Log Book for March 4, 2008

Engineering Report

Eric Harkleroad Reporting


Generator/Electricity:

Wendy

Hobbs Meter: 3424 hrs [ +22.4 hrs since yesterday ]

Voltage: 120 VAC

Frequency: 61 Hz

Oil Level: full

Oil Pressure: 30 PSI

Water Drained: no


Notes/Comments:
We shutdown Wendy today for about 1 hour. Oil pressure briefly
increased to 40 just after startup in the middle of the day, but
stabilized back down to 30 after a few minutes. Wendy seemed a little
low on oil, so we added 1 quart.


Xantrex Inverter/Dynasty Batteries:

Time Voltage (Temp Comp) Load Temp Generator Running?
08:40 23.8 19.0A 5C yes
10:53 18.7 9.4A 6C no
11:11 26.0 8.2A 6C yes
13:01 27.1 6.0A 8C yes
18:02 26 9.4A 9C yes



Fuel Status (as of 18:00):

Diesel:

Approximate Reading: 3/4




Propane Tank:

Approximate Reading: 75% (750 gallons = 2839.1 L)




Gasoline:

Quantity Remaining: 52 gallons = 196.8 L [ -3 gallons since yesterday ]


Notes/Comments:
3 gallons are present in the jerry cans after refilling the ATVs. About
1 gallon has been removed from the drum since crew 67 departed (leaving
about 49 gallons in the drum).



Oil:

GenSet Quantity: 8 quarts [ -1 quarts since yesterday ]

[*] ATV Quantity: 13 quarts [ +1 quart since yesterday ]

[*] V'ger Quantity: 0 quarts [ no change since yesterday ]


Notes/Comments:
V'ger offsite; added 1 quart oil each to ATVs 1 and 2. Added 1 quart
oil to Wendy. There was a mistake in yesterday's ATV oil quantity
reported--yesterday's value should have been 15 quarts, not 12.


Water Status:

Outside Potable Water Tank Level: 325 gallons = 1230.3 L

Trailer Potable Water Tank Level: 22 inches from the base

Potable Water Meter Reading: 26425 gallons = 100029.2 L
[ +59 gallons since yesterday ]

Out to Toilet Meter Reading: 8208.5 gallons = 31072.5 L
[ +5.5 gallons since yesterday ]

In to GreenHab Meter Reading: 7823 gallons = 29613.2 L
[ no change since yesterday ]

Dishwasher Runs: 0


Notes/Comments:
Flow of potable water from the outside tank was much greater when
pumping attempted around 5 PM (internal tank filled much more quickly).


GreenHab:

Crops Watered: yes



Observatory:

not used


Transportation:




Kawasaki ATVs

ATV 1
Used: yes
Oil Checked: yes
Fuel Consumed: 1 gallon = 3.8 L
Tire Status: checked-OK

ATV 2
Used: yes
Oil Checked: yes
Fuel Consumed: 1 gallon = 3.8 L
Tire Status: checked-OK

ATV 3
Used: yes
Oil Checked: yes
Fuel Consumed: 1 gallon = 3.8 L
Tire Status: checked-OK


Notes/Comments:
Checked and adjusted rear brake on ATV 2; removed front rack from ATV 2
since it was loose and potentially dangerous. Added 1 quart oil each to
ATVs 1 and 2.



Mars Surface Suits:
Used today in first in-sim EVA of crew 68. #2 backpack seemed to be out
of charge before EVA today despite being plugged in.



Appliances:
Replaced 1 light bulb in GreenHab.


GreenHab:
Inside
Time Temp Hum
10:29 88F 13%
18:00 70F 17%
Outside (source is gauge mounted on post outside back door to GreenHab)

Time Temp Hum
10:29 56F 12%
18:00 45.7F 15%




Upgrade Work:
Made minor fixes to secure Heinlein tunnel netting using plastic cable
ties.


Notes/Comments:
We contacted Don about our shopping needs mentioned yesterday.

Following are a few suggested upgrades (not intended in any way as
criticisms of the current system!):

-> Setup a PDA or wifi-enabled smartphone to display the xantrex
monitoring program (which we currently have on the yellow laptop). This
would enable engineering to monitor the power system while performing
other maintenance tasks in the GreenHab or outside. Not sure whether
this is feasible.

-> Setup the Xantrex monitoring program to automatically feed real-time
data (maybe once per minute) to this website. This would be a great
automation feature and would save time since engineering would not have
to manually enter the data in this report (data is already present in
electronic form so the human "middleman" is not really necessary). This
could be setup to generate charts/graphs etc so that Mission Support
could monitor the power system without having to consult the human
engineer (which would also be useful in a real mission to Mars if the
crew were incapacitated). Again, not sure whether this is feasible or
what kind of effort it would involve.

--> In general I feel that automation of monitoring systems and
automatic population of this report with data would be a great
improvement since it would free up the human engineer's time to perform
upgrades, do maintenance, and assist with EVAs and other duties.