Mission Plan

Crew 166 Mars Desert Research Station Mission

Mission Statement:

Mission Start Date: 21^th Mar 2016 to 02^th Apr 2016

Mathieu Roiseux – Crew Commander

Bertrand Steenput – Executive officer/ HSO

Gregory Edison – Crew Engineer

Arthur Bawin – Crew Geologist

Nadine Traufler – Crew Journalist/Astronomer

Julie Mertens – Crew Biologist/ GreenHab Officer

Introduction:

Crew 166 is a team of six students, five in engineering and one in bio-engineering (agronomy) at Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Our goal is to organize a continuous UCL project in order to send a team from the University every year. So, we are the fourth student’s group to go to MDRS.

Mathieu Roiseux

During this mission I hope helping the other crew members in the various experiment as much as I can. I’m particularly involved in the spectroscopy experiment. We are trying to get the Moon, Jupiter and some bright star spectrum. The ultimate goal is to be able to calculate the surface temperature of the stars and some part of their chemical composition.

As commander I wish the best for all the crew. I try to reduce the bad interactions that can occur in a very small place where nearly nothing is private. I’m also taking a major part in the organization process to make our stay as good as it can.

Bertrand Steenput

As Executive officer of the crew 166, I will help the commander in his mission, and look after everybody to be sure that everything is ok. During the mission I will also watching the health of all the team as the health and safety officer.

I will also conduct an experiment about the telecommunication, indeed I will compare the efficiency of different mean of communication such as a radio relay and a Yagi antenna against a normal handheld radio.

Gregory Edison

As the Engineer of crew 166, I will be dealing with all the problems that can take place in the base: rover malfunctions, electricity breakdown, etc. I will also have to check to water, diesel and propane levels.

My experiment will consist in localizing danger zones: using small emitters-receptors that I will place near danger zones, I want to be able to warn the crew members out on EVA when they are approaching one of these zones (canyons, steep holes…).

Arthur Bawin

As the crew geologist, my main job will be to submit the EVA requests and obtain their approval: this will determine whether or not the crew’s going outside the next day. Then, an EVA report has to be written in order to send a short summary of the activity.

During the rotation, I will focus on taking altitude and latitude – longitude measurements during the EVA’s: the final goal is to provide a 3D map of the surrounding area.

Nadine Traufler

I assume the role of crew journalist, and therefore I note what happen during the day, and take a bunch of pictures because I send a detailed report each night about what happened. After sunset, I visit the observatory to lead a spectroscopy experiment and spend part of the day to analyze the results to determine the main chemical compositions of the brightest objects in the sky. I take advantage of my time in the observatory to attempt to astro-photography. I hope realize beautiful pictures and obtain valuable data from the experiment.

Julie Mertens

As GreenHab Officer, I plan to keep the GreenHab in state utile it will be functional. Currently I use the greenhouse in the HAB to growth radish seeds in grounds of coffee and earth of the desert.

As crew biologist, I plan to study bacteria life in the ground of Mars by grow it on specific media. My goal, find and characterize life on Mars!