Day 11 Mission Report
Morning Operations
The crew enjoyed waking up after the first night in the habitat with air conditioning. After breakfast and some routine surveys, the crew prepped for EVA operations scheduled to start at 1000 CST.
EVA Operations
MS Guthrie and MS Lojek conducted the fourth EVA in a series using a medical assistive device. This is the final iteration of the Contingency EVA Research Study conducted by American Military University here at ILMAH. The EVA performed a simulated rescue on the Lunar surface using a medical sled and an all-terrain transport chair.
Click here to watch the EVA recap.
Plant Operations
The plant module was toasty today. And as it heats up in the “aquarium”, MC Trevino kept the plants drinking and used a mister to keep them cool.
The Feed Test
In this experiment, Trevino used a mix of 1 tsp Hawaiian Spirulina and 12 oz of distilled water as a feedstock, and shows amazing results in the extension of the tap root of the test subjects in comparison to that of the control subjects. The 2 mm extra growth doesn’t sound like much but extrapolate that out, it’s over a 30% net effect. That’s a considerable result in the increase in mass, and it’s important to remember the test is in a Martian Regolith simulant, mixed at 87.5% regolith to 12.5% bonsai soil.
It appears that the test of Sphagnum Moss is keeping the seed pods and exudate wet allowing for extra growth time, fostering the strong tap roots. These results are extremely promising, and the test pods are very light, with very little mass per pod, weighing in at 36 grams. Also, because the pods are protected against drying out, the evaporation is greatly reduced. Another interesting result, is the moss takes up water, which will also allow for uptake of the water in microgravity when watered in a closed aquaponics system.
The Light Test MC Trevino tested a group of 50 organic soil pods, planted under a very low wavelength light, a mix of red LED and blue LED in the 40 nm wavelength. The plants grew so tall reaching to the light, that the weight of the canopy of the cotyledons and foliage leaves, caused the hypocotyl or stalk, to literally fall over. The hypothesis of the experiment was to trick the plants to reach for light but not overextend, so they were removed from the low wavelength light up to 660 nm wavelengths, and the hypocotyl seems to be thickening. The results are interesting but the results seems to be a loss of plant health.
ExoLab 10 is taking off and doing terrific for Magnitude.io. The all in partially closed loop growth chamber monitors the conditions in the Plant Module as well.
NASA pods seem very strong, however the plants themselves are only receiving water and no feed or fertilizer. It is obvious the micro radish are still performing well living off the exudate from the seed. These radish seeds are pretty large which explains why the plant is strong.
Live green and hug trees!
Outreach Operations
MS Guthrie conducted a tour of the ILMAH habitat for a group of enthusiastic Girl Scouts. The girls were excited to learn about how the crew spend each day on the mission, and they were especially interested in the EVA suits that the ILMAH crew uses to go outside.
MS Pierce, MS Guthrie and MS Lojek edited and uploaded another YouTube video for the APUS Analog Research Group page. The three crew members discussed the results of today's medical EVA iteration.
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