Overview:

Crew 28, The ninth rotation of the Mars Desert Research Station's third field season concludes on April 24. During our two weeks on Mars, we have focused on several projects related to the GreenHab portion of the Station. Additionally, individual members had planned several other projects and house-keeping activities, including but not limited to evaluation of the Musk Observatory systems, photo documentation of the Hab area from a vantage point of Mars Analogs and an evaluation of the Hab, its systems and how they work, (or don't).

Our Crew turned out to be a great fit, and we all got along, and more importantly, worked together, as a team. Looking back at our last two weeks, we have accomplished a great deal, in spite of many disappointments as well along the way. The time seems to have gone by way too quickly.

Data Acquisition & Weather Station:

One of my personal goals was to evaluate and automate as much of the routine data collection as possible. As the MDRS and FMARS Webmaster, I have known that there were a number of automated systems to do this onsite, but many Crews either could not operate, or lacked the knowledge to accomplish this. Once on scene, I located a number of different devices set up by past crews, and all but forgotten. For the most part, I have cataloged and re-deployed several of these devices. More details will be in the Data Acquisition Summary Report.

One of our major accomplishments has been the installation of an automated data logging weather station, purchased by GreenHab Team Leader Gary Fisher, This device includes multiple environmental sensors for recording light levels, wind speed, barometric pressure, humidity and temperature, both for the outside environment, and within numerous locations in the GreenHab structure itself.

Once erected by myself and Gregorio Drayer, the system has operated "as advertised," recording these data for future evaluation. I was able to set the system up in such a way that downloading and resetting of the entire system can be accomplished from within the Hab itself, reducing the need to "break sim" or otherwise venture outside for regular updates of the data. Unfortunately, the one main computer in the Hab for this use, a yellow-striped laptop, had no functioning serial port, required for this device. I initially set it up using a pre-configured system I hauled along from Oregon. I ended up installing the software on the small tower machine originally used for the Musk Observatory. The additional software, (Onset BoxCar 4.3) does not in anyway effect the operation of this system for its intended astronomical use, and should be swapped out as soon as possible with a dedicated system, once the Observatory goes back online.

I also cleaned out a small workstation area in the lower level area, just to the right of the North airlock. This site, at the far end of the MDRS Lab facility had been used by the last several crews as one of several "catch-all" storage spots, and was piled high with usable and unused "stuff." I ran the Weather Station data cable's terminus here. I would propose that this area be dedicated to this and other data acquisition purposes. Maybe this would be a good final location for the Observatory machine anyway, as it is closest to the dome, (just out the "back door").

Salad Machine:

My personal project, the MDRS "Salad Machine" was designed to be a semi-automated hydroponics system to test the feasibility of growing fresh vegetables for future crews. Once we got the seeds sprouted and planted, the system has been running continuously since, (see Salad Machine Summary Report) with minor tweaks along the way. The plants in it of course are no where near ready, but they continue to thrive. It is hoped that Crew 29 will monitor its progress, and perform the minor maintenance required, (topping off the hydroponics solution as needed every several days and brushing away the drain screens to keep them clear. I ran this system entirely on solar power for our rotation, but switched to Hab power at the end for the convenience of Crew 29. Details of the operation can be found in our original Mission Goals document posted on the Website.

Musk Observatory:

With the assistance of Bob McGown and Sean League, two astronomers from Oregon who visited the site on our first week, it was determined that the system needs major maintenance. They had brought along some extra hardware, but were not able to get it to function. Additionally, the dome suffered wind damage, and at this writing is duct-taped shut. Bob and Sean did clean things up by dusting off and covering the hardware with several dry towels, as they had quite a bit of dust build-up on them. Additionally, I installed one of several Onset Hobo data loggers in the dome itself, to log variations of temperature and humidity within the structure, (see Data Logger Report).

Additionally, Bob is a Licensed electriction, and at my request, he evaluated the Hab's power system, which will be included in the final Engineering Summary, as well as his assessment on the Obseravtory.

Photo Studies:

We did much photo-documentation of the Station, its structure, current state of being as well as the modifications we made. These will be included in the various other supplemental reports that will be completed soon.

Media & Education Outreach:

During our rotation, we had two visits from the Media; the first being Leonard David from Space.COM and his wife Barb Sprungman, who joined us for our "Yuri's Night" celebration on Monday, April 12. One week later an Associate Press Photographer from Salt Lake City, Doug Pizac came out for the day for photos for a story done during Crew 27th's rotation. He joined us during a full-sim EVA. Additionally, Crew member Steve Featherstone, our "embedded journalist" has been compiling photos and notes for several stories that he will be submitting after his return to "Earth." This will include a report on Slate, and an audio piece for NPR's Weekend Edition. Crew member Gregorio Drayer has also been in almost daily contact with members of the media in his native Venezuela, and the coverage there has been both extensive and national in scope. I myself have sent several dispatches to my local daily, the Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal.

Power Situation:

During our rotation, we were plagued by an extremely unreliable power system. The main generator, known as "China Special," had been running without adequate air filtration when we arrived. The filter literally fell off on our second day, and repeated attempts to re-attach it were unsuccessful. Don Foutz recommended turning it off and switching to the back-up unit, known as "Lil Genny." This device failed to start at all. Don then brought out a borrowed unit from his brother-in-law, but this system quit after about six hours. As a result, we were without power for close to several days, as we waited for parts. This also delayed entering our planned full sim mode by two days. Don finally restored the China Special, but it failed again several more times for hours at a time over the course of the rotation. This device, with just over 1000 hours of operation on it, is no doubt another failure waiting to happen. Its poor construction and workmanship do not speak highly for the industrial capabilities of the PRC.

ATVs:

When we arrived, we had two of the three ATVs, (a third was in town for repairs, and later determined to be "totaled" with a cracked crankcase). These worked fine for the most part the first week of rotation. One unit did have intermittent problems, so it was eventually "grounded" by Don until several parts were obtained. Since we had only one functional unit, I decided for safety reasons, to cancel future ATV EVAs until we had at least two functional units. The parts finally came on Friday the 23rd, but after a day of EVA activity, it once again failed, while the crew was on EVA with the other unit and a 2-wheel drive unit rented by a local Hanksville resident. As the failure occurred close to the Hab, but late in the day, I decided for safety reasons to have the team return to the Hab before it got too dark, and to deal with it in the morning. As I write this, Steve and Gregorio have left to tow it back to the Hab for evaluation.

Hab Operations:

During our rotation, overall Hab systems performed fine, (aside from the afore mentioned power generation system), and we made several additions and improvements. More details will be found in the Engineering Summary. The GreenHab water recycling system seems to be working quite well, thanks mainly to the work of Jim Russell and Crew 27. His outstanding documentation and improvements to the system helped with our routine tasks immensely. My contribution was to bring along more azolla and lemna to supplement the existing plants. They have done very well, and have at this writing expanded to cover the exposed surface area of the four main tanks, helping to block light from the ever-present algae. Kathleen Johnson has been very effective in her role of monitoring the system, and several improvements were added by her.

Work Not Accomplished:

I had plans to do some work for the RST and others while on scene, but unfortunately I was not able to accomplish as much as I had hoped. The unreliable power situation played a major role in this, as well as several days of extremely bad weather. I had started the process of culturing GreenHab water at the request of Shannon Rupport of the Remote Science Team, but after getting the pieces together, our power failed again, followed by a day of extremely heavy rains and unexpected construction duties imposed on us to prepare for Crew 29's arrival. I did take samples of the water from each of the five GreenHab tanks, and hopefully this analysis can occur off site, assuming my samples will be viable.

I had also been asked by Dr. Penelope Boston of MDRS Crew 7 to do a site survey of desert varnish locations. Due to our lack of mobility when we lost our ATV, I was only able to evaluate one site. Another site was located and sampled by Steve and Alyssa on EVA-3. I humbly apologize for not being able to accomplish these tasks.

Conclusions:

All in all, in spite of our problems, both technical and environmental, I feel that we did have a good and productive rotation. The Crew has been great to work with, and it was an honor and a privilege to be a part of this team. I also feel that I have made five new friends, and I hope to remain in contact after we all return to our homes. Life on Mars, like life at MDRS will no doubt be filled with its own set of unforeseen problems. But if those crews are anything like our Crew, they will press on, make things work anyway and accomplish much in spite of the pitfalls. The overall consensus of all our Crew was that this was a worthwhile and educational experience. One that I for one would be willing to repeat again.

Additional details on our mission will be posted later to the Website as our final day's reports.

R.D. "Gus" Frederick
Commander, Crew 28