Crew 315 Sol Summary Report 01-05-2025
Sol: 11
Summary Title: Martian Sol Mates
Author’s name: Michael Andrews
Mission Status: Nominal
Sol Activity Summary:
Crew 315 has just completed their penultimate day on Mars. And for the mouse that has plagued our kitchen over the last 2 sols, it was his last sol on Mars. He was captured in our mouse trap (thanks to a bit of engineering work from me to fix the trap and a bit of bait preparation from HSO Koi) and had been involuntary signed up for today’s EVA to Candor Chasma for an empathetic release.
EVA #20 started with the Millenial Crew (read: Elena, Koi, and myself) returning a rock sample at Robert’s Rock Garden before taking our murine crew member to the Chasma. Our send-off was quite short… perhaps he had more important places to be? Fortunately, that was the only crew member we would lose on this EVA through the canyons on one of the most picturesque hikes we had performed on an EVA.
The rest of the crew was busy in the hab in the meantime. Crew Artist Gagnon was signing the back of the 1000-piece puzzle – a tradition that we weren’t aware of until it was completed. He made sure to incorporate our Phoenix crew logo and the infamous Monolith into a sketch next to the signature. Commander Laude virtually met with tomorrow’s CNBC representatives to discuss interview details.
The team reunited around noon and completed our final 100cameras module and go over logistics for tomorrow. Tomorrow’s segment is meant to address the question “Are We Ready for Mars?” Preparing for the answers to that question always sparks an enthralling conversation that has Crew Journalist Saavedra-Buckley furious jotting down notes for her article in shorthand.
The rest of our afternoon was spent watching the sequel to 2001: “2010: The Year We Made Contact”. 2 hours later, all of my Space Odyssey questions were answered, and I will leave this station more informed on historical sci-fi cinema. As the comms window opened, I went to repair our rear exterior airlock door, which has started to droop over the last week. Some quick hinge fastener tightening did the trick.
Speaking of engineering work, I wanted to end this final engineering-focused sol summary to talk about some of the conclusions we have drawn from two important pieces of our EVA equipment: our rovers and our space suits.
Regarding our rovers, we have four in our fleet: Curiosity, Spirit, Opportunity, and Perseverance. Spirit had battery issues and was out of commission for the duration of the mission, and Perseverance needed some parking brake and ignition repairs. We put a total of 22.8 hours of drive time among the Perseverance, Curiosity, and Opportunity rovers. And we preferred those vehicles in that same order, based on how efficiently their batteries’ life was consumed. Perseverance would use an average of 29% of its battery life per hour of use, Curiosity 36%, and Opportunity 50%. As I gathered this information, we used it to determine which rover was best for long range missions and also when we could use a less efficient battery to give Perseverance time to charge up.
In terms of EVA space suits, we have three flavors: two-piece suits (#1-6), one-piece suits (#7-10) and one experimental suit (#11). They all have pros and cons, and I’d like to summarize here when each should be used. The two-piece suits are the most realistic looking, provide the strongest airflow to the helmet, and are the most compact to easily ingress and egress from the rovers. However, it is the heaviest and most uncomfortable, tending to push your neck and head forward. The one-piece suit is the lightest and most comfortable, but it is the bulkiest and provides little ability to look around while driving. The experimental suit has an intermediate amount of weight and comfort and has the best helmet visibility, but it doesn’t have a battery gauge and can be uncomfortable to ride in a rover with (due to lack of neck support). In conclusion, I would recommend the two-piece suit for rover-intensive missions, the one-piece suit for walking-heavy missions, and the experimental suit for missions where you need to use a screen or closely inspect objects.
I hope this information is useful to future crews and Mission Support! We are off to get one last night of sleep in the habitat under simulation conditions. Tomorrow’s EVA #21 will be a culmination of our various projects and an opportunity to show others what we came here to do. Good night and ad astra!
Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will be welcoming CNBC to the habitat for a news segment and taking them on an EVA to demonstrate our drone flights and 3D scanning capabilities. We will also begin shutting down the Science Dome and RAM and will consider ending simulation on Friday evening to get dinner in Hanksville.
Anomalies in work: None
Weather: Clear skies all day, temperatures ranging from 55 F to 65 F. Winds were light up to 5 mph, gusting up to 19 mph in the evening.
Crew Physical Status: All Healthy
EVA: Our 20th EVA was performed today, which consisted of the following objectives:
· Returning collected rock samples to Robert’s Rock Garden
· Releasing the captured mouse into the Martian landscape
· Exploring Candor Chasma
· Troubleshooting drone operations in the field
Reports to be filed: 1 EVA Request, 1 EVA Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Journalist Report, Crew Photos
Support Requested: None
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