1105-CommandersReport

Commanders Report

November 5, 2014

Digby Tarvin

We are now on finally Mars! This morning Crew 142 woke up to the start

of its first full day in sim. And we have been getting used to the

fact that everything is harder on Mars.

We entered sim last night, and to celebrate, we commenced our once

every three days (per crew member) shower roster. Water is valuable on

Mars, and we go to great lengths to minimise our use, and use of

showers is rationed both in frequency and duration. We have decided to

schedule all crew members within the same 24 hour period to allow the

bathroom to be sterilized and allowed to dry completely between uses.

This is intended to help prevent the return of the mould which was

present on our arrival, and to reduce the resources required to

maintain cleanliness. As it happens, we have not succeeded in

achieving a water temperature much above freezing, so water

consumption for this has been modest.

The failure to obtain hot water was not the worst of our bathroom

difficulties. Last night the HSO reported experiencing difficulties

with the toilet backing up, and clearing the blockage required some

sustained effort with a plunger and consumption of a quantity of

precious water. The problem was even worse this morning, possibly

because of the freezing temperatures overnight. In response we have

relaxed out water discipline regarding liquid waste, and are now

flushing after each visit.The problem seems to have become less

severe, but the HSO is monitoring the situation.

Apart from the engineering difficulties, our day started as scheduled,

with the morning briefing taking place at 8:30, after which the crew

tended to their various projects and we re-convened at 9:30 for a

science meeting to review the objectives and resource requirements of

the various research projects that we have planned.

The objective of this meeting was to assemble all the information

required to construct a program of activities for the next 11 days,

including EVA scheduling.

The outcome of our meeting was as follows:

Solar Cooker Experiment - 2-3 man days to setup, plus approximately 30

minutes at the start and end of each EVA to take readings. The

experiment is a proof of concept which requires an as yet unavailable

data logger for more controlled measurements.

Permafrost Study - Requires 2 to 4 pedestrian EVAs of 2-3 hours duration.

Sea Ice Study - This experiment has not yet been approved, but would

probably involve extended EVAs to measure mechanical properties of

ice. It could be generalised to a study of any frozen liquid.

Martian Soil Planting - Four of Six pots of soil simulent have been

prepared. 3-4 man hours are required, to complete the preparation. No

EVA activity is required, but about 2 man hours per day will be

required to take measurements at 9:00 and 17:00 each day.

Approximately one man day will be required at the end of the mission.

Green Hab tasks - About one more hour will be required to complete an

inventory, followed by about 2 man hours for seed planding. After

this, about 1 man hour each day for maintenance. No EVA requirement.

Cyanobacteria Experiment - The cultures have been prepared and will

require temperature monitoring on an ongoiing basis.

Sampling/Gene Mining - Will require 3-4 EVAs, including some supported

by ATVs. The aim is for a total of 30 samples from different sites,

each taking approximately 20 minutes to collect.

Drone based mapping and Recon - Several days of preparation will be

required before undertaking any EVA based activity. The earliest that

this could be included in an EVA would be Friday.

At the conclusion of our science meeting, we attempted to define a

suitable mission statement summarising our goals and objectives, but

this proved unexpectedly difficult so after nearly an hour we

adjourned the discussion till the evening.

After a delayed lunch and allowing time for completion of experimental

preparations, we started a later than planned EVA which was performed

in two phases. The first two participants - myself and my XO, suited

up at 15:30 and exited the airlock to work on completing construction

of the dish for the solar cooker experiment. This construction had

commenced on Earth, but to enter sim on schedule, we had to accept the

challenge of construction work in a space suit, and in particular

provided an opportunity to become very familiar with the dexterity

limitations of our new gloves. Needless to say, this considerably

added to the challenge. After an hour, the remainign EVE team members

exited the airlock and travelled along cow dung road to a nearby

waypoint (North Fork at 0519082 4252166) to compare the accuracy of

our map calculations with what we see on the ground. The short EVA

also provided the delayed ATV practice for four members of the crew.

By the time we arrived back it was already starting to get dark, so I

think I am going to have to plan on all EVAs returning by 16:00 when

we start venturing off the road.

Tomorrow I plan to construct a basic schedule from the information

obtained this morning, and include in that a more extended EVA that

will allow time for some sampling. We are also having some problems

getting the radio handsets which from Grand Junction to operate, so

need to schedule some time to investigate that.

Digby Tarvin.