Category: Journalist Report

Crew 274 Journalist Report 2-4-2023

Sol: 6

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Radiation-Exposed Seeds Germinated in Simulated Martian Regolith

Crew 274 woke up this morning at 7:30am to the song “Feel Good Inc.” by the Gorillaz and a recorded message from the family of the Crew Astronomer, Salina “Nova” Pena. Her daughter also sent some inspiring words, encouraging her mother to think of her time away as an opportunity to see home with new eyes upon arrival.

EVA Activity

Today HSO Pender led EVA 6 to collect temperature and power consumption data on EEVAC-1, the supply cache experiment intended to extend human exploration on Mars. After leaving the cache unattended for 24 hours from yesterday’s EVA, the cache was found to have performed as designed, though a debriefing of the crew following the EVA revealed potential design improvements on the current iteration of EEVAC-1. His EVA crew also collected temperature and radiation exposure data for Commander Guthrie’s community experiment put forth by a 2nd grade student from Millersville, MD. The rest of HSO Pender’s day was spent processing data collected from EVA 6 and preparing for tomorrow’s 3-hour walking EVA, which will be a climax study for the supply cache experiment on this mission.

GreenHab

Upon conducting daily morning observations, the first official evidence of germination of a single seed was noted of the LDEF seeds planted. While the evidence of germination was minor, this proves to be a significant step toward the sustainability of durability of nutrient-dense seeds exposed to high levels of radiation within the space environment. Add this to the fact that simulated lunar and martian regolith is practically “dead” or extremely hard to yield germination, this was an exciting and potential ground-breaking discovery. Following additional crew guidance, temperature and humidity levels will continue to be closely maintained to support further growth and germination of the other LDEF seeds. Additionally, the micro green cress continue to flourish in their development and are predicted to be ready for potential harvesting before the end of the mission. Meanwhile, the broccoli, red cabbage, and arugula are continually being tended to and monitored closely in their general progress.

Heliophysics

Crew astronomers Loy and Pena observed detailed heliophysics phenomena in which multiple observations, videos, and photos were taken of solar dark spots, solar chromosphere granules, and solar prominences. Over 8 large solar prominences were recorded today, the largest dataset of prominences since experimentations began. These observations will be very useful for the astronomer’s analysis of solar cycle 25. Also of important note, Loy and Pena observed what seems to be an asteroid or a satellite crossing the line of sight between the solar observatory and the sun. This object is still being analyzed.

Astronomy

Cloudy weather conditions canceled all planned observations of HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR. Crew Astronomers instead continued their analysis of their current image inventory, stacking and analyzing 9 separate 45-second images in the visual filter. So far, HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR is showing signs of dimming, which provides good data to the astronomers’ variable star report.

Hab Design

Hab Specialist Bill O’Hara participated in EVA 6 in support of HSO Pender’s research. During this EVA, he took sensor measurements from the cache and drove the rover back to the hab. In the afternoon, Bill continued his case study of the MDRS architecture by reviewing the layout of the lower level of the Habitat. This level of the habitat module includes the airlock, suit stowage and the only bathroom used by the crew.

Stress Mitigation Study

Lex “Kepler” Lojek also participated in EVA 6, driving one way to the cache, assisted in taking measurements of the cache, and then helped navigate back. After returning, he continued to collect and organize stress data for his ongoing focused breathing study. Tonight, he’ll begin a daily study with the crew where they’ll conduct a 15-minute focused breathing meditation to study its effects on potential stress reduction during an analog mission.

Crew 274 Journalist Report 2-3-2023

Sol: 5

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Go The Distance

Crew 274 woke up this morning at 7:30am to the song “Go the Distance” from Hercules and a recorded message from the family of the Crew Journalist, Tony DiBernardo. Tony’s kids wanted him to bring home tortellini from space, which the crew has agreed to keep an eye out for while on EVA.

EVA Activity

Today, the crew performed EVA 2 of 7 from HSO Pender’s research on extending the human exploration of Mars by utilizing supply caches. The 4th EVA will test this research by having the crew conduct a 3-hour hike with a supply cache placed an hour from the hab. On today’s EVA, four crew members drove the cache to the specified location at approximately a 1-hour hiking distance from the hab, secured it to the ground with stakes, and connected it to its solar panels. Our plan is to drive back out tomorrow to check its status to inform next week’s EVAs.

In addition to the cache, the crew dropped off a study to observe what happens to an orange on Mars. This study is a community submission by a 2nd grader from Millersville, Maryland. Commander Guthrie and HSO Pender placed two oranges with temp and radiation tags inside of the logistics cache dropped off by the crew on today’s EVA as well as two oranges placed in a crate outside of the cache which will be exposed to the elements, also monitored with temp and radiation tags. The oranges will stay on the Martian terrain until the end of the mission.

GreenHab

Soon after conducting today’s EVA, GreenHab Officer Hines another sol of daily germination observations was conducted at roughly 11:45 am MST. Currently, the most significant progress has been the development of the cress micro greens, which appear to be almost 75% germinated. While the broccoli and red cabbage micro greens have shown some progress,the remaining sets have yet to show any signs of germination. As for the LDEF seeds, there is still no evidence of progress. Minor adjustments have been made including a more nutrient dense watering solution and adding of the previously used humidity vents to maintain soil moisture.

Heliophysics

Crew Astronomers Loy and Pena were able to slightly observe the Sun through cloudy atmospheric conditions. Of the observed chromosphere phenomenon and sun spots, only chromosphere videos were captured to be analyzed. This data will aid the astronomers’ research on the sun, space weather, and solar cycle 25’s implications to space weather.

Astronomy

180 long exposure images were collected from MDRS’ Robotics Observatory by Chief Astronomy Pena. These images were separately captured through visual, infrared, and blue filters, assisting Astronomers Loy and Pena’s science on HADS variable star research. The images are beginning to be stacked, analyzed, and compared to previous images of this star system, HADS Variable Star V0799 AUR.

Crew 274 Journalist Report 2-2-2023

Sol: 4

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Steal My Sunshine

Crew 274 woke up this morning at 7:30am to the song “Steal My Sunshine” by LEN and a recorded message from the Grad Studies Office, offering well wishes on their mission. The team made oatmeal and continued their Emotional Recognition Test and Psychological Surveys.

EVA Activity

Today didn’t go entirely as planned for the crew’s scheduled EVAs. Every night, the crew writes their plans and submits them to Mission Control for approval, which was received before the end of our comms window. The crew woke up and began preparing for the EVA, but due to a miscommunication between Mission Control and the crew, the EVA was canceled, giving the crew more time in the hab than originally planned. They planned the upcoming EVAs, debated the possibility of life in the universe, and gave the hab a good cleaning.

GreenHab

After an active first sol, planting all of his micro greens and LDEF seeds, most of GreenHab Officer Hines’ daily activities include recording data and notes on the continual progress of both subjects. Overall, the most significant progress was seen in the rapid development of the cress, with strong evidence of early germination of the broccoli, red cabbage, and arugula micro greens. Unfortunately, no progress has been evident in the LDEF seeds, though they will continue to be monitored closely in the coming days following an adjustment in growth tent temperature and reduction in daily watering to avoid over saturation.

Astronomy

Astronomers Loy and Pena observed multiple features across the Sun’s upper atmosphere, the chromosphere. They observed 8 solar dark spots and multiple granule features across the chromosphere, but the astronomers’ search for prominences came up short with no findings. Photo and video data was not collected today as remaining images from Sol day 3 are still being stacked, analyzed, and configured.

Hab Design

Hab Specialist Bill O’Hara continued the development of a case study of the Mars Desert Research Station. This study will review the architecture of the MDRS habitable elements from the point-of-view of a crew member and discusses the design, activity allocations, use-of-space, traffic flow, outfitting, systems and stowage capability of each. Today O’Hara completed a review of the Science Dome module, Musk Observatory module, and the tunnel system that connects all the modules together. His next steps will include a review of the lower and upper levels of the hab module which will be scheduled around EVA support and participation and other science and operations support.

Resource Utilization in Spaceflight

Commander Guthrie is on sol 4 of a two-week case study on the self-sufficiency of food requirements for short-term space flight. Its goal is to develop a low impact and sustainable dietary requirement for astronauts who may travel as long as two years in space. It hopes to provide an optimal mass to nutrient ratio based on the astronaut. It uses only pre-packaged dehydrated meals curated for the specific nutritional needs of the person. This study was performed at other analogs but this is the first time a woman is serving as the case study subject. As women continue to make a larger presence in spaceflight, it is important to strive to continue to understand food impact requirements. A notable difference from the analog environment and spaceflight, is that many analogs focus on community cooking and meal times whereas analyzing self-sustainment is more analogous to the spaceflight environment.

Tonight, the crew is keeping an eye out for cloudy skies that could affect viewing conditions for astronomical observations, as well as looking forward to a new day to conduct more research and to improve our analog operations as a crew.

Crew 274 Journalist Report 2-1-2023

Sol: 3

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Holocene and Harvest

The members of Crew 274 woke up this morning to the song “Holocene” by Bon Iver, sent to them by Dean Welsch, the Head of the School of STEM at APUS. His message outlined how appropriate the song is for our mission. “Holocene” is the name of our most recent geologic era of Earth’s history, where humans realize they are part of something bigger than themselves. What better than this to inspire us to continue our mission in preparing the future generations that will found a new settlement on Mars.

EVA Activity

After doing two EVAs on each of the first two sols of the mission, the crew took a break from EVAs today to focus on preparing tomorrow’s EVA to deliver the cache a 2-hour hike away for HSO Pender’s experiment.

GreenHab

Greenhab Officer Hines conducted daily research data shortly after conducting GreenHab operations at 11:00 am MST. Similar to the day prior, both microgreen and LDEF seed sets are retaining both temperatures and moisture while sustaining overnight temperatures. Additionally, the first signs of germination have been noted in both the cress and red cabbage microgreens, which will continue to be monitored closely over the upcoming days alongside the progress of the LDEF seed sets. To the

Astronomy

Chief Astronomer Pena and Heliophysicist Loy captured 70,000 images of heliophysic phenomena. These photos and videos supported critical space weather data and generated distinct, measurable visuals of the Sun’s outermost layer, the chromosphere, and solar dark spots, heliophysical granules, and solar prominences. This data was then analyzed, staked, measured, and configured through 3 astrophysics software applications. The resulting images will be used to help the astronomy crew in their scientific assessments of solar cycles and its implication to space weather.

Engineering and Hab Design

Hab Specialist O’Hara worked with Crew Engineer Lojek to troubleshoot and return the Musk Solar Observatory to nominal working order after experiencing a limit switch malfunction. O’Hara also completed an in-depth review of the Repair and Assembly Module (RAM) and the GreenHab, gathering photo documentation, and dimensional, concept of operations, traffic flow, systems and layout notes.

Crew 274 Journalist Report 1-31-2023

Sol: 2

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: Dandelion Day

Crew 274 woke up this morning at 7:30am to the song “Hall of Fame” by The Script and a recorded message from Dr. Albin, emphasizing that our efforts represent a small but important step in bringing humanity to the red planet, Mars. The team made pancakes, listened to their new collaborative playlist, and started on their Emotional Recognition Test and Psychological Surveys.

EVA Activity

Today, we were able to begin Nick “X-Man” Pender’s research while out on on EVA. His experiment includes incrementally longer EVAs over the course of the mission, eventually placing caches a 2-hour hike from the hab to test their ability to withstand in a simulated Martian environment and to support the crew on a 3-hour EVA. Today’s EVAs involved 2 teams of analog astronauts, led by Pender and Bill “Titan” O’Hara, hiking 30 minutes from the hab and back. Tony “Iron Man” DiBernardo joined both EVAs, collecting footage of his crewmates traversing the simulated martian landscape. The goal for today’s EVAs was to establish a 30-minute baseline traveling speed and distance while in an EVA spacesuit. We discovered that the pace of travel is 2.3 mph with an attainable distance of 1 mile in 30 minutes. Future EVAs for the supply cache experiment will utilize this information to place a cache 2 hiking hours from the habitat. The two EVAs started and ended on time with breathtaking views, fascinating rock formations, and a continuous process to settle into our EVa suits.

GreenHab

After the crew woke up, Tyler “Houston” Hines recorded overnight temperature data and observational documentation which showed promise for the remainder of the study. Overall, the sets of microgreens seem to have maintained their moisture and temperature throughout the second sol. Then, Tyler took a progress report of the space-exposed LDEF tomato seeds and assisted Commander Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie in planting dandelion seeds in lunar and martian regolith. The dandelion study is for a 2nd grader at Millersville Elementary School in Maryland. She is an aspiring astronaut and was curious if dandelions could be grown on Mars. ARG-1M graciously offered to facilitate this study, and both Lunar and Martian regolith were donated to the study.

Astronomy

Crew Astronomers Salina “Nova” Pena and Noah “Phoenix” Loy worked from the Musk Solar Observatory today to do a test run on the equipment before collecting data for their research. They observed a few Sun spots on the surface of the Sun and set up the MDRS Robotic Observatory through Skynet to observe High Amplitude Delta Scuti (HADS) Variable Star V0799 AUR.

Engineering

As midday approached, the toilet started giving off a foul smell and Mission Support was contacted, as the crew suspected the toilet had an issue. Mission Support came to the hab and assessed the situation, informing the crew engineers Lex “Kepler” Lojek and Bill “Titan” O’Hara that Mission Support had to empty the toilet. During mission training prior to ingress, there was a miscommunication regarding when the toilet requires emptying into the septic system, so Mission Support clarified the instructions.

We ended the day getting an earlier start on our end-of-day reports than we did yesterday, hoping to have more time to relax, reset, and recover from the two EVAs. Tomorrow we look forward to a cold morning, more EVAs, and loading the images of the HADS Variable Star that were taken overnight.

 

Crew 274 Journalist Report 1-30-2023

Sol: 1

Author: Tony DiBernardo, Crew Journalist

Title: The Inner Light

After a successful arrival and ingress into MDRS yesterday, Crew 274 woke up in simulation this morning at 7:30am to the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and a recorded message from Dr. Kristen Miller, inspiring the team with advice and encouragement to embrace the experience. The “Wake Up Song” tradition, dating back to the Gemini program, will live on through the crew as each day they’ll hear a song and message sent to them from a family member or supporter of the program. Then, every morning, each crew member will complete an Emotional Recognition Test and a Psychological Survey that consists of 234 questions to track changes in each crew member over the course of the mission.

The crew consists of 8 members, all with their own experiments:

Commander Sarah “Ceres” Guthrie
Experiment: Evaluating Contingency EVAs and Rescue Techniques for Planetary Surface Missions

Crew Engineer Lex “Kepler” Lojek.
Experiment: Focused breathing and its effects on physiological indicators of stress and performance.

Crew Astronomer Salina “Nova” Pena
Experiment: Generating Multi-bandpass Lightcurve Data on HADS Variable Star v0799 AUR

Crew Astronomer Noah “Phoenix” Loy
Experiment: Analyze Solar Flare, CME, and Daily Space Weather Data

Health & Safety Officer Nick “X-Man” Pender
Experiment: Supply Cache Use for Extension of Human Exploration on Mars

GreenHab Officer Tyler “Houston” Hines
Experiment: Observing Growth Rates Of Space-Exposed Seeds In Martian Simulated Regolith Samples

Hab Specialist, Secondary Engineer Bill “Titan” O’Hara
Experiment: Habitat Design Case Study

Crew Journalist Tony “Iron Man” DiBernardo
Experiment: In-Hab and Extravehicular Media & Outreach

EVA Activity

On the first day of the mission, two training EVAs are required of the crew by MDRS Mission Support to walk through all EVA practices and procedures. Prior to the first EVA, Tony “Ironman” DiBernardo had an issue with the air supply connections being cross-threaded on his EVA suit. We moved to a different suit for the EVA and afterwards, Lex “Kepler” Lojek and Bill “Titan” O’Hara were able to troubleshoot and repair the suit. Both EVA crews used the rovers to drive out to Marble Ritual, a landmark nearby the habitat. The assignment was to perform an hour-long EVA and return safely. The crew members became familiar with the rovers, explored, collected rocks and petrified wood, and acclimated to the new simulated martian landscape.

GreenHab

Tyler “Houston” Hines, Greenhab Officer, began his two experiments in the science dome. His experiments involve growing seeds in a mixture of simulated Mars regolith, organic material and water infused with potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus. The seeds being tested are standard microgreens and seeds from NASA SEEDS experiment, which flew seeds to space aboard the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF), launching in 1984 aboard Space Shuttle Challenger and returned in 1990 by Space Shuttle Columbia. Tyler was advised by HSO Nick “X-Man” Pender on the memory functionality of the Thermo-hygrometer and will continue to water and monitor growth throughout the remainder of the mission.

Astronomy

Crew astronomers Noah “Phoenix” Loy and Salina “Nova” Pena canceled all operations due to cloudy weather and non-optimal viewing conditions, but were able to take required pictures of the Musk Observatory, including the astronomy laptop boxes, the first aid kit and the solar telescope. They plan to continue heliophysics and High Amplitude Delta Scuty (HADS) observations tomorrow, weather permitting.

Hab Design

Bill “Titan” O’Hara started a draft of a habitat design case study report. This report will explore and analyze the effectiveness of the design of the MDRS habitat to inform the design of future habitats. Bill also worked with Salina to take a complete inventory on all food in the hab, identifying and planning our use of food for the remainder of the mission.

Engineering

Lex “Kepler” Lojek took measurements of the water level to find that the crew used more water than was originally allocated per day to have the water supply last for the duration of the mission. Prior to entering simulation, he made a starting measurement of 491 gallons, which gives the crew approximately 35 gallons per day for drinking, showering, dishes, bathroom use, and all other water usage excluding watering plants in the GreenHab. Before 5pm on Day 1, Lex measured a total water tank volume of 445 gallons, coming out to 46 gallons used by the crew so far. Thoughts were thrown around by the crew on water conservation efforts, such as using cooking and dishwashing water for other uses, but the crew agreed to continue for 2 more days without extreme water rationing to create a more accurate estimate of projected daily use.

Health & Safety

Health & Safety Officer, Nick “X-Man” Pender, will be conducting an experiment to implement supply caches along EVA routes to set a baseline for safe travel distances by foot. Identifying these limits will ensure that no terrestrial astronaut will be without supplies should an emergency occur while on EVA. Today, Nick tested the operability of an in-suit hydration system and confirmed that the proposed hydration hose and GU Energy gel pack can indeed fit into EVA helmet. He plotted the route for tomorrow’s EVAs which will establish a 30-minute hiking distance baseline and he prepared the GPS equipment for crew use on all future EVAs. During dinner, Nick alerted Mission Control of a broken oven knob that wouldn’t allow us to turn the stove off on one burner. Ultimately, we pulled of the knob and forced the knob to the off position with pliers.

We ended the day cooking spaghetti with dehydrated bean-bolognese pasta and parmesan while watching Star Trek TNG S5E25: The Inner Light. Tomorrow, we look forward to clear skies and safe EVAs. Ad Martes!

 

 

Crew 272 Journalist Report 1-13-2023

Sol: 12

Author: Kenny Pritchard, Crew Journalist

Title: Lakshya (“Aim”)

For our final crew breakfast on Mars, despite rumors of lasagna, Adriana whipped up some biscuits and rehydrated butter. Our EVA this morning was planned for an early 9:00 a.m. departure, so we had little time to dilly dally – we ran an oxymoronically compacted stretching session, and four of us suited up for the EVA with biscuits still in our mouths.

The mission today was a real search and rescue to find and retrieve the Boiler Transmission Station (BTS) which had been deployed to a ledge near the Hab (we deemed it Boiler Ledge) on a previous EVA. After a few powerful dust and wind storms, the crew was concerned that it may have been blown far away from its last known location and lost to the sands of Mars. Mason, Arly, Megan, and I took the rovers to a good stopping point, walked up a familiar hill, and began scouting toward the expected location with the drone. This cycle of walking and scouting repeated a few times until we got close enough to where the drone camera could almost make out our target and we could walk over to Boiler Ledge. Lo and behold, the BTS sat serenely waiting our arrival, if a little waterlogged, and missing its original housing box. We collected the treasured transmitter and took some good drone videos and pictures hoisting our Purdue “Boiler Up” flag near the edge of Boiler Ledge. Having made excellent time to the Ledge and finding the objective easily, we made it back to the Hab before noon, where the rest of the crew sat working on the final tasks of our rotation: finishing up research, cleaning up, packing, and a writing a whole slew of end-of-mission reports.

With our time at MDRS coming to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on the progress we made. Although our crew had been meeting and planning for months leading up to our rotation, we had only just seen the tip of the iceberg of each other’s personalities and life stories (and flaws) (just kidding). Living together in an enclosed space on an inhospitable planet for two weeks was a quick fix! We’ve voiced our pet peeves, become adept with our equipment, endured exhausting EVAs, overcome unexpected challenges, been sim-resurrected from several sim-deaths, formed alliances and fought wars over board games, and we can proudly say that every crew member has achieved at least the minimum objectives of their research. The difference between our first steps and what we’re capable of accomplishing now is night and sol.

One common theme of each sol has been abundant references to the 2004 Bollywood movie Lakshya, shared with us by our fearless commander Kshitij. In this film, the main character asks himself “Main Aisa Kyun Hoon” – “Why am I like this?” and struggles to find his aim in life. I’d compare our first meetings and our final sols here with the beginning and end of the film, our crew taking a dynamic arc from inexperience and lack of direction to a resolute sense of purpose and efficiency, thanks largely to Kshitij’s wisdom and leadership (and humor). It’s been a good run here on Mars, but today we end our simulation to prepare for the long ride back to Earth! On behalf of the entire crew, thank you sincerely to all the loved ones who followed our journey and kept in touch along the way. Your support means… the world!

Signing off from Mars,

Adriana “Rocky” Brown, Arly “Maple” Black, Kenny “Hemingway” Pritchard, Dr. Kshitij “Chai” Mall, Madelyn “Sprout” Whitaker, Mason “Scout” Kuhn, and Megan “Xerox” Rush

 

 

Crew 272 Journalist Report 1-12-2023

Sol: 11

Author: Kenny Pritchard, Crew Journalist

Title: Cowboys on Mars

A balanced breakfast of coffee, cookies, and cinnamon rolls baked by Mason set us up for an efficient and exciting sol. It was kind of him to cook for us after we literally woke him up to tell him the septic tank needed flushing. Megan led us in stretches, which, as the sols go on, only seem to get harder. Adriana wrapped up the morning routine with an overview of the EVA plans.

After finishing preparations and enjoying Mason’s performance of some classic Mitch Hedberg jokes in the airlock, Arly, Adriana, Megan, and I took a brief rover ride to a location called Cowboy Corner. Yeehaw! We tied up our horses, secured our hats, kicked our spurs in the dust, and allotted upon exploring the area. The crew collected some ace-high geologic samples as we trekked around the base of a large mound. Along the way, Adriana documented paleoflow indicators in the formations we passed, which she will compare to the data collected at Kissing Camel Ridge. Unfortunately, her rock hammer broke all to pieces out of nowhere! Megan had the foresight to bring along some 3d-printed replacements, which were additively manufactured back at the Hab in a pinch. Although these plastic hammers struggled a bit to shatter harder stones, they were real handy for digging and prying soft sediment. Once we had our fill of hiking about the alien formations and taking in views of the big rock candy mountains in the distance, we burnt the breeze back to camp, where the rest of the crew was hard at work.

Kshitij roamed among different parts of the Hab today, filming outreach videos for his YouTube channel. Space outreach is important to promote interest and inspire the next generation of Martians! We’ll be filming more videos tomorrow to answer questions sent in by K-12 students. For Madelyn, this sol was defined by a final harvest and data collection of her research greens, with which Mason assisted. She meticulously measured the sprout length, leaf length, volume, and mass of hundreds of her daikon radish samples – this data can be later investigated to compare the performance of differently treated plants. After data collection was finished, the crew performed a blind taste test of both fertilized and unfertilized samples. We rated them on factors including vibrance, crispness, and even spiciness! Ultimately, the crew preferred the fertilized radishes, much to Madelyn’s relief. For dinner we’ll supplement our fresh radishes with Aloo Gobhi (a spicy vegetable dish) made by Kshitij. We lack both Aloo and Gobhi in our food stores, but we trust in our commander to come up with a good Martian solution. We’ll see what happens – tomorrow marks the last sol of our simulation!

 

 

Crew 272 Journalist Report 1-11-2023
Sol: 10
Author: Kenny Pritchard, Crew Journalist
Title: Kissing Hab Ridge

We set off Arly’s CO2/air quality monitor early this morning thanks to breathing exercises led by Kshitij — Anulom, Vilom, and Pranayama, which had the entire crew huffing and puffing (and blowing our noses in between exercises). After the breathing exercises, we engaged in some yoga asans including Shav-asan (corpse-pose), which felt fitting considering the unfortunate quantity of sim-deaths to this point. For breakfast, Madelyn revisited the crew-approved egg casserole recipe from a previous sol. Due to an intense Martian dust storm and some unfavorable ground conditions, one of our two planned EVAs was cancelled today, but four lucky Martians still got to feel fresh air (or at least EVA-suit air) when a new plan was set.

With veteran experience in gearing up for EVA, Adriana, Madelyn, Megan, and Kshitij were out of the Hab in no time, and they followed a road northwest to reach an overlook called Hab Ridge. From this Ridge, they were able to overlook the Hab. Compared to Kissing Camel, this is nomenclature I can get behind! The trip was an exploratory EVA which the crew completed entirely on foot, employing their best map-reading skills to tirelessly traverse the tricky terrain (or masterfully maneuver the merciless ‘marrain?’). Along the way, they happened upon some Gryphaea fossils or ‘devil’s toenails’ – extinct oysters from several hundred million years ago. I reckon they collected enough for a hearty seafood dinner, but nobody seemed to have the appetite for it. From the top of Hab Ridge, the EVA crew had a great view of the Hab (as I mentioned) and the surrounding topography. They got some great pictures from the vantage point and a better navigational understanding of the area, and Adriana will use this practice to plan out the final EVAs for her research.

Once again among the Hab-rats, I took some video documentation of our crew and the Hab to be compiled later. Mason toiled away at fixing the air circulation system in EVA suit #7, to great success! On-site repairs are highly preferable to service shipments back to the manufacturer, which can take years to return. Arly packed out to the Science Dome to clean off petrified wood and other samples she’d gathered, then set to preparing a popular baked-feta pasta recipe from TikTok. With only two full sols remaining before we depart from MDRS, home is on everyone’s minds! Until then, we will make the most of the time we have here.

 

 

Crew 272 Journalist Report 1-10-2023
Sol: 9
Author: Kenny Pritchard, Crew Journalist
Title: Saving Private Chewy

Our morning stretches this sol were followed by a freshly baked bread-and-toppings breakfast thanks to Megan, who woke up early to start the process. Many of us elected to adorn our bread chunks with Nutella, which is somewhat of a coveted resource out here. There’s air, water, Nutella, and shelter. It’s Martian gold!

The EVA of the sol brought Kshitij, Mason, Madelyn, and Arly back to Kissing Camel Ridge for the competitive showdown of a lifetime. Mason’s research includes a search-and-rescue scenario, where the high-speed, high-tech, high-flying drone was to be pitted against two valiant, scrappy, underdog humans to see who could first locate a lost and incapacitated (hidden) astronaut (box containing colorful t-shirts and an uninflated, inflatable Grogu/Baby Yoda). Who will win? Get your tickets while you can! Pay for the whole seat, but you only need the edge! Back at the Hab, we eagerly awaited the scores, serving as a point-of-contact for the EVA crew as usual. Kshitij hid the boxy astronaut (henceforth referred to as Private Chewy), and the athletes were off to the races. Private Chewy was first hidden on the East side of the region, in a flatter area, where humans and the drone should have a fair fight. He was next hidden on the West side of the region, where the obstructive hills should provide an advantage to the drone. For the first attempt, Madelyn and Arly planned to attack the perimeter of the area from both sides (within line of sight of each other). For the second, they moved together through the hills in their joint mission. Mason flew the drone out with a grid-pattern search. Ultimately, the humans were victorious in both trials! But some complications place an asterisk on their claim to the trophy. In a post-game interview, Mason cited strong winds and connectivity difficulties. Several times, the AI-driven drone lost connection and flew back to its launch site. The drone even did pass over the target first, but Private Chewy was invisible in the resolution available for live video feed. Also, Kshitij, not known for his tight lips when it comes to secrets he’s excited about, may have accidentally tipped off the humans in round two. No boxes were harmed in the making of this production.

Those of us stuck indoors (the Hab-rats, per Adriana), engaged in the traditional pastime of cleaning and sorting geologic samples. Upon her return, Madelyn collected a fresh harvest of carrots and beans in the GreenHab. Next, on tonight’s episode of the Great Martian Baking Show, Adriana and Kshitij are making another cake to celebrate the birthday of backup crew GreenHab Officer Ian Rimer. Happy birthday Ian, from Mars to Earth! Madelyn will be collaborating with Ian on research when we return to Purdue, but tonight, she is collaborating with the stove top to make some quesadillas. Mm mm mmm!