MDRS Daily Summary Report for SOL 12
Person filling out Report: Michał Kazaniecki
Summary Title: Rain and rover testing
Mission Status: Final stage
Sol Activity Summary: EVA, rover related tasks
Look Ahead Plan: slowly getting ready to leave
Anomalies in work: rain and mud
Weather: rain, cold
Crew Physical Status: everyone feels good
Reports to be filled:
-Operations Report
-Commander Report
-EVA Report
-EVA Request
-Science Report
EVA #7
Crew members: Jedrzej Gorski (EVA leader), Karolina Zawieska, Krzysztof Jędrzejak (EVA buddies)
Location: Maxwell Montes
Vehicles : Rover Deimos and ATV #2 and #3
Time : Departure at 9:30 and back at 12:30 hrs
Duration : 3 hours
Purposes:
• Testing of black space suit and recording of promotion materials
• Desert exploration of area which is unknown for us
Summary:
On our way to Maxwell Montes we had occasion to record video documentation related to our black suit testing procedure. We also collected significant amount of good pictures and important feedback for our black suit designers. Due to condition of roads which leads to our destination we had very good occasion to increase our quad driving skills. Set of selected pictures (our favourites) are attached to this report.
EVA #5
Crew members: Jedrzej Gorski (EVA leader), Natalia Zalewska, Krzysztof Jędrzejak (EVA buddies)
Location: Lower Blue Hills
Vehicles : Rover Deimos and ATV #2 and #3
Time : Departure at 9:30 pm and back at 12:30 pm
Duration : 3 hours
Purposes:
• Testing of black space suit
• Exploration of unknown areas of a desert including bottom of skyline Rim
Summary:
On our way to edge of Lower Blue Hills we had occasion to explore white and Yellow Moon, as well as bottom of Skyline Rim near the end of Sagan Street. Our team collect significant amount of good pictures for our project documentation. We also gain important feedback for our black suit designers. Set of selected pictures (our favourites) are attached to this report.
Crew 176 Commander’s Report 21 March 2017
Natalia Zalewska
Commander Report
21 March 2017 – Sol 10
Dear Mission Support,
Our daily routine remained unchanged today. We woke up in the morning and
had a breakfast together, oats with dried fruits, as usual. Afterwards
some of us completed psychological tests and then the selected members of
the crew got ready for EVA and left. EVAs continue to be the most
interesting tasks we undertake at MDRS in terms of research, technology
and documentation-related activities and constitute one of the main
subjects of our discussions. Personally, I find EVAs a rare opportunity
for undertaking very interesting geological research.
We had lunch together and took some rest. In the afternoon we proceeded
with working on the audio-visual content for the mass media, including
taking photographs and video recordings in the MDRS hab. We were glad to
have the Internet connection back (at least for a while) and online
communication with Mission Support re-established. Also, the Green Hab
Officer was happy to learn there are two more plants visible in the pots,
all of the belonging to the Zinnia flowers family.
We expect to have the Internet issues fully solved by tomorrow. We will
proceed with EVA and documentation activities, as well as my analysis of
geological samples. We will also continue to test the robot. We are aware
that the weather conditions will deteriorate but we hope it won’t
affect our EVAs.
Bets regards,
Natalia Zalewska
Commander, MDRS Crew 176
MDRS Daily Summary Report for SOL 10
Person filling out Report: Karolina Zawieska, Green Hab Officer/Human-Robot Interaction Officer
Summary Title: White Canyon Exploration and outreach activities
Mission Status: Work in progress
Sol Activity Summary: EVA, documentation activities, cleaning
Look Ahead Plan: Continue EVA and documentation activities, solve the Internet problem
Anomalies in work: Unstable Internet connection
Weather: Cloudy in the morning, windy but sunny in the afternoon
Crew Physical Status: One of the crew members suffering from mild knee pain, everyone else feels good
Reports to be filled:
-Operations Report
-Commander Report
-EVA Report
-EVA Request
Dear Mission Support,
Yesterday we went to the West towards the rocks of the Middle Ages Cretaceous. I noticed that the large sandstone and mudstone walls of Ferron Sandstone Member were characterised by high erosion. Also, huge
boulders lay on the road. I assume they earlier broke off and rolled down as a result of erosion. The landscape resembled the images provided by the HiRISE camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from the Candor Chasma area. The images in question showed that the layers in the Chasma Canyon are not completely horizontal and are not homogeneous (Fig.1), (http://www.uahirise.org/nl/ES
Chandor Chasma may be deposited by flowing rivers, through the Valles Marineris canyon.
Regards,
Natalia Zalewska
Commander and Crew geologist, MDRS Crew 176
Dear Mission Support,
I am sending you my journalist report. It concerns the last five days at MDRS. The journalist activities we undertook over the last few days include the following:
As far as daily activities are concerned, we attach all the required photographs along to individual reports dedicated to Operations, Green Hab and EVA.
Best regards,
Krzysztof Jędrzejak
Journalist, MDRS Crew 176
Dear Mission Support,
My daily activities related to the Green Hab include mainly watering seeds and waiting for the results. Today the day was different: I have found a tiny plant pointing out of one of the pots. It belongs to Zinna flowers. Of course, I was very happy to see it and I feel ever more motivated to take care about other seeds and potatoes.
The temperature was lower than usual, so I did not turn on the fan today. I very much hope to see more plants grow before the mission is over.
Best wishes,
Karolina Zawieska
Green Hab Officer, Crew 176
Dear Mission Support,
Week no. 2 started a bit differently than usual for us. We started the day
from repairing the tunnel that got damaged by strong wind yesterday.
Afterwards we had a breakfast and we undertook our daily psychological
tests and sport activities.
During the day, we proceeded with the maintenance activities as we
enlarged the ditch in front of the habitat to release the leak. It took us
quite some time. Then we had lunch together and took some rest. We did not
plan any EVA for today because we could not send the EVA request a day
before due to the failed Internet connection.
In the afternoon, some of us proceeded with psychological tests and
documentation of our mission. The Green Hab Officer was very excited to
learn that one of the seeds has turned into a plant. She brought the pot
to the hab, so that all of could share her excitement. Also, we were happy
to see that the Internet connection was back. Unfortunately it did not
last for long and we were left with no Internet again in the evening and
without the possibility to send our report.
The overall mood of the crew is good although we are still worried about
the issues with the Internet which makes it difficult for us to
communicate with Mission Support and the rest of our team in Poland.
Regards,
Natalia Zalewska
Commander, MDRS Crew 176
Stereoscopy
After few days of tests and calibration, finally I have configured stereoscopy system on Gaja rover.
The idea of stereoscopy is based on how human sight works. Given two shifted pictures, human mind creates an illusion of depth and 3D.
This solution is implemented in our system.
First part of it consist of 2 cameras placed about 7 cm from each other, on a moving mounting on a rover. This distance is approximately the same as between human eyeballs. The second one are special Virtual Reality Goggles with LCD screen displaying the video. Video for each eye comes from different camera so they are shifted a bit.
Our tests proved that wearing goggles you can feel like observing the world from robot’s point of view. The depth of image is not as visible as natural sight, but someone can clearly tell if some object is closer of further than another.
This system can be useful in many fields. For example, when you operate a robot, you can now better recognize the surroundings and plan every move, if you know where exactly in space everything is placed.
