Category: Sol Summary

Sol:7

Summary Title: Day of Rest

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: Today was the crew’s first scheduled day off work since arriving on Mars. No EVA’s were consequently scheduled. Apart from some leisure activities, the crew caught up on Hab cleaning, washing and also prepared food for the following day. 3 cooked meals were prepared and consumed today.

Look Ahead Plan: The crew will return to its normal work program tomorrow, with a long morning EVA planned to continue the search for micro-meteorites.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: Clear skies, no precipitation. Below freezing overnight.

Crew Physical Status: All in good health.

EVA: No EVA’s scheduled.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: No further support requested.

Sol:6

Summary Title: Boomer 1 & 2 go on EVA
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Active.
Sol Activity Summary: The morning was spent attending to hab maintenance, cleaning tasks. During the afternoon, two crew members (Boomer 1 and 2) undertook an EVA to continue collecting micrometeorite samples. 3 meals were prepared today, including toasted sandwiches with Spam & Polish pickels.
Look Ahead Plan: Sunday 3 November (Sol 7) is a rostered day of rest for the crew, with no EVA’s scheduled. We will resume our normal work schedule on Monday 4 November.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Clear skies, no precipitation. Below freezing overnight.
Crew Physical Status: All in good health.
EVA:Afternoon EVA completed successfully, no problems encountered.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: No further support requested. The crew is enjoying the new dietary items that were provided to us in yesterday’s delivery.

Sol:5

Summary Title: About the Science
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Active.
Sol Activity Summary: Deliveries of both hardware and food supplies arrived today, many thanks to Capcom for arranging these. Today was about the science, which we hope our selection of photographs illustrate. Key milestones were reached in two research projects, with collection of our first magnetic samples from the field as part of the micro-meteorite study and the cataloguing of the remaining food inventory by Dianne McGrath. Two cooked meals prepared today, with a cold breakfast. Routine internal hab cleaning was undertaken during the afternoon.
Look Ahead Plan: We hope to complete a large proportion of our planned micro-meteorite collection tomorrow.
Anomalies in work: None.
Weather: Clear skies all day, no wind, ideal for field work. Crew Physical Status: The crew continue to be in excellent health EVA: Successfully undertaken, see EVA report.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: Some milk would be appreciated if there are any further incoming deliveries. We do have alternative sources of calcium (including 2 cans dried cheese), so the lack of milk will not be detrimental to bone density for the foreseeable future.

Sol:4

Summary Title: Halloween Heliograph
Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Active.

Sol Activity Summary: EVA 4 was undertaken this morning to the chosen sample collection site for the micrometeorite study. During the EVA a heliograph was experimentally used to signal the hab from the field. Baseline micro/macro nutrients have been inputted into the food stock database. We completed tying the remaining untied tunnel tarpaulin eye loops to all the tunnels. 3 cooked meals prepared, including a tuna risotto with pesto sauce for dinner with an apple crumble desert. General hab housework duties were undertaken.

Look Ahead Plan: The EVA program will continue for the remainder of the week subject to favourable weather conditions.

Anomalies in work: None.

Weather: After a very cold night, it was another clear, sunny day with no precipitation.

Crew Physical Status: Crew in good health.

EVA: Successfully undertaken, see EVA report.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.

Support Requested: We are still awaiting the delivery of food supplies, the absence of which is beginning to constrain our diet. Several plastic funnels to assist with the reuse of cooking water and several tea towels are also requested.

Sol:3

Summary Title: First Full Working Day on Mars
Author’s name: Guy Murphy
Mission Status: Full operational status achieved.
Sol Activity Summary: The morning was spent preparing for the afternoon’s EVA, maintaining the campus tunnels, and on other project and administrative work. During the afternoon the first full science EVA was undertaken with 3 crew members using the rovers. 2 cooked meals were prepared today. A few additional food supplies arrived today.
Look Ahead Plan: The EVA program will continue for the remainder of the week subject to favourable weather conditions.
Anomalies in work: None
Weather: Extremely cold night, cold temperatures but clear skies during the day. A colder night anticipated. No precipitation.
Crew Physical Status: Generally good. One crew member experienced a small cut on one hand from a protruding screw head when opening the RAM hatch. The cut has been cleaned and covered with a band aid. Crew member had already been vaccinated for tetanus.
EVA: First full EVA successfully undertaken.
Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Report, Journalists Report, Science Report, Operations Reports, Photos.
Support Requested: None. An additional food delivery is expected tomorrow.

Summary Title: Crossing the Threshold

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: 2nd day of full simulation, training still being undertaken.

Sol Activity Summary: This morning we were trained the use of the 1 piece and the 2 piece space suits by David Mateus. In the afternoon we undertook two separate training EVAs to familiarize all the crew with the airlock and radio procedures, and the rovers. 3 cooked meals were prepared.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we anticipate undertaking our first scheduled science EVA.

Anomalies in work: We were advised to hold off undertaking a morning EVA on account of weather conditions. Approval to undertake afternoon EVAs was subsequently granted.

Weather: Partially cloudy, no precipitation. Moderate winds commenced late morning. Very cold during the evening.

Crew Physical Status: All in excellent health.

EVA: 2 undertaken in afternoon.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA Reports (2), Journalists Report, Science Report, Photo of the day.

Support Requested: None

Sol:1

Summary Title: Touchdown on Mars

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: The crew woke up on Mars this morning, this being our first day in full simulation mode.

Sol Activity Summary: The morning was dedicated to preparing and commencing use of the radios, as well as other minor maintenance, cleaning and administrative tasks. In the afternoon our 5th crew member David Mateus arrived. Crew geologist Andrew Wheeler continued preparation of equipment for the micro-meteorite collection study. Three cooked meals were prepared today.

Look Ahead Plan: Our goal is to commence our EVA schedule tomorrow, with David Mateus leading us on our first EVAs to learn about the procedures and equipment.

Anomalies in work: Not all the radios were found to be working.

Weather: Very cold overnight, clear and sunny daytime sky.

Crew Physical Status: All crew in good health.

EVA: Not commenced today.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, EVA Requests (2), Journalists Report, Science Report, Days Photos, Crew Car Collection Report, Mission Patch.

Support Requested: New batteries were requested to supplement the existing limited supply of working batteries for future crews.

Sol:0

Summary Title: Preparing for Landing

Author’s name: Guy Murphy

Mission Status: Since its arrival yesterday, Crew 214 of Expedition Boomerang has been adjusting to its new surroundings and preparing the campus for commencement of full simulation mode.

Sol Activity Summary: Today we cleaned the bottom level of the habitat, and the outside of the buildings. We continued to familiarise ourselves with the various operational systems and procedures. We prepared 3 cooked meals.

Look Ahead Plan: We will commence full simulation mode at first light tomorrow morning. Our fifth crew member David will join us early afternoon. David will brief the crew about using the suits and EVA procedure.

Anomalies in work: N/A

Weather: Clear skies all day, cooler weather later in the afternoon.

Crew Physical Status: All crew in good health, adjusting to MDRS conditions.

EVA: EVA schedule not commenced.

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Science Report, Journalists Report, HSO Pre-Mission Checklist, Photo of the day

Support Requested: We welcome feedback from Mission Support as to how we can improve our practise of comms procedures.

Astronomy Refit Crew – Sol 8, June 10th, 2019

Crew: Peter Detterline

Gary Becker

Peyton Zankel

Cole Armstrong

Ed Thomas

Narrative:

Last night was not the greatest for observing, so some of us were sporadically sleeping in hopes of getting good images. Becker got some gorgeous shots of the moon, but that was the extent of the night. It was too cloudy for anything else.

Thomas left early this morning and for the rest of us, our last day was a clean-up / maintenance day. Armstrong and I got one last use in of the solar scope to test it and got our images processed. Later in the day, while Armstrong helped Detterline with getting dirt and a flagstone stair around the Musk Observatory, I was helping Becker with breaking down his telescope and getting gear into the Jeep for tomorrow. Becker also got the images of the propane tank processed and sent out and Detterline also continued work on the video project.

Today was also Becker’s birthday, so we celebrated a bit. We took a trip to the local rock shop before having dinner and heading out to Goblin National Park.

Tonight, there will be two different imaging cycles. Armstrong and Becker will be heading out earlier this evening to image with the moon. Detterline will be heading out early in the morning to image without the moon. I personally don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I might go to bed early so I can be up early and get my last few things packed up and squared away.

We leave Mars tomorrow morning at hopefully 10 am at the latest. Since this is my last entry for this crew, I want to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who has joined us here, both as crew and guest. If it weren’t for all of you, this trip would not have been as successful as it was. Becker and Detterline, thank you for giving me this amazing opportunity. It truly means the world to me.

Accomplished:

· Put stone and rock around the Musk Observatory.

· Gary propane tank pics for VR project

· Peyton and Cole solar imaging

· Worked on Video project. Needs power supply, didn’t set them up.

Power:

Soc = 90%

Problems:

None

Extra Notes:

Happy Birthday, Gary, you old space dog!

Pictures:

Picture 1 was taken by Gary Becker, an image taken of the robotic observatory last night. Pictures 2 and 3 were taken by Peyton Zankel of the dirt and new flagstone step put around the Musk Observatory.

Astronomy Refit Crew – Sol 7, June 9th, 2019

Crew: Peter Detterline

Gary Becker

Peyton Zankel

Cole Armstrong

Ed Thomas

Narrative:

Last night’s star party went off without a hitch, although a bit cold. Once the moon was behind the hills, the stars covered the skies. It was so nice to share this love of space and the stars with others. Made being out in the cold and wind worth it. Detterline and Thomas stayed out for longer and took a single image of the Dumbbell Nebulae with the Robotic Observatory that lasted 10 minutes. Thomas wanted to see what the tracking was like to check the quality of the mount. The attached picture is gorgeous. If the weather cooperates with us, they want to try it again tonight for 15 and 20 minutes.

Today was a sort of maintenance day. We got the crack through the Musk Observatory filled, as well as a crack forming on the back-airlock porch. Detterline and Thomas took the desiccant out of the telescope cameras and baked them at 240⁰ F for 2 hours to re-energize the material. This will be part of the maintenance routine from here on out.

Thomas also got some work done in the Robotic
Observatory today. He discussed some new telescope routines including a new park position for the telescope, and the rationale for why the telescope needs a 30⁰ cut off rather than a 20⁰ one, which is what Detterline was hoping for. This means that you can’t image anything lower than 30⁰.

Armstrong, Becker, Thomas, and I also took a short trip to the local dinosaur dig while Detterline worked on the training video. While it was technically closed today, they were still kind enough to give us a quick look around. It was nice to see what was going on in what is sort of our own backyard. We got to see a clump of large bones they had been working on and may soon be moving off to their museum.

Today was not perfect, though. The internet has been going in and out all day, which makes our work more difficult. Detterline and Thomas also tried to get the video cameras working, but with no luck. They are still working on it, but with Thomas leaving tomorrow and the rest of us leaving Tuesday morning, we aren’t sure if we’ll be able to get them operational.

Accomplished:

Poured concrete in cracks in Musk and Hab

10 minute exposure of Dumbbell Nebula

Detterline finished recording training videos for the Musk Observatory

Desiccant was dried out

Power:

Soc = 87%

Problems:

Internet going in and out all day

Could not get cameras operational

Pictures:

Pictures 1, 2, and 3 are taken by Peyton Zankel. The first is of Peter Detterline hard at work filling the crack inside the Must Observatory. The second and third are of repairs to the Musk Observatory. Pictures 4 and 5 were taken by Peter Detterline. The first is his 10 minute exposure of the Dumbbell Nebula, and the second is a gorgeous picture from last night’s star party.