Mars Desert Research Station

Journalist Report – February 25th

Journalist report, 02/25/17 – Sol 13: Water games.

We started this sol with very bad news: the water pump we use to refill the indoor tank from the outdoor one was not responding, and we only had 4 gallons (15 L) left. Enough to flush twice, to take two showers, to drink for a bit more than one day… But we had to wash dishes, and cook, which also requires a huge amount of water because of the food we have to rehydrate. We didn’t hear any noise coming from the pump so that we believed that it was an electrical issue, or a problem coming from it, but kept in mind that the temperature during the night would have allowed it to freeze easily. We decided to first go on EVA, so that we might see if there was any problem outside.

The EVA was supposed to start with an outdoor water tank refill, but we found out that the portable pump we use for it wasn’t functioning too. It had stayed in the engineering airlock so that it might be frozen too. We aborted the refill and the EVA started by giving another try with the solar balloon. This time it went right: Simon, in charge of the experiment, leading this EVA deployed it along with Arthur, Louis and Mouâdh. They used the spot we determined before, and let it fly there for the whole EVA, while they left for “the Moon” again, this time with Arthur and his sextant, in order to let him measure coordinates in this new location. At the same time, Xavier was trying to find out what was wrong with the pump, and one hour later, it started again as usual. It must have frozen during this night, even if it was in the airlock. We had solved one problem, but the main pump was not working yet, even if we had tried to put hot water on the outside pipe coming out of the tank.

The EVA went fine on the North, with some new beautiful shots from Louis, while the balloon was doing fine, oscillating slowly from the ground to 50 meters high. When they came back, we had prepared every pan and bowl we had in the hab, for an emergency refill. The 4 gallons we had didn’t allow us to cook the meal. The EVA members, back from their mission, spent 15 minutes and lost a lot of water filling up all the stuff we had let in the engineering airlock. About 5 minutes after all this trouble, the main pump decided to restart working… Water must have frozen in the outdoor pipe too. Anyway it ended up well even if we had to move around 10 gallons of water in the stairs (that are closer to a ladder by the way).

Tomorrow, we will begin with our last experiment: simulating emergency situations in EVA. Victoria and I will be the only one to remain in the hab in the morning, while 4 crew members will experiment it being led by Xavier.

Commander Report – February 25th

Dear Earth,

The Hab is definitely not made to host a crew for more than two weeks:
we spent the first 12 Sols of a typical two-week rotation perfectly
safe in our little haven, and now that we reached the fateful Sol 13,
it seems that the Hab is trying to kill us all… some say that it was
built on a Martian cemetery. Moreover, we feel like a small family
that would take care of an isolated hotel in the middle of the winter,
if you see what I mean.

This morning, Simon, Mouâdh, Louis Maller and I deployed the balloon
north of the Hab and then visited the grey landscapes of the Moon-like
area. Meanwhile inside the Hab, Xavier, Louis Mangin and Victoria
faced a rather critical issue: no water flowed up from the exterior
tank to the upper deck tank, and we only had 15L (4 gal) left in the
latter. In our referential, it represents 2 showers, or 2 flushes, or
a little less than what is needed to cook and wash the dishes. Water
is everything for us, particularly since most of our food needs to be
rehydrated… Fortunately, just before twelve, nature stopped playing
with our nerves and pushed the ice cubes out of the pump.
Unsurprisingly, the night was so cold that the pipes were frozen. The
melting happened just in time for the return of the brave explorers!

In the afternoon, Simon and Xavier established a set of emergency
procedures for medical issues happening outdoors. Indeed, we want to
try some first-aid moves during later EVAs, after having adapted them
to our spacesuits and vehicles.

The obscure force that seems to inhabit the Hab struck again later in
the afternoon. When one of us climbed to the loft to take a look at
the water counter, this unfortunate fellow fell violently off the
fourth bar of the ladder, because of the lack of an upper bar to hold
on to. Everyone else rushed to the injured crewmember and moved him to
the sofa. We were quick and efficient, and did not go easy on
anti-pain medication and ice. Luckily, the Fallen Astronaut is now
safe and sound. The Overlook Hote… sorry, the Hab will not trap us so
easily!

Ad Astra!

Arthur Lillo
Commander of the Shining-proof Crew 175

EVA Report – February 25th

EVA Report 25/02/2017
EVA#12
Crew members: Simon Bouriat (EVA leader), Louis Maller, Arthur Lillo and
Mouadh Bouayad (EVA buddies)
Location:
• Around the Hab
• North of the Hab (12N 518750, 4252750) if time remaining.
Vehicles used: Deimos, 2×350 ATV
Departure time: 9:05 AM
Return time: 12:15 PM
Duration: 3 hours

Summary:
One of the best EVAs I did since the beginning.
We first experimented with the solar balloon. It actually worked pretty
well despite the variable wind. We succeeded in shooting videos with the
GoPro from inside the balloon’s platform and we also put the Arduino
system to get the temperature and pressure variations. Everything went
well but because of the large ups and downs of the balloon we stayed for
almost an hour and a half to be sure that it wouldn’t break.
After that, we took Deimos and two ATVs and went to the North. We
finally reached beige moon, grey moon and then yellow moon and took
amazing pictures. Our commander tried to locate us with the sextant but
the map he printed wasn’t precise enough to get the three landmarks
needed. And unfortunately, the glasses went unexpected out of range
shortly after the beginning of the EVA. But we observed that the battery
kept them working during the entire 3 hours so we will take them again
on a next EVA.

GreenHab Report – February 25th

Green Hab Report – Sol 13
Report written by: Victoria DA-POIAN (Crew Biologist)

Date : 02/25/2017

Functionality: The heater in the green hab is working well. Today was a very sunny day and warmer than yesterday. I checked the temperature in the GreenHab this morning. It was around 41 Celsius degrees around 11:00 AM while the temperature in the tunnel was around 3.8 Celsius degrees. I switched on the cooler (on stage 3).

The GreenHab temperature was 18 Celsius degrees at 5:00PM while it was 6 Celsius degrees in the tunnel. I then cut the cooler and watered the seedlings.

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. A new lettuce has been planted today. Another lettuce is not looking well, we will probably harvest it soon and plant a new one.

The Vegidair has been is functionning very well. We were able to see taller sprouts of lettuce and of « roquette » today in the Vegidair than in the similar pots I put in the GreenHab, but those in the GreenHab have also taken well.

Thanks,
Victoria

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

Commander Report – February 24th

Dear Earth,

Sol 12 was particularly cold.

This morning, Louis Mangin, Louis Maller and Simon did an EVA under
the lead of Xavier. Our Executive Officer was equipped with the
augmented reality glasses “Optinvent”, so that Mouâdh could watch on
his computer inside the Hab what Louis was seeing outdoors. However,
this helpful technology was only usable in the vicinity of the Hab
(for instance during the engineering check), because of the short
range of our WiFi connection. The rest of the EVA was dedicated to
exploration, heading to the remarkable landscapes beyond Tank Wash. An
area east of Factory Butte looked a lot like the grey hills around the
Apollo landing sites. Our four brave astronauts came back
freezing-cold and were overjoyed by the hot meal they encountered on
upper deck.

The afternoon began with card game time (the main debate here is about
what game should be played after lunch, between “la coinche”, “la
belote” and “le tarot”). Today “la coinche” won the fight, and was
followed by the usual partition of the crew in the different modules:
Victoria in the GreenHab, the two Louis and Mouâdh on the upper deck
of the Hab, Xavier, Simon and I in the Science Dome. In the meantime,
we tried to revive the 3D printer which is still reluctant to our
efforts. I am optimistic though, given the inventivity of my team.

Ad Astra!

Arthur Lillo
Commander of the cold-resistant Crew 175

Crew Photos – February 24th

12N 425300 51800 02242017 Crew on hill 2

12N 515000 4254000 02242017 ATVs on Yellow Moon

02242017 Connected glasses connected to PC

12N 515000 4254000 02242017 From Yellow to White moon

GreenHab Report – February 24th

Green Hab Report – Sol 12
Report written by: Victoria DA-POIAN (Crew Biologist)

Date : 02/24/2017

Functionality: The heater in the green hab is working well. Today was a very sunny but cold day ! I checked the temperature in the GreenHab this morning. It was around 28 Celsius degrees around 10:00 AM while the temperature in the tunnel was around 3.2 Celsius degrees. I switched on the cooler on stage 2. The GreenHab temperature was 24 Celsius degrees at 6:00PM while it was 2.8 Celsius degrees in the tunnel. I watered twice the plants today.

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. The new lettuces I planted are growing very well too.

The Vegidair has been installed a week ago and is functionning very well. We were able to see nice sprouts of lettuce today in the Vegidair and some smaller in the similar pots I put in the GreenHab.

Science Report – February 24th

Science Report

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

Finally found an application that allows to connect the glasses to a computer using a local ad-hoc network (LAN). The HabCom was able to view on his computer what I was seeing. Unfortunately, the diesel tank was already out of range for the LAN. The phone creating the LAN was in my pocket, maybe placing it inside the GreenHab for example would have allowed for better coverage. Tomorrow we will do some range tests to evaluate this possibility during the EVA. Further work will be based on trying to find a solution to control the glasses (operating on android) from my phone (also on android), through a LAN. Suggestions welcome!

Experiment: Sextant
Person filling in the report: Arthur Lillo
The Sextant has proved that it is usable during EVAs even with gloves. Thanks to the new compass that was built, it is much more easy to find our position on the map. The development of a dedicated app is on standby due to lack of appropriate software.

Experiment: Balloon
Person filling in the report: Simon Bouriat
There was a deployment test this morning, which was unsuccessful due to strong gusts of wind that took us a bit by surprise. We aborted the deployment, and as we tried to put the balloon back in place, it ripped a little in some places. Xavier and I spend some time this afternoon fixing it. We are hoping that the wind will lower enough before the end of our mission in order for us to deploy it successfully, ideally for 24 hours.

Experiment: Aquapad
Person filling in the report: Arthur Lillo
Aquapads were prepared today in order to test the evolution of the quality of the filtered water in the Hab.

EVA Report – February 24th

EVA #11

Crew members (4) : Xavier Rixhon (EVA leader), Louis XO, Louis Journalist and Simon HSO (EVA buddies)

Location: Hab surroundings, North of the Hab to do PR (at Tank Wash : 518500, 4253500)

Vehicules : 1 rover (Deimos), 2 ATV (350 #3 and 300)
Time: departure at 09:00 a.m and back at 12:00pm

Duration : 3 hours

Purposes:
• Deploying the balloon at the acceptable location near the hab, found during EVA #9
• Since this place is absolutely stunning, tank Wash exploration, shooting of other “official photos” (with our official photographer-journalist this time)
• AR glasses testing : battery autonomy, potential mobile app (if available) testing

Summary:

Unfortunately, we started the EVA 15 minutes, the classic “quart d’heure toulousain”, late because of last minute balloon preparation. The EVA commenced with the traditional engineering check (see Operations Report for details). After this super fast pre-EVA engineering check, we headed to the location near the hab to deploy the balloon. As soon as we tried to open it, we understood we couldn’t make it because of the strong wind and gusts. It was that strong that the balloon tore apart and had to be fixed up in the afternoon. After putting it back in the engineering airlock, we took Deimos and instead of taking two 350, we trie the ATV 300 for the very first time and the 350 #3. We started a long drive to the North. Louis, the Journalist, took amazing panoramic shots on the hills of Tank Wash. As we still had heaps of time, we went on North and ended up in the middle of a lunar landscape, next to “The Moon”. It was particularly exceptional to pass from Mars to the Moon in only few yards. I decided to head to back to the Hab around 11:15, considering the ride back duration and the post-EVA engineering check. This time, pumping up the tires was away more efficient. As accurate as a Swiss watch, we entered the main airlock at 11:56 and, after 3-minute pressurisation, join our crew mates at 11:59 in the Hab.