Category: Journalist Report

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Journalist Report – April 23rd

Today was our second simulation day. We woke up at 7:30 am and we had breakfast at 8:00. Yesterday, Carl made jam, we ate it, it was delicious. He tried to do choco pasta but for me it was a failure but the rest of the crew really appreciated it. A part of the crew had to go in EVA, but they had a problem with the battery of one of the rovers. The EVA was reported to afternoon.

At 9 am, each of us worked on his experience. Eleonore and Maxime did pictures of the sun with the solar telescope.

At 12 am, Chloé and Carl prepared the lunch. We ate quinoa with beans and corn. After meal, we discussed about Nathan’s experience and his martian constitution. We spoke about the political regime to introduce on Mars.

At 2pm, Eléonore and Maxime baked bread and today it was a success. Julien and Chloé cooked an apple cake, it smells tasty. After that, Maxime, Benjamin, Eléonore and Nathan went to EVA. The rover Opportunity had a battery problem. We had to give up it on the road.

At 6 pm, we prepared the Cap Com. Each of us is working on his report and is going to send it between 7 to 9 pm. After the Cap Com, we will eat a “Gratin dauphinois” with beschamel sauce and pork sausages or lentils for vegetarians. And we will eat the apple cake for dessert.

Like usual, we will do a crew meeting to speak about the day.

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Journalist Report – April 22nd

Today was our first simulation day. We woke up at 7:30 am and we had breakfast at 8:00. We ate cornflakes with dehydrated milk and orange juice. A part of crew started the day by gym while others did the housework. The first floor is now clean.

At 9 am, each of us worked on his experience (read the scientist’s report for more information).

At 10 am, Maxime and Eléonore tried to use solar telescope but were only able to use it in manual mode. After that, Eléonore and Simon prepared the lunch. We ate chiliconcarn with pasta. It was delicious. After meal, we had free time.

At 2pm, we continued our experiences. Each member find a place to work. At 4 pm, Carl, Eleonore, Simon and Chloé went to EVA to explore Mars. Chloé took soil samples for her own experiment.

At 5:15 pm, someone was on ladder when he twisted his ankle. But he seems better now.

At 6 pm, we prepared the Cap Com. Each of us is working on his report and is going to send it between 7 to 9 pm. After the Cap Com, we will try to make sushi with basil from the greenhouse. At the end of the day, we will do a crew meeting to speak about the day.

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Crew 208 Journalist Report

April 5, 2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

The End is Near: Just for our Journey On Mars

Today was a day about completion. With much of our equipment departing tomorrow, we finished our 3D prints (including pieces to build your own mini-MDRS) and completed other projects. With the completion of many projects, we had a bit of time to experience the joy of some games we have around the Hab.

Whilst Dean and Julielynn finished their rides on our bicycle battery charging system, Amanda and David played a game of space chess, and it turns out at 12 years old, David was an provincial winning chess player in Canada (we’re still trying to figure out what he can’t do – not only is he an emergency room doctor, he plays the drums, taught us some dance moves today, just finished a masters in the UK, and performed some magic tricks while at the Hab – he is the exact kind of person you want on your trip to Mars). He came out the winner today in chess, but Amanda was ready for another challenge.

We completed some additional training and testing on our thoracentesis trainer. I think for us practicing the procedure with the trainer, we’re getting more and more familiar with this life-saving procedure. I admired the growth in the Greenhab today thinking of how amazing it can be to grow so many plants in such a harsh environment, where not much is growing beyond our little green space on Mars.

We were able to fit in some additional projects including, some brief fun filming in our electric vehicle today; with our time on Mars running out we’re trying to experiment as much as possible before we go. David and Amanda had a brief trip out to the reservoir at the end of the day.

We’ve become so familiar with the Hab and our landscape, it will be sad to leave, but we rest assured that the next crew will have important research ahead of them and make more important discoveries on the Red Planet.

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Journalist Report – April 4th

Date: April 4, 2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

Getting into our Groove on Mars

Food is a central part of our day and that is the case, no matter which planet you find yourself on. Our routine helps guide journey here on Mars, it’s part of the reason why I like to include it in each day’s journalist report. We started the day with cereal and fresh oatmeal. This morning David and Amanda left that for a walking EVA to explore the local fossil beds and discovered many, many seashell fossils close by. We had a large print of a map of MDRS finish on one of our 3D printers, and also printed several useful items today on our other printer. We are also using glow-in-the-dark biodegradable filament to 3D print miniature scale models of MDRS structures designed during our mission to place on our 3D printed landscapes. We performed our daily duties through much of the afternoon and continued to perfect our research. We had a lunch of herbed couscous and smoothies and then, Dean, Julielynn and I left for a second rover EVA mission. Amanda and David stayed behind and continued their journeys on our bike-powered 3D printing project, both putting in an hour riding to charge our battery.

Now that we’re nearly done with our mission, we’re starting to wrap up some of our projects and research. With 3D printing, we sometimes think if only there was more time here on the Red Planet, we would be able to accomplish so much more. For those 3D printer enthusiasts out there, you may know a lot of working with these machines is also about patience and waiting. In the limited time we have we’ve been able to gather quite a bit of knowledge in our processes, projects, and research. We hope you’ve enjoyed taking the journey with us, we have only a few days left, until we blast off and return to our home planet.

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Journalist Report – April 3rd

[title Journalist Report – April 3rd]

Crew 208 Journalist Report

Date: April 3rd 2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

Making It Work On Mars

Today we had a number of successes in our experience and travels here on Mars. We successfully printed another 3D map, we were able to fix our non-functioning 3D printer, and Dean and myself had solid one-hour rides on our bicycle to charge the battery we’re using to power our 3D printer.

David, Amanda, and I had an awesome EVA out to check out an area north of the Hab, where the landscape is called Grey Moon. Did it look moon-like? Well we haven’t visited there yet ourselves, but it was surprising and the color description was accurate. We hoped to find fossils, but instead found only the breathtaking landscape in front of us, which was enough to satisfy us on our journey. The longer we stay, the more the landscape continues to be surprising, surreal, and varied.

A short report for today, but as usual we’re never quite sure what tomorrow will hold.

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Journalist Report – April 2nd

Crew 208 Journalist Report

Date: 2-April-2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

Where is Windy City? Mars!

We began today with some new and exciting food supplies and consumed some new food including: oatmeal, chocolate with almonds, and cheese crackers. We’ve been loving the variety of freeze dried supplies that we have, and love to eat not just fruit, but our broccoli florets as they are — freeze dried. Now onto our mission…

Today with the wind picking up, we cancelled one of our EAVs to continue to test our drone controllers. Amanda, Dean and David were able to go on an expedition and complete a 2nd day of testing as planned prior to the gusting wind. Around the Hab we perfected our 3D drone maps after some continued troubleshooting – it is my belief this will be our best map yet.

I, Crew Journalist, took a ride on the bicycle for one hour. We’re using our bicycle to test power generation to power our 3D printers. I envisioned being outside on a beautiful day with the sun shining down on Mars, while cycling away inside and generating sufficient power for our battery.

We’re finishing the day with some more testing of our thoracentesis trainer and some dinner of jambalaya another item from our new supplies. More to come tomorrow, on what will hopefully be a less windy day.

Cheers,

Julielynn Wong, MD, MPH, FACPM
Chief Medical Maker

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Journalist Report – April 1st

Crew 208 Journalist Report

Date: 01-April-2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

Drone Control to Major Tom: We’re Flying.

Today was our first full day on Mars, it was a beautiful day here at the Hab with the sun shining and some beautiful seasonal weather. We had two walking EAVs planned today to begin some drone testing with two groups. We realized in order to fly we needed some landmarks to help guide our flying, as we were testing out the use of two different controllers and needed to fly in patterns to properly test our drone controller usage. Amanda, an engineer by trade, made a crafty large cone out of neon paper and a 3D printer filament cardboard box that could be weighed down by rocks. Suited up and with four cones made, the first group led by Dean left the Hab, while those left behind worked on reports, research and made lunch of quinoa and chili. After lunch, we split up again with our second group going out to attempt drone flying.

We attempted flying figure-of-eights and square patterns with both drone controllers. For some (including this here crew journalist) it was the first time ever flying drones and hearing words like “yaw” which to some may sound more like a cowboy’s exclamation than a flight term. Yaw means to “oscillate about a vertical axis” and just like that we were practicing the moves that captains and pilots know by heart. Drone flying while in a spacesuit is one of the best things we’ve done yet – how many people are able to say they’ve done just that – worn a space suit and flown a drone? Flying the drone, one thing one might notice is that there are limited controls, no matter which controller you use. The controllers may seem simple at first glance, but the process of navigating the drone is a challenge, as you have to think about moving along three axes. Understanding the challenges of moving through space in the air or on the ground is a challenge on Earth, let alone on Mars. While some of us were focused on the sky, our other two crew members were working on the ground and getting some further exercise, using a bicycle to charge a battery.

Takeaways: whether you’re up in the sky or down on the ground cycling, Mars is the place to be!

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Journalist Report – Mar 31st

Journalist Report

Date: March 31, 2019

Author: Erika Rydberg

Crew 208 Reporting for Duty on Mars

Today we experienced our first full day as a crew, we were very excited to have five people on board for this journey and experience – Amanda, David, Julielynn, Dean and myself, Erika. We began the day with a shared breakfast of cereal, dried fruit, our preferred caffeinated beverages, and of course water, as one must never forget plenty of water in this dry environment. We surely expend more energy than we even realize on a daily basis with the work and exploring the vast landscapes around MDRS, and water is key to sustaining our activity and our well-being. Our community building has begun as we’ve started to share cooking duties and the adventures of cooking with the various unique supplies of our home. You can do a lot with a little kitchen expertise: we’ve had soup, pasta with pork and tomato sauce and beans and rice today, we’re lucky to have curious cooks in our crew. Over our delicious food today conversation was bountiful and we started the day with a fantastic conversation about space, becoming an astronaut, and the future ahead for some of the new companies creating opportunities to visit space.

One of our 3D printers continued progressing smoothly making a 3D map of MDRS first thing this morning. We’re happy to have some of our machinery working well in this complex dry environment.

For the three new members to the Hab at 10:00 sharp we reported to be trained on driving our rovers and the process of EVAs and we went on a small trip to experience more of the vast and curious landscapes we find ourselves in. The geology and landscape is incredible, one moment you’re looking at mounds of varying red, green and black land and then in the next moment, we’ve found a deep vast canyon. Upon returning from we took a quick crew “dronie” (a selfie with a drone), and then we were able to try on and use our space suits for the first time and attempt to see what it is like to maneuver first of all our bodies and then second of all our rovers while existing within a complex suit. On one hand, the suit feels cumbersome, but on another, the suit provides comfort through both safety and protection.

Julielynn greeted graduate students from Northern Arizona University and brought them through a tour of the Hab and MDRS. The rest of Crew 208 meanwhile, ran through some of our duties. We then adventured out again in our rovers for one last trip of fresh air and some more drone flying. One of our rovers got a bit stuck on the way back, but with the help of a tow, we were able to return safe and sound to our home, the Hab ready to see what lies ahead.

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Journalist Report – Mar 24th

Journalist Report March 24

Journalist: Diane Rothberg

We are operating as a reduced crew today, as we sadly said goodbye to our two capable, young scientists, Tiffany and Kevin.

We are out of sim, but there is still the Hab to be run, and Tom did his operations duties, I took care of the plants in the Greenhab, and Julielynn compiled scientific data and took care of other administrative loose ends.

Tom and I got to take advantage of this glorious, sunny day by going for a hike. It was a real treat, being back in the “earth’s atmosphere”, and outdoors without the burden of a heavy space suit. The terrain here is awe-inspiring, oddly shaped hills and rock formations in every brown-red hue imaginable, and fossils from thousands of years ago everywhere!

We head out of here tomorrow, but what a privilege it has been to participate in this rare, and wonderful “Mars” experience. Thank you MDRS, and thank you, Medical Makers!

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Journalist Report – March 23rd

Journalist Report March 23, 2019

Journalist: Diane Rothberg

A busy last day of simulation with two EVAs, both of which were similar to yesterday’s.

This morning, we had a great time stumbling up a hill near Pooh’s Corners with our expensive drone and controller, trying not to destroy them. But we were rewarded with a perfect launch site and a gorgeous view. Our camera drone flew its programmed route well and allowed us to keep it in sight at all times.

Tiffany and Kevin were busy in the Science Dome testing out the 3D printed labware they printed at MDRS using biodegradable plastic. The good news is that our colorful devices worked and looked fabulous!

During this afternoon’s EVA, Tiffany got a chance to fly a drone for the first time, and we both performed the control stick comparison. No contest! The new controller is much more intuitive than the traditional controller, and made a clumsy newbie like me feel like a “drone virtuoso!”

After dinner, we are wrapping up the thoracentesis data collection for our crew, and cleaning up MDRS for inspection.

Our last dinner together will be quite ethnic… potato latkes and lentil soup, concluding with one of Tiffany’s excellent desserts…. apple pie “a la Mars.”

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