Mars Desert Research Station

Sol Summary – February 1st

Journalist report Sol 03

It has been just corn flakes for the breakfast ever since we
landed on Mars, so we started our day with pasta for a change which
happens to be one of my favourite dishes! I appreciate the extra
efforts Italians put to get the perfect recipes and how particular
they are with the cooking. I recollect our commander Mamatha’s
experience with her Italian friend who accidentally spotted the over
cooked pasta during lunch break and presented mamatha a timer clock
the next day with a tag just 10 minutes!!! The breakfast discussion
was about our geologist Arun and scientist Saroj’s previous night star
trail photo session inside tunnel which turns out to be hilarious! We
had a laughter riot when Saroj recalled how Arun was scared of Martian
cats attack!! Yes we heard stories of the Martian cats spotting from a
very close source 😉 They did also spot a beam of light near the solar
panel area, it must be of an alien spaceship!! Amidst chaos and in the
verge of getting to the hab quickly, Arun had his heart in the mouth
after dropping his camera. He was relieved after finding out just the
UV filters was shattered!
Post breakfast crew biologist Sneha sowed the germinated
seeds in pots. She will be studying the effects of Vitamin D on the
growth of plants. Each set of pots have been placed in misian Martian
lamp and greenhab area. By noon, Arun and Saroj left for the planned
EVA, the primary goal was to collect rock samples with mineral
composition to help Arun with his geology research. We were expecting
quite a lot of pictures of the activity but sadly it turns out the SD
card was forgotten!!! I guess there is a camera curse and the team
intends to remove the same using age old Indian technique “kala teeka”
(removal of bad omens).
Sol 04 is going to be an exciting day, as our commander will be
joining us. Can’t wait to start the planetary protection studies.

Green Hab Report – February 1st

Green Hab Report
Sol-03
Earth Date: 02.01.2017
Written by : Sneha Velayudhan

Functionality: as the climate on Mars is beautiful, the green hab
temperatures are high that we had to switch on the coolers twice
today. The temperatures were noted as 28 degree centigrade while the
outside temperature was 1 degree centigrade at 10:10 AM. By 12:20 pm,
the temperature rised to around 45 degree, the cooler was switched on
to decrease the temperature. The temperature was brought down to
around 30 degree. In the evening temperatures were noted, the green
hab was 18 degree while the outside temperature was 9 degree
centigrade.
Status: The botany experiment started with 2 sets of pots, 10 each
prepared with earth soil and marked with 0-0.9 grams of Vitamin D.
Five different types of Martian soil, each type of soil were prepared
in 2 pots and marked for the variety. A mixture of earth soil, the
different tryps of Martian soil was prepared in equal ratio and filled
into 4 pots. Each of the respective sets such as the 10 pots of Earth
soil, 5 pots of mars soil, 2 pots each of the mixture of Earth and
Mars soil were consolidated. The germinated fenugreek seeds were
delicately sowed into the pots. One set is placed in the green hab
and the other under the misian mars lamp. All plants including the
newly potted seedlings were watered twice today.
Planned activity: The growth of fenugreek will be monitored along with
the other plants in the coming days.

EVA Report – February 1st

EVA Report:
SOL: 03
Date: 02/01/2017
Person filling out the report: Sai Arun Dharmik
Crew members involved in the EVA: Sai Arun Dharmik and Saroj Kumar
EVA leader: Sai Arun Dharmik
Begin: 11:45 Hrs
End: 15:15 Hrs
Type of EVA: Deimos + 1 ATV (300) + Walking
Purpose: Collection of rock samples to be measured magnetic susceptibility
UTM Coordinates: Northing: 4255600 , Easting : 518400
Summary: We started the EVA at 11:45 am. The temperature was around 12
degree Celsius outside the Hab and the sky was clear. We have
collected few samples from the URC North site area on our route to
Lith Canyon. The samples collected at URC North site were primarily
transported due to weathering, hence we cannot attribute them to that
location. Later we collected few samples of sandstones and shales near
the Lith canyon region. The samples will be analysed tomorrow
(02.02.2017) and a detailed report will be sent.

Crew Photos – January 31st

Crew members studying geology map of Mars.

Crew biologist Sneha potting the Seedlings into soil with help from crew engineer.

Crew biologist digging soil with shovel.

Crew biologist and crew engineer in the field.

Crew biologist and crew engineer ready for EVA.

Sol Summary – January 31st

Crew 174 Daily Summary Sol – 02

We started our day with a positive news of our Crew Commander’s arrival! After the breakfast the crew members geared up for the planned activities. The first EVA experience came handy today, the preparation time of wearing EVA suits and checking radio communications was short. As per our planned EVA, the crew biologist and scientist quickly left for the same. The geological map of Mars was studied in prior to mark locations for soil collection. The EVA lasted around 2 hours and 30 mins, during the EVA the crew was able to look for 5 different types of soil in color and texture. They captured photos and videos of the red planet. The crew returned to the hab after the regular hab operations checks. In parallel, crew in the hab prepared lunch and communicated with the EVA team when needed. After EVA return, the crew members had lunch and rested.
Later, Arpan and Saroj helped Sneha organize the soil collection and prepare the pots to plant the seeds with the Martian and Earth soil with added Vitamin D, to observe their growth patterns in controlled conditions. After the soil prep, the team started to work on the reports and planned activities for tomorrow.

GreenHab Report – January 31st

Green Hab Report
Report written by: Sneha Velayudhan (Crew Biologist)
Date : 01/31/2017
Functionality: The heaters in the green hab is in perfect working condition. The temperatures are monitored twice a day. Today it was noted that the temperature in the green hab was around 48 degree centigrade while the temperature outside was 10 degree centigrade around 11:30 AM. As the temperature was too high the cooler was switched on and the green hab temperature was brought down to around 33 degree centigrade. The seedlings were watered twice today. The temperatures were monitored in the evening, it was noted to be 23 degree centigrade inside while the outside temperature was around 8 degree centigrade.
Status: The fenugreek and the Chick pea seeds have germinated well and are ready for potting. The pots are prepared with earth soil for the experiment to monitor the effect of Vitamin D on the growth of plants. An EVA was done to collect different types of soil from different locations on Mars. There were 5 different types of soil collected. The soil collected are different in color and texture. Seeds will be planted in each of the soil type and the seedling growth will be observed. The existing seedlings were monitored for growth. The height of the corn plants were measured.
Planned activity: The germinated seeds will be planted into the earth and martian soil. There will be 2 sets each of 10 pots marked in increments of 0 – 0.9 g of Vitamin D. One of this set will be placed in the Green Hab and the other under the misian Mars light and growth will be monitored.

Journalist Report – January 31st

Journalist Report

Sol-02

Reported by: Arpan Vasanth

Stars are magical, it has a power to attract, helps us to rethink and reimagine. It also imbibes in us a passion to reach out for it, they are the most influencing objects helping one develop a quest for space exploration. The Team Planeteers (MDRS Crew 174) consists of a special blend of individuals who have been influenced at a very young age.
Our crew commander Mamatha shares that she was fascinated by our solar system and the never ending universe. She credits her high school teacher largely for all the information provided by taking a step away from the usual syllabus. She adds that her zeal to become an astronaut led her to purse further studies in space domain. Mamatha also shares her undergraduate experience of building the first Indian Pico Satellite (STUDSAT – STUDent SATellite), the challenges faced and the determination of the complete team to make it fly in a limited time slot. She now works for lunar path and mars pathfinder mission by taking the game to a whole new level! Way out of Lower Earth Orbit (LEO), where STUDSAT was placed. She believes Mars analog mission will help her to develop key field tactics required for future manned missions.
A book on our solar system with a cover page of space shuttle launch caught our executive officer Saroj’s interest in space during his grade six, During his schooling he would collect the articles on space missions which he has preserved it till date. Having gained enormous knowledge about mission plans during Project STUDSAT-2, he is now working on nuclear fusion propulsion technology for deep space inter-planetary missions. He believes in not just designing but also flying in one, hence he feels MDRS would be a perfect platform to get a glimpse of his childhood and future aspirations to eventually land on Mars one day.
To be able to colonize on MARS it is important to have a good understanding of the Martian atmosphere and geology. This brings to our next crew geologist Sai Arun, who says his biggest inspiration to get into the MDRS mission is, India’s first women astronaut Kalpana Chawla and expresses his desire to follow similar path. He adds that the citizen science radio astronomy group played an important role as well and wish to pursue research in Planetary science.
Coming to crew biologist of our team, Sneha’s (also lead chef of our mission !) journey, regular visits to planetariums and other space museums triggered the interest in her. The opportunity she got to work as a team member in Project STUDSAT paved the way for her to pursue her childhood interest. The passion she has for space leads her to work on research related to space communication. When approached with the opportunity to work on a Mars analog mission, the idea of living an astronaut life excited her. She adds that she is here to push her boundaries, live the astronaut life to the fullest and try her level best to support the mission and learn how to make the red planet a place to live for future humans.
Last but not the least about myself, I am fascinated with deep space missions and MDRS pushes the envelop in developing the skills required for such missions. After having worked in STUDSAT, I feel this is an excellent opportunity to reunite with old team mates and recreate the old magic!
Now coming back to life at Mars! The weather has been excellent ever since we landed here and it perfectly replicates the summer of Mars with temperature hovering around -10degree C to +5 degree C. Crew members Saroj and Sneha carried out their first EVA today. The goal was to collect different samples of Martian soil for greenhab experiment, both returned to the hab safely. Arun is lost with the Martian map trying to figure out key areas for his research. He is also planning for a night photo shoot session shortly! We are planning to wind up the day with botany experiments.

EVA Report – January 31st

EVA Report:
SOL: 02
Earth Date: 01/31/2017
Person filling out the report: Saroj Kumar
Crew members involved in the EVA: Saroj Kumar, Sneha Velayudhan
EVA leader: Sneha Velayudhan
Begin: 11.42 am
End: 02.00 pm
Type of EVA: Walking + Driving (Phobos)
Purpose: Mars soil sample collection for GreenHab experiments
UTM Coordinates: 1. Northing : 4251500 Easting : 519050

2. Northing: 4250250 Eastinhg: 518200
Summary: Today’s EVA was primarily dedicated for the Mars soil sample collection to test the growth of fenugreek plants. The secondary objective was to take pictures for the outreach activity. We visited the first coordinate location and took three different soil samples in different varieties consisting red, white and clay color soil. At the second coordinate location, two soil samples were collected from the old river bed. Life support system and radio communication were working perfectly fine for both the crews.

Final Mission Summary – Crew 173

Mars Desert Research Station End of Mission Summary

Crew 173 – Team PRIMA

Team PRIMA:

Commander/Astrobiologist: Michaela Musilova (Slovakia)

Executive Officer: Arnau Pons Lorente (Spain)

Engineer/ Astronomer: Idriss Sisaid (France/Morocco)

GreenHab Officer/Astrobiologist: Richard Blake (Australia)

Crew Artist/Journalist: Niamh Shaw (Ireland)

Crew Health & Safety Officer/Geologist: Roy Naor (Israel)

Team PRIMA is made up of highly qualified scientists, engineers, artists and leadership experts from all over the world. We all first met during the International Space University (ISU)’s Space Studies Program. The crew was successful in undertaking a wide range of research projects and outreach activities at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) during their mission there, detailed below. One of the keys to the smooth running of the mission and projects were great group dynamics, and the multicultural atmosphere the crew nurtured. Amongst other things, we regularly organized “culture nights”, in ISU’s spirit, during which the different international traditions and cuisines of the crew members were presented. Another thing, which bonded the whole crew, was our passion for reaching out to the public and inspiring others to pursue their dreams, just like the crew is doing. They believe this mission alone helped raise the awareness about the importance of the space sector in all of the crew members’ countries.

Research conducted at MDRS:

3D printing of bricks through In Situ Resource Utilization

The aim of this project was to develop and test 3d printed blocks, which can be used to build multifunctional buildings on Mars. The shape of the blocks was optimized to withstand different types of heavy loads, contain water (for daily use by astronauts) and to provide extra-radiation shielding for the astronauts. Furthermore, the idea was to use in situ resources to make the blocks, therefore minimizing the amount of material that would need to be transported to Mars.

The first week at MDRS, we encountered several issues with the 3D printer present here (including the cold temperatures at night for example), which didn’t allow us to print bricks but we managed to print 5 bricks over the last few days (Figure 1). Every brick took 17h on average to print. The outer shell of the brick was printed using PLA filament (plastic). For future studies, we suggest laser sintering technology to simulate 3D printing using Martian soil. The printed blocks are, however, a great success as the interlocking system was fully functional. With the crew geologist Roy Naor we evaluated the different types of soil that can be used within the brick to strengthen it. Filling the blocks with appropriate soil was also successful and the process was fairly easy (less than 1min per block). We then built a small structure at MDRS during an EVA, in order to prepare for the next iteration of the proof of concept.

Figure 1: the first 3D printed brick on “Mars”

GreenHab related projects

The work in the GreenHab during this has mission comprised of three main experiments:

Temperature

The temperature fluctuation was measured across the day, from a range of locations: inside the GreenHab, inside on the ground floor of the main Hab, outside, and, inside the grow tent (which was initially located within the GreenHab). The results are presented in Figure 2.

Due to the extremely high temperatures in the growth tent (50◦C ~120◦F), the grow tent was moved to the lower level of the main Hab. With the grow tent inside the main Hab, its temperature hardly fluctuated at all (Figure 3). With ~65% humidity, it now represents an ideal seed germination area. The GreenHab still gets quite hot during the day, getting to ~40◦C (~105◦F), but with no wind and regular watering, the plants thrive. Similarly, with a working heater, the night- time temperatures now only get as low as ~17◦C (~63◦F), which is a perfectly adequate temperature to keep edible plants happy.

Figure 2: Sol 1 temperatures

Figure 3: Sol 7 temperatures

Growth

This involved two similar experiments designed by universities in the Czech Republic, and brought by the crew commander, Michaela Musilova. The first was a corn experiment, designed by researchers at the Masaryk University, to be used as a base line for a future experiment testing the effects of heavy metals on the growth of corn (Figure 4). The experiment at the MDRS involved measuring the height of corn seedlings each day as well as recording the number of leaves each plant had. Figure 4 shows the growth of the corn seedlings after only a few days of being in the grow tent.

The second experiment saw six different crops sown in pots with seed densities ranging from 1 to 12 seeds per 4 cm². Some seedlings have already sprouted but it is still too early to gather meaningful results. This experiment is to be followed up by researchers at Mendel University.
Both projects are to be continued by future crews at MDRS – we will leave them appropriate instructions for this. Hopefully, in this way, we will be able to engage multiple crews in this international project.

Figure 4: Corn growing experiments

Soil

This experiment was borne of the need for more soil to grow plants in. Samples of soil were collected from geological locations in the surroundings of MDRS. These samples were tested for their pH, as well as salinity. With kitchen and garden scraps forming compost, this could improve the regolith to the point it could be used to grow more crops in the future. Hopefully, this could reduce dependence on outside sources to bring in more potting mix, and more fully recreate a Martian simulation. Unfortunately, the instruments to measure pH and salinity at the MDRS were insufficient for this, and thus this experiment warrants further investigation.

Chemical and isotopic fingerprints of MDRS carbonates

The potential of extraterrestrial life on Mars is well connected to the history, and distribution of water and carbon on the planet. Carbonate minerals are seen as powerful tools with which to explore these fundamental relationships, as they are intimately tied to both the water and the inorganic carbon cycle. The carbonate analysis work at MDRS concentrated on locating and sampling carbonate minerals in the topsoil and exhumed formations in the Martian-like environment. After an initial study of the geology of the area, carbonates were sampled and tested on site, using HCl 5% to test for a reaction of the rocks with the acid. The verified assemblages were then brought back to MDRS for further testing. The sampling was performed in a very rigorous way, documented meticulously, while keeping the work analogous to what extraterrestrial field work would be like one day.

The samples will be sent for analysis of the carbonates’ chemical and isotopic fingerprint at the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) (including crystal separation, mineral/chemical identification (XRD, EDS, CL), textural analysis (SEM, micro-CT), isotopic analysis (SIMS)). The results will be added to their datasets with the intention of publishing them in academic journals.

Art-Outreach project

The aim of this project was to capture the public’s interest in Mars, MDRS and Space:

by telling the real-time human story of our mission pre-, during- and post-mission,
to inspire the younger generation to pursue STEAM education and realize that everyone can play a part in the exploration of space
to raise awareness of the importance of analog missions, specifically MDRS and the opportunity for non-Space agency individuals to play their part in Human Space Exploration.

We believe that we accomplished these aims: together we documented our entire experience here at MDRS using audio, video, timelapse, 360 cameras and photography. We began by making videos pre-mission to reflect the time and effort in preparation for our mission. During mission, we captured every EVA in photography and video and conducted time lapse videos of our experiments, and daily life during our mission. We will continue to record our experience post-mission to capture further reflections about our experience at MDRS. During our mission, we shared a summary of our daily activities on social media and on blogposts in our native countries using this content. We also created short 90 second tutorial videos for school children to inspire them to consider careers in STEM, especially in the space industry, to be posted to our YouTube channel post-mission. We also worked with a number of companies, research institutions and journalists/media organizations around the world. Awareness of Mars and MDRS has most definitely been achieved, and we all return home to requests for further interviews and requests from schools to speak about our experience here.

Israeli outreach & educational projects

One of our outreach projects involved a challenge for high school students in Israel to design a set of small experiments for the team to conduct under simulation. They were: 1) Detecting variances in rock type near MDRS (involving sampling and examining the geological characteristics of each of the formations present here); 2) Testing the strength of the 3D printed bricks as a function of the different rock material they will be filled with (thus testing the variance in their strength properties ); and testing the effect of repetitive EVAs on the time it takes the crew to prepare for it (timing and documenting the process of putting EVA equipment on). All crew members took part in this research lead by Roy Naor. The projects yielded interesting results. For instance, there was a great improvement in the EVA preparation time (decreasing from 30 minutes to 15 minutes throughout the mission). This projects already got a lot of media coverage and the results be published in the Israeli media after the mission.

“Mission to Mars” competition and research project:

Michaela Musilova organized a competition for high school and university students in Slovakia called Mission to Mars (Misia Mars), together with Slovenske Elektrarne. The aim of the competition was to motivate young people to design an experiment worthy of being taken and performed on Mars, whether real or simulated at MDRS. Students from all over Slovakia participated in the competition in 2016. The winning experiment has been brought to MDRS with Crew 173 (Figure 5). It is focused on enhancing the speed and yield of spinach growth under simulated Martian conditions. Michaela communicated regularly with her students in Slovakia, who remotely advised her on how to perform it. The experiment was very successful, as the spinach grew much faster than the spinach grown in the GreenHab. It also yielded enough leaves to treat the crew to a mini spinach salad on their last evening at MDRS. All the follow-up analyses will be performed in the students’ school in Detva, Slovakia. As per the other outreach activities, this project attracted a lot of attention from the media and was followed by many schools throughout Slovakia.

Figure 5: Mission to Mars experiment at MDRS

“Space food” or food for extreme conditions

A practical way of eating is the key to long-term expeditions in extreme conditions on Earth and in future long-duration missions in space. Food will have to be compact (for easy transportation), full of the most important nutrients (for maintaining good crew health and performance), but also diverse for all the different human senses. Hence, a project focusing on food for extreme conditions (nicknamed “space food”) has been prepared by the Slovak Organization for Space Activities (SOSA) and several Slovak research institutes and companies. The aim of the work at MDRS was to monitor the changes in the quality of the space food products and their nutritional content, rather than to test the products on the crew. In particular, the effects of the different extreme conditions (e.g. varying temperatures) on the food were studied for health and safety reasons. The project went very well and most of the products managed to survive the simulated Martian conditions. Further analyses will be performed at the Slovak institutes upon the return of the products to Slovakia, with the aim of publishing the data in academic publications. Future plans include using the data in the food industry, and preparing products for athletes and even the military, even one day for the space sector.