MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION

Sol Summary – February 26th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 14
SOL: 14
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Brunch on Mars
Mission Status: successful EVA in the afternoon, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: brunch, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Looking forwards to Brian Cox joining us tomorrow for a Sol on Mars.
Anomalies in work: 3D printer being troubleshooted
Weather: beautiful and sunny, breeze with gusts of winds.
Crew Physical Status: Injured crewmember feeling better, rest of crew feeling well
EVA: EVA in front of the Hab, in order to learn, test and refine security procedures, went quite well.

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #13 report
– EVA #14 request
– HSO report
– Astronomy Report

Sol Summary – February 25th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 13

SOL: 13
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Exploring Cold Mars
Mission Status: successful EVA in the morning, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow there should be an EVA aimed at testing the feasibility of safety protocols designed today
Anomalies in work: 3D printer being troubleshooted, pumps frozen in the morning (thawed later in the morning)
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning slight breeze, quite cold
Crew Physical Status: One crewmember fell from the ladder to the loft, bruised but nothing broken
EVA: tried to fill in the static tank at the beginning of the EVA, failed because the pump had frozen. Succesfully deployed the balloon in the plain north of the Hab. Went to Explore the Moon again, and then headed southwards towards Skyline Rim. Then we headed back to the Hab, folded up the balloon, and managed to activate the pump.

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #12 report
– EVA #13 request
– HSO report
– Astronomy Report

Sol Summary – February 24th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 12
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Outlandish landscapes!

Mission Status: successful EVA in the morning, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow there should be an EVA, hoping for less windy weather for balloon deployment, and other experiments can also be tested outside.
Anomalies in work: 3D printer being troubleshooted
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning, but quite cold and with irregular blasts of wind
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well

EVA: tried to deploy the balloon on the location we had identified north of the hab, but failed because of heavy and sudden gusts of wind. Then we headed north, scouted for interesting places, took some pictures, and were particularly stunned by the place aptly named “The Moon” on the MDRS Map. Truly out-of-this world. We felt like Apollo astronauts as our vehicles and boots lifted up fine gray dust. Weather cold and windy but blue sky and absolutely no fogging in helmets, so we could fully enjoy the wonders of our Mars.

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #11 report
– EVA #12 request
– Science report
– 3D Printer status report

3D Printer Status
We have set to the task of making the 3D printer work, as we had some free time on our hands. We found the task more difficult than we had previously thought. Indeed, last year, when Arthur and I were on the station the 3D printer was perfectly working. It had no problem calibrating, and all the material was inside the box (with the possible exception of the Gap Gauge, sandpaper and Allan Wrench, citing by memory as this was one year ago).. It had a USB key in which we had put the executable for the printer and a few printable files.

When we opened the box again today, we found the printer in a sorry state. The scraping spatula, the quick start guide, the pliers, the casing and its content (including USB key)… had disappeared.

The cube glue is almost empty. There is only one cartridge left (which seems logical as it the other one has probably been used up), but it wasn’t operational.

We first decided to repair the cartridge, as we found it in three different pieces which is not its normal state. We then tried to calibrate the printer. We think that one of the three knobs that are supposed to maintain the plate is broken. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to repair it and we couldn’t calibrate the plate so our test print failed. One of the issues might be a malfunction of the printing head as the melted plastic does not seem to come out of it and as the color of the plastic is mostly grey even if it is a black colored cartridge. This is the next step we will look forward to fix the printer but it’s an issue we still have to work on. We also hope to fix the knob maybe directly by using glue.

Sol Summary – February 23rd

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 11
SOL: 11
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: North of the Hab
Mission Status: successful EVA in the morning, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow there should be an EVA, the good weather should allow for balloon deployment, and other experiments can also be tested outside.
Anomalies in work: /
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning, quite cold because of the wind
Crew Physical Status: One crewmember has some stomachaches, rest of the crew feeling wait
EVA: dug the seismometer hole a bit deeper, explored north of the Hab, did some maintenance on the tunnel extension.

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #10 report
– EVA #11 request

Sol Summary – February 23rd

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 11
SOL: 11
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: North of the Hab
Mission Status: successful EVA in the morning, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow there should be an EVA, the good weather should allow for balloon deployment, and other experiments can also be tested outside.
Anomalies in work: /
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning, quite cold because of the wind
Crew Physical Status: One crewmember has some stomachaches, rest of the crew feeling wait
EVA: dug the seismometer hole a bit deeper, explored north of the Hab, did some maintenance on the tunnel extension.

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #10 report
– EVA #11 request

Sol summary – February 22nd

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 10
SOL: 10
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Restful Sol
Mission Status: day for rest today, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, rest, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow there should be an EVA, work on experiments promising for productive EVAs.
Anomalies in work: /
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning, very strong wind all afternoon
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well
EVA: /

Reports to be filed:
– Commander report
– Operations report
– Journalist report
– GreenHab Report
– EVA #10 request

Sol Summary – February 21st

SOL: 9
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: The winds of Mars are blowing
Mission Status: interesting exploration EVA, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: Windy weather in the following days will not allow for balloon deployment, and other outdoor experiments are not ready for outdoor testing, therefore no EVA tomorrow, which will be a more restful day.
Anomalies in work: /
Weather: beautiful and sunny in the morning, very strong wind all afternoon
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well
EVA: EVA #9 checked on the seismometer, found a good spot for deployment of the balloon and took some PR pictures in beautiful White Rock Canyon, experienced no fogging!

Sol Summary – February 20th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 8
SOL: 8
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: White Rock Canyon
Mission Status: interesting exploration EVA, all systems go, work on experiments ongoing
Sol Activity Summary: sport, EVA, science work on different experiments
Look Ahead Plan: As this weather should improve in the following next few days, the crew is looking forwards to further testing of the balloon.
Anomalies in work: heavy fogging, maybe due in part to the very humid air
Weather: foggy in the early morning and then improved a lot
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well
EVA: EVA #8 checked on the seismometer and explored the White Rock Canyon.

Sol Summary – February 19th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT SOL 7
SOL: 7
Person filling out Report: Louis MALLER, XO
Summary Title: Wet Mars
Mission Status: shortened EVA due to heavy fogging, 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 the weather should be sunny, which will allow for a more productive EVA. Crew looking forwards to the two weeks left to carry out science and other tasks.
Anomalies in work: heavy fogging iside helmets during the EVA, maybe due in part to the very humid air
Weather: very cloudy, experienced rain in the afternoon, ground a bit muddy
Crew Physical Status: Crew feeling well
EVA: EVA #6 went out to test talkie range and a radio relay system, which failed to work. Planned exploration of Cowboy Corner was cancelled due to difficulties with the equipment.

Sol Summary – February 18th

SOL SUMMARY REPORT 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.