using a Vex competition kit to power the arm. On SOL 5 he and Victoria went out to the Cow Patty Field and tested the robot to observe how it moved on the terrain and how it picked up different sized rocks. The robot Elijah and Victoria are working on is a progression from Victoria’s project last year. Elijah plans to continue to work on the project when they get back to McLennan.

Victoria LaBarre is a sophomore student at McLennan Community College, majoring in electrical engineering. This is her second time coming to MDRS. On her first trip in 2016, she tested prototype one of the Emergency Medical Service Rover (EMSR) and conducted two human driver tests. When fully realized, the EMSR will be able to automatically go out into the field and retrieve an injured astronaut to bring them back to the Hab. This year, 2017, prototype two was developed and tested at Mars by LaBarre and her partner Elijah Espinoza. LaBarre worked on the drive train and the programming of the robot. The robot’s strength and dexterity were tested in Cow Patty field by picking up different sized rocks, which were then brought back to the Hab to be measured.

Esteban Ramirez is a first-year student at McLennan Community College majoring in Biomedical Engineering. His project dealt with energy concerns a Mars exploration would have. The amount of available energy to a crew or device is what gives them the ability to carry out their jobs on any space expedition. His project tested the feasibility and consequences of providing a bike generator for a Martian exploration to increase efficiency and health of the crew. Once arriving at MDRS various tests were done on the generator bike to calibrate and fix problems with the battery. Multiple tests on crew mates were done and data was collected such as voltage created, time spent, and calories used. These data will be analyzed and aggregated to find correlations between efficiency and various other variables such as height, weight, and age. Conclusions will be presented at McLennan Community College on Scholar Day.

Joseph Quaas is a freshman computer science student who came to MDRS in order to develop a virtual reality simulation of the MDRS site. The simulation is to consist of a basic rescue operation consisting of the user learning the location of a person, who is need of assistance, driving the rover to their location, and bringing them back to the hab. There were some developmental problems during the week concerning the implementation of certain 3D models and scripting, but good progress was still made on the project. The entire premise of virtual reality, especially a sim based upon a real-life location, is to immerse the user in a virtual environment that is as close to the real-life version as possible. During his time at MDRS, he saw and got the feel of many locations around MDRS and made adjustments to the landscape in the sim in order to make the sim more accurate.

Becky Parker is a Marketing Professor at McLennan Community College. Her project is the preparation of a marketing plan for recruiting student and faculty participants for future Mars missions as well as other travel courses. She used her time at Mars to take photos and videos of the mission to be used in marketing materials and to conduct interviews with each participant. She led a brainstorming session in order to get student input for the plan.

Dr. Otsmar Villarroel, chemistry professor at McLennan Community College, served as the crew 177 commander. He enjoyed her second rotation at MDRS designing the every day’s activities during crew’s mission. He also led planned EVAs for Orientation, Geology, Chemistry and independent projects.

We would like to thank the Mars Society and McLennan Community College for allowing us being part of this invaluable experience. We are deeply thankful for the opportunity.

Otsmar J. Villarroel/Crew 177 Commander

EVA Report – March 31st

EVA Report: EVA #9

Filled by Otsmar Villarroel, Crew Commander

Crew members: Pitchayapa Jingjit, Esteban Espinoza, Caleb Li, Otsmar Villarroel

Location:

12 N 518524 4249129

12 N 518172 4250624

12 N 518158 4253775

12 N 517738 4254864

12 N 518230 4250725 (outside the hab)

Time: departure at 3:00 pm. Estimated return at 5: 30 pm

Duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes approximately

Vehicles: 2 ATV’s and 1 Rover

Purposes:

The purpose of this EVA is the collection of soil samples surrounding the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) to bring back to McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas in order to find bacteria producing antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance crisis.

Summary:

Twenty one soil samples, 5 g each approximately, were collected to bring them back to McLennan Community College to begin soil dilution process. Samples were collected from five different places around MDRS. The goal for this research is to find unique and effective antibiotics available to cure resistant bacteria.

Journalist Report – March 31st

Journalist Report by Victoria LaBarre

March 31st, 2017

The crew gathered around for breakfast, then half set out on an EVA to Candor Chasm. The crew out on EVA spent a long time in Candor, traveling along the bottom of the Chasm and up the cliff-side. The EVA Crew found a cave in the cliff-side and took note of large/long strata of gypsum along the bottom of Candor.

The second half of the crew spent most of the day cleaning and cooking. Our greenhouse officer’s project experienced a setback after he mistakenly connected the negative wire to the positive terminal and vice versa. This ended up melting his battery, and making it unusable.

The good news is that our health and safety officer’s clock still works and the half of the crew that went out on EVA used it to time their depressurization in the front door’s airlock.

The two crew members who built the robot went ahead and prepared the robot for travel and packed it back into the suitcase since the arm’s gear is broken completely.

After lunch, the second half of the crew, set out on a microbiologist EVA in which they collected soil samples from the Gypsum Fields, the area surrounding the Hab, the Cow Patty fields, Ancient Sand Dunes, and the Creek Bed. These samples will later be taken to a lab at McLennan Community College and stained to find bacterial colonies in hopes of finding the area of inhibition, and thereby discovering bacteria that may prove useful for developing antibiotics.

After dinner, the entire crew split up and cleaned the Hab. The crew vacuumed, mopped, windexed the windows, cleaned the shower and packed up all our projects and rooms. Dished were washed, the kitchen and stove were wiped down and our cook took inventory of the pantry. All the trash was thrown out and the refrigerator was cleaned out.

Sol Summary – March 31st

MDRS Daily Summary Report for SOL 6, 31Mar2017

Person filing out Report: Victoria LaBarre

Position: Crew OX and Crew Chemist

Summary Title: Clean up

Mission Status: Concluding experiments and EVAs and cleaning Hab for next crew

Sol Activity Summary: Packed up robot, clock and bike generator, Microbiologist EVA, cleaned entire Hab

Look-Ahead Plan: request ability or help in handling toilet issue/End simulation and go back to Grand Junction.

Anomalies in work: Nothing out of the ordinary

Weather:

-Morning: Overcast, windy

-Afternoon-Sunny, windy, showers

Crew Physical Status: Crew is healthy

Commander Report – March 31st

Crew Commander Report by Otsmar Villarroel/Crew 177 Commander

March 31st/2017

Today, March 31st is our mission’s last day. This week has been definitely unique. Thanks to McLennan Community College, Mars Desert Research Station, and my crewmates for this opportunity.

Today afternoon was used to conduct an EVA led by Pitchaya Jingjit. She collected twenty-one different soil samples from five different places of interest around the MDRS location with the purpose of bringing back to McLennan Community College, in Waco-Texas in order to find bacteria producing antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance crisis. Jingjit was accompanied by Caleb Li, Esteban Ramirez, and Otsmar Villarroel.

Geologists, Espinoza and Li, worked in the science lab during the afternoon.

They use the regolith samples collected during geology EVAs and performed Sieving analysis on each of their samples. They use different trays, each with a different mesh size. Back on McLennan Community College campus, they are planning to perform spot test analysis for the following: Carbonate properties, oxide, iron, Uranium, and Potassium.

Dinner consisted of salmon and mashed potatoes. After dinner crew members started cleaning the MDRS facilities and already started to pack and getting ready to return to Earth with the satisfaction of being part of this experience.

See you later Mars! And one more time, thanks to everybody that makes it an awesome experience.

Geology Report – March 30th

rew 177 Geology Report March 30, 2017

Crew 177 Geologist Report

Dear Mission Support,

Today is a sunny day, and we are ready to head to the geology stop “The Little Canyon”. After the delicious pancake breakfast, Becky, Esteban, Pitchayaba, and I went on the two Rovers and one ATVs with the measure tools – rope and tape.

Our mission for today’s EVA is to measure the height of the little canyon. About 15 mins, we have arrived the little canyon, and I climbed to the top of the canyon and throw the rope down to the cliff, but I held the one end of the rope, and then Esteban made a mark on the rope. We took some great pictures and videos over there. After we came back to the HAB, we measured the length of the rope, the height of the little canyon is around 18 feet. It was a great experience.

Caleb Li

EVA Report – March 30th

EVA Report:

EVA # 7

Crew members: Caleb Li, Esteban Ramirez, Pitchayapa Jingjit, Becky Parker

Location:

12 N 519235 4251489

Time: departure at 10:00 am. Estimated return at 12:00 am

Duration: 2 hours approximately

Vehicles: 2 ATV’s and 1 Rover

Purposes:

Geology EVA. Teach students about sedimentary rocks, deposition, lithification, and examination of the regolith. This is the second half of EVA #4 that was shortened due to the NPR reporter visit.

Goal: Complete the Geology EVA.

Summary:

The location for this EVA was chosen in order to study different kinds of geologic structures and the methods by which they were created. The pattern of lithification in the sedimentary rock field was unique and interesting to the crew. Former evidence of a vigorous fluvial environment was observed at the second location. Determination of width and height were performed during the EVA.

Otsmar Villarroel

Crew 177 Commander

Journalist Report – March 30th

Journalist Report by Victoria LaBarre

March 30th/2017

This morning our crew was ecstatic to discover that Shannon had gone ahead and brought a Port-a-Potty for us to use the pipes underneath the Hab had been completely disconnected by a previous crew, rendering our sewage system completely useless. (We have worked out a system of discarding waste in bags and dumping them outside in the trash cans by the engineering airlock before Shannon brought us the Port-a-Potty. Exaggeration or not, there has never been a group of people so excited to receive a Port-a-Potty in the history of all mankind.

Soon after the crew broke in the Port-a-Potty, the first half of the crew went out for our first EVA. This EVA is the second half of the Geology EVA that had been cut short due to the NPR journalist’s presence and will also give our geologist a second chance to measure the height of the Little Canyon.

The two crew members working on the robot took the gearboxes off the wheels and adjusted the robot to prepare for our afternoon EVA where our crew will test the strength and dexterity of the robotic arm by picking up different sized rocks out near Cow Patty field. The robot was only able to pick up one rock due to damage from riding in the back or the rover and will need to be fixed before testing it again. The rock picked up by the robotic arm was taken back to the Hab to be weighed in the lab afterward.

The half of the crew out on EVA was excited to return to a working clock in the airlock. Our geologist/health and safety officer’s, Caleb Li, project to make a fully functioning clock was successful, and he installed the clock on the side of the front door airlock for the EVA crew members to use.

While one-half of the crew was out on EVA, our microbiologist began and finished the gram stain process for the bacterial samples taken previously and attempted to use the microscope.

After returning to the Hab, the crew gathered around our greenhouse officer’s bike generator project and watched as one of our crew members rode it so fast that he reached the 50 calories burned mark in 3 minutes.

After dinner, the crew spent a few hours helping coming up with a marketing plan to promote MDRS at our community college, McLennan Community College.

Commander Report – March 30th

Sol 5/March 30th, 2017

Crew Commander Report by Otsmar Villarroel, Crew 177 Commander

Although today was not as beautiful as previous days with a beautiful blue sky and calm wind, it was a great day for the crew’s mission here on the red planet. After breakfast, a group consisting of Parker, Li, Espinoza, and Jingjit left the Hab to conduct some geology experiments.

The main goal of this EVA was to study the terrain from a geological point of view and thus collect some geology data of interest. The location for this EVA was chosen in order to study different kinds of geologic structures and the methods by which they were created. The pattern of lithification in the sedimentary rock field was unique and interesting to the crew.

Former evidence of a vigorous fluvial environment was observed at the second location. Determination of width and height were performed during the EVA. After collection of the data, the Geology EVA group returned to the Hab.

After enjoying lunch, at about 2:30 pm, Martian time, Crew members LaBarre and Espinoza, had the opportunity of testing her Emergency Medical Service Rover (EMRS) outside the Hab. The EMSR is a robot designed and programmed to retrieve an injured astronaut out on an EVA at Mars and bring him or her back to the Hab for medical assistance. During the test LaBarre and Espinoza detected some operational/mechanical issues. However, they plans correcting them and a new test, pending approval, will be performed tomorrow.

Engineer, Espinoza, completed their daily routine without anomalies to be reported. Greenhab officer, Ramirez, worked on taking care of plants as well as on his individual project, the bike generator. He is planning to collect final results tomorrow to be analyzed back in Waco, Texas. Our microbiologist, Jingjit, began and finished the gram stain process for the bacterial samples taken previously and attempted to use the microscope. Crew member, Li, spent part of the afternoon working on his clock.

After dinner, crew spent the crew spent a few hours helping coming up with a marketing plan to promote MDRS at our community college, McLennan Community College. Tomorrow, pending approval, an EVA is planned. The purpose of this EVA is the collection of soil samples surrounding the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) to bring back to McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas in order to find bacteria producing antibiotics to combat antibiotic resistance crisis.

Last night, our crew astronomer, Becky Parker, used the telescope, with the main goal of completing a two-star alignment as well as a four- star calibration procedure. Unfortunately, while she was able to have the telescope working properly, she could not get the telescope to focus as expected. We are planning to contact Mission Support looking for recommendations.

Astronomy Report – March 30th

Crew 177 Astronomer Report 30Mar2017

Astronomer Report

On Sol 1 & 2 the sky was too cloudy to attempt to use the telescope. On Sol 3, we enjoyed the night sky with the naked eye. On Sol 4 we went to the Musk Observatory and followed the quick guide procedures.

We were able to view and focus on Jupiter, but were unable to focus on Polaris or Beetle Juice. Because we were unable to complete the alignment procedure we discontinued use of the telescope.

Becky Parker

Crew 177 Astronomer