Posted on

Greenhab Report – December 28th

Crew 201 Greenhab Report 28-DEC-2018
Greenhab Officer:
Walter Calles

Environmental Control:
Heating

40% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:
Low: 24.3°C
High: 35.6°C

Hours of Supplemental Light:
5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:
16 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):
35%

Times of Watering for Crops:
1100

Changes to crops:
Nothing significant

Narrative:
Planted three new pots for Cress. Watered and reviewed all plants in general.
Some dry leaves in the far part of the Greenhab, apparently the sun exposition is heavy during the first hours of the day
Probably, that was the reason of the bad behaviour of the Cucumbers (now moved to the front of the Greenhab, next to the tomatoes)
Recomendation: move the shade cloth to cover that corner.

Experiment Results:
Date: SOL8 (SOL13 overall) Crew 201 Final Experiment Report
Control Pot: 3 sprouts in good shape
Soil Sample Type 1
@10%: OK, 3 sprouts
@20%: OK, 3 sprouts
@30: OK, 1 sprouts
@40%: No progress
@50%: No progress

Soil Sample Type 2
@10%:OK, 3 sprouts
@20%:OK, 2 sprouts

Soil Sample Type 3
@10%:OK, 1 sprout
@20%:OK, 1 sprout

Harvest:
NONE

Support/Supplies Needed:
More sticky papers.
Some more seeds to keep re-planting some plants would be helpful.
My request is:
-Tomatoes
-Parsley
-Oregano
-Baby Greens

Posted on

Operations Report – December 28th

SOL: 13

Name of person filing report: César Augusto Serrano Baza

Non-nominal systems: Generator Autostart

Notes on non-nominal systems: None
Generator (hours run): 17:11 yesterday until around 09:34. Today started at 17:05

Solar— SOC 65%
Diesel Reading – Around 73%
Propane Reading – 67%
Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A gallons.

Water (Axillary tank) – 0 gallons
Water (static tank) – Medium to low level, around 94-gallons.
Axillary to Static tank transfer– no
Gallons transferred: 0
Water in GreenHab – Medium level (35%)
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water Meter: 01395823

Toilet tank emptied: NO

Deimos rover used: no, still not functional
Hours: 0
Beginning charge: –
Ending charge: –
Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging X :

Spirit rover used: NO
Hours: 63
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Opportunity rover used: NO
Hours: 44.8
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Curiosity rover used: NO
Hours: 61.2
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report.
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: Nothing to report.
Notes on ATVs : Nothing to report.

HabCar used and why, where? Not used.
CrewCar used and why, where? Not used.

General notes and comments: We cleaned the tunnels due to the snow accumulation last night.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report.

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report.

Summary of GreenHab operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: We cleaned the 80% of it. We found a water leak in the first up window.

Summary of any observatory issues: Musk Solar observatory – Nominal. RObotic Observatory – Nominal.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report.

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

Thank you!!!

Posted on

Sol Summary – December 28th

Crew 201 Sol Summary Report 28-Dec-2018.

Sol: 13

Summary Title: End of simulation ☹

Author’s name: Carlos Mariscal, XO.

Mission Status: We are closing experiments, preparing our travel back to Earth.

Sol Activity Summary: Today we reached the end of our stay on Mars. Closed our experiments, did the food inventory and some snow cleansing.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will finish the Hab cleansing, and get ready for the arrival of Purdue crew to do the handover of all the necessary.

Anomalies in work: 3D printer had a mal function and we could not finish all the planned parts to be printed for the rover experiment.

Weather: Coldest day so far, snow, calm winds.

Crew Physical Status: We are all good.

EVA: We had an EVA planned just outside the Hab, however, it did not take place due to technical difficulties.

Reports to be file:

– Commander report

– EVA report

– Greenhab report

– Science report

– Astronomy report

– Operations report

– Journalist report

– Photos

– Mission Summary

Support Requested: Not applicable.

Posted on

Journalist Report – December 27th

Crew 201 Journalist Report – 27DEC2018

The Martian Chronicles

[SOL 12] – Mars, the white planet

Mars is still a mystery for us in many ways. First probes, orbiters and landers were sent from earth to the red planet as early as the mid-60s. There are lots of things that we don’t know about our nearest planet. And there are lots of things that we’ve discovered over the past decades that we could’ve never imagined! Mars and the Earth are different in so many ways. But there are some similarities on both planets as well. For example… did you know that there is snow on Mars?

MDRS Crew 201 – MEx-1

We are almost reaching the end of our adventure, and the red planet has one or two more surprises for us. Something that we haven’t talked about is the location of our mission. We know that the Earth and Mars are very different planets. However, there are a couple of things in which they can be very similar. For example, we can find big mountains on both of them. And, believe it or not, we can see snow on the north and south poles of both planets as well. Hard to imagine, isn’t it? Well, that was a big surprise for us too! And that’s why we decided to land on the Martian South Pole, in a place known as “Schmidt Crater”. And today, during our morning activities on the HAB, we experienced something amazing and unexpected. Something that Mission Control informed us that only had a 10% chances of actually happening: snow!

It’s hard to imagine a white Martian landscape. We are used to think about Mars as the Red Planet. But let me ensure you, dear reader, that this place has more exciting surprises to offer. It all started just after having breakfast. We didn’t schedule any EVAs for today, and we planned to do some video recordings all around the HAB. On the middle of those activities, we realized that the temperature started to drop pretty quickly. This was not the first time it happened, so we really didn’t care about that. Then, the first weird thing happened; our crew engineer tried to pump some water from the external (static) to the internal (loft) one. And… it was not working. After some troubleshooting, we found out that the water pipes were frozen! To be honest, we got worried about that situation, because our internal water supply was running low at that time. And trust me on this one! Water is something you don’t want to have trouble with (especially when you have six human beings living under the same roof). Fortunately, the crew managed to work with the pipes defroster in order to get things running again. Thank you, engineering!

In the meantime, we started to work on the video shootings mentioned earlier. We suited up, prepared some interesting topics we wanted to cover, and walked through the connecting tunnels from the main HAB to the Musk Observatory. It was freezing in there! Colder than ever before. It got nearly impossible to keep recording. We were just about to pick our stuff and get back to the HAB… when we saw how those tiny and white snowflakes started to fall, little by little, all over the Martian landscape. That was unbelievable! And amazingly beautiful to see. Our beloved red panorama started to change just in front of our eyes. Mars decided to share with us an experience we never thought to have. It was a lovely reminder of home, indeed. A beautiful image that none of us will never forget.

MEx-1 continuará informando.

Walter A. Calles Glass, MDRS Crew 201 Co-Journalist

Posted on

Commander Report – December 27th

Sol 12

27DEC2018

When I took this position I knew it was going to be an experience that would forge my character and allow me to improve my leadership.

I thought it would be difficult but it has been the opposite. My crew has been more than better. They are focused people and know what they are coming for to Mars. After all, they chose to come to Mars instead of having a nice Christmas dinner and New Year´s Eve at Earth. As I already described, the fear I had about my age and experience when it was about taking the place of Commander was only at the beginning. To be the leader, be the Commander, it´s about getting to know your colleagues, their vision, objectives and learning how to take advantage of their skills and knowledge to find a common good.

Before arriving to Mars, during our training in Earth, our psychologist asked me that in some dangerous situation, if I had to choose between saving the mission or the crew, what would I save? My instant response was the crew, but as I answered the next question, I kept thinking about whether the answer was correct or not.

On one hand, my response was completely biased because within Crew 201 are my best friends on Earth. But also Crew 201 means an end and mission with a greater objective than the people it integrates, and above all it means to represent humanity (and Mexico). Today I still have a conflict about what the correct answer is and I’m not sure if there is only one answer.

We are a few days away and the weather here on Mars has become complicated. We don´t have much chances to solve our problems within the projects since our supply rocket had exploded before leaving Earth. Sadly, another of our supply spaceships it´s lost somewhere in the space between Mars and Earth. We hope to find it back home.

With our time counted on Mars I just have to say that we will miss you little red planet.

Tania Robles

Commander

Posted on

Crew 201 Astronomy Report 27Dec2018

[title Astronomy Report – December 27th]

[category astronomy-report]

Name: Federico Arturo Martinez Espinoza

Crew: Crew 201 MEx-1

Date: Dec 27 2018

MDRS ROBOTIC OBSERVATORY

Robotic Telescope Requested MDRS-WF

Objects Viewed: Messier 101

Problems Encountered: The filters used were RGB and H Alpha, the image taken with H alpha were not great and the final result after photoshop was not as expected, so I decided to remove the h alpha filter.

Posted on

Greenhab Report – December 27th

Greenhab Officer:
Walter Calles

Environmental Control:
Heating

40% Shade Cloth on

Average Temperatures:
Low: 24°C
High: 33°C

Hours of Supplemental Light:
5

Daily Water Usage of Crops:
20.5 gallons

Water in Blue Tank (lbs):
37%

Times of Watering for Crops:
1250

Changes to crops:
Nothing significant

Narrative:
Re-planted half bed of Salad Savory Mix. Planted more cilantro and basil on blue flat. Planted more chives on the pot as well.
Added 2 new pots of onions and one new pot of spinach.
Re-arranged all the flats and pots on the greenhab for a better distribution.
Brought cucumbers to the front part of the greenhab and added some fertilizer. Hopefully, will see some progress in the next days.

Experiment Results:
Date: SOL7 (SOL12 overall)
Control Pot: 3 sprouts in good shape
Soil Sample Type 1
@10%: OK, 3 sprouts
@20%: OK, 3 sprouts
@30: OK, 2 sprouts
@40%: No progress
@50%: No progress

Soil Sample Type 2
@10%:OK, 2 sprouts
@20%:OK, 3 sprouts

Soil Sample Type 3
@10%:OK, 1 sprout
@20%:OK, 1 sprout

Harvest:
NONE

Support/Supplies Needed:
More sticky papers.

Posted on

Operations Report – December 27th

SOL: 12

Name of person filing report: César Augusto Serrano Baza

Non-nominal systems: Generator Autostart

Notes on non-nominal systems: None
Generator (hours run): 16:55 yesterday until around 08:20. Today started at 17:11

Solar— SOC 78%
Diesel Reading – Around 74%
Propane Reading – 69%
Ethanol Free Gasoline – N/A gallons.

Water (Axillary tank) – 0 gallons
Water (static tank) – Medium to low level, around 100-gallons (See general notes and comments).
Axillary to Static tank transfer– no
Gallons transferred: 0
Water in GreenHab – Medium level (37%)
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used – yes
Water Meter: 01395509

Toilet tank emptied: NO

Deimos rover used: no, still not functional
Hours: 0
Beginning charge: –
Ending charge: –
Currently charging: no

Sojourner rover used: ASSIGNED TO DIRECTOR
Hours:
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging X :

Spirit rover used: NO
Hours: 63
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Opportunity rover used: NO
Hours: 44.8
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Curiosity rover used: NO
Hours: 61.2
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: YES

Notes on rovers: Nothing to report.
# Hours the ATVs were Used today: Nothing to report.
Notes on ATVs : Nothing to report.

HabCar used and why, where? Not used.
CrewCar used and why, where? Not used.

General notes and comments: We had difficulties by pumping the water up from the static tank to the loft because the pipes were frozen. The director and us figured out that one end plug of the extention cord fo the pipe heater was not working. We changed the end plug and we were able to pump the water at 15:00 hrs.

Summary of internet: Nothing to report.

Summary of suits and radios: Nothing to report.

Summary of GreenHab operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of ScienceDome operations: – Nothing to report.

Summary of RAM operations: Nothing to report.

Summary of any observatory issues: Musk Solar observatory – Nominal. RObotic Observatory – Nominal.

Summary of health and safety issues: Nothing to report.

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

Thank you!!!

Posted on

Sol Summary – December 27th

Crew 201 Sol Summary Report 27-Dec-2018

Sol: 12

Summary Title: This is about to come to its end.

Author’s name: Carlos Mariscal, XO.

Mission Status: Experiments are having some slow progress. Unfortunately, out VSAT, which is necessary to do one of the experiments, will not make it to the MDRS on time, so that experiment will not be performed. Depending on the progress of another of the experiments, we could end simulation tomorrow during the day or evening.

Sol Activity Summary: We:

– Continued activities of the artificial vision experiment.

– Printed several pieces for the rover.

– Had a lot of work at the GreenHab; we planted some seeds and organized some stuff.

– Recorded videos for media.

– Had a great time with some pictures in the snow (before it got kind of bad).

Look Ahead Plan: We hope to have our last EVA tomorrow to test mechanical components of the rover. Besides that, we will finish some experiments and start with the cleaning of the station for the next crew.

Anomalies in work: The plumb and water tank deicing system didn’t work properly, so we could not use any water during the morning. Fortunately, the temperature raised enough to get water up just before the snow started.

Weather: Cold in the morning, then snow, snow, wind and snow.

Crew Physical Status: A crew member had headaches, nothing serious, an aspirin solved it.

EVA: No EVA today.

Reports to be file:

– Commander report

– Sol summary

– HSO report

– Operations report

– GreenHab report

– Astronomer report

– Journalist report

– EVA request

– Photos

Support Requested: No support requested.