Crew Photos – April 28th
Journalist Report – April 28th
Journalist report sol 8
Mars delivered animal, vegetable, and mineral on sol 8—a day that, to this Journalist’s eye, hinted at what things might be like if we were here for way longer. The animal was a small, adorable mouse the Journalist spotted under the lower kitchen cabinets. After a supply drop, we set out a metal trap including a chunk of a cookie prepared days ago by our Crew Artist. Nada yet; we’re hoping for a successful hair trigger by morning. The vegetables were in fact fruits (tomatoes), used in the chili our Artist made for a wildly successful dinner that went along with mac & cheese. The minerals were—yes—rocks, scanned by our Engineer during EVA just outside the Hab. With our Artist, our Engineer also repaired some tears in the walkway tarps during EVA, which the Journalist found somewhat Buddhist considering the whole set-up will be torn down shortly.
Our Commander and HSO piloted the drone, resulting in one premature crash that ended up being unserious. The two of them and the Journalist set out for Compass Rock, where the HSO used a new filming technique and took a beautiful 360 video of the formation. Sporadic and indecisive rains, along with the simple task being completed, brought them home early. The crew took group photos (cute); ate said chili-mac; and, now, are zeroing in on our Commander’s object of interest with Google Earth and various compass readings to use during tomorrow’s grande-monolith-finale EVA.
Earlier in the day, the Journalist asked her crewmates what they would be doing at this point in the mission on a longterm Mars stay. We assumed it would still be mostly preliminary tasks—health tests, Hab set-up, water measurements. Whether or not we find the Monolith, we’re grateful to make so much progress in two nearly-complete weeks.
GreenHab Report – April 28th
Crew 315 GreenHab Report 28-04-2025
GreenHab Officer: Elena Saavedra Buckley
Environmental control (fan & heater): On
Average temperatures (last 24h): 83
Maximum temperature (last 24h): 94.6
Minimum temperature (last 24h): 70.7
Hours of supplemental light: 7-10pm
Daily water usage for crops: 10 gal
Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: Misting for mushrooms
Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 110.3 gallons
Time(s) of watering for crops: 8:30am / 7:15pm
Changes to crops: None
Narrative: Not much to report today in the GreenHab! Tomatoes contributed to delicious chili and we’ll likely start tearing it down soon.
Harvest: 20g tomatoes, 5g chives
Support/supplies needed: None
EVA Report – April 28th
Crew 315 EVA Report 28-04-2025
EVA #15
Author: Urban Koi, HSO
Purpose of EVA: (1) Fly drone to a target in the distance (previously set by Commander) from the MDRS Habitat Observatory with no EVA suit via a specific flight pattern and compare performance to the same flight pattern with the EVA suit. (2) Next, drive along Galileo Rd and hike a few meters and pilot drone to capture photography of Compass Rock (360º) as the second component to the joint Commander x HSO’s projects.
Start Time: 1455
End Time: 1540
Narrative: Commander and HSO began their EVA with drone piloting to a target in the distance (previously set by Commander) from the MDRS Habitat Observatory: No EVA suit vs. EVA suit on a specific flight pattern and compared performance to the same flight patterns. Each conducted 5-6 flights with and without EVA suit, for a total of approximately 12 flights (take off and landing). Next, Commander, HSO, and Journalist drove Perseverance and Curiosity to Galileo Road, stopped a few meters before where the drop-off point begins near Compass Rock, and conducted a 360º circle flight path around the Compass Rock formation. Journalist stumbled upon an otherworldly plant with an unusual pod; she and HSO marveled at the strange, yet beautiful plant.
Destination: (1) MDRS Habitat Observatory, (2) Compass Rock
Coordinates: Galileo Rd (4252100N, 519000W)
Participants: David Laude (Commander), Urban Koi (HSO), Elena Saavedra Buckley (Journalist)
Road(s) & Routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, Galileo Road
Mode of Travel: Perseverance + Curiosity (Rovers)
EVA Report – April 28th
Crew 315 EVA Report 28-04-2025
EVA # 14
Author: Michael Andrews
Purpose of EVA: The crew was to explore the area surrounding the station and accomplish the following objectives:
· Scanned a rock sample with a constructed shroud out on EVA.
· Crew Artist took photos for more artwork and sketches to be composed post-mission.
· Repaired some tunnel tarp rips from the exterior surface.
Start time: 1010
End time: 1158
Narrative: Crew Artist Gagnon and Engineer Andrews departed the airlock at 1010 and brought their supplies out onto the station porch. Gagnon began looking for suitable rock samples while Andrews began to set up the shroud.
The sampling exercise was mostly successful. The first two scans ran nominally, and the third time took some time to upload and rebuild. During this time, Andrews unplugged the camera from the laptop prematurely, which caused the third scan to build incorrectly. This third scan was meant to capture the bottom surface of the rock, so that surface was not properly captured. The entire exercise took about 40 minutes.
After packing up the 3D scanning supplies, Gagnon and Andrews pivoted to tunnel exterior side repairs. Gagnon mainly held all supplies or braced the ladder while Andrews applied zip ties or duct tape patches. At times where the tunnel tarp was tight, they radio’ed CapComm to press on the tarp to relieve the tension from the inside of the tunnel. The science dome tunnel had the largest gaps, and Gagnon expertly created a weave of duct tape patches to seal this tightly.
The team worked right up to the end of the EVA window on repairs, entering the airlock at 1158.
Destination: Area around Hab
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84): Easting 518200, Northing 4251000
EVA Participants: Michael Andrews (Crew Engineer and EVA Lead) and Tim Gagnon (Crew Artist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: None, the crew walked around the station, never leaving more than 1 kilometer from the station.
Mode of travel: Walking
Operations Report – April 28th
Crew 315 Operations Report 28-04-2025
SOL: 8
Name of person filing report: Michael Andrews
Non-nominal systems: Catalytic Heater, Two Piece Space Suits
Notes on non-nominal systems:
· (Bonus project) The catalytic heater near the exercise bike in the habitat does not work. It’s an engineering project to see if this can get properly started during this mission. Barring any more impactful repairs needed, this project will be worked tomorrow.
· (New Project): Some of the two-piece suits have slight variations in functionality. One of the suit’s battery displays don’t work, and another one has a rather noisy fan. I’d like to focus on these two tomorrow to see if I can fix them like I did with suit #10 today.
ROVERS
Spirit rover used: No
Hours: N/A
Beginning charge: N/A
Ending charge: N/A
Currently charging: No
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: N/A
Beginning charge: N/A
Ending charge: N/A
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: Yes
Hours: 316.1 hours (1.3 hours used)
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 85%
Currently charging: No
Perseverance rover used: Yes
Hours: 354.5 hours (1.3 hours used)
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 81%
Currently charging: Yes
General notes on rovers: None
Summary of Hab operations: We performed two EVAs today, including one of which was focused on repairing the exterior surfaces of the hab tunnels. We had cereal for breakfast, leftovers for lunch, a frito/pasta/chili concoction for dinner.
Water Use (please use both methods to estimate water usage)
Time of measurements: 1845
1) Per formula: 26.4 gallons
2) Smart Home Dashboard: 24.5 gallons
Water (static tank, remaining gallons): 252.66 gallons
Static tank pipe heater: No
Static tank heater: No
Toilet tank emptied: No
Summary of internet: Used to complete reports, learn languages, share team photos via Google drive, researching projects, and complete professional work.
Summary of suits and radios:
· EVA 14: Suits 7, 10 and Radios 1, 2
· EVA 15: Suits 7, 8, 9 and Radios 2, 3, 4
Summary of GreenHab operations: Watered plants and fungal projects, harvested chives and tomatoes, started to review the closeout list for GreenHab teardown.
WATER USE: 10 gallons
Heater: Yes
Supplemental light: 1900-2200
Harvest (name, weight in grams): 5g chives, 20g tomatoes
Summary of ScienceDome operations: Scanned an additional rock from Robert’s Rock Garden.
Dual split: Off
Summary of RAM operations:
· Space Suit: I performed a bit of troubleshooting and realized that all suits were functional and nominally charging, except for Suit #10. After opening up all one-piece suits, I realized that Suit #10 had an extra wire to power an embedded EVA Link unit (Astro #10). I removed that unit and unlinked the wire from the circuit, and it still had a weaker powered fan than the other suits. I finally swapped the Suit #10 battery with a fresh one and resolved the issue. All other one-piece suits function similarly. The dead battery was labeled as such and added to the existing dead 12V batteries in the space suit room.
· ScienceDome Radio Charger: I tried many different techniques to repair the charger but had no luck and ultimately returned it to the ScienceDome with a “Broken” tag taped on the front. I disassembled the unit and swapped power cords with functioning chargers and isolated the issue to the circuit board of the charger. I even re-soldered some components that I perceived as loose with no success. All work was done in the RAM, so no tools were removed.
· Showerhead Leak: After investigating the leaks, it was discovered that the three threaded ports were leaking. Plumber’s tape on each thread – along with cleaning the most upstream seal – removed all leaking. This will be a minor reduction in water consumption for the rest of the mission. A good amount of plumber’s tape was removed, and the roll was returned to the RAM afterwards.
· Golf Club: Crew Artist Gagnon has requested a 9-iron golf club to recreate a famous Apollo photo of golfing on the moon. I was able to craft a club out of a broom handle, a wall hook, and duct tape – although it does look more like a putter to me. I will return all these components to their respective locations after the photo is taken on a future EVA.
· Tunnel Zip Ties: I used 5 zip ties on the interior of the tunnel, and then an additional 10 on the exterior to secure the outer tarps to the tunnel mesh better. Snips were taken on EVA and returned.
Summary of any observatory issues: None
Summary of health and safety issues: None
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None
Crew Photos – April 27th
EVA Report – April 30th
Crew 315 EVA Report 30-04-2025
EVA # 19
Author: David Laude
Purpose of EVA: Search for desiccated soil in Candor Chasma
Start time: 13:06
End time: 14:43
Narrative: We took about a 1KM walk into Candor Chasma finding desiccated soils. We didn’t stay long due to anticipated high winds and possible rain.
Destination: Candor Chasma
Coordinates: Easting 519800, Northing 4251500
EVA Participants: David Laude (Commander), Elena Saavedra Buckley (Journalist/GreenHab)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit MDRS onto Cow Dung Road. Next the crew will turn on Galileo Road until Compass Rock, then will proceed down an unmarked road heading south until reaching the Gateway to Candor.
Mode of travel: Rover and walking
EVA Report – April 30th
Crew 315 EVA Report 30-04-2025
EVA # 18
Author: Michael Andrews
Purpose of EVA: Several objectives were completed during this EVA:
· Engineer is to perform a 3D scan of a rock sample and use Starlink to send that file to CapComm.
· Engineer is to return the rocks collected at Somerville Overlook from a previous EVA.
· HSO is to perform more drone flight testing at the Somerville Overook area.
· HSO and Engineer are to explore a footpath into Candor Chasma for future EVAs.
· Artist is to recreate a Apollo golf photo near the station for his art project. Note: Crew Artist Gagnon will not participate in the objectives above but will suit up and exit the airlock for the photo once the HSO and Engineer return.
Start time: 0902
End time: 1140
Narrative: The partial EVA Crew (Andrews and Koi) exited the airlock and proceeded to Somerville Overlook. At the site, Koi set up her drone and Andrews set up his 3D scanning rig and tent.
Koi gathered a suitable rock sample and then took several videos of the surrounding landmarks and Andrews while he was scanning. Andrews plugged in Starlink, calibrated the rig, performed three scans of Koi’s sample (1 geometry, 1 texture, and 1 reoriented texture), aligned them (automatically and manually), and created a 3D mesh of the sample. The entire process took about 45 minutes. The files were uploaded to the crew’s shared Google Drive via Starlink, and the team packed up and headed out.
At Candor Chasma, the pair of crew members explored the area for about 10 minutes. The route taken will make future EVAs to the area easier.
Upon returning to MDRS, Crew Artist Gagnon exited the airlock and joined the crew in some photos. He recreated the Apollo golf photos and videos using an engineer-crafted club and tennis ball. Koi filmed the event via drone, and also took video of the Hab’s exterior for Andrews. The team collectively entered the airlock at 1140 and ended the EVA.
Destination: Somerville Overlook and entrance to Gateway to Candor
Coordinates (use UTM WSG 84):
· Somerville Overlook – Easting 522400, Northing 4253000
· Gateway to Candor – Easting 519800, Northing 4251500
EVA Participants: Michael Andrews (EVA Lead and Crew Engineer), Urban Koi (HSO), and Tim Gagnon (Crew Artist)
Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Exit MDRS onto Cow Dung Road, and proceed north until Galileo Road. After reaching Compass Rock, proceed along Galileo Road all the way until reaching Somerville Overlook. Next the crew will return along Galileo Road until Compass Road, then will proceed down an unmarked road heading south until reaching the Gateway to Candor. Once done walking at this destination, the crew will take Galileo Road west until reaching Cow Dung Road, and then head south along Cow Dung Road until reaching MDRS.
Mode of travel: Take Perseverance rover to the destinations mentioned above and then walk around each area on foot, traveling no more than 1 kilometer from the rover.
Vehicles you will be using (If applicable): Perseverance
Research Report -April 29th
[category science-report]
Title: Methodology Extending Mobility Range on Mars
Principal Investigator: David Laude
Current Progress: The project has completed with a close encounter with the Monolith objective by drone after having triangulated its position from two vantage points and placing object on map. From that we plotted a course by rover as close as we could get followed by a short hike up a hill where the drone was launched. This shows the usefulness of the methodology for examination of remote objects further than one would ordinarily expect.
Title: Evaluating Drone Piloting During EVA on Mars
Principal Investigator: David Laude
Current Progress: This project is completed. It has shown what one would expect for piloting a drone in EVA suit. Poorer visibility in EVA can cause temporary loss of drone sighting by both naked eye and FPV display. Displays need to be brighter. In addition, the wearing of gloves impedes fine drone control.
Title: EVA Connectivity Kit
Principal Investigator: Michael Andrews – Crew Engineer
Current Progress: This project is complete! I have been able to demonstrate that a Starlink mini and 20,000mAh battery pack can be easily carried and deployed on an analog EVA. Here are the series of tests I performed over the last few sols:
· On 4/21, I tested the kit before simulation started at the Observatory. I was able to get all crew members to connect to it for use on EVAs. It took a bit longer to connect for the first time in Utah (~5 minutes), and it used 16% of the battery pack within 30 minutes. Download speeds peaked at 86 Mbps and upload speeds peaked at 19.0 Mbps.
· On 4/22, I tested the Starlink inside the Science Dome to see how it would consume battery when unable to connect. I turned it on at 1533 and by 1616, the battery pack had reduced from 84% to 58%. No speed test was conducted.
· On 4/23, I took the kit on its first EVA. The kit was deployed and powered up at 1435, it connected at 1438, and I shut down the unit at 1519. During this time, 27% of the battery pack was consumed. Download speeds peaked at 107 Mbps and upload speeds peaked at 10.4 Mbps.
· On 4/24, I took the kit on a longer EVA. The kit was deployed and powered up at 1451, it connected at 1453, and I shut down the unit at 1551. During this time, 35% of the battery pack was consumed. Download speeds peaked at 129 Mbps and upload speeds peaked at 14.1 Mbps.
Under these four tests, an average expected life of 171 minutes, download speed of 140 Mbps, and upload speed of 14.5 Mbps was observed. I plan to regularly bring this kit on future EVAs to support the crew and my 3D scanning project’s future objectives.
3D Scanning of Samples: This project is on track to complete by the end of our mission. I have been able to collect various samples of shapes, textures, and colors on EVAs. I have learned the software that came along with my Seal scanner known as JMStudio to create 3D files (.obj, .ply, and .stl types) of each sample before returning it to the collection site.
Title: Measuring soil desiccation patterns near the MDRS
Principle investigator: Elena Saavedra Buckley
Current Progress: I’ve collected five diverse soil samples from areas around the MDRS—near Candor Chasma, the turnoff to Galileo Road, the road of Somerville Overlook, off Galileo near Compass Rock, and off Cow Dung near the turnoff to the Sea of Shells. In the field, I took measurements of the soil desiccation sections and their depth within a square foot of the desiccated soil, which is smaller than my proposal’s initial area, since a meter ended up feeling larger than needed to measure. Tomorrow (sol 7), I’ll prepare the soils in my petri dishes and spend the rest of my mission watching and documenting their desiccation patterns as they dry in the GreenHab.
Title: Examining oyster mushroom growth in a Martian greenhouse environment
Principle investigator: Elena Saavedra Buckley
Current Progress: I opened and started my mushroom kit, along with building a humidity tent, in the GreenHab on Sol 0. I’ve been misting its opening at least twice a day, and no mushroom “pins” have formed. While the pins can form at any point between 5 and 10 days, I’m worried they might not appear because the GreenHab has been so hot on occasion, sometimes getting to 106 degrees. We’ll see if it makes any progress.
Title: Essay for Harper’s Magazine
Principal Investigator: Elena Saavedra Buckley
Current Progress: My reporting is going well! Since it encompasses my entire experience at the MDRS, I don’t have any particular updates beyond being grateful to my crewmates for being up for interviews, observation, and discussion.
Title: 100cameras Method: Photography as a Tool to Mitigate Psychological Stress in Space
Principal Investigator:Urban Koi, HSO
Project Progress:MDRS-315 has completed 5 of 8 modules.
Title: Illustrating a Mars Analog Mission as an artist.
Principal Investigator: Tim Gagnon
Project Progress: My goal when assigned was to artistically represent our MDRS mission as an embedded artist.
As of today as we complete week one, I have taken inspiration from the Apollo program to replicate some of the most notable paintings by Alan Bean, Ed Hengevelde and Chris Calle. It was hoped that while on an EVA I would be able to create some rough sketches. Due to the limited visibility of the helmet and limited dexterity of the gloves, that proved impossible. Post mission, I’ll draw inspiration from our crew photo album to create a series of art pieces illustrating MDRS-315.
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