Overview
The Little Engine That Could ... Continued

The replacement generator continued to run smoothly. We filled it up after 9am and did not top it off again until we returned from an out-of-sim EVA in Big Blue at almost 7pm later that evening, an astounding 10 hours out of a supposedly 6 to 8 hour generator. Nevertheless, our policy will continue to be to assume that we can't get much more than 8 hours out of it and to refill it at 12midnight, 8am and 4pm.

Disturbingly, every hour or so the lights dim briefly. This has become more frequent as time has gone on. Previously this has been a precursor to complete power failure; however, careful observation indicates that the light dimming may be associated with automated systems coming on line, e.g., the fan in the fridge in the kitchen or the furnace (which also has an electric fan). At this time we are hopeful that the dimming is simply associated with the lower power output of this generator - even in reduced power mode there are a lot of draws on the Hab's power supply systems.

The generator is however consuming a lot of gas. At 11pm we are down to reserves of 5 gallons, having recruited 5 gallons of our stores to refuel Big Blue in case we need to make a temporary departure - the fuel in Big Blue being lower than expected because of our mad dash to Hanksville when the "China Special" failed. Don Foutz has already collected our empty fuel cans and will return them tomorrow prior to the arrival of the new crew. We plan to shut down the station temporarily between our departure tomorrow morning at 9am and Adam's return with C36's (and gasoline) tomorrow afternoon.

The Fit and Finish ... Sort Of

Engineering tasks were light today as we prepared for departure. Anthony designed door tags for our crew with input from Hugh and Adam, and then created similar door tags for Crew 34, who had run out of time because of all of their refit tasks. Anthony and Hugh put these door tags up and added additional clear tape to protect the exposed surfaces of existing tags on staterooms 4,5 and 6 beneath the water tank - because apparently even cautious crews can get nailed by the easy-to-overflow water tank, all the tags with exposed surfaces show signs of beginning to warp and run. Hopefully the new layers of tape will protect these important mementos. On a related note, we also put up the crew name tags for both Crews 34 and 35, the former of which had also been left with us when the refit crew departed.

Adam took it upon his own initiative to clean the toilet, which took over two hours. He did a superb job and we (and future crews) should thank him for his hard efforts! It really looks spic and span, and we hope future crews will devote effort to keeping the toilet in order.

Construction, Simulation, and the Value of Simulated Construction

Later in the day we took a 2-hour EVA and Adam and Anthony discussed the value of performing different tasks in sim. Whereas there is little argument that performing geology tasks in sim are in value, other tasks such as fueling the generators are not. In discussion we broke things down in two orthogonal dimensions: tasks that are of value for Mars simulation and tasks that are safe. Collecting geological specimens in sim is clearly both valuable and safe. Refueling a gasoline generator while wearing a canvas spacesuit with a sparking radio is clearly neither valuable nor safe - power generation on Mars is unlikely to involve cans of flammable liquid in a Mars atmosphere, and even if it did our setup is such that that activity cannot be safely simulated with the equipment on hand.

Adam's opinion is that it would be better to have the unsafe, non-valuable "mission support tasks" entirely handled by "behind the scenes" mission support personnel, just as Don Foutz currently provides our water and gasoline via behind-the-scenes deliveries. Rather than dealing with real but "unrealistic" failures that force them to break sim, the analogue Marsnauts should spend their time dealing with simulated issues and failures cooked up by mission control. Extending this idea, Anthony suggested that it would be more valuable for sim purposes have the analogue Marsnauts to go out to a box labeled "NUCLEAR PILE" and throw a few switches trying to debug why power did not flow, with mission support behind the scenes putting them through their paces, than any amount of oil changes. This is not to suggest that the practical knowledge gained from working on the station is not of value - but the closer the Hab's equipment is to something that might be used on a Mars mission, the better it would be.

However, there is a more serious issue involved with this, and that is the value of doing construction tasks in sim. Certain tasks are both safe and valuable, like digging a trench to bury a power cable between an engineering area and the Hab. Other tasks, like cutting plywood with a circular saw, are not valuable or safe for a space-suited simulnaut. But here the grey ground of unsafe but valuable tasks is highly important. As others have mentioned in previous reports, some of the trenchwork done in the refit was dug IN SIM by two analog Marsnauts, both by hand and through control of a "robotic trench tool" (really, a backhoe). Other trenches were dug under the hab for the refit by Crew 34 and partially filled in after the refit by Crew 35. But the trenches under the Hab could NOT be dug in sim because there is not enough space under the Hab for an analogue Marsnaut to worm his way in a spacesuit, and even if they could the hazard of faceplate breakage could be high. Hugh pointed out that a real station might be on stilts with its landing rockets underneath. Regardless, a real Mars station would need a basement or other full-height access, not a crawlspace, or any under-the-Hab work would be impossible - even if it was absolutely necessary.

We therefore recommend that future crews doing construction on the station conduct each major construction activity at least once in sim under the out-of-sim supervision of the HSO to check whether the construction is possible and safe in sim. Any activity necessary to maintain the station that can't be done in sim, from fueling an ATV to digging trenches to running replacement cables through the walls, indicates a potential redesign of the station.

Generator/Electricity as of: 5:00pmMST
Yanmar Unit: Being repaired in Salt Lake City. Not anticipated to be delivered in this crew rotation
Replacement Unit:
Generator lasted from 12:00am to 9:30am on one tank of gas
Generator lasted from 9:30am to 7:00pm on one tank of gas
Fuel: 9:30am, 7pm, 12:00am
Gas: 10.0 gallons (37.9 liters)
Refuelling time: 8+ hours
Partial shutdown scheduled at 9am pending changeover to new crew
Oil: Oil change scheduled for Tuesday

Fuel Status:
Diesel Tank
Capacity: 450 gal (1703 liters)
Reading: 62.5% (midway between 3/4 and 1/2)
Remaining: 281.3 gal (1064.6 Liters)
Consumed = 18.5 gal (69.8 liters)
Comments: Not being used now

Propane Tank
Capacity: 1000 gal (3785 liters)
Reading: Approximately 70.5%
Remaining: 705.0 gal (2668.7 Liters)
Consumed: 0.0 gal (0.0 Liters)
Comments: Some propane was used but no tank reading change seen

Gasoline:
Quantity: 5.0 gal (37.9 Liters)
Consumed: 15.0 gal (37.9 Liters)
Comments: Using gasoline backup generator. No ATV usage today. 5 gallons used in Big Blue. Can recount indicated we had 10 more gallons than previous reports listed. Refuelling scheduled for tomorrow

Oil:
Quantity: 21.42 quarts (20.27 Liters)
Consumed: 0.0 quarts (0.0 Liters)

Water Status:
Outside potable water tank:
Capacity: 300 gallons?
Reading: 50.0%
Quantity: 150 gallons (567.8 Liters) remaining
Consumed: 46 gallons (56.8 Liters)
Inside Tank Reading =
Capacity: 60 gallons (227.1 Liters)
Reading: 55.0 gallons (208.2 liters)
Previous: 55.0 gallons (208.2 liters)
Water Pumped: 46.0 gal (174.1 Liters)
Comments: Deliberate increase in usage to pump up the GreenHab
Estimated Usage: 46.0 gal (174.1 Liters)
Showers: 2 in the past 24 hours.
GreenHab Direct Feed: 0 gallons (0 liters)

GreenHab System:

Settling tank: not inspected

Holding tank: not inspected

Trickle filters: running

AQ1: filled

AQ2: filled

AQ3: ok, some blackish stuff in the green

AQ4: filled

AQ5: middling, some apparent new algal growth

Toilet supply tank: 50%
Comments: Toilet is now being supplied with water.

HVAC: Nothing new to report

Plumbing: Nothing new to report

Electrical: Nothing new to report

Transport:
Big Blue Truck: Added 5 gallons of fuel for emergency exit if needed
ATVs: Nothing new to report

Mars Suits: Nothing new to report

Computers/Networking Infrastructure: Nothing new to report

Data Logger: Nothing new to report.

Miscellaneous / Other: Added patches to doors. Added nametags to walls