Research Teams

Crew: Matthias Beach, Jim Colletto, Andy Greco, Aubry Poilane, Ciaran Trevino, Terry Trevino, and Rhett Woods.

Devon Island is a place that has inspired hundreds to visit and study its unique environment, resembling something out of a sci-fi movie and, more importantly, Mars. On this island sits the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, perched on the rim of Haughton Crater, an ancient impact site from some 30+ million years ago.

I have recently returned from there, having been chosen as part of The Mars Society’s Advance 1 (‘A-Team’). Our mission: to get to the facility, secure the perimeter, open it up, do any maintenance and upgrades we could accomplish in seven days (which got condensed to five due to weather), prepare it for the following two teams (Crews 17 and 18), and exit stage-left upon Crew 17’s arrival. We were positioned to set them up for the best possible scenario: maximizing [their] research. This approach seemed to work really well, despite the hiccups in getting to the island from Iqaluit.

We were able to get a record amount of work done, including [installation of] a new ventilation system, hot-water heater, baseboard heaters, trash bagged and hauled out, and de-winterizing ATVs. As XO and electrician, I was tasked upon arrival to establish power to the facility, catapulting me into becoming very intimate with [the] generators and power cabling system very quickly! Both generators (‘Gen-A’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’) fired up, thankfully, eager to work again after their long slumber. The rush of excitement radiated through my veins, knowing full well that we were critically reliant on this working!

Three of us ventured down to collect water from a crystal-blue stream of ice melt about half a click from the Hab, filling our jugs before heading back. While the others worked on installing a new header tank and water heater, I got familiar with the place by locating tools, going through bins and cabinets, and mapping out cable runs for the three baseboard heaters I was tasked to install. After a couple of days and a few helping hands, all heaters were wired and mounted on the walls with thermostats to each heater. I was also privileged to assist fellow ham operator Jim Coletto in setting up the ham radio station, requiring me to climb the tower and string antenna cable from the top of the Hab down to another tower a few dozen feet away. Amazingly, he was able to reach over 320 contacts in at least a half dozen countries—truly astounding!

On the final day, I stood at the edge of the crater minutes before our ride came, marveling at its vastness and how sad I was to leave. I was just getting used to this fast-paced environment, my amazing crewmates and the 24 hour sun. None of us ventured into the crater on this trip, but next year I’ll be sure to make that happen. I believe that in order to thrive off-world we will need more of these types of remote stations to research and study ways of doing so, for the sake of expanding humanity into the cosmos.

Now back to SAM!

APUS ARG-1S Red Crew Keston Denhalter, Aedanaya Diamond, Gilbert Wilkerson, and Commander Laura Rieske egressed from the SAM research vessel today, February 18, at 10:03 am. They were met in the SAM Mars yard by the members of the Blue Crew and Mission Control.

In the debrief that followed at the SAM Operations Center, the mission was described as a complete success with all science objectives met, data collected on several vital systems (CO2, RH, potable water, hydroponics), and a successful Mode 3 run in which the vessel was fully sealed for four hours.

Photos and narrative coming soon!

SAM offers a unique, highly engaging experience for visiting crews as it likely the first time they have monitored carbon dioxide (CO2), relative humidity (RH), temperature (temp), VOCs, and pressure in a hermetically sealed vessel for the duration of an analog mission.

While prior discussions of air quality in SAM usually focus on CO2, the APUS ARG-1S crew was asked to also keep a close watch on relative humidity as they are the second crew to condense the moisture contained in the vessel’s body of air, filter it, and then add it back into their potable water supply.

There are a total of seven devices able to condense water vapor into liquid water within SAM: 2 mini-split heat pumps and 2 dehumidifiers in the Test Module; 1 mini-split and 1 dehumidifier in the Engineering Bay, and 1 mini-split in the Crew Quarters. As the TM currently contains two racks active in hydroponics to provide fresh vegetables for the crew, the mini-splits must remain set to Heat, even in this too-warm winter in order to maintain an approximation of the ideal growing temperatures. In heating mode, any condensation occurs on the condenser, outside of SAM.

The dehumidifiers can be set to presets of Continuous, 55%, or 45% with manual setting of a much wider range. They activate when they sense the relative humidity to be at or above the given threshold. The mini-splits condense water at the air handler inside the habitat, or can be set to Dehumidify in which they neither heat nor cool the habitat, but work instead to capture water from the air and drain it into a potable bucket, one below each wall-mounted unit.

As such, the crew may elect to set the mini-splits to Heat, Cool, or Dehumidify as they see fit in the Engineering Bay and Crew Quarters, manually changing the settings throughout the day and night. The crew has access to a local, real-time display of the SIMOC Live data via the dedicated terminal in the EB, or on any of their laptops.

At the SAM Operations Center and Mission Control, which for this mission was occupied by two dedicated officers and the rotating crew before and after the crew switch on day 5 (through the airlock), the same data is also available, delayed by 20 minutes to simulate the light-travel time from Mars to Earth.

One of the functions of Mission Control is to monitor the air quality, at all times, and to guide the crew as to how to manage the components. So, when a regular oscillation of humidity followed a certain spike, as registered in both the EB and CQ, it invoked a discussion at Mission Control and dialog (delayed by 40 minutes round-trip) with the crew.

Is this a false reading? And if not,
What is causing the spike in humidity?
What is bringing it back down again?

Is this a false reading? Given the data visualization on the SIMOC Live dashboard, there was some concern for the spikes and valleys. However, as RH and temperature are included with both the SDC CO2 and BME pressure sensors, there are two RH and temp sensors on-board each SIMOC Live board, and one board in each of the four modules. This is important when analyzing any of the data streams, for it helps to immediately determine if a short-term fluctuation is in fact a representation of the real world, or an anomaly in that particular sensor and data stream. It was confirmed that this is a real reading as a total of four sensors (2 in EB, 2 in CQ) were matched in the pattern.

What is causing the spike in humidity? The first guess was boiling water for coffee or tea, cooking, or exercise. But intuitively the spike was too large, registering in both the EB and CQ. In fact, it appeared that the humidity was propagating upstream, meaning against the flow of air from the Air Intake Room (SAM AIR) to the TM, EB, and CQ. As such, this had to be a good bit of moisture released all at once.

If not cooking or human respiration, then what? We then asked the crew if they had switched the mini-split units from Dehumidify to Heat, as this would disable the function of condensing moisture and quite possibly dump moisture into the air. The theory (proposed by Kai) was that the heat exchangers have a large copper surface area by which a relatively large volume of air can interact, thereby heating, cooling, and/or removing moisture. If that surface area is wet with condensate, and the mode is switched to Heat, the coils will rapidly move from cold to hot and immediately eject the water molecules back into the air as soon as the fans spin up.

We inquired if in fact the crew has made this switch, and yes, they confirmed this to be true.

What is bringing it back down again? The oscillation then is the dehumidifier in the same module working to reduce the humidity, turning off when it reaches its desired low threshold, then kicking in again as the humidity rises.

Case solved!

Narrative coming soon …

Narrative coming soon …

Narrative coming soon …

Kristen Miller and Terry Trevino of the American Public University have brought to SAM a ten days mission, with two crews of four sealed inside of SAM for five days each. This unique project will feature a mid-mission crew shift-change via the SAM Airlock, such that one half of the crew will join the dedicated CapCom team at the SAM Operations Center. Both crews will perform a wide variety of research projects including algae studies, EVA research, communications, crew nutrition, microbial spread, and water electrolysis. The mission will be facilitated by an on-site Mission Support team, the first to work from the SAM Operations Center and Mission Control.

Narrative coming soon …

March 14, 2024 – 17:47
Good evening, Imagination 1!

I forgot to mention that today is Pi Day (3/14)! Maybe you found some small way to celebrate. This is your last night at Shackleton Base. In the Sonoran Desert we’ll dip to 44F (6.7C) tonight. When you arrive back on Earth tomorrow, you should expect a cool 55F (12.8C) and a 55% chance of rain.

Every evening I’ve looked forward to reading your reports and seeing SAM through your creative lenses. The art that you create long after the mission ends will continue to enrich our understanding of live could be like on the moon and beyond. I’m so looking forward to it.

Thank you! It’s been a pleasure serving as CapCom for you.

Mikayla Mace Kelley

March 14, 2024 – 18:12

Pressure: 1.45 inches of water
Lung height: 63 inches with blower at 25.50 Hz
CO2 Lung: 583 ppm
CO2 TM: 1083 ppm
CO2 Engineering Bay: 1936 ppm
CO2 CQ: 2117 ppm
Water tank level: 29 gallons of water
Hydroponics: 6.6 pH, 2.2 EC

Notes: There is algae in the water sample test line. The former imbalance was corrected with nutrient solution. And at noon Liz harvested greens and noticed a leak on the floor. Four of the vertical pipes needed to be tightened. Chris did so, swabbed the rack, and [investigated] to determine source of leak … opened one of the spigots on the second tray level to get more water to the plants and that was causing it to overflow. Problem fixed. Julie added 50 ml dilute acid.

We’re feeling serene, in the groove and both looking forward to the Earthlings we left behind and feeling wistful about our house on the Moon. SAM has taken good care—great care—in building this otherworldly house. We’ve tried to repay that by taking care while we live here, where we can see in real time the impacts of our actions—truly the crucial part of sustaining life in space. Visualizing that in a larger system, say, Biosphere 1, that’s more difficult. But this stewardship is a form of tenderness that can help everyone, everywhere, forever.

Morning art: Liz doing editing and reflecting. Ivy working on her unique mission log—the Imagination 1 tapestry. Julie singing in the lung. Chris jammed out to everything from the Dropkick Murphys to the mellow strains of The Decemberists as he organized/chunked sections for the Esquire article. We shared musical recommendations too.

You know, EVAs. Julie and Chris felt really good about their [EVA] excursions.

Julie: Today, before my helmet went on for my EVA, I took a moment to close my eyes and picture the lunar landscape–huge, rounded mountains, dark sky, sunlight angled low. Then the helmet went on and I took careful steps, the lunar landscape set aside as I focused on carefully climbing up the ladder to be attached to the reduced gravity rig. It was all in the body at that point–pushing off the ground feeling buoyant and heavy all at once, simultaneously bouncing and clomping my way to the simulated lunar regolith. Pulling out my stamp and pressing it into the regolith went better than expected despite the bulky gloves and struggle of kneeling.

After a second attempt on the rig with slightly reduced counterweight, I headed over to the rock shelves in Earth gravity for a third attempt at printing, with good outcomes. The stamp was my lunar take on letterpress printing–the “old style” of printing with individual metal or wood letters–using a wood typeface printed by hand, scanned, and turned into 3D words using the 3D printer inside SAM. Part of why I love letterpress printing is the physicality–it’s just you, the type, and the press. I always take a deep breath before I pull a print, and I did so today as well before I pulled up the stamp from the regolith. On the Moon, as on the Earth, we create with both our hands and our minds, our bodies and imaginations.

Chris: I went last and felt calm and centered if a bit aware of the, well, increased awareness. Liz was great in support of Julie and Ivy, who suited me up. (Having the fan on during donning and doffing helped us all.)

I had prepared a cuff list, though I didn’t really need it. A bit of homage to the real Moonwalkers. My first goal was to move deliberately, to be aware of what I was doing in what environment. Trent got me helmeted up, and there was the welcome gift of whooshing air. I was surprised by how all-encompassing the air was—the ultimate white noise. I did find it startling at first when, in bending, the air flow was in my ear. So a bit of “airplane” ear feeling.

But the helmet afforded an excellent view, and I felt stable the whole time. Right now, as I let the experience live in me subconsciously, it felt a bit like wearing my backpack but over all of my body.

The gravity rig was breathtaking, sometimes literally. Well-cared-for by Trent and Matthias, I left the ladder and left Earth gravity behind. The crotch harness reminded me of the system making this illusion possible but I focused on steps, body control, that slightly awkward, sometimes graceful (or, at least, light) touch in the “walking.” The whole body became involved (and I felt that back in the hab).

After two runs, I came back to Julie’s aphorism-in-regolith to take photos with the Lomography Automat Instant camera, a throw-back Instax-film operation. I removed the camera with no problem but pressing the ON button while turning the focus ring (whose small handle is right by the on button) took some time. I cannot replicate which fingers I used—I believe I may have used my next-to-the-pinkie finger to depress the button and push the latch at the same time. In any case, it worked. I felt focused on the tasks and, in between, tried to imagine doing this for 7 to 8 hours on the Moon.

I rotated the focus ring correctly and took pictures without being able to use the viewfinder—close ups for this camera don’t always match the viewfinder. It was no problem removing the small prints and putting them in Ivy’s pouch. Then I came off the rig and walked over to the second regolith deposit and took more photos.

Had I been thinking I would have removed the wide-angle lens before dropping in the prints, because it was difficult to feel the lens in among them. I got it out and carefully separated the lens covers. Again, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. I did not let brief pings of potential frustration to distract. I just pulled on the rubber caps and removed them. Unscrewing and screwing the lens wasn’t that difficult though the wide-angle lens took a couple of tries to latch in.

Then a couple of selfies and I was able to press the multiple exposure button to get both ends of the Mars, er, Moon Yard. I was not able to easily press the two exposure buttons on the back, which, alas led to many underexposed shots of a poem in dark regolith. One or two I might be able to process-up for visibility. Another shot was out of focus but shows the terraced rocks and regolith, almost like an experimental photo of an experimental set of the weirdly insane East German space sci-fi flick In the Dust of the Stars.

Back on the rig, helmet fogging, trying to feel the body on the Moon and trying to connect with the Moonwalkers, even just a little. Sweaty, relieved, a bit in awe of the experience and the astronauts who do this and will do this, I came back in to friends helping me with Gatorade and doffing. When I went to change in the TM to cool air and dry clothes, I yelled out in victory.

In space, no one can hear your victory cry. But that’s on space, not us.