Virtual actuality and creativity encourage the crew bag away their Martian confinement — Commander’s Anecdote: Sol 5

The Valoria 1 crew exercising together as share of everyday activities right by the Martian mission with Nike sports activities tools.

(Image: © Hillary Coe)

Dr. Michaela Musilova is the director of Hawaii Dwelling Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) program, which conducts analog missions to the moon and Mars for scientific compare at a habitat on the volcano Mauna Loa. At the moment, she is in repeat of the 2-week Valoria 1 mission and contributed this document to Dwelling.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Commander’s Anecdote for the Valoria 1 Mars Mission at HI-SEAS

The ready sport. That’s an acceptable identify for what we’ve got been going by right by our mission. We can’t jog exterior on a Marswalk if the climate is no longer favorable enough. Unfortunately for us, “grime storms” (the Martian same of rain storms) had been raging exterior our two windows day-after-day. The life improve methods on the analog spacesuits would bag damaged in a grime storm. The crew would possibly perchance perchance perchance also most likely bag misplaced right by a storm and concern within the troublesome volcanic terrain all over the HI-SEAS habitat. 

Curiously, though, the grime storms produce no longer linger in one web express online. They seem to be funneled by the valley between the 2 volcanoes in our neighborhood, Olympus Mons (Mauna Kea with the sector-famend Mauna Kea Observatories) and Mons Huygens (Mauna Loa, the build HI-SEAS is found). Once in a whereas the grime storms come so end that we can handiest survey a gray, insensible cloud exterior our window. Other times, they switch a long way enough away to give us hope that we can jog on an EVA (extravehicular exercise), handiest to procure that hope away minutes later when they dawdle encourage to encompass the habitat.

We now maintain experienced identical “teasing” by the climate right by outdated missions. Menacing grime clouds would seem as quickly as we started making ready for our EVAs. Good after I belief that I would want to elevate the crew’s morale and birth building stronger confinement-resilience in all of us, it within the spoil came about — our first Marswalk! The grime clouds scattered this afternoon lengthy enough for Officers Kevin Pratt, Michael Barton, Hillary Coe and I to search out the terrain exterior our habitat. Officers Karin Metzgar and MaryLiz Bender remained within the habitat as “HabCOM,” which methodology that they had been the habitat communicators between the crew exterior on EVA and Mission Administration on Earth.

Associated: New crew arrives in Hawaii for mock Mars mission — Commander’s document: sol 2

I gave the EVA crew geology coaching within the discipline, all whereas conserving an search out for the grime clouds that kept  getting closer and closer to us. Despite the time pressure, Kevin became in a spot to region up his antenna to receive APT (automatic image transmission) climate photos from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar orbiting satellites (NOAA 15, NOAA 18 and NOAA 19) exterior the habitat. He became later in a spot to successfully receive and decode morning and afternoon satellite tv for computer passes. Kevin also evaluated the photos for usefulness in native climate estimation to improve EVA Lope/No-Lope choices.

The grime storms stayed away lengthy enough to permit me to finalize the geology and terrain exploration coaching that I famous my crewmembers to ride in articulate for them to assemble EVAs on their have without me. I would possibly perchance perchance perchance provide an explanation for that the crew desired to employ more time exterior, but we couldn’t likelihood tempting the climate. We entered the habitat merely because the essential particles of grime began to hit our helmets’ visors. Here is hoping that the next day’s climate would possibly perchance be favorable enough for Karin and MaryLiz to ride their first EVA! 

Even supposing being caught within the habitat would possibly perchance perchance perchance furthermore be a little downhearted now and then, the Valoria 1 crew has been doing a gargantuan job at conserving themselves busy and entertained. Everyone has been working laborious on becoming their personal projects into our chunky everyday schedule. It would possibly perchance perchance perchance perchance furthermore be sophisticated to make time for oneself when there are so considerable of mission-connected chores and duties that every person has to procure part in. No longer no longer up to our exercise sessions are both stress-free and healthy for the crew. Thanks to Hillary, we’ve got a diversity of methods to spice them up. As an illustration, we use Supernatural VR workout routines to bag away our Martian environment and exercise, whereas taking part in games. We’re also very grateful to Nike for offering us with a chain of sports activities apparel and sneakers that we have been utilizing everyday.

One in every of the outreach projects that has been conserving us busy is Michael’s collaboration with the corporate Pyramid Video games. He has been very active in creating academic videos showing the realism of both the HI-SEAS mission and Pyramid Video games’ upcoming “Retract Mars” home exploration sport. The game is galvanized by essentially the most promising technologies and companies that work toward the aim of helping humanity develop to be a multi-planetary species. Video clips recorded on the HI-SEAS habitat will illustrate what or no longer it is like to live and work on Mars, and what technologies are famous to a a hit mission. The true-life photographs would possibly perchance be juxtaposed with parts of Retract Mars, demonstrating how end the participant’s ride is to the “valid component” seen at HI-SEAS.

Our Martian habitat has also been overflowing with art and ingenious vitality. We now maintain moved our furniture spherical a chain of times for Karin’s 3D mapping of the habitat and Hillary’s photography projects. Even mugs and vegetation didn’t bag away this wave of redecorating. MaryLiz has been thriving in this environment, immersing herself in tune advent along with her MI.MU tune gloves. Segment of her aim right here is to fabricate a collaborative Mars-to-Earth album with Earth-based entirely musician Kelly Snook. She also came to HI-SEAS to conduct compare on how we will procure our humanity with us on our trip to home — utilizing art to connect to ourselves, every a host of, and other folks encourage on Earth. 

Commander Musilova signing off to our first film night on the mission for some more silly relief and as a distraction from the grime storms. I maintain a irascible feeling that the chosen film would possibly perchance be “Spaceballs.”

Observe Michaela Musilova on Twitter @astro_Michaela. Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Fb.