Postcards from Mars

Crew Imagination I CapCom: Day 1 closing

March 10, 2024, 18:11
Good evening, crew! This is CapCom checking in.

It was a delight to see you all off on your mission this morning. I hope your first eight hours in SAM have gone smoothly. The rest of the day was sunny and warm for all of us still here at Mission Control. This evening we’ll see a low of 48F (8.9C). It’s a new moon tonight, a fitting start to the mission, I’d say!

Ad lunam cum arte,
Mikayla Mace Kelley, CapCom

March 10, 2024, 18:40

Pressure: 1.3 inches
Lung height 21 inches with blower at 24 Hz and stable for 6+ hours
CO2 Lung: 774 ppm
CO2 TM: 2167 ppm
CO2 Eng Bay: 2046 ppm
CO2 Crew Quarters: 1726 ppm
Water tank level: ~60 gallons
Hydroponics: 6.3 ph, 2.1 EC

Imagination 1 entered Shackleton Base a few minutes after 10 following a lovely send-off. The base is named for Shackleton Crater in the lunar south pole region—and, of course, Shackleton Crater is named for the great Antarctic explorer. Following a team hug, we entered the Lung and spent a couple of hours perfecting the art of lung height, blower speed and maintaining internal pressure to spec. As we did, we worked up some instant poetry with the wall-mounted poetry kit. So art and air co-exist.

We were grateful for the bread (thank you) which we ate with reconstituted dehy eggs (the secret is to microwave the egg slurry for a few seconds, stir, repeat ’till it looks like scrambled eggs, not (as some did) like a strange foam weather-sealant. We [held] a mission meeting afterwards, discussing monitoring the lung (credit to Julie for taking the lead on trouble-shooting), reviewed house-keeping and safety and plans for the rest of the day.

First order of business was much-needed rest. The later afternoon has been a mixture of setting up equipment, figuring out our personal space, personal tech, where we want this or that on this or that shelf, and some creative work for us.

We are getting used to the whir and trickle of the hydroponics, which for a moment caused the crew commander to jump up to see if a leak had sprung in the TM. We are getting used to the water pump thumping—and we are paying attention to using very little water for dish clean up. –Commander Christopher Cokinos

By |2024-03-15T04:17:58+00:00March 10th, 2024|Categories: Research Teams|0 Comments

Crew Imagination I enters SAM

Crew Imagination I enters SAM at Biosphere 2 for a six days Lunar mission.

The third crew to enter the Space Analog for the Moon and Mars sealed the outer airlock hatch today, March 10, 2024 at 10 AM. Friends, family, and colleagues were welcomed to tour the SAM facility as the crew prepared for their six days and five nights journey to the South Pole of the Moon. Christopher Cokinos, Liz George, Julie Swarstad Johnson, and Ivy Wahome entered SAM carrying their personal bins. They left their street shoes on the airlock landing and donned hab shoes provided by Astral Designs.

This professional and artistic, all-University of Arizona mission crew is comprised of non-fiction writer Christopher Cokinos and professor emeritus of English; dancer/choreographer Elizabeth George, associate professor at the School of Dance; poet Julie Swarstad Johnson, Poetry Center archivist and librarian; and textile artist Ivy Wahome, MFA candidate in costume design and production at the School of Theatre, Film & Television.

Learn more about Imagination I …

Crew members will engage in individual and collaborative projects ranging from choreography for a solo dancer in a pressure suit to poetic exploration of the outdoor surface as an imaginary lunar landscape. As they live and create at SAM, the crew of Imagination 1 aims to help establish the foundational value of the arts in space exploration as humans consider how to cultivate ethical, sustainable and flourishing communities beyond Earth.

The Mission Objectives for Imagination I are as follows:

Christopher Cokinos, “There are ethical questions we must raise about diversity and access to space, even as we celebrate human curiosity and endeavors. The artists on Imagination 1 have a range of viewpoints. We need those to inform everything from public interest to hard policy. It’s an amazing crew. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish.”

Elizabeth George, “I will explore exterior surface dance/body work while in a pressure suit aimed both at expressing body movement on a non-terrestrial surface with different gravity conditions and maximizing the ability to move with grace in a confined suit with limited consumables. This research and creative activity will be used as a pilot that could potentially benefit astronaut training for interior habitat dance exercise routines and for exterior movement on the moon, potentially using dance as a way to train for ease of lunar EVAs.”

Julie Swarstad Johnson, “Understanding place, from the local to the galactic, is vital for respectful relationships between humans and our Earth. This mission offers a unique opportunity to test out how we can engage with the moon as a place.”

Ivy Wahome, “My goal is to recycle, repurpose, reuse all the fabric scraps I have accumulated over the years. The message I want send home is for humanity to be mindful of our carbon footprint because sustainability and space travel are intertwined. I will attempt to capture scenes of our mission through the art of appliqué, embroidery, and patch work with this message in mind.”

Imagination I will be operating SAM in Mode 2 (pressurized, flow-through) for the duration of their mission while monitoring the carbon dioxide (CO2), relative humidity, temperature, and pressure. The crew will enjoy an all vegetarian diet of dehydrated and freeze-dried foods, with a variety of grains and legumes, pasta, and spices, and opportunity to make home made bread. Unique from the first two crews at SAM in April and May of 2023 respectively, this crew will enjoy the addition of dehydrated milk, dehydrated eggs, and brewer’s yeast.

Crew Imagination I was sent off by friends, family, the Director of Research for SAM Kai Staats and his staff, and an original Biospherian Linda Leigh (Mission I, 1991-93).

By |2024-03-17T05:30:08+00:00March 10th, 2024|Categories: Research Teams|0 Comments

Getting it done!

We’ve been fully consumed with the fabrication of the Mars yard and preparation for our third crew to be sealed inside of SAM, such that these blog entries have fallen behind. We promise to catch up soon!

The work at SAM continues, with our third crew Imagination I entering SAM on March 10 for a six days, five nights mission of a very unique design and objective.

The Mars yard is now fully framed with 200 linear feet of 8 foot tall plywood walls that await the arrival of two semi-truck loads of foam blocks, to be sculpted into a synthetic Mars crater.

A new hydroponics prototype is complete and operational with transition from ebb ‘n flow to NFT (nutrient film technique) for an improved delivery of nutrients with no water exposed directly to light to reduce algae growth.

A point-to-point wireless bridge now brings stable, high-speed data from SAM to the SAM Operations Center, and a rebuilt SAM email server provides a new time-delay email server for the crew members sealed inside.

Two more days before training the crew!

Stay tuned!

By |2024-03-06T07:40:20+00:00March 1st, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

Imagination I to be the third crew sealed inside SAM

Imagination I to be third crew at SAM, Biosphere 2

All-artist crew to undertake a six-day, simulated moon mission

TUCSON, Ariz. (Feb. 8, 2024)— An all-artist crew, featuring four University of Arizona professional artists—a non-fiction writer, dancer/choreographer, poet and textile artist—will undertake a six-day, simulated moon mission, generating creative work shaped by the limitations and possibilities of life and culture beyond Earth, March 10-15.

These artists will conduct the mission in a recently opened analog-research station, affiliated with the iconic Biosphere 2, a mission that also will be one of the first artist-focused analog space missions globally.

Read the complete press release …

By |2024-03-17T01:49:11+00:00February 8th, 2024|Categories: In the news, Research Teams|0 Comments

Red Hen delivers SAM’s first Mars yard construct

Kai Staats maneuvers forklift to unload a section of a Hollywood set

Demian Vallone awoke at some ungodly hour only to stand outside the high bay doors of a Hollywood sound stage in the middle of a massive downpour while riggers and stage hands debated how, exactly, to load a massive Utah desert set onto the rented stick truck. He then drove from Los Angeles, California to Biosphere 2 fueled by little more than energy drinks, a journey that took more than ten hours. Late Thursday evening Demian arrived to SAM. Friday morning the forklift was delivered, then Demian, Kai, Matthias, and Ron Wood of the Biosphere 2 staff unloaded the multiple sections, one of which was quite tricky at 16 feet long.

Red Hen Industries is a full-service design and fabrication house with experiential designers, builders, inventors, and producers. Red Hen is contracted to design and build the SAM Mars yard and terrain park, what will be a world-class facility for experiential education and research.

This first piece of the SAM Mars yard was not part of the original design. This synthetic Utah landscape was built for a short-lived photo shoot, then found its way to SAM via Red Hen co-founder Danica Vallone who saw a unique opportunity to keep it out of the landfill, and at the same time, provide SAM with a good starting point.

Red Hen is a leader in reuse and recycle, and part of a group featured in this recent NPR story.

By |2024-02-15T16:46:48+00:00February 2nd, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

Reduced Gravity Simulator Reinstalled

SAM Reduced Gravity Simulator being installed at its final position.

Following the test trolley runs, the Reduced Gravity Simulator was disassembled and taken down for a final coat of paint. Each component was labelled, cleaned, and painted. With the cooler temperatures the paint needed two full days to dry. Matthias, Luna, and Kai developed a system to lift the massive armatures to their higher, final position.

Following a full day of removing the basalt (simulated Mars regolith) by Matthias and Luna, each took turns tossing a pull line over the Mars yard roof support structure (we won’t mention the number of tosses required), then pulling a 600lbs nylon line over. With two pulleys for a 2:1 block and tackle lift, Kai used his climbing harness and belay device to hold the armatures steady between lifts by Matthias and Luna.

Once at the height of the small angle iron shelf already secured to the building support beams, the top and bottom U bolts were fastened. As with the first, lower position, aligning the ends of the armatures was relatively simple. Using the nuts on the U bolts themselves, the armatures were moved with a high degree of accuracy, to within 1/8th of an inch tip to tip.

The four sections of track were replaced, the machine screw holes aligning perfectly.

In this new, higher position, the original test trolley is a bit awkward to sit upon, but remains functional as an overhead system. The first gravity-offload will be built and tested soon.

By |2024-03-02T06:51:21+00:00February 1st, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

SAM Operations Center is operational

Welcome to the fully refurbished SAM Operations Center at Biosphere 2

The SAM team enjoyed an incredible work week, an all-hands-on-deck, sunrise to sunset (and beyond) engagement with Matthias, Luna, Sean, Bindhu, and Kai engaged in a non-stop effort to complete the SAM Operations Center and Mission Control, as well as advance the Mars yard into its next stage of development.

*Bathroom*
– shower tiles are grouted and cleaned
– sink is installed
– vanity light is installed
– toilet is set
– sliding doors and new head are hung

*Kitchen*
– countertop brackets are installed
– countertop template (plywood) is set
– butcher block is in-house; needs to be cut
– induction cook top arrived; waiting to be installed
– sink and faucet arrived; waiting to be installed

*Conference Room*
– 65″ TV installed
– 5.1 home theater speakers installed, cables run
– chairs and conference table cleaned
– “The Martian” watched !!!

*Mission Control*
– 4 mission control desks are installed
– LCD projector installed
– silver screen installed
– sound bar installed (and it sounds amazing!)
– all sheetrock work completed, painted
– IT rack assembled (needs to be reduced in size)

*Misc*
– all electrical breakers replaced
– fibre optic drop, ethernet, and WiFi are working with asynchronous 200 Mbps
– floors are washed (a few times)

*SAM*
– reduced gravity simulator removed and painted
– TM and 40′ hatches inspected, temp patched
– TM outlined on the Mars yard workshop floor
– hydroponics rough layout established; plans made
– Mars yard boulders moved (not an easy task)

This week we will:
– re-install the RGS at its working height
– build the gravity-offload rig (and test)
– remove the prototype Mars yard and basalt (ugh!)
– prepare for delivery of a 20′ section of our sculpted Mars yard on Thursday

We kicked butt and got a LOT done! And this next week we again have our work cut out for us!

By |2024-02-15T16:00:21+00:00January 26th, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

Work at SAM Ops continues …

Kai Staats setting the front door at SAM Operations Center, Biosphere 2

For as laborious as it may appear, our team has enjoyed nearly every minute of this completely normal office remodel. We don’t have to worry about maintaining a hermetic seal, or the structural integrity of a hull under pressure, or the circulation of air and CO2 monitoring—rather, were engaged in the rapid (by comparison) efforts to reinforce and level a new kitchen cabinet, hang two new doors, scrub bathroom tile, install a toilet, paint, and rewire a few outlets.

By |2024-02-15T16:20:56+00:00January 19th, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

Update from the SAM Operations Center

Today, Thursday, January 11 marks the fourth day that our team has returned to SAM since a few days before the Christmas holiday. We all needed the break after another three months of intense activity. Mason and Natasha have returned to Europe, with Bindhu and Sean in their home towns of Dallas and Chicago respectively, conducting research and working on SAM related projects from afar.

Matthias, Luna, and Kai engage daily with Atila balancing his graduate degree, thesis research, and time at SAM. We will all come together again in just twelve days for a week of intense, hands-on work at SAM. For the remainder of January our goals will be the continued renovation of the building we now claim as the SAM Operations Center, a return to the reduced gravity simulator, and the installation of the new array of hydroponics racks, shelving, nutrient tanks, runs, and computer control systems.

What’s more, we are preparing for the construction of a 3000 sq-ft Mars yard, co-designed and expertly crafted by a leading Hollywood set design company. Stay tuned for the official announcement and design details!

The SAM Operations Center is nearly fully transformed from a former storage facility for B2 house keeping to an elegant, modern facility with conference room, workshop, storage, library-den, full bath, kitchen, and a full-featured Mission Control Center complete with desks for four officers and heads-up displays for SAM monitoring and communications.

Our first team lead by Christopher Cokinos will be in SAM the second week of March. Our own SAM team members will be establishing baselines for CO2 production in preparation for a full suite of bioregenerative experiments October-December 2024.

2024 is the year we fully transition from construction to scientific studies, data collection, and building our legacy in human space exploration.

Stay tuned!

By |2024-01-12T15:04:32+00:00January 11th, 2024|Categories: Construction|0 Comments

Five generations of human space exploration

Five generations of human space travel celebrated at the SAM Operations Center

Application of a large format vinyl print to the interior doors of the SAM Operations Center at Biosphere 2

Each of the five interior doors at the SAM Operations Center now celebrates one decade in human space exploration, with Mercury-Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and ISS in bold, large format prints. We are proud to make five generations of technological advancement and scientific endeavor central to our new Operations Center and Mission Control.

This was our holiday gift to ourselves, something out of the ordinary, something that will for many years to come give visitors reason to smile when they enter our facilities. We thank Ann Persnel and the team at West Press of Tucson for their expert printing and installation.

By |2024-01-17T17:17:12+00:00December 22nd, 2023|Categories: Construction|0 Comments
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