Category: Journalist Report

Sol: 1
Author: Kenny Pritchard, Crew Journalist
Title: Hab Sweet Hab
Due to one of those pesky Martian dust storms delaying our entry into simulation, Crew 272 has spent today and yesterday (or should I say yester-sol?) making preparations for the mission. We’ve set up our lodgings, prepared our first meals, and the on-site Mission Support team is leading us through the necessary training! It looks like the beginning of a very rocky relationship with dehydrated food for us.
In the morning, crew Health & Safety Officer Megan led us through a routine of stretches to keep us limber for the sol’s activities. We’ve been lucky to get some glimpses into the awesome beauty of the Martian landscape here, but even luckier to experience the crew’s earnest attempts at Crow Pose and various other exercises. In the midst of a replenishing biscuits-and-gravy breakfast prepared by crew Engineer Mason, a slight oven storage mishap necessitated crew Geologist Adriana to try her hand at emergency tortilla amputation. The surgery was a success with only minimal loss of plastic-infused tissue.
A busy afternoon brought us a training session and our first test drive in the MDRS EVA suits. The whole crew partook in a lengthy-but-productive photoshoot, after which crew GreenHab Officer Madelyn was able to set up seeds for germination to begin her research into plant performance. Mason and crew Commander Kshitij took our drone (named Garud) for a sunset flight around the Hab, capturing some awe-inspiring shots of the flaming red ridges and sun-soaked mesas that surrounded us. Tonight, Adriana will don her chef’s hat to share with the crew her world-famous enchiladas (in fact the only enchiladas in this world). If all is well tomorrow, the dust storm will clear up, and the real mission will begin!

Sol: 11
Author: Trevor Jahn, Technology Officer

Matthew Eby and Trevor Jahn surveyed the conditions outside from the observatory on a chilly December 8th, 2022. Frost was still in the air, and shimmering ice crystals could be seen hiding behind the white dome of the Science Habitat and beneath the dark blue solar arrays. It had snowed the morning before, and today the crew needed to know if the ground was safe enough to walk for an EVA either in the morning or afternoon. The ground continued to give way as the two precariously tried to kept their balance through the tunnels, and their outdoor boots slipped on the loose muddy ground. The two men concluded conditions would be best in the early afternoon for the crew’s only EVA of the day. Matt, Kristine, and Allison, emerged from the airlock around noon, and went about their work. Today was a special day, as the crew was tasked with launching a weather balloon. Helium tanks hissed, computer logs beeped, and drone propellers buzzed as the crew worked quickly to fill the balloon, check the logs, position their equipment, and prepared their flying drone for documentation. The moment of culmination finally arrived and Kristine let go of the balloon and payload Matt had worked so hard to make and prepare. The balloon raced upwards towards the Jetstream, too fast for the drone to keep up with, and eventually reached speeds over 100 mph before being brought down by design somewhere in the Colorado Mountains, leaving a mystery and future adventure for next year, when some of the crew might try and find the payload.
The rest of the day saw the crew being productive taking Mirror Sample observations in the Science Dome, proactively finishing chores around the Crew Habitat, and working on reports, before taking in the sights of the orange full moon over the East horizon before bed.

Sol: 10
Author: Dr. Kristine Ferrone, Commander
Title: Snow Day!

This morning the crew awoke to a winter wonderland outside; the landscape surrounding MDRS that had just started to become familiar was once again new and different with a soft white blanket over the ruddy rock formations. The crew consulted with Tier 1 mission support regarding their EVA plans for the day and decided that a short EVA to repair the mirror sample payload justified the additional risk of traversing the muddy terrain. Health and Safety Officer (Barbara Braun) and Crew Engineer (Ashley Kowalski) embarked in the late morning (with Green Hab Officer Matt Eby leading IVA comms) to the mirror payload location and worked through some realistic astronaut challenges such as working with tools and fasteners not specifically designed for use while wearing an EVA suit, bringing to mind the challenge Astronaut Mike Massimino experienced in removing tiny screws from a panel of the Hubble Space Telescope on a Space Shuttle EVA on STS-125. During the EVA, Technology Officer (Trevor Jahn) worked through challenges with data processing for Project Phantom while Commander (Kristine Ferrone) and XO (Alli Taylor) worked on planning, mission summary reports, and coordination for Friday’s STEM event. After the EVA, the crew settled in with hot chocolate to work on reports and begin preparation for end of mission activities. For dinner, Ashley and Trevor made extra large black bean burgers with microgreens Matt harvested from the Green Hab, served on homemade sourdough buns made by Barbara.

Sol: 9
Author: Barbara Braun, Health and Safety Officer
Title: Big Buttes

Our time on Mars is starting to run short! The crew counted the remaining days last night, and was astonished to discover that we had only a handful of opportunities left for final data collection. Today, an EVA crew of XO Alli Taylor, HSO Barbara Braun, and Tech Officer Trevor Jahn embarked on a morning data-gathering session with the photogrammetry drone, which students in a northern Virginia elementary school have named “Vixl.” After four flights over many of the features of our local Martian area, the team packed up the drone and examined the area on foot before returning to the Hab to crunch data. The imagery will be used to create 3D maps for augmented-reality exploration.

Next, an afternoon crew consisting of Commander Kristine Ferrone, Green Hab Officer Matt Eby, and Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski drove a pair of rovers to Barrainca Butte to take radiation measurements in the area and conduct more regolith sampling. The crew also tested out ham radio communications back to the Hab. After returning to the Hab, Matt prepared an afternoon snack for the crew involving lots of chocolate and peanut butter, before conducting a dry-run of the weather balloon launch scheduled for Thursday. The three ham radio operators on the crew have been enjoying testing out the Hab’s ham radio equipment, and have received transmissions from around the world. We have not yet received confirmation of any of our transmissions, but we plan to keep trying!

Sol: 8
Author: Barbara Braun, Health and Safety Officer
Title: Kissing Camels and Ham Radios

Sol 8 dawned slightly overcast on Mars, but the fresh pancakes made by Green Hab Officer Matt Eby made up for any lack of sunshine. Fortified by this excellent breakfast, Commander Kristine Ferrone, XO Alli Taylor, and Health and Safety Officer Barbara Braun left on the first EVA of the day. The team retrieved the mirror coating experiment for analysis by Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski, and after stowing the payload in the airlock, headed toward Kissing Camel Ridge on a pair of crew rovers. South of Kissing Camel Ridge they parked Curiosity and Perseverance and ventured out on foot to the west of the road. After crossing a flat plain strewn with large rocks, they ascended through several foothills to Hab Ridge Road, where they were rewarded with beautiful views and multiple samples of regolith. After admiring the views and examining a large cache of small shell-like rocks, the team descended back to the rovers and returned to the Hab.

Meanwhile, Ashley completed her analysis of the mirror samples and prepared for an EVA of her own with Green Hab Officer Matt Eby. Ashley and Matt returned the mirror sample payload to its location for one final round of exposure to the elements. The duo then proceeded up Sagan Street to conduct tests of ham radio communications with Kristine and Barbara back at the Hab. Space exploration may seem glamorous, but there is always the element of the mundane: HSO Barbara Braun spent a good portion of the afternoon troubleshooting the Hab toilet. After this unpleasant task was successfully concluded, and afternoon exercise sessions were completed, the crew settled in for the much more enjoyable activity of eating a dinner of jambalaya, sourdough, and fresh greens harvested by Matt from the Green Hab.

Sol: 7
Author: Alli Taylor, Executive Officer
Title: Soup & Suits

After a Saturday night of trivia and belly laughs, the crew was able to sleep in for a more relaxed Sunday. I started the day by baking an experimental quiche casserole created with rehydrated ingredients including potato, egg, spinach, and Colby cheese. With ketchup, I found the dish quite edible and was surprised to find most of the crew seemed to enjoy it as well. Shortly after brunch we began suiting up Commander Kristine Ferrone, Technology Officer Trevor Jahn, and GreenHab Officer Matthew Eby for a short EVA around the vicinity of the Habitat. With the winds calm, Vixl the drone could be heard whirring through two pre-planned flight paths. While I ran IVA comms for the EVA crew, HSO Barbara Braun and Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski could be heard troubleshooting spacesuits, carefully narrowing down possible root causes for anomalous battery charging to discover a faulty power strip. I was able to squeeze in a 15 minute cardio blast between comm check intervals as the trio outside the habitat flew Vixl on the pre-planned flight paths collecting a plethora of imagery. With a successful deployment of the ham radio antenna and completed drone flights, the crew returned from EVA. Ashley began cooking a late lunch of cheddar and broccoli soup, and the crew came together to share stories from experiences in EMT training and volunteer rescue. In the late afternoon the crew split up to work on individual reports, exercises, ham radio operations, and dinner prep. Meal time has definitely been something to look forward to as we work through our daily operations, with unjustifiably delicious outcomes thus far. The crew remains optimistic and generally in good spirits with regard to our mission, and I look forward to accomplishing our remaining goals and accumulating more lessons learned over the coming week.

Sol: 6
Author: Trevor Jahn, Technology Officer

December 3, 2022, and Sol 6 on Mars, the Mars Desert Research Station Crew awoke to anticipation, as they prepared for their two furthest EVAs yet. Breakfast was a delicious combination of sourdough bread with various toppings ranging from honey, butter, olive oil, and chocolate spread, but not all at once of course. With the smell of eucalyptus coming from the humidifier the crew brought from home, the Crew Habitat filled with its sweet aroma. The crew passed health checkouts with flying colors after breakfast, and began preparation for their first EVA.
Allison Taylor, Kristine Ferrone, and Ashley Kowalski departed the Airlock at 9:01 am, and continued via crew rover along Cow Dung Road to the Special Region North of Gateway to Lith, where they would search for regolith samples, took radiation measurements, and scouted out future drone flight locations. The morning EVA crew had limited coms with IVA as they past Gateway to Condor along Cow Dung Road, and the EVA crew switched coms to channel two for local communication. IVA took the opportunity to discuss what they would do to plan a rescue in the event the EVA crew did not make contact at the end of their EVA window.
Shortly after EVA Crew 1’s arrival back inside the Crew Habitat, the afternoon EVA Crew began preparation, and exited the airlock at 1:01 pm, proceeded along Cow Dung Road, heading North in Crew Rover Curiosity. The EVA Crew consisted of Matthew Eby and Barbra Braun. They maintained communication with IVA, which was operated by Trevor Jahn, until nearly reached Galileo Road, when communication was no longer possible. IVA continued to attempt 15 min check-ins with the EVA crew, but the EVA crew was able to successfully send “all is well” communications over satellite transponder. The EVA crew made their way back to the marked location from the morning EVA, and continued to collect regolith samples as a follow up to the morning’s EVA sample collection, and collected samples at a second point of interest, before returning to the airlock at 2:53 pm.
Crew 269 was very tired after the end of their first week on mission, but continued to work on various things around the crew habitat throughout the day, and made time to drink hot coco and listen to holiday music to get in the holiday spirit as the calendar progressed into December only a few days prior. The crew bundled up in blankets in protest to the December cold night air, and the sound of busy keyboards could be heard throughout the habitat as the clock ticked closer to dinner time and as the conclusion of Sol 6 rapidly approached, the wind continued to howl across the barren cold landscape of the Martian surface, only inches beyond the thin white walls of Crew 269’s temporary home.

Sol: 5
Author: Matthew Eby, GreenHab Officer

Gale force winds arrived overnight, buffeting the habitat. At 3am the mind wanders: what was the fail-safe wind level? Optimizing for mass, a safety factor, this far, but no further. The Hab swayed and creaked with the gusts until dawn arrived and the wind started to ease just a bit. Today a pair of coordinated EVAs deployed teams across the station, equipment and test samples passing back and forth through the airlock as the science dome and the EVA crews worked in tandem. The XO, Alli Taylor, and the Crew Engineer, Ashley Kowalski, kicked things off with a morning trek across the East flat to retrieve the mirror coating exposure experiment package, returning it for an interim inspection under the microscope at the Science Dome. While this inspection progressed, a second EVA was dispatched with the Commander, Kristine Ferrone, the Health and Safety Officer, Barbara Braun, and the Technology Officer, Trevor Jahn, to attempt the first drone flight. Wind levels threatened to scrub the flight, but the wind relaxed just enough at the end of the EVA window to allow the drone to take flight. Ball’s Bluff Elementary chimed in on our time-delayed STEM outreach channel, christening the drone “Vixl”. Soaring 100 feet above the station, Vixl zig-zagged above the Hab capturing data destined for the augmented reality project. Overcoming hurdles in the dome, the mirror inspection was completed in the nick of time, and the experiment package was returned to the outside environment for additional dust exposure.

The entire crew reunited by the late afternoon. The wind and the crew grew tired and quiet descended across the station. It was time for the first naps of the rotation, quiet time in the GreenHab thinning carrot seedlings, and recording our visions on the group canvas. Recovered, we gathered for a pizza party.

Crew 269 Journalist Report
Date: 1 Dec 2022
Sol: 4
Author: Barbara Braun, Health and Safety Officer

The crew started their morning with a quick breakfast of oatmeal, rehydrated fruit, coffee/tea, and sourdough bread that our Health and Safety Officer, Barbara Braun, baked the night before. After morning health checks, Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski and Green Hab Officer Matt Eby gathered equipment to repair the charging plug on one of the spacesuits, while Commander Kristine Ferrone, Tech Officer Trevor Jahn, and HSO Barbara Braun prepared to conduct an EVA to test out the crew’s imaging drone. Executive Officer Alli Taylor provided comms support to the EVA crew from the Hab.

The EVA crew had mapped out several locations for taking imagery, but encountered technical issues in the field with the drone’s memory card and the battery for the drone controller. The team was able to charge the battery and work around the issues with the memory card, but by then the time allotted for activities near the first drone site had passed. The team therefore checked on the mirrors experiment before returning to the Hab, and will re-attempt the EVA tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Ashley and Matt were able to successfully repair the spacesuit and complete other maintenance activities. The three ham radio operators on the crew (Kristine, Matt, and Barbara) looked at the ham radio equipment in the Hab in preparation for next week’s balloon launch and for possibly conducting some ham radio contacts. The Green Hab Officer, with the enthusiastic help of the rest of the crew, planted carrots and onions in the Green Hab for future crews to enjoy. Other crew members exercised using the compact exercise equipment in the Hab and had quick showers, before the whole crew settled down to a dinner of macaroni and cheese.

Crew 269 Journalist Report
Date: 30 Nov 2022
Sol: 3
Author: Barbara Braun, Health and Safety Officer

Crew 269 is settling into life on Mars! This morning the crew had fresh pancakes for breakfast, courtesy of Green Hab Officer Matt Eby. After health and safety checks, three members of the crew (Tech Officer Trevor Jahn, Crew Engineer Ashley Kowalski, and Green Hab Officer Matt Eby) prepared for a long EVA to continue collecting 3D model data. The crew was able to demonstrate an augmented reality headset at various locations in the area of the Hab and the Marble Ritual rock formation. The team also checked on the placement of the mirrors deployed on Sol 1 and mapped the area around the mirrors using “Goose,” our mini-rover. Before setting out, the EVA crew was able to consult with “tech support” via the time-delay Discord server to determine how to clean its main EVA camera, which had a small piece of debris on one of its internal mirrors.

While the EVA crew conducted its mission, the three remaining crew members (Commander Kristine Ferrone, Executive Officer Alli Taylor, and Health and Safety Officer Barbara Braun) set up the compact fitness gear in the lower deck of the Hab. The HSO gave a demonstration of the fitness gear to the Commander and XO and discussed fitness goals and protocols for the mission. The team took turns working out using the fitness gear and videos and several members of the crew rewarded themselves with quick “Navy-style” showers in the Hab!

Once back from his EVA, Green Hab Officer Eby visited the Green Hab to harvest some microgreens, which he and Crew Engineer Kowalski used to supplement a Martian dinner of seared Spam (yes, Spam!) over scalloped potatoes and peas. The crew had a dessert of rice pudding and settled in to review the 3D footage from the day and to plan the next day’s adventures.