The Crew enjoyed a day of rest due to Martian Storms raining on their parade. Fear not, the Crew took full advantage of their time. Aside from completing their traditional tasks and coursework assignments, they competitively engaged in some Mario Kart Racing. Enjoyed some movies playing in the background, while creating flavorful meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Crew enjoyed some laughs with the film ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’
The Crew wanted some scares and enjoyed ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3: Dream Warriors.’
The Crew cannot believe they are already eight days into the mission, with less than a week to go. Some feel like this is already their second home, and are already sad about the thought of leaving.
The Hamama plants are growing super well!
Martian Soil
Three days after seeing her first sprouts pop up in B1 (Earth soil) MS Cecil was pleased this morning to find two baby sprouts in M1 (Martian soil). The PH levels in each bin are looking good ranging from 6.0 to 7.5. The temperature readings are 75 in the front bins and 85 on the back bins. So far it looks like adding the heating pad is only serving to dry out the soil instead of helping to stabilize the temperature overnight. Note: The heating pad is a set temperature and cannot be changed. MS Cecil will try using a heating pad again with a more controllable setup and heat sensors moving forward, end note. After drilling holes in the top of the plastic lids allowed for better air circulation while keeping in a higher level of humidify. This helped with moister levels while helping prevent fungi growth. After the young sprouts have had time to fully root in MS Cecil will use a soil tool to see if the roots truly hit the Martian regolith or if the soil on top was what the sprouts were really feeding on. MS Cecil is looking forward to the last 6 days of sim and how her plants will grow!
Measuring EVA Performance
MS Gonzalez made small graphs representing total sleep hours and psychomotor vigilance test performance over time so members had a better idea of how they have been performing over time. The weather did not permit EVA activity today, but enough baseline information has been collected to build a performance foundation of the member over the time of the mission. MS Gonzalez just hopes the weather cooperates this weekend so meaningful collection can take place!
Mutually Sustained Systems for Space Flight
It was determined there was too much organic material extraneous to the live plants that was causing an excessive off gas of CO2 in the container. The Tank was sealed this morning and CO2 allowed to build to greater than 5000 PPM to weaken any substance affecting the total output of O2. Tomorrow, the tank will be disassembled, cleaned, plants purged of mold, etc. Then resealed to determine if any O2 content will be measurable.
Tank and plants moved out of the Green Room. This was done to prevent any of the other plant emissions from skewing the data. Plant debris removal and other cleanup items performed. Static measurements were taken, they will be compared with the overnight measurements in the morning.
Green Study
CO Turner continues seeing new growth with the Earth and Lunar test and control microgreens. She found it interesting that the Kale Red Russian microgreen took an extra two days to germinate but has grown to or exceeded the growth height compared to the Earth and Lunar mustard and arugula microgreens. Fascinating! Plants rule!! Nothing to report yet in the Martian Regolith. :P
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