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EVA Report – March 1st

Crew 206 EVA Report 01-MAR-2019
EVA #4
5
Author: Benjamin Auzou

Purpose of EVA:
The EVA is built to continue our exploration of different regions of
MDRS area. This one will be done without vehicule and so with only three
astronauts. We will climb to Hab Ridge by the 1103 path. Once up there,
the purpose will be to go through Hab Ridge Road and Sagan Street
intersection, to walk along the ridge and to arrive at Hab Ridge. On our
way we will make a stop to take picture of our home from Hab view North.
During the EVA we will also walk around the station in order to spot
degradations after the snowstorm.

Start time: 9:00 am

End time: 10:52 am

Narrative: Today, we went pretty fast on our EVA preparation like
yesterday, so we left the hab at 0900, instead of 0915, as it was
planned. Starting from tomorrow we will reconsider our preparation time
to leave the Hab at planned time.
That was our first EVA with an odd number of members, that was
unsettling for the preparation time, since we are usually working with
pairs (Team Blue and Red) for security checks. For the rest of the EVA
that change was less disruptive because of the absence of rover travels
and the good cohesion of our EVA team.
After the usual checks (Water tank for Team Red, composed of me, and
rovers states for Team Blue, composed of Cerise and Gaspard), we walked
around the MDRS campus in order to spot eventual degradations. The only
thing we spotted was a piece of tarp from the corridors that has been
moved by the wind. At 0907, all checks had been done and we started our
walk to Hab Ridge.
Looking for the road 1103, we stumbled upon a large black tarp (see
attached picture) at the coordinates 518418/4251029 (read on the GPS).
On the climb to Hab Ridge, the path was still muddy and slippery, even
if the surface seemed dry. However we managed to pay attention to each
other and walked safely toward the ridge.
After a couple minutes being amazed by the geologic diversity of the
landscape, we continued our walk to our goal : Hab View North.
We arrived at this point at 1002. We spent 10 minutes here enjoying the
view and taking some pictures of the Hab from the ridge.
Then we decided to return to the Hab following our steps in the opposite
direction instead of trying to go directly down the ridge. Safety first !
We arrived at the station and entered the airlock at 1047.

Destination: Hab Ridge Road / Sagan Street , Hab ridge, Hab view north

Coordinates: 517900/4251200 (Hab Ridge Road /Sagan Street),
517700/4250800 (Hab ridge), 517900/4250900 (Hab view North)
EVA Participants: Benjamin Auzou (COMMS, EVA leader), Gaspard Thieulin
(ENG), Cerise Cuny (HSO).
Roads and routs per MDRS Map: Road 1103 , Hab Ridge Road

Mode of travel: Walking

Posted on

Journalist Report – March 1st

Crew 206 – 03/01/2019

Sol 5

Author: Auzou Benjamin, Journalist

"Music, Music"

The goal of the EVA of the morning was to climb to Hab Ridge to reach
Hab View North and enjoy a nice view on the station. With Cerise and
Gaspard, we faced the muddy slopes during an hour before reaching our goal.
The landscape up there was fantastic; every quarter turn I made around
me was the discovery of a new landscape, a new universe. I was
travelling from round and eroded rocks to sharp buttes, from an abrupt
plateau that reminded me of Monument Valley to a snowy mountain. That
was like if this place had been a draft for the creation of geologic
richness and diversity of this planet.

Since the beginning of our mission, music has a precious role, in
musical ambiance for life moments, sport sessions or experiments, to
relax before going to sleep or just to spend time and have fun. Everyone
shares its favorite playlist, its favorite music style.

We offer you a musical selection, composed of six songs, one for each of
us, that we listened, discovered or rediscovered during the beginning of
the mission.

-Come Together, The Beatles
"This music has the power to give me back energy even in fatigue
moments, so that it’s difficult for me to not singing. It’s a perfect
song to resist fatigue or boredom moments, but really for my crewmates’
ears."

-Papa loves Mambo, Perry Como
"Listened during reports writing, this song was relaxing and catchy for
the crew, that was a good moment for me and the rest of the team!"

-Mr Brightside, The Killers
"This song represents the beginning of my adventure in loving english
rock, as it is the first song I actually recall loving. I remember with
remarkable details the first time I heard it in my brother’s room when I
was 6. Mr Brightside was played randomly yesterday evening in the
playlist of an other crew member."

– Contact, Daft Punk
"When I listen to this music, it feels like I am with the astronauts, on
their way to space. It gives me goose bumps listening to the beats and
to the rocket taking off, but also thinking of what they’ve achieved."

– Sleepless Nights, FM Attack
"This title moves me to another place temporarily, on a sunny beach or
on the shore of a calm and peaceful lake. It helps me concentrate, find
energy and motivation to work on any task. Even for a short time, it
helps me continue for a while."

– Banana Pancakes, Jack Johnson
"For some reason, this song never fails to remind me of our little trips
to the beach in family when I was a kid. Playing it during the mission,
so far away from those moments, made me feel almost at home again, and
as always, it also filled me with happiness and good memories."

Posted on

Greenhab Report – March 1st

Crew 206 Green Hab Report – 01-MAR-2019

GreenHab Officer: Norbert Pouzin

Environmental control: Heating and Cooling w/ ambient air (8 hrs)

Shade Cloth (40%)

Average temperatures:

Low: 17.5°C

High: 29.8°C

Hours of supplemental light: 0 Hours

Daily water usage for crops: 6.4 gallons

Water in Blue Tank: 262.7 gallons

Crops watered at 0900 hours (3.2 gallons) and 1830 hours (3.2 gallons):

TIME NOTED TEMPERATURE(° C ) / HUMIDITY(%)

1) 09.00 AM 20.1° C / 32 %
2) 12.00 AM 25.7° C / 25 %
3) 15:00 PM 28.6° C / 20 %
4) 18:30 PM 21.3° C / 30 %

Changes to crops: I removed the tomatoes and prepared the soil for the
next seeds.
I harvested carrots.
Radishes are germinating.
Red lettuces have some problem growing up, and are still not red.

Narrative:
The monitoring of the fan that I made yesterday worked well today, and
helped control the heat, even if it is still really hot when the sun
shines. Maybe, in the next weeks, I will put on the cooling system.
Indeed, it appeared that for a moment the temperature increased even
with a fan at max speed.

I also discovered that the "Crew 205 ‘s mystery seeds" were… radishes
! So I pulled out some radishes from this planter to allow the biggest
ones to grow.

Radishes from my experiment have a great germination : more than 75% of
the planted seeds have germinated, with an average of 2.6 cm of height.

Harvest: 9.0 g of basil, 2.1 g of parsley, 31.4 g of radish, 2.3 g of
lemon basil

Support/supplies needed: None.

Posted on

Sol Summary – March 1st

Crew 206 March 1st 2019
Sol 5

Summary Title : Debating Day

Author : Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status : All nominal

Sol Activity Summary : Waking up was harder this morning, we all felt
quite tired. Muscle aches have gone but sport was hard nonetheless.
Benjamin, Cerise and Gaspard went by foot on top of the Hab ridge for
their EVA. They loved the view and did a wonderfull EVA, but they were
kind of hot around 10:00 am. Aurélien, Norbert and I worked on various
projects in the Hab. Norbert worked in the GreenHab, Aurélien prepared
some lunch while I tried to fix some issues with the TELEOP experiment.
There’s some improvement, but it’s not yet done. We ate a light lunch,
and after that we talked for a while. We are all feeling some effects of
isolation and confinement, but we are doing fine. Some of us took a nap
during the afternoon while others worked on their experiment. Aurélien
prepared some bread for diner, it looks great. As the sun sets we are
more and more tired, tonight will be a long night for most of us.

Look ahead plan : Tomorrow morning 4 of the crew will go on an EVA to
test the simulated space suit, they are impatient. In the afternoon I
will try to make TELEOP work, and tomorrow night will be movie night
before the rest day.

Anomalies in work : None

Weather : Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon, wind
increased after 04:00 pm.

Crew physical status : Fine

EVA : Hab Ridge

Reports to be filed : GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA
Request, Astronomy

Support Requested : Lunar calendar (we want to take night time picture
of the sky)

Posted on

Journalist Report – February 28th

Crew 206 – 02/28/2019

Sol 4

Author: Auzou Benjamin, Journalist

"What the hell on Earth is going on?”

On their way to White Rock Canyon, the EVA team stumbled upon a Coke bottle. In the middle of a Martian hiking, Norbert, Jérémy, Aurélien, and Cerise are sent back on Earth.

The planet is endangered, with limited resources, and we continue to pollute and threaten her, even if we are all aware of the danger. Here in the MDRS, we are monitoring our water consumption, our trashes and our energy consumption. For now 4 days we have been following a simple, but healthy and sustainable way of life. We realized that our habits are greedy on resources, on water, on energy. And that it is not so complicated to change and adopt better ones. Even if we want to send humans to Mars, or to the Moon, Earth is and will stay our cradle and our home and we all have the duty to protect her!

Countries have the duty to adopt laws to promote ecology and sustainable development, companies have the duty to use wisely their energies and resources, and at our scale with have the duty to adopt a sustainable way of life. We all have this duty for us, for our children and for all humanity.

In the same time in the Hab, Gaspard and I choose to prepare a surprise olive bread for the crew’s lunch. Unfortunately, that first try was very different from the texture of French baguettes, but everybody loved the taste and it was a huge pleasure to feel a little bit like in France.

After lunch, everybody in the Hab chose to take a nap before the beginning of the human factors experiments. Sadly, both versions of TELEOP experiment failed today: the little rover faced connection issues and the computer of the digital version ran out of battery, with a broken charger. This experiment matters a lot for all of us, especially for Jérémy and the rest of the afternoon was very difficult for us.

The good news of the day came from Cerise’s water monitoring. Yesterday, the results seemed threatening. After an exchange with the research team, the comparison database that she was using was the one dedicated to space, and to Thomas Pesquet’s Aquapad experiment on the ISS. With the correct database, the water quality is not perfect, but safe to drink and not infected.

After the disappointment of the afternoon, we all need a distraction. For that, Norbert brought us some fresh carrots from the Green-Hab for the dinner and we decided to watch an episode of Nat Geo’s Mars TV show.

Posted on

Greenhab Report – February 28th

Crew 206 Green Hab Report – 28-FEB-2019

GreenHab Officer: Norbert Pouzin

Environmental control: Heating and Cooling w/ ambient air (9 hrs 30 min)

Shade Cloth (40%)

Average temperatures:

Low: 17.8°C

High: 29.5°C

Hours of supplemental light: 3 Hours

Daily water usage for crops: 6.4 gallons

Water in Blue Tank: 270.1 gallons

Crops watered at 0930 hours (2.1 gallons) and 1830 hours (4.3 gallons):

TIME NOTED TEMPERATURE(° C ) / HUMIDITY(%)

1) 09.30 AM 21.4° C / 25 %
2) 11.30 AM 26.3° C / 21 %
3) 15:00 PM 26.7° C / 22 %
4) 18:30 PM 22.3° C / 32 %

Changes to crops: I removed the tomatoes and prepared the soil for the next seeds.
I harvested carrots.
Radishes are germinating.
Red lettuces have some problem growing up and are still not red.

Narrative:

After the morning EVA, I harvested some herbs for our lunch and some carrots for our dinner.

In the afternoon, I prepared the soil for the next tomatoes seeds and removed the old ones.

Finally, I monitor the fan in the Greenhab to avoid high heat in the morning. It will now be turned on from 8 to 16, for 15 min every 15 min. It worked pretty well today!!

The door was opened from 0730 to 1700.

Harvest: 8.1 g of basil, 1.3 g of sage, 270.6 g of carrots.

Support/supplies needed: None.

Posted on

Operations Report – February 28th

Crew 206 Operations Report 28 – FEB – 2019

SOL: 4

Name of person filing report: Gaspard Thieulin

Non-nominal systems: Generator

Notes on non-nominal systems: Radiator hoses and alternator need replacement on the generator. A contractor has been arranged to make these repairs within a few days.

Generator (hours run): Turned off at 0900 (28th Feb), Turned on at 1730 (28th Feb)

Solar— SOC % – Turned off Gen (28th Feb) 59%, Turned on Gen (28th Feb) 62%

Diesel Reading – 3/4 (on a scale of 0 – 1/4 – 1/2 – 3/4 – 1)

Propane Reading – 80 (± 2)

Ethanol Free Gasoline – 7 gallons

Water (Auxillary tank) – Not in use

Water (Static tank) – around 500 gallons (90 %)

Water differential (Static tank) – 14 gallons (± 2 gallons)

Gallons transferred: Not Applicable

Water in GreenHab – 270.1 gallons

Water (loft) – 12 marked level

Static to Loft Pump used – yes

Water Meter: 01416094 units

Toilet tank emptied: No

Deimos rover used: No, still not functional

Hours: N/A

Beginning charge: N/A

Ending charge: N/A

Currently charging: N/A

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR

Hours: Not Applicable

Beginning charge: Not Applicable

Ending charge: Not Applicable

Currently charging: Not Applicable

Opportunity rover used: Used

Hours: 53.0 hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 61%

Currently charging: Yes

Curiosity rover used: Used

Hours: 77.3 hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 67%

Currently charging: Yes

Spirit rover used: Not Used

Hours: 78.4 hours

Beginning charge: 100%

Ending charge: 100%

Currently charging: Yes

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report.

ATV’s Used: N/A

Reason for use: Not used

Oil Added? N/A

ATV Fuel Used: N/A

# Hours the ATVs were Used today: None

Notes on ATVs: None

Hab Car used and why, where? Not used.

Staff Crew Car used and why, where? Off-Campus

General notes and comments:

Summary of internet: Lost Internet access a lot again during the whole day. Additional information directly transferred to Bernard, MDRS IT.

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report.

Summary of Hab operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of Green Hab operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of Science Dome operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of any observatory issues: Nothing to report.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report

Questions, concerns, and requests to Mission Support: Nothing more to report.

Posted on

EVA Report – February 28th

Crew 206 EVA Report 28-Feb-2019
EVA #4

Author: Norbert Pouzin

Purpose of EVA: The EVA has two purposes:

– the first one is scientific. It is to make sure that the deployment
of the LOAC and the weather station is fine. Since the snow has melted, we have to re-calibrate the tripod of the weather station. Also, the batteries of the LOAC have to be changed.

– the second purpose of the EVA is the exploration for the other half of the crew who didn’t perform it today. We will go to White Rock Canyon and explore this area. We will park the rovers on the road 1101, at the closest point from the White Rock Canyon, and then walk to the canyon. As the distance between the MDRS and White Rock Canyon is a little bit smaller than the one we did today going to The Moon, the batteries of the rover might not be a problem (34% battery left for Opportunity, 65% for Curiosity).

However, if it appears that the batteries aren’t strong enough to bring us there, we will explore Kissing Camel Ridge West, parking the rovers on Cow Dung Road 0110, near Robert’s Rock Garden. Like today, we prefer being four for this EVA, so that two of us can work on the tripod and the others on the LOAC and we can be two on
each rover, which is safer than being alone.

Start time: 9:00 am

End time: 11:26 am

Narrative: Today, we went pretty fast on our EVA preparation, so we left the hab at 0900, instead of 0915, as it was planned. After the usual checks (Water tank for Team Red, composed of Aurélien and Jeremy, and rovers states for Team Blue, composed of Cerise and me), we went to the localization of the LOAC and the weather station.

We arrived there at 0915. While Team Red changed the batteries of th LOAC, Team Blue measured the inclination of the weather station, as the melting snow might have moved the tripod. Indeed, the angle had moved a little, so we tried to fix it by turning the screw of the tripod. We left the area of the LOAC at 0931, heading into White Rock Canyon with our rovers, taking care of the batteries, like yesterday. It worked pretty well, since we parked at 0952 on the road near the Canyon, with 90% batteries for Curiosity, and 85% for Opportunity!
We started the exploration, following our scout Jeremy. We went inside the canyon, and then hiked to go above it.

The soil wasn’t as muddy as it was yesterday, so we could easily walk. At 1058 our walk was over, and we came back with our rovers. We arrived at the station at 1120, with more than 60% of batteries on both rovers.

Destination: LOAC and Weather Station location, Road 1101, White Rock Canyon

Coordinates: 518500/425700 (LOAC and Weather Station), 520250/4247600 (White Rock Canyon)

EVA Participants: Norbert Pouzin (GHO, EVA leader), Aurélien Mure (XO), Jeremy Auclair (CMD), Cerise Cuny (HSO).

Roads and routes per MDRS Map: Entrance Road, Cow Dung Road

Mode of travel: Driving and Walking

Posted on

Sol Summary – February 28th

Crew 206 February 28th, 2019
Sol 4

Summary Title: French bread in the Station

Author: Jeremy Auclair

Mission Status: All nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Muscle aches from the morning workout have finally passed, it feels pretty good. Our sleep patterns are getting better. This morning’s EVA’s purpose was to change the LOAC battery (which went perfectly) and to explore White Rock Canyon. The rovers performed better than yesterday, we managed to arrive at White Rock Canyon with more than 85% of charge. The exploration lasted for about 1h30, the view was exceptional and we took great pictures. The mud is still bothering, but nothing that we can’t overcome. We arrived at the Hab a little tired. For lunch, we ate pasta and we cooked our first bread!

This afternoon I worked on TELEOP again, but I encountered new issues: the computer charger is broken, and we haven’t found an equivalent one. I managed to connect the physical rover to my computer by there is still connection issues. To sum up: both TELEOP versions are currently not working. It was a hard day for me, but the rest of the crew had more luck. Cerise got a response from the BioMérieux lab: our water is not infected (we feared there were some bacteria), it’s safe to drink, but it’s not as clean as tap water. We are still experiencing internet issues, it seems to be coming from the router (I couldn’t connect before 07:08 pm).

Look ahead plan: Tomorrow will be a regular day, we will try to fix some issues on our experiments. The crew is impatient for Sol 6; they will try their space suit for the first time in real conditions.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny in the morning, partly cloudy in the afternoon

Crew physical status: Fine

EVA: White Rock Canyon

Reports to be filed: GreenHab, Journalist, Operation, EVA Report, EVA Request

Support Requested: New water filters for the jug