AARG3I: Mission Day 11

10/08/2022:

The crew awoke at 0800CST.

Daily Report:

EVA Operations

Today’s EVA was conducted from 1140 to 1210. Fan and bracket for Blueberry worked well after being replaced.

Water Electrolysis

Today electrolysis was conducted with copper conductors. Tests were ran in a solution of distilled water (solvent) of 3,200mL, and sodium (solute) at 100mL. Tests were powered by a DC converter pushing a force potential of 30V through alligator clamps.

Copper conductors rendered an electric current of 1.47 Amps at its strongest. Amps fell down to .47 after 30 minutes of activity as the oxidizing Cathode (positive charge) acquired less electrons from the external circuit, as expected from an electrochemical reaction. This was the largest drop in Amps since tests began on Mission Day 02. The oxidation of the copper anode is also evidenced by the change in color of the solution to a yellow brown, from the metal residue. This also indicated that the copper is probably not pure.

500mL of Hydrogen was collected from todays experiments. No oxygen was collected. This can happen when electrochemical reactions effect only the metal and produce corrosion, rather than producing the intended hydrogen or oxygen.

Stress Mitigation Study

The first focused-breathing session was conducted from 1115-1125, the second from 1617-1627, and a third will be completed before the crew rest for the night. Data still continues to be collected and analyzed for this project. MC Lojek is near completion of the data collection.

Humanure Plant Study

The remaining two regolith dominate mixtures were dissected. Throughout this observation it was discovered that the seedlings did not sprout. Soil tests will be completed on the remaining mixtures to determine if the NPK levels have changed during the growth process. Three different ratio mixtures are remaining. The cucumber has not grown in a measurable amount. This could be due to the size of the planting pot, this will be investigated on the last day of the mission

Other experiments and notes

UND experiments completed.