Day 13 Mission Report
Morning Operations
The crew uploaded the ARG-2 ILMAH Mission Podcast to YouTube:
Shortly after breakfast and surveys, the crew got started with cleaning and organizing the habitat in preparation for egress tomorrow at 1000 CST.
Plant Module Operations
MC Trevino compared the root structures of plants grown in the ILMAH habitat over the last two weeks.
Root extensions were very impressive in all the control pods. The micro greens were very healthy across the test.
The geo lab is brilliant, and the team had the opportunity to use the microscope to magnify the secondary and tertiary tap roots up to 400 magnification. The fascinating part was locating the master root which was full of cellular activity.
In comparing the control group of microgreens to those grown in the Exolith Lab’s Martian Regolith simulant, the differences are stark. Root balls in the organic soil had a brown color, and the canopy showed terrific growth, while the regolith control group looked a little weak, with white roots. However, under the microscope they looked similar, both the secondary and tertiary roots were healthy. There are a few photos I took which require some further lab analysis. So the work is seemingly never done. But these extremely promising results, both visually, and statistically. The plant module is a gem stone here at UND and needs a bit of polishing!
Evening Operations
The crew has enjoyed their stay here in the ILMAH habitat here at the University of North Dakota, but are very much looking forward to Egress tomorrow morning.
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