MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION

Science Report

Experiment : Optinvent AR Glasses
Person filling in the report: Louis Maller

I have tinkered some more with Tasker and have therefore managed to implement an interesting function on the glasses:
When you tilt the head to the left, it starts recording what you are saying, and when you tilt your head to the right it stops recording. This functionality was tested successfully during today’s EVA, with the help of Louis Mangin. We have a recording of him giving some information (level of the water tank or propane for example). The voice is clear and understandable even inside the helmet.

The tilt of the head needed is quite strong, the glasses need to be brought to a vertical position, so you have to tilt the body somewhat in order for this to work. I’m currently working to solve this issue.

During the EVA, the glasses and the computer were both connected to the same LAN network created by my phone.  The phone was on the second floor of the hab. I could see on my screen exactly what the person wearing the glasses could see, though with a slight lag. The connection was lost as they went to check the propane tank, when they disappeared behind the small hill. The disappointing thing was that even when they came back close to the hab, I was unable to get the connection with the glasses. I am also trying to solve this issue. It seems to require relaunching the AirDroid App that I am using, which I can also do by using position of the head (for example head tilted upwards works).

Experiment: Seismometer
Person filling in the report: Mouadh Bouyad

I have read the data we collected yesterday, and I think that we have coherent data, especially when it comes to the temperature. I have however noticed something weird : in most of daily measurements, I
obtain irregularities that seem very unnatural to me, almost at the same time (4pm french time).
I wonder if they are not data due to the fact that we sometimes change the key ; however, I can see the same kind of anomaly on other days, when measurements have been made continuously (without changing the key).

Science report

Experiment: Optinvent AR glasses
Person filling in the report: Louis Maller
The glasses were taken out today once again. They properly functioned during the entire engineering check (part of the team that stayed near the hab, not the one that went all the way to the diesel tank). The signal was lost only when I drove off on the ATV. That’s a good success.
Optinvent gave me access to some software that would allow me to control my glasses from my phone, but it still requires some troubleshooting because of Bluetooth issues.
Also I have been tinkering with Tasker to try to turn on apps with movements from the accelerometer, but I’m not an expert and need to improve what I have started doing.

Experiment: Seismometer
Person filling in the report: Mouadh Bouayad
We went to get back the data today; there was a lot of wind. We even had to put the sensor back to  its place again but it had barely moved. Otherwise everything was ok today.

Experiment: Aquapad:
Person filling report: Arthur
Yesterday I put a few drops of filtered water and boiled water in two
aquapad petri dishes and let them at 35°C in the Science Dome oven.
This afternoon (24 hours after), I took them out of the oven and used
the iPad application “Everywear” developed by the CNES, to count the
red points in the Aquapads (the points are caused by the growth of the
bacteria present in the water). Unfortunately, the glass of the petri
dishes was covered with fog, but it was possible to conclude that the
bacterial pollution of our water is stable: I did not see any major
variation in the quantity of red points, compared with mo observations
of the two last weeks.

Experiment: Sextant:
Person filling report: Arthur
I used the sextant three times during today’s EVA, but lost the paper
map because of the strong wind. As a result, in the afternoon I
figured out a way to determine my position on the PDF map by drawing
the lines and angles on a graphics software.
I join to this report the part of the map showing the exact position
of the seismometer, South of the Hab, with additional information
about the sextant angles.

ASTRONOMY REPORT

SOL 15

NAME:  Mouadh Bouayad            CREW: 175

DATE: 02/27/2017

DATE OF OBSERVATION: 02/26/2017
SKY CONDITIONS: mostly clear, few clouds here and there.
WIND CONDITIONS: no wind
OBSERVATION START TIME: 8:00 pm
OBSERVATION END TIME: 12:00 am
SUMMARY: Arthur and I went to the observatory to observe Andromeda Galaxy, and took few pictures as well. We then could take some more pictures of Orion Nebulae, and then Jupiter. The images are clearer! As you can see on the photos. We couldn’t however have a better focus on Jupiter, neither could we zoom in.
OBJECTS VIEWED: Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebulae, Jupiter.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED: None