If you're just happening onto this blog now, welcome. It's a record of my time at the Mars Desert Research Station as part of the Mars Society of Canada's Expedition Epsilon, which occurred in February 2008 and involved a project sponsored by several groups at MIT.
My major sponsor: MIT's Space Logistics Project, and Professor Olivier de Weck
My own research lab: the Space Systems Architecture Group, headed by Professor Edward Crawley (one of my advisors and my employer at the time) and including key contributors like Wilfried Hofstetter
Aurora Flight Sciences employees: Jim Francis, Joe Zapetis, and Joe Parrish
My research advisor: Professor Jeffrey A. Hoffman
A key software supporter: Fabrice Granzotto
My colleague on the project: Arthur N. Guest
My colleague, associate, and friend: Zahra Khan
I have a previous post on this topic for those seeking a more narrative version of this information. Suffice it to say here that I appreciate having been able to work with all those mentioned above, and I would never have been able to go to MDRS without their assistance.
For more on this topic, I am posting a short version of our final report.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Unanswered Questions - Answered
Here is a short list of questions I got from some of the students in the outreach program - I will try to answer them over the next few days.
Is it possible to use nuclear or solar power on Mars?
-Yes. Usually nuclear power is preferred for human Mars missions, because the power requirements for life support systems are usually high - they are often estimated at 20 kW peak. If the life support system is highly closed (meaning that it recycles more air and water), it will require more power than an open system. If we want to have power to run the life support system, conduct science experiments, communicate with Earth, and create rocket propellant for a return trip, we will need a lot of power. Solar arrays can't generate as much power at Mars as they can at Earth, because sunlight is less intense there. But improved solar arrays designs and lower required power levels may mean that solar power for a Mars mission will become feasible.
How are carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen recycled in Mars habitats?
-Nitrogen will probably not be recycled. The only use for nitrogen on a spacecraft or in a surface habitat is to maintain pressure inside without relying on a purely oxygen atmosphere (which can be dangerous). So nitrogen will be pumped into the habitat or spacecraft to make up for minor leaks (like at seals) or for air lost when astronauts go through the airlock for extravehicular activity. It will be supplied from tanks, rather than recycled.
Are the EVA suits hot? Heavy? Hard to put on? Are they like real EVA suits?
-The EVA suits at MDRS are very hot. Fortunately, it is usually cold at MDRS when crews go there. They are heavy, especially the backpacks, and they are hard to use. In this sense, they are like real EVA suits, although the MDRS suits are not pressurized. The MDRS suits, while they are hard to put on, are not quite as hard as real suits.
If a trip to Mars takes three years, is it feasible that we will go?
-A lot of people hope so. NASA's plan for the next fifteen or twenty years is to go to the Moon, which is much closer to Earth, and practice staying there for a long time, up to six months or a year at a time. That will allow us to practice for trips to Mars. If you're worried that a three-year trip is a long trip, consider that the trip from England to America by sailing ship took weeks, and Magellan's voyage around the world took three years. Furthermore, a lot of people who sailed to the New World stayed for the rest of their lives - much more than three years, and in conditions much less safe and much more harsh than will be the case on a trip to Mars.
What are the psychological effects of living together in a small space?
-While some interpersonal friction is possible given the sometimes-stressful (it's very work-oriented) environment and close quarters, generally there are no major detrimental psychological effects. I can report that our crew functioned generally well, and this can be attributed to two main factors: the professionalism of all the crewmembers, and the willingness to accommodate others that crewmembers showed when required. The first factor is a typical side effect of years of education in science or engineering (there are many other ways of acquiring a professional attitude, of course, but a lot of hard-working science and engineering types come to it through their work), the second usually a personality characteristic. This plays some role in crew selection, and although sometimes prickly aspects of personality will not manifest themselves completely right away, usually there are signs whether a given person will get along well with others or not. I feel that I displayed these signs when I described my childhood - I was the first-born of seven kids, so I had no choice but to eventually learn to get along well with others (there were a lot of others running around my house by the time I left).
Is there a limiting factor on crew size?
-Not of which I know. If you have the technology and money to send fifty people (we have the technology, certainly), you can send fifty people. If you have the technology to send two hundred people, you can send two hundred people. Obviously, it's very expensive to send just one person, so most estimates place the size of the first crew to visit Mars at 4 to 6 people. This is for a round trip, however. I once estimated that the same amount of mass needed to send six people to Mars and back could send 24 people to Mars and supply them for two years . . . it's a rough estimate. But large groups of people do live in tight, dangerous quarters for long periods of time while working hard for non-spectacular pay . . . just look at the Navy. An aircraft carrier may have a crew of up to 3000, and may cruise for months at a time. If it were the biggest, coolest, most expensive spaceship ever instead of a carrier, we could send it to Mars instead.
How do we prevent disease on a trip to Mars?
-Send healthy people, and send good doctors and medical supplies along too. Make the crew wash their hands often and practice good sanitation and hygiene. Ideally, this is the same way we prevent disease on Earth, except that the environment in a spaceship or a Mars habitat can be controlled much more closely.
Do we need to go to Earth orbit first to get to Mars? How about the Moon?
-Nothing can leave Earth without passing through the volume of space usually called "Earth orbit," but it isn't strictly necessary to stop there. We usually do, just to check things out before we leave. It isn't necessary at all to send a ship to the Moon, have it stop there, and then go to Mars - in fact, that's way more expensive than just sending it to Mars in the first place. Anytime a spaceship lands on or leaves a planet's or moon's surface, it uses a lot of fuel (and a lot of money). The cheapest path between any two planets is almost always directly from the surface of one to orbit, from that orbit to the other planet's orbit, and then down to that planet's surface. The only reason to stop at the Moon before going to Mars would be if there were already a rocket base, with a fuel depot and construction facilities, already there. Launching from the Moon is cheaper than launching from Earth, so we could just send humans in a small spaceship to the Moon, where they would meet the big rocket with all its supplies and then fly to Mars. Of course, we cannot yet make these supplies on the Moon, or build rockets there, so it doesn't make sense to stop there first. If we could grow food, synthesize rocket fuel, and refine and cut aluminum on the Moon without shipping it from Earth first, then things would be different.
How do we use the bathroom in space? How much recycling is there?
-A special toilet is used in space. Usually we try to recycle as much as possible, because then we don't need to bring more supplies from Earth. Water is especially desirable to recycle, as astronauts usually use more of it than of food, oxygen, packaging, or anything else. Right now, the Space Station recycles some of its water, mostly from wash water. Eventually, we hope to have enough equipment on the station to recycle nearly all the water.
What do we wear in the EVA suits? What do we wear in the Hab?
-In the simulated EVA suits, we wear something that's comfortable but a little bit warm - some of my crewmates wore sweatpants, while I chose to put on an exercise shirt and board shorts - athough I did wear a nice fuzzy hat, both to keep my head warm and to keep from getting sunburned. The glass of the helmets can intensify the light uncomfortably, and don't offer any shade. I wore a lot of sunblock as well. In the Hab, we wear whatever we want . . . although usually not for more than a few days in a row. We don't have laundry facilities, so when clothes get too smelly, they are tied up in a bag for taking home and turb-washing after the mission is over.
Is it possible to use nuclear or solar power on Mars?
-Yes. Usually nuclear power is preferred for human Mars missions, because the power requirements for life support systems are usually high - they are often estimated at 20 kW peak. If the life support system is highly closed (meaning that it recycles more air and water), it will require more power than an open system. If we want to have power to run the life support system, conduct science experiments, communicate with Earth, and create rocket propellant for a return trip, we will need a lot of power. Solar arrays can't generate as much power at Mars as they can at Earth, because sunlight is less intense there. But improved solar arrays designs and lower required power levels may mean that solar power for a Mars mission will become feasible.
How are carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen recycled in Mars habitats?
-Nitrogen will probably not be recycled. The only use for nitrogen on a spacecraft or in a surface habitat is to maintain pressure inside without relying on a purely oxygen atmosphere (which can be dangerous). So nitrogen will be pumped into the habitat or spacecraft to make up for minor leaks (like at seals) or for air lost when astronauts go through the airlock for extravehicular activity. It will be supplied from tanks, rather than recycled.
Are the EVA suits hot? Heavy? Hard to put on? Are they like real EVA suits?
-The EVA suits at MDRS are very hot. Fortunately, it is usually cold at MDRS when crews go there. They are heavy, especially the backpacks, and they are hard to use. In this sense, they are like real EVA suits, although the MDRS suits are not pressurized. The MDRS suits, while they are hard to put on, are not quite as hard as real suits.
If a trip to Mars takes three years, is it feasible that we will go?
-A lot of people hope so. NASA's plan for the next fifteen or twenty years is to go to the Moon, which is much closer to Earth, and practice staying there for a long time, up to six months or a year at a time. That will allow us to practice for trips to Mars. If you're worried that a three-year trip is a long trip, consider that the trip from England to America by sailing ship took weeks, and Magellan's voyage around the world took three years. Furthermore, a lot of people who sailed to the New World stayed for the rest of their lives - much more than three years, and in conditions much less safe and much more harsh than will be the case on a trip to Mars.
What are the psychological effects of living together in a small space?
-While some interpersonal friction is possible given the sometimes-stressful (it's very work-oriented) environment and close quarters, generally there are no major detrimental psychological effects. I can report that our crew functioned generally well, and this can be attributed to two main factors: the professionalism of all the crewmembers, and the willingness to accommodate others that crewmembers showed when required. The first factor is a typical side effect of years of education in science or engineering (there are many other ways of acquiring a professional attitude, of course, but a lot of hard-working science and engineering types come to it through their work), the second usually a personality characteristic. This plays some role in crew selection, and although sometimes prickly aspects of personality will not manifest themselves completely right away, usually there are signs whether a given person will get along well with others or not. I feel that I displayed these signs when I described my childhood - I was the first-born of seven kids, so I had no choice but to eventually learn to get along well with others (there were a lot of others running around my house by the time I left).
Is there a limiting factor on crew size?
-Not of which I know. If you have the technology and money to send fifty people (we have the technology, certainly), you can send fifty people. If you have the technology to send two hundred people, you can send two hundred people. Obviously, it's very expensive to send just one person, so most estimates place the size of the first crew to visit Mars at 4 to 6 people. This is for a round trip, however. I once estimated that the same amount of mass needed to send six people to Mars and back could send 24 people to Mars and supply them for two years . . . it's a rough estimate. But large groups of people do live in tight, dangerous quarters for long periods of time while working hard for non-spectacular pay . . . just look at the Navy. An aircraft carrier may have a crew of up to 3000, and may cruise for months at a time. If it were the biggest, coolest, most expensive spaceship ever instead of a carrier, we could send it to Mars instead.
How do we prevent disease on a trip to Mars?
-Send healthy people, and send good doctors and medical supplies along too. Make the crew wash their hands often and practice good sanitation and hygiene. Ideally, this is the same way we prevent disease on Earth, except that the environment in a spaceship or a Mars habitat can be controlled much more closely.
Do we need to go to Earth orbit first to get to Mars? How about the Moon?
-Nothing can leave Earth without passing through the volume of space usually called "Earth orbit," but it isn't strictly necessary to stop there. We usually do, just to check things out before we leave. It isn't necessary at all to send a ship to the Moon, have it stop there, and then go to Mars - in fact, that's way more expensive than just sending it to Mars in the first place. Anytime a spaceship lands on or leaves a planet's or moon's surface, it uses a lot of fuel (and a lot of money). The cheapest path between any two planets is almost always directly from the surface of one to orbit, from that orbit to the other planet's orbit, and then down to that planet's surface. The only reason to stop at the Moon before going to Mars would be if there were already a rocket base, with a fuel depot and construction facilities, already there. Launching from the Moon is cheaper than launching from Earth, so we could just send humans in a small spaceship to the Moon, where they would meet the big rocket with all its supplies and then fly to Mars. Of course, we cannot yet make these supplies on the Moon, or build rockets there, so it doesn't make sense to stop there first. If we could grow food, synthesize rocket fuel, and refine and cut aluminum on the Moon without shipping it from Earth first, then things would be different.
How do we use the bathroom in space? How much recycling is there?
-A special toilet is used in space. Usually we try to recycle as much as possible, because then we don't need to bring more supplies from Earth. Water is especially desirable to recycle, as astronauts usually use more of it than of food, oxygen, packaging, or anything else. Right now, the Space Station recycles some of its water, mostly from wash water. Eventually, we hope to have enough equipment on the station to recycle nearly all the water.
What do we wear in the EVA suits? What do we wear in the Hab?
-In the simulated EVA suits, we wear something that's comfortable but a little bit warm - some of my crewmates wore sweatpants, while I chose to put on an exercise shirt and board shorts - athough I did wear a nice fuzzy hat, both to keep my head warm and to keep from getting sunburned. The glass of the helmets can intensify the light uncomfortably, and don't offer any shade. I wore a lot of sunblock as well. In the Hab, we wear whatever we want . . . although usually not for more than a few days in a row. We don't have laundry facilities, so when clothes get too smelly, they are tied up in a bag for taking home and turb-washing after the mission is over.
Monday, March 17, 2008
What's next
Even though I'm back, I will try to maintain this blog for a little while yet. I should be finishing up a final report soon - I'll post a link when I do.
More on Water Issues
There is, of course, water used in the Hab for things other than washing. On Mars, there is water that one drinks, water that one uses to wash or cook, and water in the air that one breathes. Completely dry air is unpleasant to breathe, although one doesn't want it too damp, either. My textbook HSMAD (Human Spaceflight Mission Analysis and Design - the go-to handbook for manned mission design) suggests a humidity range of 50 +/- 20%. This sounds reasonably comfortable to me.
Of course, water is put into the air by humans when they breathe out (some water is lost due to evaporation from the inner surfaces of air passages, and some water is produced metabolically), so usually this water has to be removed from the air before the air is recirculated. In a habitat at an analogue site, usually the doors are not sealed airtight, and the internal humidity will approach the local outside humidity. Some places on Earth have unpleasantly low levels of humidity, but these are not completely intolerable, so there is no provision in the analogue habitats to remove water from the air. That is, we have no evaporate condensers to regenerate our water supply.
There is also water in food, or in food trimmings, and these we either throw on a compost pile in the GreenHab (our greenhouse, where we grow lettuce and vegetables) or simply throw away. The water that goes into the compost ends up nourishing the plants, and we also channel all our graywater to the GreenHab as well. It passes through a series of settling tanks, goes to the plants, and then passes into our system again, where it fills our toilet. After being used by the toilet, our water is sent into a septic system and not recycled. This way, we use water at least three times before it is finally dumped into the septic tank: once to cook, clean, or wash; once for the plants; and once for the toilet. The water we drink is used only that once, although most of it probably ends up in the sewage system as well (some of it is, of course, respirated or sweated and lost to the local environment).
Of course, water is put into the air by humans when they breathe out (some water is lost due to evaporation from the inner surfaces of air passages, and some water is produced metabolically), so usually this water has to be removed from the air before the air is recirculated. In a habitat at an analogue site, usually the doors are not sealed airtight, and the internal humidity will approach the local outside humidity. Some places on Earth have unpleasantly low levels of humidity, but these are not completely intolerable, so there is no provision in the analogue habitats to remove water from the air. That is, we have no evaporate condensers to regenerate our water supply.
There is also water in food, or in food trimmings, and these we either throw on a compost pile in the GreenHab (our greenhouse, where we grow lettuce and vegetables) or simply throw away. The water that goes into the compost ends up nourishing the plants, and we also channel all our graywater to the GreenHab as well. It passes through a series of settling tanks, goes to the plants, and then passes into our system again, where it fills our toilet. After being used by the toilet, our water is sent into a septic system and not recycled. This way, we use water at least three times before it is finally dumped into the septic tank: once to cook, clean, or wash; once for the plants; and once for the toilet. The water we drink is used only that once, although most of it probably ends up in the sewage system as well (some of it is, of course, respirated or sweated and lost to the local environment).
Friday, March 14, 2008
Answers: Water Issues
I've had a few more questions about how I actually took a chemshower, and I think I can address them here.
First off, I did use some water to shower. I filled a small bucket with water and no-rinse soap (also called camp soap, I think), using less than a bottle full of water, a bottle being my personal drinking apparatus, which I emptied (via consuming the water therein) between 3 and 4 times a day. Then I used a washcloth to dab up the soapy water and scrub. No rinsing is required. I used alcohol wipes (no water needed at all) on key areas, and then I used no-rinse shampoo (which also requires absolutely no water) for my hair.
We had to use some water for dishes, cooking, and the like, but we tried very hard to minimize the amount. We rinsed in a bucket, rather than under flowing water, and toweled the dishes dry. All in all, I was surprised to see how much water I used once I got back home.
The chemshower experiment seems to have gone well. Nobody complained that I smelled bad, and I used less water than everybody else. Furthermore, I could take a "shower" whenever I wanted, while everybody else had to shower only once every three days, due to the water consumption limits. I think I felt fresher than the rest of the crew by the end of the mission.
First off, I did use some water to shower. I filled a small bucket with water and no-rinse soap (also called camp soap, I think), using less than a bottle full of water, a bottle being my personal drinking apparatus, which I emptied (via consuming the water therein) between 3 and 4 times a day. Then I used a washcloth to dab up the soapy water and scrub. No rinsing is required. I used alcohol wipes (no water needed at all) on key areas, and then I used no-rinse shampoo (which also requires absolutely no water) for my hair.
We had to use some water for dishes, cooking, and the like, but we tried very hard to minimize the amount. We rinsed in a bucket, rather than under flowing water, and toweled the dishes dry. All in all, I was surprised to see how much water I used once I got back home.
The chemshower experiment seems to have gone well. Nobody complained that I smelled bad, and I used less water than everybody else. Furthermore, I could take a "shower" whenever I wanted, while everybody else had to shower only once every three days, due to the water consumption limits. I think I felt fresher than the rest of the crew by the end of the mission.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
I'm back
Here's a picture of my crew on the day we left the Habitat. In the back is the XO/Research Manager, the Field Exploration Systems Engineer, the Chief Engineer, and the Biologist. Kneeling in front are the Commander and me, a Researcher. Not shown, because they had to leave early, are the Surface Exploration Systems Engineer and the other Researcher.
It took me three days to get back home from MDRS, but it would have taken me six months to get home from real Mars - I would say that's pretty good.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Questions?
I'll only be here another few days, so if you have questions, please let me know and I'll try to get a lot of them answered tonight. Just email me at pmcunio@mit.edu, or leave comments here.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
More about research
I should note here that this project is not "my" project, but rather a project on which I am privileged to be doing some work. The SSLC is the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people, and here I will list some few of them and describe what they have done. This should serve not only to thank those of my colleagues and advisors who have contributed, but also to illustrate in some detail how many projects today are interconnected with others and how large numbers of people often work very closely together.
There are two major projects which came together to make the SSLC. The first project I would like to mention is an effort on small logistics carriers, headed up over last summer by Wilfried Hofstetter, a PhD student in my department at MIT. Wilfried is a member of my research group and has brought me into a lot of interesting projects; this was one. He was interested in developing a smaller, more flexible carrier for logistics purposes, and had done the groundwork for it. I helped with a few small measurements, and then Wilfried and I presented the work to the research group headed by Professor Ed Crawley, who is one of my advisors. We received a number of interesting comments, and even presented the project to a group of logistics experts at NASA. Once again, invaluable feedback was received. The project went on hiatus for some time while we all worked on other things, and then one day I went to a student conference with my colleague Zahra Khan. We were sitting in a booth presenting some work on Mars Sample Return missions, when our labmate Arthur Guest walked up and started chatting. Zahra told me and Arthur about her position on Expedition Epsilon to the Mars Desert Research Station, and we both agreed that it sounded like a wonderful opportunity. We knew that researchers were still sought for the mission, but we had no project of immediate interest to the organizers.
That night, at a departmental dinner, I sat down next to a graduate student named Abe Grindle, who told me about some very interesting work he was doing on RFID-enabled containers. This project had some very interesting potential applications in the field of logistics. The next day, I began asking questions, and Abe put me in contact with his advisor, Professor Olivier de Weck, the head of MIT's Space Logistics Project. Professor de Weck was immediately supportive of the plan Arthur and I built to combine the small logistics carrier and RFID-enabled "smart box" logistics research into a field project at the Mars Desert Research Station. He provided funding for the project (a part of which came from a grant originally given by NASA), and arranged to put us into contact with a company doing a lot of work on the same RFID-enabled container, Aurora Flight Systems (formerly Payload). The company's staff, including Jim Francis and Joe Zapetis, worked closely with Arthur and me to set up and troubleshoot our container design. There were others who worked only with Arthur because I was busy, and it is only fair to acknowledge them here, even though I do not know them myself. Among these was another MIT graduate student with a good feel for computers, named Fabrice Granzotto. The container itself was built in MIT's Hobby Shop, and we had continual feedback and support throughout the project, especially during our first remote testing phase, when Arthur took the container to MDRS for two weeks. I especially also had very good intellectual and moral support from my thesis advisor, Professor Jeff Hoffman, and financial support from the Massachusetts Space Grant organization. It wasn't until all this happened that I even entered the picture here, testing the container in the middle of the desert.
The many contributors I have listed above are just the ones I can remember. I am sure there are others, since one of the most interesting facets of life in the technical world today is that there are few projects that are done in isolation. As one of my textbooks says, no space system was ever designed by a single individual. To work successfully in many fields of engineering today, it is as important to be able to deal well with other people as it is to be technically competent.
As you can clearly see, the project is not my project; I just work on it. I just hope that what I bring back to my supervisors, funders, and associates is useful and insightful for them.
There are two major projects which came together to make the SSLC. The first project I would like to mention is an effort on small logistics carriers, headed up over last summer by Wilfried Hofstetter, a PhD student in my department at MIT. Wilfried is a member of my research group and has brought me into a lot of interesting projects; this was one. He was interested in developing a smaller, more flexible carrier for logistics purposes, and had done the groundwork for it. I helped with a few small measurements, and then Wilfried and I presented the work to the research group headed by Professor Ed Crawley, who is one of my advisors. We received a number of interesting comments, and even presented the project to a group of logistics experts at NASA. Once again, invaluable feedback was received. The project went on hiatus for some time while we all worked on other things, and then one day I went to a student conference with my colleague Zahra Khan. We were sitting in a booth presenting some work on Mars Sample Return missions, when our labmate Arthur Guest walked up and started chatting. Zahra told me and Arthur about her position on Expedition Epsilon to the Mars Desert Research Station, and we both agreed that it sounded like a wonderful opportunity. We knew that researchers were still sought for the mission, but we had no project of immediate interest to the organizers.
That night, at a departmental dinner, I sat down next to a graduate student named Abe Grindle, who told me about some very interesting work he was doing on RFID-enabled containers. This project had some very interesting potential applications in the field of logistics. The next day, I began asking questions, and Abe put me in contact with his advisor, Professor Olivier de Weck, the head of MIT's Space Logistics Project. Professor de Weck was immediately supportive of the plan Arthur and I built to combine the small logistics carrier and RFID-enabled "smart box" logistics research into a field project at the Mars Desert Research Station. He provided funding for the project (a part of which came from a grant originally given by NASA), and arranged to put us into contact with a company doing a lot of work on the same RFID-enabled container, Aurora Flight Systems (formerly Payload). The company's staff, including Jim Francis and Joe Zapetis, worked closely with Arthur and me to set up and troubleshoot our container design. There were others who worked only with Arthur because I was busy, and it is only fair to acknowledge them here, even though I do not know them myself. Among these was another MIT graduate student with a good feel for computers, named Fabrice Granzotto. The container itself was built in MIT's Hobby Shop, and we had continual feedback and support throughout the project, especially during our first remote testing phase, when Arthur took the container to MDRS for two weeks. I especially also had very good intellectual and moral support from my thesis advisor, Professor Jeff Hoffman, and financial support from the Massachusetts Space Grant organization. It wasn't until all this happened that I even entered the picture here, testing the container in the middle of the desert.
The many contributors I have listed above are just the ones I can remember. I am sure there are others, since one of the most interesting facets of life in the technical world today is that there are few projects that are done in isolation. As one of my textbooks says, no space system was ever designed by a single individual. To work successfully in many fields of engineering today, it is as important to be able to deal well with other people as it is to be technically competent.
As you can clearly see, the project is not my project; I just work on it. I just hope that what I bring back to my supervisors, funders, and associates is useful and insightful for them.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
My research here
The reason I'm here is to do research. I use the SSLC, the Smart Small Logistics Container, to track important logistics items and talk to my computer, which updates a remote server. That way anybody anywhere in the world can know, in near-real time, exactly what is in the SSLC here at MDRS. If we run low on an important supply item, like food or batteries, mission support can arrange a new shipment before we even have to ask.
That's the idea, at least. I've been running experiments intended to find ways to get the container to work better. I set up my network, try different setups of tags and antennas and items, collect data, and repeat - since the SSLC is downstairs and I am upstairs, it involves a lot of running up and down the ladder between the Main Deck and the Lab Deck. I feel healthier just thinking about it.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Living on Mars, Part IIb
In these pictures, you can see my crew preparing for an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity), which is what we call it when we go outside in our simulation space suits. You can see some of the crew suiting up, and then one of us pointing out a patch on her helmet, and then the crew walking out of the Hab to the ATVs we use to get around.We go on EVAs for several reasons, but usually for science. Our biologist and our GPS researcher both need to take samples or data out in the field, and so they go on EVA almost every day.
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