Mission Control Carter Observatory
During the two weeks of the expedition, Carter Observatory Wellington acted as "New Zealand Mission Control".
Carter’s stunning library was transformed into a high-tech mission control for the duration of the crew’s stay in Utah. A suite of laptops along with Mars themed exhibits set the scene and allowed students, teachers and the public to interact with KiwiMars Crew, find out about the mission, and learn more from expert astronomers.
Carter also provided dedicated staff members to look after Mission Control and interact with visitors. This included short presentations about the project and the mission progress at least twice a day, incorporating the latest updates from the base.
All planetarium shows during this time included Mars content and updates from the crew, inspiring visitors to go out and look for the planet for themselves in the night-time sky. Carter also provided a venue for meetings in the build-up to the mission and for a public event once the crew return from Utah.
Education Log-MDRS
The following log is written to give a record of what type of questions were being asked by the students, teachers & visitors at Carter Observatory who interacted with the crew in SIM. The method of communication was via “Chatroll” an online tool of instant messaging.
This instant messaging took place almost every day (see logs) from 1600 hrs to 2300 hrs MDRS time (10 AM to 5 PM NZST).
Questions from students | Answers offered by the crew (various crew members) |
|---|---|
Did you have any training to do before the mission began? | Yes we had 2 days here at the Hab before the simulation began to get used to the equipment and surroundings here and we had lots of preparation time in N.Z beforehand (planning stated around Jan/Feb 2012) |
Do you ever think we will be able to do what you are doing now? | Yes I think you will be able to do this in the future and I hope you will feel excited to get involved in the journey to Mars |
How big is the place where you live? | The Habitat (Hab for short) is about 9-10m in height and split into 2 levels. The lower level is the laboratory area for doing the Science experiments and the engineering/EVA suit up area. The upper level is the crew recreational area where the crew eat, sleep etc |
What is the greenhouse used for? | The greenhouse is used to grow plants but it is also used to help recycle the water. In this mission the greenhouse wasn’t used very much as it was the end of the season and not in use |
Is it hard getting into your space suits? | It was to begin with as they are so heavy/bulky but you do get used to it eventually and you get faster suiting up because you are more familiar with the equipment |
Due to the limited space do you get claustrophobic? | Actually the use of space here is more than appears on the webcams. There is good use of economy of space with regard to storage, equipment and living space |
What do you do with rocks you collect from the EVA’s? | We analyze the rocks in the lab for unusual features and then try and classify them according to the region we have found them. We also consult books, the internet and e-mail experts if we get stuck with not knowing something about the rocks |
Have you found Hematites like you can find on Mars? | Yes we have found Hematites in the many places we have been like you can find on Mars. This is very encouraging as it means that there is a link between the geology found here in Utah and that on Mars. This means that there is another link that we may be able to find prehistoric life on Mars |
Do you have rovers like they do on the unmanned missions to Mars? | Yes we do have a mechanical rover here like the ones they use for collecting samples on Mars. It is on loan to us and we have been testing some of its capabilities |
How long would your dehydrated food last before it goes off in your opinion? | Most of our food is vacuum packed so it wouldn’t go off for some time unless the seal was broken in some way. (some unhelpful mice helped us out with this early in the mission and we had to throw some of our food away) The dried food may go off sooner depending on what the food is and how long the seal had been broken for |