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January, 2010:

Sol 0: Arrival

Jan 23rd, 2010
by Kiri.
2 comments

The desert here is even more beautiful than I imagined. We were awestruck, driving in from the highway on a dirt road that passed by hills and cliffs laminated not only in structure but also vivid colors: red, cream, gold, white. Puddles in the road cupped dazzling pieces of the sky, reflecting white-blue radiance to light our way to the Hab. We passed a series of smooth reddish hills topped by thick yellow blocks of a more durable sandstone. Each corner we turned revealed new, gorgeous views that had us itching to get out and explore!

Crew 89 at the Hab

Crew 89 at the Hab

We arrived at the Hab about 1 p.m. Crew 88 was waiting for us and gave us a very warm welcome. They walked us through all of the critical Hab systems and the proper use of the EVA suits and ATVs. They’ve put together a stack of laminated guides to every aspect of Hab life. Lucky us! We stood around, all smiles, for some crew photos in front of the Hab—and then Crew 88 drove off in gleeful anticipation of showers and real food, and we retired to the Hab—now “ours”—to settle in.

Our first challenge struck almost immediately. Darrel discovered that his coat was missing—presumably taken away inadvertently by Crew 88. Brian and Darrel hopped into the “pressurized rover” (a Ford Explorer) and took off after them. Carla, Luís, Mike, and I remained in the Hab to begin cleaning the area and storing our belongings and the pile of food we’d picked up at the Bull Mountain Market. We inventoried the existing pantry items and found that we’d picked up duplicates of several things. But really, can you ever have too much tinned corned beef?

We had just finished when Darrel and Brian returned, having successfully caught up with Crew 88 and retrieved Darrel’s coat. In the meantime, the four of us Hab-bound had prepared a late lunch by reconstituting freeze-dried Alfredo Shrimp Pasta. Quite a tasty meal, combined with some “shelf-stable” bread, when it’s 4 p.m. and you haven’t eaten since breakfast! We then organized ourselves and went out with flashlights to compile information for the Engineering report: reading water levels, battery charges, propane levels, and so on. The half-moon was high in the sky, so incredibly bright that we turned off our flashlights to walk out to the generator station. A great sweep of stars was spilled across the sky, feathered and broken by clouds that were white with distilled moonlight. We spotted Orion, Cassiopoeia, and (of course!) Mars glowing a steady, brilliant red low in the eastern sky.

It was a lovely end to an exciting day. Tomorrow we’ll be up early, with a long list of things to do—among them, starting up the ATVs (not an easy or simple task, it seems!) and learning how to ride them before donning suits for our first EVAs.

Commander’s Welcome

Jan 19th, 2010
by Commander Brian.
3 comments

Brian on EVA at FMARS on Devon Island, CanadaWelcome to the MDRS Crew 89 website! I hope you enjoy following our mission and learn something about what it takes to live on Mars. My name is Brian Shiro, and I am the Commander for the 89th crew of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). My crew and I will inhabit the simulated Mars habitat (the “Hab”) from 23 January through 6 February 2010. Previously, I served as Geophysicist on the 2009 FMARS-12 expedition, and I am very excited to be commanding my first mission on analog Mars.

In the three months since The Mars Society first selected all of us for this amazing opportunity, our crew has gotten to know each other over many emails and phone calls. We have planned an exciting lineup of research projects encompassing astronomy, biology, engineering, and geology. The common goal underlying all of our efforts is the advancement of human Mars exploration.  I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you, so you’ll have to tune in to this blog or check out our daily reports and photos for more.

On to Mars!
Brian

Musk Observatory

Jan 8th, 2010
by Moran-Astronomer.
Comments are off for this post

As the designated crew astronomer, my addition to the MDRS 89 team was to make full use of the Musk Observatory, complete with donated Celestron telescope and two CCDs (Charged Coupled Device, for digitizing images). Recent events, however have changed my two-week plans, and unfortunately the telescope will not be operational during my mission. It was been disassembled by Crew 87, one of the NASA Spaceward Bound crews, and will either be shipped out before the end of their mission or when Crew 88 takes over the Hab this Saturday. Thus, my plan has been thrown out the airlock.

There is, however, some good news. MDRS is also equipped with a radio telescope through NASA’s Radio JOVE project. This telescope is primarily used to observe both solar and jovian radio signals, although the possibility exists to observe other radio sources. Currently, the radio telescope at MDRS is half-assembled, although Crew 88 will thankfully be completing this assembly during their stay at the Hab.

With only two weeks between now and the start of our crew rotation, this information does necessitate a huge change in my own plans, but I’m taking it as a blessing in disguise. The possibility of solar observing also allows me to do some sort of research during the day (past my aide in the rest of the crew’s work), and I can also do work on radio interference during EVAs as a possible side project. I also won’t be a zombie in the morning after a night of working with the Musk Observatory!

I do also only have two weeks to research potential radio sources, past the planets and Sun, as well as figure out how to actually do research with a radio telescope, as all of my previous astronomy experience rests within the visual range of the EM spectrum. I’ll be keeping an eye on the daily crew reports from Crew 88 to see what their astronomer will be using the radio telescope for, since a collaborative project may be more lucrative that two individual ones, especially with the short timespans involved.

You always have to try to take things in stride, which I’m sure we’ll be doing frequently as a crew during our two weeks on Mars!

Exercise at the Hab

Jan 4th, 2010
by Kiri.
4 comments

exerciseOne important aspect of any human mission to Mars will be exercise. The trip to Mars will likely take a toll in terms of bone mass loss (spaceflight osteopenia) and muscle atrophy, despite our best efforts to counter these adverse effects. (In microgravity, neither nutritional supplements nor exercise nor hormones nor anything else has yet been proven to solve this problem.) On reaching Mars, the human crew will be weaker and more prone to broken bones than they were when they left Earth. In some respects, the reduced gravity on Mars (1/3 that of Earth’s) will make the adaptation back to a gravity environment easier. However, the reduced gravity is likely to allow for continued bone loss and muscle atrophy, unless the crew is diligent with an exercise regimen. (Exercise tends to be more effective in a stronger gravity field, since walking, jumping, and running result in stronger impacts to the body, stimulating bone and muscle growth.) While EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activities) provide some opportunity for physical exercise, and certainly can be strenuous in very specific ways, they are unlikely to provide a full-body cardiovascular workout.

So our crew got thinking: what can we do in the way of exercise inside the Hab? We sought to satisfy multiple goals: daily exercise, without impacting our already busy schedule, in a space too small for all six to participate at once, and with enough variety to keep us engaged and motivated. We’ll aim for two exercise sessions per day, accommodating three of us at a time. Luís has volunteered to teach us kickboxing and capoeira. My Jazzercise instructor has offered to loan us an instructional video. In general, I expect that we’ll have a lot of fun with our exercise, and learn new things at the same time!

If you have any suggestions about other exercise ideas, please share in the comments (link at top of post).

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