Crew 186 Operations Reports
POSTED ONJANUARY 13, 2018 Operations Report – January 13th Crew 186 Operations Report 13JAN2018
SOL: 13
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.
Generator (hours run): 15.9h
Generator turned off, charging battery at 9:30am
Generator turned on at 5:30pm
Solar— SOC
@ 9:30am : 100%
@ 5:30pm : 91%
Diesel: 50%
Propane: 25%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 01 Gallons
Water (trailer): 220 Gallons
Water (static): 500 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: Yes
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129509.8 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: Yes
ATVs Used: Honda, two of the 350s
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 02 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:30 hours
Notes on ATVs: There is an unknown clanking sound coming from one of the ATV 350s, but I believe the suspect 350 was pushed to the side today and not used, so I wasn’t able to check this out. Otherwise, the new crew, 187, was able to drive the ATVs around for about half an hour for practice! We filled up the tanks again, and now are running low on stored gasoline.
Deimos rover used: Yes
Hours: 101.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 98%
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: No
Hours: 12.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 5.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? Yes, to get a water resupply for the next crew.
General notes and comments: Today we spent most of the day cleaning up the hab and teaching Crew 187 the ropes! It was exciting to meet everyone and to now be on the other side of things, wishing them well for their mission. The new Crew Engineer has a lot on his plate, but he picked up everything well and started already by turning on the generator system this evening, with my supervision. Also, we got a water resupply! There’s now 110 G in the trailer tank and an extra 110 G in the tank in the hab car, but we’re not sure yet were the extra will be stored. Finally, we are changing the air filter this evening.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: Busy process today with cleaning and hand-off, but lots of the items left by previous crews have now been cleaned out! Everything otherwise is nominal.
Summary of GreenHab operations: There is a water leak at the GreenHab water spigot. We tried digging down to identify the source this afternoon; however, this proved nearly impossible in the mud and at an unknown depth of the source. The handle of the spigot has been secured so it cannot be used until the issue is fixed. This means that the GreenHab will need to obtain water from a different source–a significant operations concern because of the large volume of water required by the plants each day.
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: We are running low on a few things and would please like a resupply: RV Digest-It and Deoderizer (“Oxy-Kam Holding Tank Treatment”) for the toilet, and ATV gasoline.
Also, very importantly, I need to verify that the Diesel gauge is “from 12:00 to 6:00, counterclockwise” to display from 100% to 0%. This is important because it has been on 50% for around 5 days in a row now, and I want to ensure that what I believe to be 50% is not actually 0%. I completely forgot to ask during hand-off, but I have noted it to the new Crew Engineer so he can also ask tomorrow.
My final concern is that today we discovered a water leak at the Green Hab water spigot, and this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. This will significantly affect water usage for future crews.
Regards, Melanie Grande, Crew Engineer, Crew 186
POSTED ONJANUARY 12, 2018 Operations Report – January 12th Crew 186 Operations Report 12JAN2018
SOL: 12
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: None.
Generator (hours run): 12h
Generator switched batteries, 7:30am
Generator turned off, charging battery at 10:30am
Generator turned on at 5:20pm
Solar— SOC
@ 7:30am : 40%
@ 10:30am : 100%
@ 5:20pm : 64%
Diesel: 50%
Propane: 26%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 3.3 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 316 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129380.8 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: None
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: None.
Deimos rover used: Yes
Hours: 101.0
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 84%
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 12.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 47%
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 5.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No, but was charging this morning during EVA
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: Very fun EVA today because we had a nice long ride out to Skyline Rim, and I was just completely awed by the views. Sam and I each climbed up parts of the escarpment (or the more bougie term: “colluvial fan”) at the bottom of the ridge, trying to touch the layers left by Jurassic forces millions of years before us. Looking up to see the scale of one man compared to that ridge was incredible. Deimos broke 100 hours today– congratulations to our old chap! Young Spirit hung in there and is now at 12h; we’re slowly increasing their battery life.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
So part of my experiment explored how to teach the crew to do routine maintenance tasks, such as for the ATV brakes system. This is quite important, due to the safety considerations. I am aware that the ATVs all recently got a complete overhaul, which makes me grateful and confident in them, but I have one question. The brake fluid level indicators are barely readable, through a foggy window, so it’s hard to tell if there’s fluid in there at all. My question is then: were the brake systems checked, during the ATV checkout? Brake fluid is easy to replace, if needed.
Also, thank you all for supporting us throughout our mission! You’ve [CapComms and Mission Support] done a fantastic job at answering our questions and helping us with our concerns (especially reading my long explanations about that darned power system), and I’m very grateful!
Regards,
Melanie Grande, Crew Engineer, Crew 186
POSTED ONJANUARY 12, 2018 Operations Report – January 11th Crew 186 Operations Report 11JAN2018
SOL: 11
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: None
Generator (hours run): 11.7h Generator off, battery charging at 9:00am Generator on at 6:40pm
Solar— SOC @ 9:00am : 100% @ 6:40pm : 56%
Diesel: 50%
Propane: 28%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 3.3 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 367 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129380.8 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: None Oil Added? No ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: Filled up the ATVs all the way, finally. Trying to track the fuel usage as well as the water usage for our sim, but it was difficult to see inside the fuel tank with the helmets. Now the fuel is right up to the neck of the tank, since we recently had the resupply, and we’re ready to roll for our long EVA tomorrow! One of them was making clanking sounds, and this will need to be inspected during our hand-off day.
Deimos rover used: No Hours: 99.0 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only. Hours: Director discretional hours Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: No Hours: 10.5 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No Hours: 5.5 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No Hours: 3.1 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: Today most of the crew didn’t go on EVA, so I used the time for my "Implications of VR for Crew Autonomy" experiment! I tested two crew members from my Pre-Mission Training Group and the Virtual Reality Training Group on tasks including ATV maintenance checks and geology sensing using a portable spectrometer. We used individual Engineering EVAs to make this happen. Lots of notes to write up tonight!
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Based on the unknown clanking sounds coming from one of the 350 ATVs, we won’t use that one tomorrow on EVA. Also, to confirm what I remember from training, the Diesel gauge needle ranges from "12:00 to 6:00, counterclockwise," right? The needle has stayed just over 50% ("9:00") for the past few days, even though we ran the generator for three days straight.
Regards, Melanie Grande, Crew Engineer, Crew 186
POSTED ONJANUARY 10, 2018 Operations Report – January 10th Crew
186 Operations Report 10JAN2018
SOL:
10
Name
of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal
systems: None
Notes
on non-nominal systems: None
Generator
(hours run): 12.7h
Generator
batteries switched at 8:45am
Generator
batteries switched at 7:30pm
Solar—
SOC
@
7:15am : 95%
@
6:00pm : 99%
Diesel:
50%
Propane:
29%
Ethanol
Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 5.9 Gallons
Water
(trailer): 10 Gallons
Water
(static): 413 Gallons
Trailer
to Static Pump used: No
Water
(loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water
Meter: 129321.3 Gallons
Toilet
tank emptied: Yes
ATVs
Used: None
Oil
Added? No
ATV
Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes
on ATVs: None.
Deimos
rover used: No
Hours:
99.0
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: Yes
Sojourner
rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours:
Director discretional hours
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: Yes
Spirit
rover used: No
Hours:
10.5
Beginning
charge: 95%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: Yes
Opportunity
rover used: No
Hours:
5.5
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: No
Curiosity
rover used: No
Hours:
3.1
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: No
HabCar
used and why, where? No
General
notes and comments: None.
Summary
of internet: All nominal
Summary
of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary
of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary
of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary
of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary
of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary
of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions,
concerns and requests to Mission Support: I will wait for the handover day to review the state of the generator coolant as well as some other things, like the oil and filters. Curious when the last time the generator was completely serviced? (i.e. air and
oil and fuel filters replaced, hoses and tubing checked, etc.) I believe the man who installed or managed the settings for our power system will be coming back to town soon and will hopefully address the concerns we have with the system, and I would suggest
that a generator servicing might be scheduled around the same time, if that hasn’t been done recently.
As mentioned before: we need a propane resupply, the right tailgate latch on Opportunity is broken, and there is an unidentified leak underneath the front of the hab.
Regards,
Melanie
Grande, Crew Engineer, Crew 186
POSTED ONJANUARY 9, 2018 Operations Report – January 9th Crew 186 Operations Report 09JAN2018
SOL: 09
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: Generator
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system has run for the past 48 hours due to the cloudy weather. I tried to check the coolant this morning, and noticed it’s a yellow liquid again, instead of being basically butter when I saw it at the beginning of the rotation. (Apparently a previous crew filled it with oil instead of coolantThe coolant seemed to be pretty full, but I did check it when the generator was still hot, and not sure if that makes a real noticeable difference in the fill level. If I am to add more coolant before leaving, I’ll have to schedule some downtime for the generator so it can cool down first, probably in midday, if this cloudy weather persists.
Generator (hours run): 13h
Generator batteries switched at 7:15am
Generator batteries switched at 7:30pm
Solar— SOC
@ 7:15am : 94%
@ 5:00pm : 100%
Diesel: 50%
Propane: 30%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 7.15 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 446 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129293.0 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: None
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: The 300 apparently died today, because the intern took it out and couldn’t get it to start again. Please refer to Shannon for further details.
Deimos rover used: Yes, briefly by Shannon
Hours: 98.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: Director discretional hours
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Maybe
Spirit rover used: No
Hours: 10.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 5.5
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: None, really. Sad, cloudy, snowy day. We watched “Black Mirror” (on Netflix, pre-downloaded) and diffused bombs (on a VR game, not real bombs, come on) instead of our EVA excursion.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Coolant might need to be replaced, but I don’t think we have any extra here, that I could find. We do have a bottle of engine oil.
POSTED ONJANUARY 8, 2018
Operations Report – January 8th
Crew 186 Operations Report 08JAN2018
SOL: 08
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: Generator power system
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine. Early morning failures still attributed to the cold.
Generator (hours run): 14h
Switched generator battery at 5:40pm
Solar— SOC
@ 7:15am : 53%
@ 5:40pm : 98%
Diesel: 50%
Propane: 30%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 7.15 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 500 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129234.7 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: Yes
ATVs Used: 300, 350.2, 350.3 Oil Added? No ATV Fuel Used: 1.5 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 01:30 hours
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal. We got the 300 working fine.
Deimos rover used: No Hours: 98.4 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only. Hours: 5.2 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: Yes Hours: 10.5 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: 95% Currently charging: No
Opportunity rover used: Yes Hours: 5.5h Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: 62% Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No Hours: 3.1 Beginning charge: 100% Ending charge: Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: None. Just sitting around in the hab this sol, trying to figure out my VR training module with very limited internet help. It was a cloudy day, so the generator ran all day. We also received a water resupply, yay!
Summary of internet: All nominal Summary of suits and radios: All nominal Summary of Hab operations: All nominal Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Propane resupply is requested, please.
Regards,
Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
POSTED ONJANUARY 7, 2018 Operations Report – January 7th Crew 186 Operations Report 07JAN2018
SOL: 07
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.
Generator (hours run): 17h
Generator turned off, charging battery at 8:45am
Generator turned on at 5:40pm
Solar— SOC
@ 8:45am : 87%
@ 5:40pm : 55%
Diesel: 52%
Propane: 31%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 8.65 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 180 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129182.6 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: None
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: None
Deimos rover used: Yes
Hours: 98.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 87%
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.2
Beginning charge: 98%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 10.2
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 63%
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.9
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: Our Journalist and Navigation Officer, Justin, did a wonderful job taking over some of the engineering duties for me today! He switched the generator on this morning while I was preparing a hearty oatmeal breakfast for the crew, and he turned it back on again in the evening as I was essentially passing out into a nap following our strenuous EVA! Many thanks to him! The solar power system was run a tad too long and did drop below 60% (to 55%) when the generator was turned back on, which is my fault for not watching it closely enough! My apologies. Boy, does the solar battery SOC deplete rapidly in the late afternoon!
Justin also did a fantastic job as HabCom today! HabCom and the crew have been helping me each EVA by recording the beginning and ending rover hours and battery state of charge.
Something I have been a little vexed by, however, is the Potable Water Meter. I have been tracking our water usage as the crew attempts to be frugal with water, and I write down the number of gallons indicated on the side of the loft tank each time I fill it, as well as the water meter reading early each morning. According to the loft tank readings, we use around 30-35 G per day, maximum 39 G. Quite to the contrary, the potable water meter says some days that we use about 40 G (not too far off) and some days (like Sol 04 and Sol 06) that we used 50-60 G. I’m really not sure where this discrepancy is coming from, and it makes it really hard to give an accurate number for what is left in the static tank. It’s also hard to give the crew feedback about our water-saving measures.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: Water and propane are both in need of a refill, please! Additionally, I would love some feedback and support on the potable water meter.
POSTED ONJANUARY 5, 2018 Operations Report – January 5th Crew 186 Operations Report 05JAN2018
SOL:05
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: Generator power system
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator has failed a couple times at start-up (today and yesterday) and reads “under speed” or “under voltage”. I think this might be the cold, as I continue to charge the batteries all day (or all night). The generator will run on the new 9/17 battery tonight, which was charging all day, but it took 4 attempts to start it.
Generator
(hours run): 15.8h
Battery
switched from old (10/17) to new (9/17) at 8:45am
Generator
turned off, charging battery at 12:30pm
Generator
turned on at 6:00pm
Solar—
SOC
@
8:45am : 68%
@
12:30pm : 100%
@
6:00pm : 65%
Diesel:
55%
Propane:
34%
Ethanol
Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 8.65 Gallons
Water
(trailer): 10 Gallons
Water
(static): 318 Gallons
Trailer
to Static Pump used: No
Water
(loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water
Meter: 129097.7 Gallons
Toilet
tank emptied: No
ATVs
Used: 350.2
Oil
Added? No
ATV
Fuel Used: 0.1 Gallons
Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:40 hours
Notes
on ATVs: ATVs were nominal.
Deimos
rover used: No
Hours:
97.4
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: Yes
Sojourner
rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours:
Director discretional hours
Beginning
charge:
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: Maybe
Spirit
rover used: Yes
Hours:
9.3
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge: 87%
Currently
charging: No
Opportunity
rover used: Yes
Hours:
4.9
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge: 66%
Currently
charging: Yes
Curiosity
rover used: No
Hours:
3.1
Beginning
charge: 100%
Ending
charge:
Currently
charging: No
HabCar
used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: No EVA for me today, but I served as HabCom running the airlock depressurization/ repressurization cycles, writing down times, and sending Morse Code transmissions to our NAV, Justin, through his homemade Yagi antenna. It was my intent to hop on the stationary bike left by Crew 184 and get some exercise, but instead I spent most of the day writing up some reports and scripts for my virtual reality (VR) experiment… and enjoying some fresh, warm herb bread made in the bread maker by GEO Cesare! Yum!
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: None
Regards,
Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
POSTED ONJANUARY 4, 2018 Operations Report – January 4th Crew 186 Operations Report 04JAN2018
SOL: 04
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along again on the now-nominal routine. It was, however, displaying “Low Battery” and running at only 5.6 V this morning, running on the old 10/17 battery which had been fully charged. I will now be running the 10/17 battery every evening and charging that one during the day, just as we were doing before while keeping the new 9/17 battery in storage (fully charged).
Generator (hours run): 14.1h
Generator turned off, charging battery at 8:40am
Generator turned on at 5:10pm
Solar— SOC
@ 8:40am : 100%
@ 5:10pm : 88%
Diesel: 58%
Propane: 35%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 8.75 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 351 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 129033.7 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: Honda, 350.1, 350.2, 350.3
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 0.25 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 01:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal except for 300, whose engine I couldn’t keep running for the life of me. I tried various combinations and levels and durations of choking and throttling, with input from the crew. The engine just kept dying on me immediately as soon as I let off the gas. Two hours later, GreenHab Officer Mark was able to turn it on immediately to bring it slightly back to its parking space.
Deimos rover used: No
Hours: 97.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: No
Hours: 8.7
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.3
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: So much fun riding the ATVs out all together today!! We took an ATV-only road out to the Martian moons, over twisty and bumpy roads. We hiked only a little bit around Yellow Moon and Beige Moon, and I manned the GoPro for some video footage. We’re all pretty comfortable on the ATVs now, so it was a nice ride. Today’s challenge, though, was implementing more bungee cords and also Commander Max’s webbing/straps to secure down the big Trek (portable spectrometer) case plus a tool box and emergency water. Rather difficult in bulky EVA gloves!
Other difficult things: seeing inside the gas tank with that bubble helmet. Basically impossible, so I had to search for the glisten of the gas inside. Also, those large darned rubber gloves. They’re even worse than the bulky EVA gloves, but I have to use them every day with my small hands, switching out the generator battery.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: The bread machine seems to be slowly dying on us, and this is very sad.
Regards,
Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
POSTED ONJANUARY 3, 2018 Operations Report – January 3rd Crew 186 Operations Report 03JAN2018
SOL: 03
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: Generator power system
Notes on non-nominal systems:
Bad news followed by good news, so hang in there, please. The generator failed sometime this morning, which was pretty spiteful of it. I went out through the engineering airlock to check that it was still running at 4am and at 6am, mostly out of concern for our HSO/Biologist’s experiment running out in the Science Dome. With a long continuous runtime for the stage of his experiment last night, it was absolutely critical he didn’t lose power, so I wanted to keep a sharp eye on those batteries. At 8:40am, however, after a nice morning yoga session with Kshitij and the crew, the generator read “Failure, Under speed, 8:12 am Jan 03”. And the SOC had dropped critically to 35%. We previously believed that the clock on there was not correct, but still, the generator was off for a maximum of 2:40 hrs while everyone was mostly asleep and very little power was being drawn. So I gave those Solar System batteries a stink eye, because they really quit out on us, dropping like that.
The good news is that the new 9/17 battery showed full charge based on a green light on the charger, and it ran smoothly in the generator all day. (I gave the solar system a day off, despite the sun shining here on Mars.) Additionally, this evening the generator was running almost exactly at the design point! Perfectly 12.0 V, 1800 rpm, and 60.1 Hz. I did switch to the 10/17 battery for tonight again, though, so that I prevent too great of a discharge on the new battery and give it the full night to recharge.
Generator (hours run): (10/17, estimated) 13h; (9/17) 9.7h
Generator turned off, charging battery at 8:00am
Generator turned on at 5:50pm
Solar— SOC
@ 8:40am : 35%
@ 6:25pm : 99%
Diesel: 60%
Propane: 37%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 09 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 391 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 128991.9 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: Yes
ATVs Used: None
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: Justin and Shannon both took some time today to ride the Yamaha 300 around, as requested by CapCom/Shannon yesterday. We were looking for any sluggishness, especially in changing the gears. It took some coaxing to start it up, Justin said, and the response was delayed as he started driving it around. This effect did decrease as he continued to drive it around, which is a good sign I think. We will make a point to continue to drive it, and I will take it out tomorrow on EVA.
Deimos rover used: Yes
Hours: 97.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 96%
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.1
Beginning charge: 96%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: No
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 8.7
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 72%
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.3
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments:
Today was a just beautiful EVA day! Amazing views of the lumpy red mesas, endless plains, and even a small box canyon with amazingly sharp stratified layers! I drove one of the Polaris electric rovers for the first time, which was definitely fun, and I appreciate being able to take a longer trip today. But my heart still lies with the ATVs.
In other thrilling Engineering News, I fixed the front door handle with a silicon gun I found in the tool cabinet, emptied the toilet, and added a couple more things to my ‘To Do’ list. The Science Door lock keeps falling apart, so I’ll take a closer look tomorrow morning. I tried checking out the Engineering Airlock door for some loose bolts or bending or something, but unfortunately it is the actual design of that massive door which makes it so darned difficult. So vexing.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not operational yet!
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is healthy and well-exercised
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission
Support: Commander Max and I discovered a kink in the fuel line to the generator and also a water leak under the front hab stairs. The water leak does not have a clear source, since the hab is raised, but it does seem to have stopped and dried up a little since yesterday. I’ve attached three photos. Please let me know what you think should be done.
POSTED ONJANUARY 2, 2018 Operations Report – January 2nd Crew 186 Operations Report 02JAN2018
SOL: 02
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: Generator power system
Notes on non-nominal systems:
Ready for a long Engineering story? Following the generator failure early yesterday morning, I’ve been keeping an eye on the batteries and the battery charger. Yesterday, Sol 01, I removed the plastic covers from the posts to break out the “new” battery (with the sticker “9/17”), plugging that into the charger. As noted in Sol 01 Operations Report, I switched out the batteries in the evening, so the “old” battery (sticker “10/17”) that we had been using all the time was back in action. Though the batteries should supposedly last us 24 hours, the new 9/17 battery was unfortunately at a 50% SOC yesterday evening, after running the generator through our Martian daylight hours. This may be due to my lack of knowledge in the need to charge batteries before usage, and I would please request clarification on this requirement and possible effects of not charging before first use.
I mention this concern because today, Sol 02, has been a bright, sunny, and clear day… Perfect for spending the day taking trips through the tunnels to keep checking on an off-nominal battery charger! This morning, the battery charger showed 0% SOC after it was supposed to be charging the new 9/17 battery all night long! Too cold in the Science Dome maybe, even though I moved it inside? Also this morning, the generator indicated low battery and was running at only 9.3 V (lower than nominal 12 V). The rugged old 10/17 battery had charged all day, supposedly, but now apparently was at low charge after only running through the night.
Well, Max and I hooked up the multimeter he brought to check the voltages and amp draw on both batteries. At some point, the charger also began showing around 50% SOC on both the batteries. The charger was connected to the old 10/17 battery for several hours in the morning, and then was connected to the new 9/17 battery for several hours–in fact, all afternoon. Wrong SOC readings on the charger? The 50% generator battery SOC seems to be a small success, because the multimeter readings indicate the batteries should be full… On both batteries, now: 13.0 +/- 1.0 V and 5.5 +/- 0.6 A. Based on some battery knowledge and reading over a couple Schumacher Battery Chargers 10/2 A output, this indicated a fully charged battery. Small success?
The trusty old 9/17 battery has been plugged in this evening around 5pm when the Hab switched from solar power. The 10/17 battery was plugged into the generator at first, showing 100% SOC on the charger actually, but the generator failed to start. So I brought it back in and am leaving it plugged into the charger inside the Science Dome overnight.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on the generator system! The battery charger remains suspicious and on trial.
Generator (hours run): 12.8h
Generator turned off, charging 10/17 battery at 8:45am
Charging 9/17 battery at 12:30pm
Generator turned on at 5:50pm
Solar— SOC
@ 8:00am : 100%
@ 5:50pm : 60%
Diesel: 65%
Propane: 39%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 00 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): 430 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 128950.1 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: None
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 00 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 00:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: None
Deimos rover used: No
Hours: 96.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 5.1
Beginning charge: Unknown
Ending charge: 96%
Currently charging: No
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 7.6
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 89%
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.3
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: Yes
Hours: 3.1
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 72%
Currently charging: No
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments:
Curiosity rover was charging from the end of the EVA until the Engineering EVA, when I switched the cord to Spirit. However, I forgot to check the final charge on Curiosity after the Engr EVA, my apologies. We need 1-2 more extension cords in order to have all rovers charging at one time.
I took my first real Engineering EVA this evening with Commander Max! We trekked over to check the propane, unloaded some things for the little NorCal rover from the RAM, and I checked on a couple of our electric rovers. Tried out the Exo-Suit for the first time, too! Felt great at first and definitely so easy to slip on, and I appreciated it not hitting the back of my head like the other EVA packs–poor short Mel. Halfway through (which ws only after about 10 mins) I did feel some pretty uncomfortable strain on my shoulders. I’ll try adjusting it better next time.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
Maybe we can find someone with more generator and battery knowledge to check out what’s been going on. I’ve tried to record everything in my notebook and summarize them for CapCom so far. Also, I replaced the air filter, and Shannon says this should become routine at the start of each rotation from now on.
Regards, Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
POSTED ONJANUARY 1, 2018 Operations Report – January 1st Crew 186 Operations Report 01JAN2018
SOL: 01
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.
Generator (hours run): 25h 30min
Solar— SOC
@ 9:50am : 61%
@ 5:10pm : 100%
Diesel: 70%
Propane: 40%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 0 Gallons
Water (trailer): 10 Gallons
Water (static): Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 128894.7 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: Yes
ATVs Used: 350.1, 350.2
Oil Added? Yes
ATV Fuel Used: 0.1 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 01:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal. They all need an oil change, especially the Yamaha 300, because the oil during my check was quite dirty and black. All got some oil added to them except the 300.
Today I went on an Engineering round to do a quick inspection of the ATVs: checked the oil and fuel levels, attempted to check tire pressure, and did a visual tire inspection. All results were nominal and nothing unexpected; however, I considered the quick inspection my due diligence as an Engineer on their first day! It was kind of entertaining for me anyway. Oil levels were about half-way so I added some from our stores (plenty of bottles of oil in the EVA storage room). I wanted to check the tire pressures, but unfortunately the little pen gauge is inoperational and the air compressor has a gauge without enough detail for me to get an accurate reading. All the tires seem in great condition though, and I looked for possible damage to the tire walls from going over a bad bump or something out here, too. Lookin’ good!
Deimos rover used: No
Hours: 96.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: 4.9
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Spirit rover used: Yes
Hours: 6.8
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.3
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: No
Hours: 4.6
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Yes
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments:
Sol 0 and as the Crew Engineer, I went around the hab for my checks while also looking things over to create a To Do list for my couple weeks here. Toilet got emptied (such fun), ATVs got a quick inspection, and the front window replacement and back-up generator relocation was fit into the end of our EVA. I got confirmation from Shannon that we could try hooking up power to the RAM using the little back-up generator, so two crew were very helpful in wheeling it through the sand over there. We’ll just wait on the 30A cable to be delivered in a resupply mission soon, along with tools for the RAM! Yay! Finally, I also gave a little engineering brief to the crew–what to expect while they’re here with things like doors that don’t work properly and staying away from the power system and helping me record rover runtime hours.
A notable thing did happen today in that the generator failed sometime this morning. I’m not entirely sure what time, because the clock is not correct on it. Unfortunately, this means that I lost the runtime hours, too, so I can’t be sure how long it has been on. Fortunately, the Solar SOC showed 61% at that time, which is above our limit for concern. We are guessing that the battery died and that’s all. Because yesterday was cloudy and today might have been too, I left the generator on all day today but replaced the old battery with a new one. I switched the batteries again this evening, so now the new one is charging.
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support: ATVs need an oil change soon, please. Also for my reports, I requested a switch to my gmail because I believe this email server is adding additional spaces to my reports for some reason. Sorry about that!
Happy 1st of the year!
Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
POSTED ONDECEMBER 31, 2017 Operations Report – December 31st Crew 186 Operations Report 31DEC2017
SOL: 0
Name of person filing report: M. Grande
Non-nominal systems: None
Notes on non-nominal systems: Generator system limping along with a now-nominal routine.
Generator (hours run): 18.4h
Generator turned off, charging battery at 8:15am
Generator turned on at 10:30am
Generator turned off, charging battery at 2:30pm
Generator turned on at 5:30pm
Solar— SOC
@ 8:15am : 45%
@ 5:30pm : 61%
Diesel: 70%
Propane: 40%
Ethanol Free Gasoline (5 Gallon containers for ATV): 0.5 Gallons
Water (trailer): 20 Gallons
Water (static): 500 Gallons
Trailer to Static Pump used: No
Water (loft) – Static to Loft Pump used: Yes
Water Meter: 46 Gallons
Toilet tank emptied: No
ATVs Used: All of them
Oil Added? No
ATV Fuel Used: 0.25 Gallons
- Hours the ATVs were used today: 2:00 hours
Notes on ATVs: ATVs were nominal.
Deimos rover used: No
Hours: 96.4
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Sojourner rover used: Assigned to director only.
Hours: Director discretional hours
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: Maybe
Spirit rover used: No
Hours: 6.7
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Opportunity rover used: No
Hours: 4.3
Beginning charge:
Ending charge:
Currently charging: No
Curiosity rover used: Yes
Hours: 3.75
Beginning charge: 100%
Ending charge: 100%
Currently charging: Yes
HabCar used and why, where? No
General notes and comments: Some clarification is needed about the water meter, but questions are below! It’s rather difficult to guess the gasoline used by the ATVs, though this will become easier when I have enough gasoline to fill them up and keep track from there. Also, I need to become better at checking the rover charges after use, so I apologize. Curiosity was plugged in without checking the ending charge, so when I went back out, it had already been charging for a little while. Otherwise, all is good, and we learned a lot from Shannon today in an effort to prevent dilution of knowledge during hand-off! The crew had a ton of fun toying around on the ATVs today for practice, becoming more comfortable with them. Then we were also able to drive around suited up, so this was a fun experience. Pretty surreal to walk around in the suits for the first time! What a first Mars walk today!
Summary of internet: All nominal
Summary of suits and radios: All nominal
Summary of Hab operations: All nominal
Summary of GreenHab operations: All nominal
Summary of ScienceDome operations: All nominal
Summary of RAM operations: Not Operational
Summary of health and safety issues: Crew is Healthy
Questions, concerns and requests to Mission Support:
- Kitchen: The right handle of the sink isn’t working.
- Water: Ops report asks for a “Water Meter” reading. Is that (A) the value I see under the black cap with the “potable” label on it, up in the loft? Or is it (B) the level of the water (Gallons) in the loft tank (which changes a lot throughout the day, especially if I refill it)?
- Heat: Water heater is disconnected and Shannon said that Curtis needs to come back and fix the system, including allowing heated water to come back up to the kitchen. Also, we really need a better, stronger heating system because the current one can barely manage to bring the water above freezing, instead of the preferred ability to actually make the water feel heated.
- Hab Car: Needs an oil change please, the Check Engine light is on again (among other issues).
- RAM: Considering using the little back-up generator to power the RAM for special operations. Since the generator routine has been working well for now, we think the back-up should be ok in this usage. Crew Engineer with help from others will look into moving it and the wiring necessary in the coming sols.
- GreenHab: Axle needed for wagon — Carrie(?) comes back on 3rd to address this.
- ATVs:
– Rearview mirrors are REALLY needed, pretty please! Absolutely impossible to see anything behind you while in spacesuits, and I consider this a safety and operational Must. I’m absolutely willing to install them, and I feel relatively cheap ones could be found quickly online (Amazon?), if Shannon could receive packages.
– We need more gasoline– very low at around 0.5 Gallons left. I will fill the ATVs up and then be able to really track our usage.
- Generator: We turned the Generator back on after a couple hours in the morning when it was clear the Solar SOC was dropping rapidly. However, in the afternoon when the Solar SOC was back up to 100%, we turned the generator back off. This was not the proper decision. In the future, during cloudy days we will leave the generator on and plugged in the entire day. This is considering that we have a second battery (not known until this evening) and also a generator master guy in town said that we can trickle charge it– i.e. charge the battery and have it connected to the generator at the same time.
Melanie Grande, Crew 186 Engineer
