Mission Day 7:
Today was an exciting day for the ILMAH crew. The comm issues that caused problems yesterday were resolved, so today EVA 4 was able to be completed. The EVA included drone flights and was an overall success! In the Greenhab, Terry performed the first Spirulena harvest and initiated the second round of growth. Terry and Rose continue to monitor the tall fescue grass, tomato, and basil seeds as well. The crew is going strong and excited to begin a true Mars simulation tomorrow, complete with realistic communications time delays.
Here are some highlights in their own words:
Mission Commander Bill O’Hara:
Our second research EVA was executed today by our science team, Terry Trevino and Rose Worku. I served as the IVA support personnel along with help from Diallo Wallace and Lori Waters. The EVA was highly successful!
Today was a notable day for another reason. For our mission we had devised a hybrid meal plan to experiment with multiple methods and types of meals. For the first four days of the mission we chose to cook every meal from dehydrated ingredients. Today was the last day using that method. For the next three days we will be eating prepared, dehydrated meals such as those used by backpackers and mountain climbers. For the last three days of the mission we will shift to a hybrid approach of the two. When we are done we will be able to understand the pros and cons of both ways in a space mission setting.
This evening we did some additional suit testing, trying out a few modifications. I’m excited to try them out! For now, have a goodnight from the Moon!
Mission Science Lead Terry Trevino:
Today was a brilliant day at The University of North Dakota ILMAH-AARG Analog mission. The science is really exciting. I must admit there are always setbacks, and this mission is no different.
Our LDEF Tomato experiment may struggling for a couple of reasons, the most notable of which might be the simple fact that the seeds are 37 years old and having been exposed to the elements and radiation of the low Earth orbit. They’ve been stored and moved around constantly. Most of the seeds’ coats are slightly damaged. It is a possibility that a few of the seeds will pass through to the next stage, where they begin to show an emerging radicle. Stay tuned…
The micro greens: 9 varieties of micro greens were planted on MD3; they suffered a couple of days due to the soils being anaerobic. That’s now improved, and the Mars regolith mixed with a composted bonsai soil has helped freshen things up. Hoping germination starts up soon!
Arrhrospira Platensis: The Star of the Show: we went through the procedures to begin harvesting generation one of the spirulina, and MD8 (which is MD7 of their lifecycle) will see the full transfer to the daughter flasks. We did record a dry mass of 0.17 mg from 53.5 ml of mature spirulina.
Full harvest day today. It’s taking time but we have time!
Science team EVA2: what a tremendous experience today. We stepped out to temperate conditions and worked on a cognitive study for a UND PhD student. We got to fly DJI drones and worked on the general understanding of how to best perform the maneuvers while wearing the space suits. Photos coming!! I again had many of my patented dance moves and worked it like Travolta!
On to MD8.
