Postcards from Mars

As one who has managed teams for more than thirty years, in computer software development, business, and construction, I have come to recognize a number of things about myself in that leadership role: I work best with a dozen or fewer individuals; I am often the most difficult person on my team while setting an example for how to work through difficult times; I am thrilled when my team members arrive to solutions that surpass my own, when someone learns a new skill or accomplishes something for which we are proud.

It doesn’t really matter to me what we are doing together—landscaping, metal work, electrical wiring or plumbing, computer software, robotics, or combining them all to build a Mars habitat—as long as we are engaged in a manner that celebrates who we are as individuals and how we perform as a team. It’s about finding a rhythm, a dynamic, flexible flow even when the music is always changing.

In the fall of 2020 Trent and I estimated that SAM could be operational in six months with a half dozen volunteers, then grow over time. With the close of January 2023 we will complete our second year of construction with some thirty volunteers and contracted team members. SAM has grown, the physical habitat itself now part of the experiment. The end result will be a higher fidelity facility than we had originally envisioned, with substantial opportunity to grow.

SAM is a work of passion and a labor of love. It is the kind of project that people will look back to and say, “I was a part of SAM, I was there at the beginning.” We’re doing something wonderfully unique while echoing the work of the original Biospherians, our hands directly involved in metal, glass, and paint. I would not build SAM any other way for no amount of funding can replace the experience we have gained, and the sense of accomplishment each team member carries with them.

When visiting research teams engage SAM we hope they will carry findings, ideas, and personal experience to help shape a better world here, today, as we prepare to become interplanetary. —Kai Staats, Director of Research of SAM at Biosphere 2

We often speak of multitasking as a measure of performance or value in a fast paced society, yet the quality of work of any one individual is readily correlated to focus on a single, given task. In our work at SAM we do move through a half dozen projects in a single day. However, with an unwritten agreement to keep cell phone interruptions to a minimum, regular check-ins to revise the chalk board task list and tools in hand, we are a dynamic team, each of us able to transition from landscaping to metal fabrication, from concrete mixing to painting without hesitation. And in each task, that is our core focus from start to completion.

This past few weeks has seen our team struggle to get the 40 foot shipping container air tight, with far more leaks than anticipated. A few shipments and contracted component builds have seen delays too. We have taken advantage of the delays in one arena to make significant strides in others, tasks that might have otherwise been put off until March or April.

Sanding, priming, and painting much of the exterior of the two shipping containers and airlock, Test Module to workshop interior bridge, workshop to crew quarters bridge, and workshop floor are now complete. The upper lung pan and lower lung wall are primed. Luna has planted a “soup mix” in the experimental soil grow beds while John Z., Luna, and Bindhu were successful in pouring a concrete footing for the workshop mini-split condenser. Sean tackled the arduous paint scraping in the lung tunnel and Ezio came out from his programming lair to assist with landscaping and painting, his tenacity for detail welcomed. Kai, as usual, shuffled between all projects in order to keep the team focused and moving forward, providing sharp tools, ample supplies, and (mostly) appreciated guidance while trying to get back to the one thing he promised himself he’d get done that day.

As shared in a prior post, Kai Staats and Nathan Schmit were successful in cutting free one of the original pressure doors from the basement of Biosphere 2. This door had not been used for some twenty years and is a perfect fit for SAM, where it will serve as an emergency exit from the Crew Quarters space and provide a small but vital natural lighting portal.

It was the original intent to retain nearly the full steel plate into which the door was mounted such that it would fit neatly into the opening of the 40 foot shipping container without additional framing. However, upon inspection prior to cutting, Nathan and Kai discovered that that heavy 1/8″ thick sheet was heavily warped and would have been very difficult to weld without a great deal of bending and fill. Therefore a small frame was cut around the door. While the total mass was reduced to ~150kg (330lbs), some rigging and planning was required to safely maneuver the door into position in its new frame.

As with the end of the 20 foot container, the original doors were removed and 1″x3″ steel tubing was installed as frame and studs. The tubing is bolted to the thick steel frame of the shipping container, with temporary brackets holding the studs until welded. Nathan welded the studs to the frame, then the door, and finally the 12g sheet metal which forms an air-tight seem around the entire frame and to the door.

During the SIMOC-SAM Team Summit the first full SAM pressure test was conducted with the 40 foot container end in place. While the welds themselves held strong, leaks between the layers of the original floor were detected and then mitigated over the subsequent three days, before the holiday break.

The SAM Workshop will house a power panel, mini-split heating and cooling, 3D printer, sewing machine, and repair bench with a variety of tools for in-hab repair and fabrication. This room has a five layer sealed floor topped with steel sheets and Insofast brand, closed-cell foam panels with built-in plastic studs. On these panels we have added fiberglass reinforced panels (FRP) to protect the insulation, provide a strong structure on which to mount electrical conduit, shelving, and lights; and provide a readily cleanable surface.

The south end of the 40′ shipping container, soon to be completed as the crew quarters at SAM, will include an emergency exit for visiting crew. We are proud to have been gifted yet another pressure door assembly from the original Biosphere 2. Kai and SAM team member Nathan cut and with the help of Tim move the mass from the ‘technosphere’ to SAM. Nathan spent the better part of a day preparing the door frame for welding. On Tuesday, December 13 it will be attached to the new steel stud wall, and soon thereafter put into function for the first time in some twenty years.

Patching the 40 foot shipping container has proved to be significant challenge, setting us back two weeks from our intended schedule. Yet, each day we make progress toward a functional pressure vessel, each test demonstrating that our efforts are worth while—the audible space grows more quiet and the rise in pressure more rapid.

In parallel Luna and Kai applied paint to the workshop floor, bridges, and exterior roof of the airlock while Ezio (visiting from Italy) and Grant (visiting from Vietnam) worked on SIMOC Live, a new version of the Mars habitat simulator that will function as the live data capture system for SAM, collecting data in real-time from dozens of in-hab sensors.