Crew 205 Sol Summaries

Sol 0: Ready for Mars!

Summary Title: Ready for Mars!

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a special day: the first day we woke up at the Hab! We spent the night together with Crew 204. The place was crowded but we had a great evening conversing and playing board games together. We woke up full of energy and ready to prepare the final details for our mission. In the morning, we got our first pictures as a crew and proceeded execute crew handover with Crew 204. We came back to the Hab and settled in to our new home for the next two weeks. We enjoyed blueberry pancakes for breakfast, unpacked our bags, did some deep cleaning, took inventory, and loaded the water tanks. In the afternoon, Atila and David joined us at the Hab to conduct training on mission protocols and operations. Then we split into two groups for EVA training using the rovers in the field. Finally, we practiced putting on the suits and using the earpieces.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we enter sim. We will start our new daily routine and plan to conduct our first EVAs. Stay tuned for our future reports. We have two weeks of full of exciting projects coming up! We are ready for Mars!

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Clear skies all day long, intermittent high intensity winds.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, HSO checklist, Crew Bios and pictures, mission patch

Support Requested: We could not find the astronomy handbook or astronomy laptop (neither in the Hab, Science Dome or RAM)

Sol 1: First day

Summary Title: First day

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was the first day of sim. We woke up looking at the snowy Martian landscape from our small windows in the Hab. Slowly, we are adapting to the life here. We are getting familiar with our new home and our new crew family. We began the day by removing the snow from the ground in the tunnels and enjoying breakfast all together. Today we had the opportunity to experience our first EVAs. The snow however, introduced some changes to our initial plans. The first EVA team scheduled in the morning, originally planning to reach the White Moon area, was redirected to Kissing Camel Ridge. The team conducted some sample collection and explored the area. The second EVA team in the afternoon headed to North Ridge. Due to the hot weather, the team came back earlier than expected. We learned the challenges of moving around with the spacesuit under the “Martian” sun. Meanwhile, we started our project on food production in regolith; although it was challenged with some issues with the autoclave. We harvested some of the carrots from the GreenHab. We also performed our first astronomical observation (we expect to download the data later today).

In the evening, we did inventory of the food that we received today (shipped form “Earth”), arranged the kitchen and held our daily crew meeting. Tonight, a nice dinner including those Martian harvested carrots is waiting for us!

Looking Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we plan to also conduct two EVAs following the original plans scheduled for today: one team will head to The Moon area; the second team will head to North Ridge. We will test the drones for our EVA navigation projects, continue regolith sample collections, and continue working on the other research projects and duties (including photometry astronomical analysis, GreenHab and outreach activities).

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Light snow on the ground in the morning. Clear skies all day long.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#01: 4249300,518100

EVA#02: 4250500, 518400

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, HSO report, Mission planning.

Sol 2: Adapting to Mars

Summary Title: Adapting to Mars

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We started the day with what is becoming our daily routine: waking up at 7 am, having coffee and breakfast together and by 8.30 am start our work. In the morning, the first EVA team set off on rovers Spirit and Opportunity Northwards on Cow Dung Road towards the “Moon” areas. They passed Galileo road (losing contact with MDRS as expected shortly after). Before reaching Cowboy Corner, Spirit reported having 75% SOC, Spirit’s battery reduced rapidly and the rovers were stopped between Tank Wash and White Moon with Spirit on 63% and Opportunity at 75%. The EVA was modified to be completed on foot by only visiting, exploring and sampling areas within White Moon and the easternmost fringes of Beige Moon. The turnings of the road that enter to the Moon were recorded on GPS for future use in EVAs. Some excellent samples of quartz and sulphur containing deposits were collected and will be analysed in the coming days before being described fully in the upcoming Science Report.  Meanwhile, in the Hab, the rest of the team continue working in the GreenHab daily duties, EVA planning and astronomy projects. Lunch was ready for the returning EVA team and the crew ate together in good spirits.

Equipment was prepared for use in the second EVA of the day, including a drone with a vertical camera and the ability to connect to a laptop for images to be reviewed in the field. As planned, the EVA team started getting prepared for its mission to North Ridge. However, while preparing, it was found that some of the suits were not fully functional and others, were still charging from the EVA in the morning. The team initially thought only of the suits was to be fully charged and operational. For this reason, putting the safety of the crew as the top priority, the commander took the decision to cancel the EVA. After the fact, it was found that a second spacesuit was also fully charged. All crew members thus, stayed in the Hab working “from home” in their different duties and projects. Tonight, following our daily crew meeting, we plan to enjoy a “Martian-Spanish” tapas dinner.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we plan to continue with the initial plan of today. A first EVA team will head in the morning will head to Maxwell Montes. A second team will head the Old Repeater Point and North Ridge to test the drone. GreenHab, astronomy and outreach activities will continue as usual.

Anomalies in work: EVA#04 (in the afternoon) was cancelled (please refer to EVA report and description above for further information)

Weather: Clear skies all day long

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#03: 4254500/516500 (Gray Moon, not reached), 4254350/516500 (Beige Moon), 4254550/517550 (White Moon)

EVA#04: Not conducted (please refer to the EVA report and description above for more information)

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, Astronomy Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: Some spacesuits not working properly and we are missing a charger for one of them (please refer to operations report for further information).

Sol 3: The Sound of Martian Winds

Summary Title: The sound of Martian winds

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We woke up with the smell of home-made brownies and coffee. The first EVA left at 10.00 am driving Curiosity and Opportunity rovers heading to Candor Chasma. The team collected excellent geological samples and had the chance to explore the area. Meanwhile, at the Hab, the team worked on new maintenance tasks. We checked the status of the EVA suits making sure they are fully operational. Batteries were replaced in those suits not working properly, making them now ready to be used. At the return of the EVA team, all the crew enjoyed together some Martian pasta with dried tomato and chicken sauce. In the afternoon, the second EVA team headed to explore the area surrounding the Hab. The plan was to test Crew 205’s drone, collect samples and conduct photography. However, the Martian weather complicated the task. Winds were too strong to fly the drone. The team continued nonetheless, with its plans of climbing the Old Repeater Point. The view of MDRS was great from there! However, in the field, the rain started to hit and the space helmets started to become foggy. Walking on the hilly surface in such conditions was not easy. The team then decided to head back to the Hab, enjoy a warm coffee and tea, and continue working there. Tonight we plan movie night … maybe “The Martian”?;))

Look Ahead Plan: Most of the day tomorrow will be dedicated to work “from home” on the different projects. After few days on Mars, we have started collecting many pieces of great science and data which need to be analyzed. A team will also head the Old Repeater Point and North Ridge for a short test the drone (if the weather permits), continuing with the initial plan of today. Tomorrow is also Saint Valentine’s day so we plan a special evening and dinner with “Secret Valentine” presents included. In addition, it will be first day we start rotating roles in the crew. The members in the position of commander and XO will be rotating for the next week.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Cloudy all day long, windy with light rain in the afternoon

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#05: 0520300/4241100 (Candor Chasma)

EVA#06: 4250900/517950 (Old Repeater Point), 4251500/518600 (North Ridge, not reached)

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA report, EVA request, Operations Report, HSO Report, Astronomy Report, Science Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Sol 4: Nothing Says Love Like Bacon!

Summary Title: Nothing Says Love Like Bacon!

Author’s name: Dave Masaitis

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Crew 205 awoke to overcast skies and the smell of bacon and eggs, as the Commander and Executive Officer cooked a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast prepared from homemade bread. Unfortunately, the only sunny things today were the egg yolks. The EVA team for EVA #07 left on schedule, but was recalled 45 minutes later as weather began to turn inclement. The EVA crew was in the airlock before any unsafe ground conditions occured, but they only completed the UAV test flight, and did not make it to the North Ridge. The rest of the crew helped the EVA team clean and store their EVA suits, before everyone headed upstairs for lunch. While having lunch, the crew engaged in a "Secret Valentine" gift exchange and then used the afternoon to catch up on scientific analysis of samples collected over the week's EVAs so far. Towards the evening, the crew gathered in the upstairs common area of the Hab to prepare reports for the communications window, share stories, and discuss what would be prepared for dinner. After the communications window, the crew will eat chicken and rice casserole, discuss tomorrow's priorities of work, and then play some card games before bed.

Look Ahead Plan: Due to today's ongoing inclement weather, the ground tomorrow will be too saturated to make EVAs practical. Instead, the crew will remain at the Hab to focus on refining research, improving ongoing investigations, and drafting procedural documents to improve the workflow of future crews. The inability to conduct EVAs can be frustrating, but having multiple crew members with culinary skills makes being stuck at the Hab much more palatible. Tomorrow will also see another rotation of Commander and Executive Officer, so a new day will bring new leadership.

Anomalies in work: EVA# 07 terminated early due to weather

Weather: Cloudy all day long, rain started after 1100 hrs, with consistent rain all afternoon and into the evening

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA:

EVA#07: 0518800/4250900 (Pooh's Corner), 0518600/4251500 (North Ridge, not reached)

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA report, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: None

Sol 5: Geology, Biology, and EVA-ology

Summary Title: Geology, Biology, and EVA-ology

Author’s name: Nathan Hadland

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: The weather on Mars this morning was much more pleasant than on Sol 4. The sky was clear, but the muddy conditions persisted until late morning when the heat of the day started to clear the landscape of its saturation. There was no EVA today due to the unsafe ground conditions, so the sol was spent catching up on paperwork, characterizing regolith samples in the Science Dome, cleaning, and working in the GreenHab. The ISRU project reached a pivotal point today, with the Arabidopsis thaliana germinations completed and the seedlings transferred to regolith samples collected on previous EVAs using an agar media plug. Those experiments are now in the GreenHab and will stay there for the duration of the experiment. The team also made headway on our EVA optimization project. We finished designing our quantitative study to evaluate the effectiveness of EVAs and will be applying the measure to upcoming EVAs. We also worked on designing pre and post check lists for future crews to make EVAs safer, more efficient, and easier which will be available at the end of the mission. The crew’s journalist worked all day on her media and outreach project, interviewing each crewmember about their role, and recording while everyone was working. She is also designing and outreach video for kids. After the communications window and an Irish meal of shepherd’s pie tonight, the team will have our nightly meeting and leadership handover to discuss tomorrow.

Look Ahead Plan: Weather permitting tomorrow, the crew will go on EVA to continue geological sampling and testing of EVA checklists, procedures, and quantitative measures of effectiveness. Otherwise, we will continue refining the SOPs and other documentation to improve the workflow of future crews and continue to work in the laboratory. Tomorrow will also see another rotation of Commander and Executive Officer, so a new day will bring new leadership.

Anomalies in work:  None

Weather: Partly cloudy with high winds throughout the day.  

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA request, Operations Report, GreenHab Report, Journalist Report, Astronomy Report, HSO Report

Support Requested: None

Sol 6: Boys and Girls Clubs

Sol Summary title: Boys and Girls clubs

Author: Verónica Triviño

Mission status: Nominal

Sol activity summary: Unsure on whether the weather would permit today's EVAs given last night's warning of a high chance of rain and wind, crew 205 was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a sunny morning, which remained clear throughout the day, permitting both planned EVAs. The morning EVA's crew was composed by the four men of crew 205 who went up to North Ridge and its surrounding foothills to collect samples. The four ladies used the morning to make "Kaiserschmarrn" (scrambled pancakes), write up documentation, and of course act as capcom to our bearded crew members. The girls' EVA consisted on a drive to Kissing Camel in order to take drone footage at high altitude (and sneak in a "Charlie's Angels" pose photo). After returning from the afternoon EVA (to a fresh pot of coffee made by the guys), we worked on writing our documentation and planning tomorrow's EVAs. In the evening, the long-haired girls will have our once-every-3-day-super-water-efficient hair wash session which we always look forward too!

Look ahead plan: We have two EVAs planned for tomorrow, a 4-hour morning one to "The Moon" and an shorter afternoon one to Hab ridge. Other than that, tomorrow's HSO (Dave) and myself (tomorrow's engineer) will be working on fixing some of the spacesuits, and the journalist wants to continue filming her interviews of the crew.

Anomalies: None

Weather: sunny and clear skies

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA report, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report

Support Requested: Steel wool for cleaning pots and More eggs (the can of dried eggs contains 72 eggs and we were given 24 fresh eggs)

Sol 7: Moon Cheese and White Mars Bars

Sol Summary title: Moon Cheese and White Mars Bars

Author: Daniel Robson

Mission status: Nominal

Sol activity summary: This morning began in spectacular fashion thanks to the heroic efforts of Hannah, our crew’s Communication Officer, who woke up early to make us all cinnamon buns to start the day right. The morning’s EVA team was geared up for their expedition in good time and left only a few minutes later than scheduled. They drove Opportunity and Curiosity to within a few hundred metres of Copernicus Highway in the Moon Region before pulling over. The rest of their EVA was accomplished on foot in the Grey Moon area, and succeeded in bringing back samples from 9 different sites – including the fossilised shells’ of ancient sea creatures! The EVA team were monitoring the weather and as they noticed heavy clouds approaching (likely with snow) from the southern mountain and skyline ridge, they decided to return to Hab. The reunitedcrew enjoyed a tasty soup of cheese and broccoli with added chicken for lunch. Not long after we finished, the crew noticed snow flurries beginning from the Hab’s windows. After 10 minutes or so they hadn’t stopped and so the decision was taken to cancel the afternoon’s EVA. Even after the snow eventually stopped, from the looks of the clouds surrounding our little oasis, we all agreed it was probably safer to have stayed and worked in the base itself.

In the afternoon extra measures were taken to secure the maintenance of the base, including repairing any loose tunnel coverings (one had already begun blowing away), fixing the GreenHab door and later the EVA suits that have some faulty fans. For tonight, to keep away the cold, we have some Mars burgers made by Hannah featuring lettuce leaves from our very own GreenHab! After dinner, we’re hopefully going to find a movie from the newly reorganised DVD collection, perhaps even a Christmas film to reflect the weather. The weather outside may be frightful, but inside our home on Mars at MDRS, the company is most definitely delightful…

Look ahead plan: If the weather outside tomorrow is safe, the crew intends to conduct an EVA, deep into Condor Chasma to retrieve samples from the harder to reach areas. The team for this will be mostly made up from those that didn’t get the chance to do an EVA this afternoon. This is provided the snow holds off overnight too. Now that the Journalist (Maria) has compiled all the crew interview videos she is hoping to start editing together our Crew Video, but for today and tomorrow it is her turn to be XO and CO. As always, science will continue in earnest at the base. Many samples from today and likely tomorrow morning are still to be analysed and catalogued fully, and also the final few Arabidopsis seedlings have been transferred to be grown in regolith substrate as part of our botanical ISRU experiment.

Anomalies: None

Weather: cloudy with snow clouds and flurries moving in from the South

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, EVA report, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, Astronomy Report, Science Report

Support Requested: None

Sol 8: Fossils, mystery and other things

Sol Summary title: Fossils, mystery and other things

Author: Maria Grulich

Mission status: Nominal

Sol activity summary: The EVA suits have been fixed last night successfully.

This morning the crew woke up with the smell of pancakes with blueberry and apple toppings prepared by commander Maria with a banana milkshake to top it off. The planned EVA had a chance of 30% snow but when we looked outside the window, we just could see white everywhere. Therefore, the decision was made to cancel the EVA. It gave us the chance to catch up with science and maintenance of the habitat. The crew astronomer for the day is Natalia and she submitted a new request with the help of Ghanim who is today’s XO, for the Orion nebula as yesterday no new observation could be made. Veronica and Dave exchanged the water filter. The tunnels were brushed to clean them from snow. Nathan continued the characterization of the samples. He made some interesting observation as some of the samples that were taken yesterday turned out to be fossilized shells which is very exciting as this means it is a sign of a former sea at the Moon area. In the afternoon he took care of the ISRU plants in the Greenhab which luckily survived the night. Dave prepared some noodle soup and tonight we are getting salmon and hushpuppies and rice by comms officer Hannah. Besides that, the crew edited some of the videos and took some extra images for the outreach project. The crew journalist of today took some nice pictures of the hab in snow and the fossil shells. After dinner, we’re hopefully going to play some games or watch a movie as a team.

Look ahead plan: The crew intends to conduct the EVA planned for today again, for tomorrow if the weather outside allows it. In addition, the science continues with characterization and observation of the Arabidopsisseedlings and their development in the regolith substrate and the editing of the videos will continue.

Anomalies: EVA cancelled

Weather: snow all day

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report, Astronomy Report

Support Requested: None

Sol 9: A Martian Day in the Hab

Sol Summary Title: A Martian Day in the Hab

Author: Ghanim Alotaibi

Mission status: Nominal

Sol activity summary: The bad weather last night affected today’s activities. EVA plans were cancelled last night, and astronomical observations submitted a few days ago needed to wait for an extra night. This morning the crew woke up with an exceptional white view of the Martian landscape from the Hab window. While having breakfast, the white bright snow was melting down, and as we approached lunch time, the muddy Martian land started to finally appear.

Duties in the Hab, and its facilities started just after finishing breakfast as planned last night. Dave, Nathan and Veronica went to the Science Dome to clean, measure and characterize the samples. In fact, those samples made the whole crew so excited, and was the main topic of today and last night. Our XO today, Hannah, prepared lunch for the crew with the help of Dan. Maria, continued to work hard for our outreach movie, this time, with the help of Natalia. Natalia started preparing a guideline document for future crews and discussed with the commander of the day, Ghanim.

In addition to the above work, the crew continued the normal daily maintenance, cleaning of the Hab and writing reports as usual. The only new duty was to sweep out the snow accumulated in the tunnel to avoid muddy walk way.

In the night, Hannah cooked us a delicious fried rice with chicken, and the crew prepared to watch the Apollo 13 Film.

Anomalies: EVA cancelled

Weather: partly cloudy

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Operations Report, Greenhab Report, Journalist Report.

Sol 10: More Puzzling Weather on Mars

Summary Title: More Puzzling Weather on Mars

Author’s name: Hannah Blackburn

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: We woke up to an overcast sky and biscuits with sausage gravy. The crew worked on a jigsaw puzzle of Mars while drinking their morning coffee. The EVA 14 team left the Hab at 1300 and quickly realized that Spirit and Opportunity did not fully charge. Atila reset the RAM’s external breaker which solved the problem. Approximately one hour later, the EVA 14 team set out again towards Candor Chasma on Spirit and Curiosity. However, when they had nearly reached their destination, they noticed fast-moving clouds and decided to return to the Hab to prevent weather-related issues. Later in the afternoon, light precipitation occurred while the crew ate chocolate lava cake and continued to piece together the puzzle. We finished the evening by enjoying movies from the Hab collection. Apollo 13 is a crew favorite.

Look Ahead Plan: If weather and ground conditions allow, although it currently seems unlikely, part of the crew will go on EVA 15 to The Moon. We will continue to work on developing Standard Operating Procedures for future crews.

Anomalies in work: Spirit and Opportunity did not fully charge. Resetting the RAM’s external breaker fixed the issue.

Weather: Overcast, light flurries starting at 1530

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: EVA 14

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVA report, EVA request

Support Requested: We did not receive any cloth towels with the initial supplies and therefore are on our last roll of paper towels. We would appreciate more paper or cloth towels for cleaning.

Sol 11: Covered in White

Summary Title: Covered in white

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a quiet day. We woke up surrounded by a white Martian landscape. The snowfall from last night left us with approximately 10 cm of snow on the ground. The Martian weather has been challenging our mission during the past days but despite those challenges, we have been advancing well in our research projects.

It has been 11 days since we arrived to these lands. We can see the end of our mission rising on the horizon. As such, the crew focused today on wrapping up the different projects, start the deep cleaning of the RAM, Science Dome and GreenHab. We also started drafting our mission summary and filmed some last outreach videos.  As usual, we have enjoyed a fantastic lunch prepared by our “Martian Chef de Cuisine” Hannah which mastered some home-made Martian Pizza.

Look Ahead Plan: Tomorrow we will perform a deep cleaning of the Hab to make sure everything is ready for the next crew, finish up our mission summary, take some last official pictures and start packing to come back to “Earth”.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Consistent snow during most of the day.

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVA request (just kidding ;) we know it is fully covered in white outside)

Support Requested: Paper towel and febreeze spray will be largely appreciated for deep cleaning of the Hab.

Sol 12: Mission complete. Opening the airlock. Copy that!

Summary Title: Mission complete.Opening the airlock. Copy that!

Author’s name: Natalia Larrea

Mission Status: Nominal

Sol Activity Summary: Today was a special day. I know I have said this in many sol summaries already but today in fact it was! Today we officially completed our mission at 1700. At that time, the crew opened the airlock door and… enjoyed fresh air! It was a great feeling to be always remembered. Until that time, all the crew members worked on serious deep cleaning, packing our items and cleaned up the Hab in preparation for our departure. In addition, we finalized our mission summary and took some last official crew pictures. In between, we enjoyed some Martian Mac n Cheese...With Bacon.

Look Ahead Plan: We expect the arrival of Crew 206 tomorrow morning, coming directly from France (Mars vous attend!). We will make sure to train them on all aspects of life here and at night, we will enjoy that terrestrial Hanksvillian hamburger.

Anomalies in work: None

Weather: Sunny

Crew Physical Status: Nominal

EVA: None

Reports to be filed: Sol Summary, Journalist Report, GreenHab Report, Operations Report, EVA Request ;)

Support Requested: Oven Mitts, pot holders, paper towels and Febreeze spray will be largely appreciated for deep cleaning of the Hab.