Month: May 2025

CREW 315 SOL SUMMARY REPORT 02 MAY 2025

Sol: 12

Summary Title: End of Mission but boy was it something!

Author’s Name: Tim Gagnon – Crew Artist

Mission Status: Nominal. All systems operational.

Sol Activity Summary:

The sunrise this morning was beautiful and bittersweet. We knew this would be the last day of a mission we had looked forward to for a year. We hope the 315 crew “raised the bar” for future analog crews. All of our goals were met and although some experiments were unsuccessful results were still educational.

We gathered around the table enjoying a continental breakfast of coffee and sweet breads. At 8am our Commander opened the meeting to discuss the plan to host CNBC. The Commander would host the tour of the Hab first floor where the spacesuits CapCom station and airlocks are. The Artist would host the tour of the second floor residence, the Engineer would host the tour of the RAM, the Journalist would host the Green Hab tour and the HSO the Science Dome.

Lucas Millikan, the videographer from CNBC arrived shortly after 9am was met by Mission Support and “shot B-roll” of the MDRS campus. He entered the front airlock and went through the five minute procedure to transition from outside atmosphere to Hab atmosphere. We all greeted him and the Commander conducted a brief tour of the various facilities as an introduction to the base. We then adjourned to the second floor residence for an introductory meeting.

The Commander, as is customary took the first interview via Zoom with the producer in NYC. In a change, the Commander conducted the entire detailed tour but individual interviews were conducted with the entire crew in the above assigned locations. When the individual interviews were completed, the Commander, Engineer and Health and Safety Officer took Lucas on an EVA to Galileo Road where the HSO will pilot her drone to Compass Rock and the Engineer will show his ability to remote 3D scan of rock samples. During the EVA CNBC interviewed the crew asking about the suit, their experiments and the location. While they were gone the Journalist and Artist completed the take down of the Green Hab for closure over the summer off season.

When they arrived back at the Hab our analog adventure came to an end. Once final photos were taken we doffedour flight suits and along with Mission Support went to Dukes Grillin Hanksville for a celebratory dinner.

LOOK AHEAD PLAN: As a child of Apollo, I approached this mission with the idea to share how the lunar missions of my childhood offered inspiration to this experience. It is only fitting that I quote the Commander of Apollo 17 as he ended the last mission of the Apollo lunar exploration program. He said:

“As I take man’s last step from the surface, back home for some time to come, but we believe not too long into the future, I’d like to just say what I believe history will record: That America’s challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind. – Gene Cernan.

Crew Physical Status: All in Good Health + Spirits

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, Crew Photos, Green Hab Report, Operations Report, EVA reports, EVA Request(s)

Support Requested: The MDRS 315 crew would like to express our appreciation to The Mars Society for this opportunity, to Mission Support David Steinhour for being a great Flight Director and our Commander David Laude for taking five strangers and turning them into a team dedicated to the experience, the mission and each other.

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