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Journalist Report – February 26th

SOL 8: Who run the Hab? Girls!

« The boy felt jealous of the freedom of the wind, and saw that he could have the same freedom. There was nothing to hold him back except himself. » – The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

This morning the first EVA of photogrammetry took place. Particularity: it was a 100% masculine EVA! All the boys went out on the Martian atmosphere, letting the Hab free for the four girls of the Crew. Outside, Mathurin piloted the drone and took photos of North Ridge with it, to later generate a 3D map of the site during the data handling session that they did this afternoon. Winds blew this morning; the drone could hardly take off. As the HabCom of the EVA, I told them information every 10 minutes about wind speed thanks to our weather station, installed during a previous EVA. In the Hab, girls were working on experiments: Marie was dealing with the AMI interface, Léa kept training on astrophotography, Lise watered the GreenHab’s plants while Mathurin was out of the station and, as I said, I was HabCom for the boy’s EVA. Despite it all, we were very happy to get the Crew reunited at the end of the morning.

During the afternoon, Yves finished teaching the Crew about the EchoFinder experiment, by teaching Leo and Léa. Now, everyone can perform ultrasounds on Marie and knows how to use the experiment’s software. At each session, we are searching for five organs, like the carotid for example, helped by augmented reality and artificial intelligence to take good quality images of the organs. Operators of the experiment take notes about remarks they want to share with the researchers for them to perfect the software, in order for it to be used one day during space missions.

Finally, Lise retrieved last week’s data for the Orbital Architecture experiment. This experiment, which was brought to the ISS three weeks before the beginning of our mission, aims to study the impact of the station’s architecture and environment on the analog astronauts. We perform three cognitive assessments per Crew member per week in different modules, we wear location tracking sensors and polars to measure our heart rate. The results of the tests, of the location tracking sensors, and of questionnaires that we fill enable the researcher from the University of KTH to analyze our performances!

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GreenHab Report – February 25th

Crew 293 GreenHab Report 25-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mathurin FRANCK

Environmental control: (heater, fan, door open?) Heater turning on automatically, door open during all day to maintain temperature below 85°F as much as possible (I had not seen the answer to yesterday report at that time)

Average temperatures: between 70°F- 100°F

Hours of supplemental light: 10pm-2am

Daily water usage for crops: 8G

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 145.9 gallons –

Time(s) of watering for crops: 11:00am 5:30pm

Changes to crops: None

Narrative: /

Harvest: (include which crop and mass in grams) : 427g tomatoes, 3g basil

Support/supplies needed: None

Mathurin FRANCK

Botanist

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Journalist Report – February 25th

SOL 7: “Carpe Diem”

“It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.” – The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

Today it’s Sunday at the MDRS! The day started a bit later than usual: we woke up at 8:30 instead of 6:45! The daily workout session was longer too: we enjoyed a one-hour session with lots of cardio exercises, to get us in shape for the day. For breakfast, Mathurin and Yves cooked pancakes for the Crew. They were delicious, and we ate so many of them with maple syrup that we decided to avoid lunch and just have brunch!

Then, Sunday means clean-up! Since we arrived at the station, we had not taken the time to fully clean the Hab. This morning, we cleaned up all the tables, countertops, and cooking utensils. We keep a close watch on our water consumption every day, and we are very careful not to waste water, even during cleaning. Léa vacuumed, after struggling to make it work. After a week, the floor was dirty… But now, everything is clean and well tidied up for next week, and this has given the Crew a real boost! Finally, we erased the white bord we used to track our daily task, now that they’re implemented in the AMI interface. That way, we could write quotes on it, like “Carpe Diem”!

During the afternoon, we enjoyed some downtime, not forgetting some essential tasks: Yves collected data for all the experiments we performed during the week, and some Crew members took cognitive tests for the Orbital Architecture experiment. But we made sure everyone was well rested, whether it was reading, or knitting, or crocheting, or making a puzzle and listening to music… The mood is great for this first Sunday on Mars!

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Sol Summary – February 25th

Crew 293 Sol Summary Report 25-02-2024

Sol: 7

Summary Title: Carpe Diem

Author’s name: Marie Delaroche, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

For our first rest day of the mission, we allowed ourselves a little more sleep than usual; for the first time since our arrival on Mars, I was awoken by sunlight rather than by my alarm. Our Crew HSO had prepared an hour-long workout session, which only made us enjoy the pancakes even more afterwards.

After an efficient and thorough clean, the Hab is as good as new ! The Crew then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Hab, resting for some, working on personal projects or on data collection for others. We are ready for a productive and intense second week, marking the start of the photogrammetry experiment and the launch of AI4U

Look Ahead Plan:

Our first photogrammetry EVA at North Ridge is planned for Sol 8, which will be dedicated to generating a 3D map of the area. This map will be given to part of the Crew to prepare an exploration EVA, during which the team will need to identify pre-defined checkpoints. The objective is to compare the performance of a team given a regular 2D map (Sol 10), and a team given a 3D map (Sol 12) of the same area.

Anomalies in work: EVA suits 3,4,5,6, Solar observatory offline

Weather: Partly cloudy, Low 10°C, High 20°C

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: NA

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist’s Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Photos (6-8 pics), EVA Request (Photogrammetry)

Support Requested: NA

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Operations Report – February 25th

Crew 923 Operations Report 25-02-2024

SOL: 7

Name of person filing report: Leo Tokaryev

Non-nominal systems: none

Notes on non-nominal systems:

ROVERS

Spirit rover used:No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Opportunity rover used:No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Curiosity rover used: no

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

Perseverance rover used:No

Hours:

Beginning charge:

Ending charge:

Currently charging:

General notes on rovers:none

Summary of Hab operations: put notes here

WATER USE: 10.6 gallons

Water (static tank): 388 .1 gallons

Static tank pipe heater (on or off):On

Static tank heater (On or off)On

Toilet tank emptied: no

Summary of internet: none

Summary of suits and radios:

Summary of GreenHab operations: put notes here

WATER USE: 8 gallons

Heater: On

Supplemental light: 22h-2h automatic

Harvest: none

Summary of ScienceDome operations: none

Dual split: Heat or AC, On

Summary of RAM operations: none

Summary of any observatory issues: none

Summary of health and safety issues: none

Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:none

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GreenHab Report – February 24th

Crew 293 GreenHab Report 24-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mathurin FRANCK

Environmental control: (heater, fan, door open?) Heater turning on automatically, door open to maintain temperature below 80°F as much as possible

Average temperatures: between 70°F- 90°F

Hours of supplemental light: 10pm-2am

Daily water usage for crops: 6G

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 153.9 gallons –

Time(s) of watering for crops: 10:15am 7:30pm

Changes to crops: None

Narrative: /

Harvest: (include which crop and mass in grams) : None

Support/supplies needed: None

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EVA Report – February 24th

Crew 293 EVA Report 24-02-2024

EVA #005

Author: Lise Lefauconnier (EVA Leader)

Purpose of EVA: Data retrieval from Atmospheric Instruments

Start time: 8:52

End time: 10:38

Narrative: The EVA objectives were to retrieve data from the atmospheric instruments, fix a problem on the third instrument, plant a sign to signal tourists not to approach the site, and film some images with a drone.

Depressurization until 8 :57

8 :58 : Drone ready to fly. Not managed by the EVA team during the EVA but by another member in the Science Dome. This was allowed by Mission Support on the radio, before the EVA.

9 :00 : Rovers loaded

Curiosity hours : 268.8h

Curiosity batteries: 98%

Spirit hours : 246.0h

Spirit batteries: 86%

9:06 : Leaving campus

9:09 : Arrived on site.

9:17 : Data retrieved from the 1st atmospheric instrument.

9:25 : Data retrieved from 2nd instrument

9:27 : Batteries OFF

9:44 : Cables from 3rd instrument fixed

9:46: Batteries ON

9:57 : 3rd instrument is not starting again.

9:58: Batteries OFF

9:59 : Unplugged two cables from 3rd instrument

10:03 : Sign installed successfully by Yves

10:05 : Cables from 3rd instrument plugged back in

10:10 : 1st and 2nd instruments back ON

10:18: 3rd instrument still not working. Shutting down and not starting again.

10:26 : Leaving site

Curiosity batteries: 64%

Spirit batteries: 59%

10:29 : Opening Airlock to load it

10:38 : Back in the Hab

Destination: Location between the Hab and Marble Ritual

Coordinates (use UTM WGS 84): 518500, 4251000

Participants : Lise Lefauconnier, Yves Bejach, Marie Delaroche

Road(s) and routes per MDRS Map: Cow Dung Road, North direction

Modes of travel :Curiosity Rover and Spirit Rover, and walk

Additional notes: A car passed by at some point during the EVA and someone went out of it to take pictures of us from approximately 50 meters. It bothered us a bit.

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GreenHab Report – February 26th

Crew 293 GreenHab Report 26-02-2024

GreenHab Officer: Mathurin FRANCK

Environmental control: (heater, fan, door open?) Heater/fan turning on automatically

Average temperatures: between 70°F- 85°F

Hours of supplemental light: 10pm-2am

Daily water usage for crops: 8G

Daily water usage for research and/or other purposes: None

Water in Blue Tank (200 gallon capacity): 137.9 gallons –

Time(s) of watering for crops: 9:50am 7:30pm

Changes to crops: None

Narrative:

I began to clean around crops to make space for them to grow.

Harvest: (include which crop and mass in grams) : 100g radish

Support/supplies needed: None

Mathurin FRANCK

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Sol Summary – February 20th

Crew 293 Sol Summary Report 20-02-2024

Sol: 2

Summary Title: Slowly Settling Down

Author’s name: Marie Delaroche, Crew Commander

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary:

No EVAs were planned today, in order to continue setting up experiments in the Hab and other modules. After breakfast and a workout session prepared by our HSO, everyone got to work on their different tasks and experiments. The EchoFinder experiment has been set up in the Science Dome, and all location tracking anchors and most environmental sensors are in place. The crew has started taking cognitive assessments in different locations around the station; the data will then be correlated to environmental, location and physiological data as part of the Orbital Architecture study. Atmospheric instruments are also ready in the RAM, and have collected data during the night between Sol 1 and Sol 2.

Unfortunately, the solar observatory is still unusable, for the broken part of the telescope could not be replaced. This is a hard blow for our Crew Astronomer, but she is not letting herself be brought down, and is admirably contributing to other experiments she is responsible for.

Look Ahead Plan:

We are hoping for good weather conditions on Sol 3 to deploy the LOAC (Light Optical Aerosol Counter), MegaAres (designed for electric field measurements) at the location chosen during the first training EVA. We are also planning to do an EVA on Sol 4 to deploy a weather station and the Field Mill near the Hab.

Apart from Observatory operations, everything is looking good science-wise, which has given rise to the question of possibly having to deal with downtime in the next few Sols before other studies are launched (starting , something which had not been anticipated. I am confident that the crew will keep very busy, making the most of our time in this unique environment.

Anomalies in work: Solar observatory offline

Weather: Cloudy, light rain in the morning. High 56°F, Low

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist’s Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, Photos (6-8 pics), EVA Request (1)

Support Requested:

As a way to reinforce the simulation, we would like to ask that Ben not specify the reason for his leaving the outpost (e.g. Going on a hike with Jules) if it is not necessary for the crew to know. We understand that for security reasons, the crew must know if Ben is not at the outpost, but we would like to keep communications between the crew and Mission Support as ‘in sim’ as possible.