Mars Desert Research Station

XO Report – April 25th

Crew 179 XO Report: 04.25.2017 SOL 2

It was an early start for the crew after a somewhat chilly night (with Ben downstairs suffering the brunt of it.) After breakfast, we assembled at approximately 09:00 for lectures on Decompression Syndromes and Urological Problems in Space. After which we were briefed for our second EVA. It was a complex mission with three main objections and one ‘get-ahead’ task. The first mission was to locate the crash site of a Chinese satellite and retrieve the remains of the canine passenger that was launched aboard it. The second objective was to locate the satellite relay station and test its function. The third objective was to collect geological samples of three rock types from a rock fall drainage. The ‘get-ahead’ task was to test comms from Ambush Alley and a nearby hill. (We had also one conservation ‘too-cute’ task of releasing the resident martian life form which was live trapped in the Hab last night-a.k.a. pack rat- back into the desert.) Kevin was lead and took the team through this complex mission which overall went well. (EVA start 11:30). The first three objectives were achieved and the ‘get-ahead’ task was aborted due to medical issues with the team doctor, Alicia. She had experienced progressive back and hip pain.

Despite the absence of an obvious leak in her suit, decompression illness could not be out-ruled so a delta evacuation was called and the ‘get ahead’ task was aborted. We returned to the Hab at approximately 13:20 with the patient and she was evaluated in-suit after repress and then in sick bay. Graded opening of her suit was performed and full physical exam done after suit was doffed. Ultrasound ultimately showed a left kidney stone and the diagnosis of renal colic eventually given. A treatment plan of oral NSAID and IM opiod was prescribed. The EVA (sim) was concluded and we debriefed over ‘breakfast-as-lunch’ which consisted of blueberry pancakes, eggs, Spam, and hashbrowns courtesy of ‘chef de mission’- Rick Cole. Gastronomic delight aside, we were able identify several issues with our EVA today from the debrief, namely: communication etiquette, adherence to tasks, off-nominal ops (i.e. hard landing of drone today in high winds making it non-functional and unavailable for further use), and visual identification of crew members by role while on EVAs. We made a team decision to revisit these issues in a separate meeting this evening after dinner.

(By the way, in case anyone is interested: our conservation mission was successful. The mouse was returned safely to the wild.)

At 15:00 hours, we were treated to a few more lectures: Capsule Landing in Water, Atmospheric Conditions and Toxicology, Study on Congestion and Headache Correlates in Space.

The Hab water situation was discussed after lecture as we appear to be pretty close to our last indoor tank full. The plan is to pump the outside tank to max out the indoor tank and try to press Sharon to expedite the water delivery. Failing this we will need to decide whether or not to slowly dry up like prunes and be buried under piles of our own festering dishes (true to sim) or possibly break sim and collect water from Hanksville. If we learned nothing else from today, space if full of complex decisions.

Crew physical training is scheduled before dinner to be led by Sarah, crew fitness trainer.

Submitted by Dana Levin, Crew 179 XO

Sol Summary – April 25th

It began with crew wake up. Weather was partly cloudy with a 50% chance of precipitation and threatening electrical storms all day. Winds were close to 40km/hour out of north. We are still without showers and on water rations as our water supply continues to dwindle. The resupply ship was delayed and nine crew members in the habitat operating off of leftover water from the previous crew burns through the supplies fast. We are hopeful for a rapid resupply. Waste management systems are also still on backups as the primary waste system is down for repairs. That said the crew is in excellent health and enthusiastically took to our morning tasks and after a hearty breakfast and our morning briefings, we took to the rovers once more for an EVA out to Robert’s Rock Garden at Zone 12S Easting 545687 Northing 4249173. Our surveys revealed many interesting finds today including geological samples and a few samples of historical value. Upon return we had yet another unexpected incapacitating incident but our expert medical crew once again stabilized the patient and returned her safely to the habitat where she was cared for until symptoms resolved. 2 incidents in 2 days is surely no more than a coincidence.

The day then continued with a debrief of the days events and a discussion of CO2, water survival field operations, and hypoxia. Once these were done we attempted to help our water shortage by returning to the water delivery tanks from the last crew. We’d discovered a small amount of water remaining in the tanks that could not initially be drained by the pumps. Our flight engineers rigged a pump and lever system to drain the small amount of water that had been left in them into our habitat’s static tank. We were able to salvage an additional 15 gallons bringing our total potable supply up to 53 gallons. Based on WHO standards for Earth based disaster medicine and our own rationing calculations from urine output and activity level, our Health and Safety Officer estimates this will last us about 1-2 more days. We are confident this will be sufficient for the supply ship to reach us. If it does not dehydration will set in. We will become weak, lethargic, confused, and eventually die. Those with female biology will likely outlast the males but even they will not last more than 4 days without water…

We remain enthusiastic and look forward to tomorrows tasks confident that we have solved all of our problems and will have smooth sailing from here on out. Reports on operations and photos will be submitted as well.

Daily Summary April 21st

Crew 178 Daily Summary Report 21APR2017

MDRS Daily Summary Report for sol 11

Summary Title: 12th EVA

Mission Status: Good

Sol Activity Summary:

Hab

8.00: Breakfast

10.30: Muscle wasting exercises

13.00: Lunch

GreenHab

ScienceDome

14.00: Experiment in biology: survey of plants growth and health progress

15.00: Experiment reports redaction

16.00: Packing

EVA

11.00: UTM NAD27 12S 4253000-518500

Telecommunication relays experiment

Weather:

Sunny

Crew Physical Status:

Everyone is fine

Look Ahead Plan:

Experiment reports redaction

End Packing

Reports to be file:

Operation Report, Daily Summary Report, EVA 12 Report, Journalist Report, End of mission Report, Commander Report

Support Requested:

Daily Summary – April 19

Crew 178 Daily Summary Report 19APR2017
MDRS Daily Summary Report for sol 9

Summary Title: 10th EVA
Mission Status: Good
Sol Activity Summary:

Hab
8.00: Breakfast
10.30: Muscle wasting exercises experiment
13.00: Lunch

GreenHab
/

ScienceDome
Experiment in biology: survey of plants growth and health progress
Experiment reports redaction

EVA
15.00: UTM NAD27 12S 4255500-518500
Diffractometer study: sample collection

Media: pictures and movies of several areas
Weather:
Sunny and slight windy

Crew Physical Status
Everyone is fine

Look Ahead Plan:
Last EVA and concluding experiments

Reports to be file: Operation Report, Daily Summary Report, EVA 10 Report

Support Requested:
/

EVA Report – April 19th

Crew 178 EVA #10 Report 19 APR 2017

Weather: sunny, and very windy
Temperature: around 20°C
Location: UTM NAD27 4253000 – 519000
Duration: 120 min
Team: Aurian d’Avernas (Crew Commander), Calogero Montedoro (Crew Biologist), Mathieu Vander Donckt (Crew Scientist), Damien Mertens (Crew Engineer) and Elke Mergny (Crew Geologist)
Purpose:
– Collecting new soil samples
– Telecommunication: installation of omni-and-unidirectional telecommunication relays
Outputs:
– Collecting succeeded.
– Telecommunication relays installation succeeded, need to continue recordings tomorrow

Mission Plan – Crew 179

Crew 179 Mission Plan 24 April 2017

Ben Easter

Crew 179 Commander

MDRS Crew 179

Wilderness Medical Society

Goals and Objectives

Nothing speaks to the essence of “wilderness” more than another planet. Mars represents the most remote and austere environment that humans have ever contemplated exploring. To simulate the demands of living and working on Mars, this group from the Wilderness Medical Society will serve as crew 179 at the Mars Desert Research Station. We will use MDRS as a base of operations for exploring Mars.

During this time, we hope to study medical issues unique to astronauts, space flight, and life on other planets. While our crew has considerable experience with delivering routine medical care and medical care in some of the most remote environments on this plan, we hope to gain an additional dimension of knowledge while considering the provision of medical care on Mars. In particular, we will study and simulate emergencies related to changes in normal human physiology due to microgravity, changes in ambient pressure, relevant toxicology, radiation, space motion sickness, and behavioral health and performance. We will also study ultrasound as an imaging modality in spaceflight.

A significant component of our learning will also be experiential. We have studied the work of prior crews from an engineering and research perspective, and hope to apply some of these lessons on EVAs. However, as our primary study is related to the care of injures crew members, our EVAs will frequently results in “unintended” consequences in which the crew will be forced to call on their medical and wilderness skills in order to survive.

Finally, we have also brought along technology to assist with our operations. We hope to use a 3D printer to fashion medical equipment that a Mars crew might not routinely carry with them, and use a drone (in appropriate areas) to assist with search and rescue operations as well as ferrying equipment to crews caring for the injured in the field.

We are thrilled about the opportunity to live and work at MDRS for a week, and would like to thanks both the Mars Society and the Wilderness Medical Society for this wonderful opportunity.

Journalist Report – April 24th

Our crew successfully transferred control of the Habitat from MDRS 178 and began preparations for our stay. Day one consisted primarily of equipment check out in in situ training with our Rovers, space suits, navigation, and surveying gear. The rookies have adapted admirably under the guidance of our veteran instructors.

After a resupply from the advance landers preparations for our first EVA began. It began innocuously enough, with our crew in high spirits heading out to examine some targets previously identified by martian rovers and satellite imagery as high interest. We set off to seek our research fortunes in the Martian landscape with all crew members in high spirits and no inkling of the trouble that lay ahead…

While surveying for signs of ancient life in the desert landscape one crew member suffered an accident requiring us to abort the EVA and return to base. Fortunately, the skilled hands of crew 179 put the MD in MDRS and managed to keep the situation form getting out of hand. Our crew member was successfully evacuated from the martian plane and returned to the habitat without further incident. We have many more EVAs planned for our stay here and the crew is confident today’s emergency will be our last…

Prepared by Dana Levin, Crew Journalist

Crew Photos – April 20th

Journalist Report – April 20th

Journalist report Sol 10 – 170420

Mathieu « Mitch » Vander Donckt

Crew Journalist and Scientist

Crew 178 – UCL to Mars

Today comes with great news! Especially for me because it is directly liked to my researches, but also for those who want to know more about the geology of Mars. When humans first explored Mars, decades before sending astronauts, using probes, flybys, and rovers, their main goal was to find liquid water or prove that liquid water flowed on the planet in the past. That is the first step in the search for life, because life as we know it cannot appear nor thrive without the presence of this liquid so common on Earth but hard to find here. One of those rovers is of particular interest to me: Curiosity. Sent in 2011 to Gale Crater – not so far from here –, and staying operational during several years instead of one, it achieved by far more than what was expected. Its mission: study the habitability of Mars. One of its tools: an X-Ray diffractometer, able to analyse the structure of minerals at nanoscale level. A powerful device that validated the theory of presence of water in past Mars.

This morning I was flushed with excitement after the landing of the new package sent by Orbital Convoy. A Bruker diffractometer, small sized but powerful, will help us make new discoveries. Unlike Curiosity, we can cover great distances and make several analyses a day. Last week we explored our environment, taking samples of rock, soil or dust. Now with this instrument we will be able to assess the habitability of Mars with more efficiency than a rover, answer questions about the formation of this planet, and look for vital resources with a view to colonize the planet.

With our journey coming to an end, every member of the crew is aware that we need to terminate our fieldwork. Boss improved our communications outside the Hab, which will probably serve to next crews. Hoover marked the dangerous places around the station to improve our security, only Tarzan didn’t get the concept and tried to fall off a cliff, without major damage. After many tests, Dips is finally ready to detect muons, a cosmic radiation. From what I heard, Tarzan proved that we will need a good processing of our waste water in order to grow our food –it’s no good to pee in a bowl of rice. Patch finished her measurements and found contrasting geological layers in the underground that will help us understand how much ancient Mars was different. And finally, Coach still enjoys making us sweat.

Being on our found reserve, we came back to a what I call a student diet: pasta and (homemade) pizza – not so bad, Tarzan is Italian.

In a couple of days, we will welcome the next crew and share our experience with them. Bad and good habits, the maintenance of the station and all they need to know to survive in the Martian wilderness.

Sol Summary – April 20th

Crew 178 Daily Summary Report 20APR2017

MDRS Daily Summary Report for sol 10
Summary Title: 11th EVA
Mission Status: Good

Sol Activity Summary:

Hab
08.00: Breakfast
13.00: Lunch
15.00: Muscle wasting exercises experiment

GreenHab
/

ScienceDome
Experiment in biology: survey of plants growth and health progress
Experiment reports redaction

EVA
09.00: UTM NAD27 12S 4255500-518500
Diffractometer study: sample collection
Telecommunication relays experiment
Testing and installing sound beacons

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: Everyone is fine

Look Ahead Plan: Last EVA and concluding experiments

Reports to be file: Operation Report, Daily Summary Report, EVA 11 Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested:
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