Postcards from Mars

“The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.”

We know the rabbit hole is deep, very deep, seemingly bottomless at times. And as we fall, as Alice did, we have time to look around, to take in the scenery. But instead of cupboard, bookshelves, and marmalade, Trent and I see rusted steel, chewed wires, junction boxes that need replacing; grinding, sanding, priming, and painting before we can begin to put it all together again.

Yet, this is the most fun we’ve had in a long time!

As Alice thought to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ (Which was very likely true.)

Building SAM is no easy undertaking, but nothing easy is ever as gratifying as something hard. And therein lies the pleasure in the pain, the joy in confounding, for each and every day our vision becomes a little bit more clear. We see how a particular panel can be reused, how with a little effort a seal can be made like new, and how our replacement of 1980s technology with modern equivalents will consume less space and less power, and if we do our jobs right, will be more easily replaced for future upgrades.

“I removed some three dozen circuits, salvaged several hundred feet of 12g wire, and then installed four temporary circuits for our construction effort. I never tire of tracing the mess of wires, removing unused runs, and flipping a breaker for the first time to see the lights turn on. I can explain the transfer of electrons across the outermost covalent bonds of the copper, sixty times and at 300,000 kilometers per second, yet I still find electricity to be a bit magical.” —Kai

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw.

And the construction of SAM continues …

Today Trent and I removed one of the two original monitoring units, a semi-sealed box that contained equipment for monitoring the pressure and atmosphere compositions. This was a feet of engineering as much as brute strength. The steel boxes are heavy and were held in place by multiple conduits. Trent assembled a clever extension to a socket set that gave us a nearly four-foot reach!

The analog data was fed through a massive, multi-strand, individually shielded cable to a separate “booth”, just outside the main sealed door and under the overhang, where it was read by the team lead and visitors to the Test Module. Our intent is to retain the sealed conduit, maybe even use all or part of the booth, but instead we will run ethernet and USB, umbilical cords to the outside world.

Why not wireless? Ever tried trouble shooting a router or upgrading firmware over wi-fi? A hard line is always the right thing to have (else you get stuck in the matrix) , such that our team can interface with those on the inside, if need be, with direct lines. We are debating if we should retain the original, very large transfer box or replace it with something smaller, more water tight.

Over a decade ago, the Test Module was engaged by a set of researchers at the University or Arizona for a series of experiments, using soil beds. Boxes were built, plastic laid, and tons of dirt moved in. When that experiment was terminated, well, the soil remained. No small undertaking, Trent Tresch and a team of fearless laborers removed all of the dirt in a matter of days.

After 4 days, 4800 spade scoops, and 160 wheelbarrow loads, we are happy to report that the two earth filled grow beds in the Test Module are now successfully excavated!

This week we were delighted to be joined by two University of Arizona student volunteers. Both Michael Blum and KC Shasteen of the UA Biosystems Engineering program supported the seemingly endless effort to rid the TM of unwanted soil. We hope to welcome them back later this week to assist in removal of the massive heat exchanger.

While the weather shared its many moods we were happily greeted every morning with the sunrise over the snow capped Catalina’s. Frigid temperatures provided a white winter jacket for the TM and lung only briefly with the sun and rain melting the snow away almost as quickly as it arrived.

The vast amounts of water allowed us to visualize not only ingress of H2O into the lung, but also pooling in the Mars Yard (bottom-right photo). All in all, we have solutions in mind which will mitigate any future unwanted water collection. The best visual takeaway however is that the TM has stood the test of time and didn’t show any signs of problematic leaking. Incredible, after more than thirty years!

Not only have we been moving ‘n shaking physical SAM progress, we have been blessed with the helping hand of Mary Grier. She has thus far secured art supplies, a sewing machine, assorted tools, and some games for the crew quarters and workshop. Thank you Mary! –Trent Tresch, Director of Research & Development (and getting $#!t done!) at SAM.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

This second day of work on SAM at Biosphere 2 was not unlike the first, with a monumental task both our burden and our joy. There are so many items on our list that Trent and I stopped a few times, checking in to make certain the order in which we were tackling things is the most efficient when we consider three, four steps ahead. If we wash down the interior of the Test Module lung before removing the debris we would only find ourselves dealing with a dark, nasty slurry. Instead, we kept things dry, N95 masks engaged from morning ’till night, with goggles, hearing protection, and thick gloves employed.

In 1987 the Test Module was built as a the second prototype (the first became the gift shop, just up the road), prior to construction of the Biosphere 2. This sealed greenhouse incorporates an underground tube to the lung, a passive means to maintain a positive internal pressure while at the same time compensating for barometric pressure and temperature changes that could otherwise cause the windows to crack or at best, break a seal.

The lung is a diaphragm moved up and down by overall changes in the relative volume of air inside the Test Module. Over the course of hours, even days a cooler, shrinking air mass causes the lung to lower. With a warming, expanding air mass the lung rises in compensation. The total mass of the Test Module’s lung is measured in thousands of pounds. The Biosphere 2’s two lungs are 20 tons (40,000 lbs) each. When the Biosphere 2 was a sealed building, both masses were suspended mid-air as though completely weightless. While the function of this phenomenon is described by the well understood density of air and Boyle’s law of noble gases, it remains astounding to watch a large, very massive object lift lightly from the ground with little perceived movement of air, no sound, and no visible object doing the lifting.

After 33 years the EPDM membrane of the Test Module’s lung diaphragm remains flexible and in good shape with just a half dozen holes, clearly the work of rodent engineers and architects. Easily patched, it could have been much worse. We are pleased by this. Yet, the dual steel rings that hold the lower lip of the membrane in place to provide an essential seal are in poor condition having rusted thoroughly.

I held back the membrane while Trent applied a disk grinder to remove the final two bolt heads (the other twenty or so had rusted to dust) of one six foot, curved section. The top layer of angle iron popped free and we were able to inspect the lower steel ring. John joined us for an hour to assess the situation. I then fired off a few photos and description to Taber to gain his feedback and ideas.

This is the essence of the first stage of our journey in building this hi-fidelity Mars analog. We are daily finding a balance of what we can do in the moment with that which requires research before action is applied. We are simultaneously calling upon those who built the original structures while applying the expertise of those here at Biosphere 2, now. We merge experience with new ideas as an expression of physics, chemistry, mathematics, innovation and creativity. Much of what we need is difficult to find in books or YouTube videos. Instead, we must find the person who knows how to get the job done, or be willing to dive in, make mistakes, and figure it out on the go. Step by step, challenge by challenge, we will bring the Test Module to life again as it is integrated into the Mars habitat analog called SAM.

It’s midnight again and the song of coyotes enters my open window at Biosphere 2. Time to sleep. Day three awaits. —Kai Staats, Director of SAM at Biosphere 2

After two and a half years in research and development, networking and team building, chasing dollars and fund raising, this is the day we can officially say, “SAM IS BEING BUILT!”

SAM is a hi-fidelity, hermetically sealed analog and research center composed of a crew quarters, airlock and hub, and greenhouse with temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide level controls. When complete, SAM will include a half-acre Mars yard for pressure suit, tool use, and rover tests. Located at the world renowned Biosphere 2 outside of Oracle, Arizona SAM is built around the original Test Module, a 480 cubic meter sealed greenhouse with passive pressure regulation system designed and built by Taber MacCallum, William Dempster, Bernd Zabel, and fellow Biospherians in 1987.

Kai Staats, Director of SAM at Biosphere 2 offers, “A lifetime of renovating old homes has granted me both a strong set of skills and a deeply seated fear of getting in over my head. It is clear that building something from scratch is often far simpler and less effort than to remodel. Yet in the process of remodeling is an honoring of the original designers, a tribute to the past, and promise for a future beyond the original intend. As my father has shared when I am overwhelmed by home remodel projects, ‘We don’t really own a property, rather we are caretakers. Property is a gift, an opportunity to improve upon something someone else built and leave it in better condition than when we found it, for the next generation.’

“I repeated these words over and over again today as I opened boxes from Graingers, organized tools, and prepared systems for providing power and water with Trent, John and his incredible Biosphere 2 staff. SAM is no small undertaking, but what we are setting out to do is breathtaking. We are building a kind of spaceship, a vessel that takes its inhabitants to a distant world without ever leaving this planet. We are working to inspire explorers, learners, and citizen scientists across the globe with a vision for how we will soon live on the Moon and Mars. SAM is informing our future, a careful blend of scientific regimen, imagination, and a little bit of magic too.

“In this endeavor I am honored to be working with the incredibly positive, intelligent, and savvy beyond his years Trent Tresch without whom this first stage of SAM construction would simply not be possible. I thank Joaquin Ruiz, Executive Director and John Adams, Deputy Director of Biosphere 2 for two years of support to get to this day, and Tech Launch Arizona for financial support of this first stage of construction. The Biosphere 2 mechanical engineering and operations staff are nothing shy of selfless as they dedicate hours of their time to deliver tools, resources, and experience. And the landscaping crew cleared the way for our work over the past two weeks, else we’d be pushing back the relentless thorns of the desert for a week, at least. SAM is being built by a team, and for that we are grateful.”

So how was our first day? The desert is full of critters that find pleasure in excreting biological waste in every corner of the built environment. N95 masks to the rescue, gloves, and clothes that remain outside when we retire to our accommodations on campus. Trent (with a little help from me toward the end) scraped and removed some twenty gallons of decrepit filth from the upper deck of the interior of the Test Module lung—a job no one wants, but has to be done. Tomorrow, we dive back in!

Learn more about SAM, a Space Analog for the Moon and Mars …