Mike (Crew 118 Journalist) and I went to Skyline Rim which sits up North of the Hab, and is Cretaceous (145.5 to 65.5 mya (million years ago)). At that time, MDRS area was on the edge of a sea. So we went looking for marine fossils. We took some photos and noted some nice 'rippled' pattern sandstone (like someone had made it out of clay). Mike found a nice piece of selenite (clear gypsum), and I found what may be coral (will load photos for our friendly Australian Geologist to take a look at).
Crew Commander Haritina Mogosanu and I went on this on the ATV's.
Site Location: Brahe Highway 12s utm 0517078 4254556, elev 1363 feet.
It was too late in the day to go to Coal Mine Wash so we decided to scout the so far unexplored Brahe Highway. This has got to be the set of countless cowboy movies! A totally different landscape again - not red this time, but yellow. There was a patch of quartz out of a seam, and some bits of petrified wood which is tree-coloured (as opposed to the brightly coloured stuff to the south). There were a few hairy moments on the ATV's due to following the wrong tracks.
Following ATV tracks doesn't mean you are following an established road - we took a wrong turn and came to a deadend. We about-turned and came back to the hab the way we had come (Lowell Highway). Note for all ATV riders: by cross-country'ing on the ATV's, you not only chew up the beautiful landscape, but you also confuse riders trying to stay on the established roads!
EVA Report: 3
Date and time: 26/04/12
Written by Ali Harley, ali.mary.harley@gmail.com, Crew 118, Mission Specialist Planetary Sciences:
Time: 5.44pm
Crew Members: Haritina Mogosanu, Annalea Beattie, Don Stewart, Ali Harley
Site Location: Lith Canyon
Transit Mode: Pressurised Rover
Objectives: Photographic for Mars/NZ comparison, and, sampling
Results: We started out at 9.30am in the pressurised rover (to carry the photographic gear and stopped along the roadside (possibly 'Glistening Seas') and collected gypsum crystals. We reached Lith Canyon via Lowell Highway and with the aid of the waypoint database. We intended to do a 360 pano of part of the canyon to be included in the school resources we will be producing, but the pano head failed to work, which was a disappointment. We had to resort to normal photography instead. We collected some bits of petrified wood that had eroded out of the cliffs. The wood will be taken back to NZ as exhibits for school kids as per our research proposal (as will the gypsum).
We encountered two snakes at the entrance to Lith Canyon just beyond the carpark (one on the way in and a smaller one on the way out). The snakes were tan coloured with darker tan coloured diamond shapes on the skin. We gave them plenty of room!
On the way back we stopped along the roadside to photograph lichens.
Lessons Learned: Keep an eye out for snakes, we were surprised to see them so close to the carpark.
Commander's Report
Date and time:28 April 2012
Written by Haritina Mogosanu, haritina@marssociety.org.nz, Crew 118, Commander:
Today we had a first attempt to connect at with the operation Antipodes in Austria, where another MDRS commander Gernot Groemer (AustroMars 2006) is trialling his Aouda.X Mars Suit in the Dachstein Caves. The link was made via skype (which took our entire bandwidth) but we could say hello to the entire Austrian press present at the experiment and introduce MDRS and our work here.
After Aouda we had breakfast and our normal briefing together with our special guest Jon Rask. After planning the field trip for the day and loading up the snacks and water we left for what was announcing to be a great trip. It was an amazing journey that made me reflect once again on the importance of organizing field trips such as this one. It was an extensive learning curve and we saw Lith Canyon, Box Canyon, the area around the hab and the Henry Mountains with new eyes. The training today put everything into perspective and although I wish we could have had the chance to do it on the beginning of the rotation I was very happy that it happened and so was the crew. The very object of KiwiMars is to be a two weeks long field trip so that we could take forward to New Zealand the learnings from here and apply them to our own conditions. If we have very clear in mind how to approach this then the knowledge transfer to the students is done much easier. Today was one of those days that facilitated the process of structuring the information and putting things into perspective.
The peak of the day were the Henry Mountains and seeing the different geological eras - something that some of us don't get to see every day.
After the trip we returned to our BAU (business as usual activities). I was also very pleased that I could find a feasible solution to the telescope balancing issue where I used some dumbell weights (believe it or not there is Dumbell Nebula in the sky as well) on a longer screw and attached them to the scope. They fit like a glove. Tomorrow will finalise the alignments and mount the camera. The sky tonight was amazing and took plenty of astrophotos through my camera.
Clear skies from Mars
Ad Ares!
Haritina Mogosanu
Commander KiwiMars 2012 (Crew 118 MDRS)
Today the commander and the first officer guarded the hab whilst the rest of the crew roamed freely through the plains of Mars. That gave her time to reflect upon the morning's events - 'saving' Aouda.X (the sister Martian landing party) space suit operator from a comms failure during an experiment on the other side of Mars. MDRS saved the day by taking over comms and control of the sampling with the help of Wellington Mission Control (in Mars's orbit) until the Austrian crew (also in Mars's Orbit) fixed their systems. This scenario was designed by the two commanders of the two expeditions, Gernot Groemer and Haritina Mogosanu (both MDRS veterans) a few months ago before their ships reached Mars. It was a world first with regards with communications between analogue missions to Mars. The experiment was a success (despite the 'equipment failure') unlike Antipodes 1 and Antipodes 2 where real network failure happened in the caves of Dachstein. At least we managed to have a live interview from MDRS with the media in Austria (Antipodes 0) - which almost cost us the bandwidth for the day but it was worth it!
More details about the extent of the entire Dachstein Operation you can find in here: http://blog.oewf.org/en/ (and BTW Aouda is the Indian princess from "around the Earth in 80 days"!).
I was pondering, it felt great to be Mission Control, to talk directly with the suit operator of Aouda.X and give real time commands over internet into a cave in Austria. An extraordinary chance I would not have had, had I not been at MDRS last year. A hub that connects people across cultures, MDRS is also an embassy advancing science in the most enticing and inspiring way.
With so many early morning Antipodes missions the Commander of Crew 118 had lots of chances lately to admire the stars early in the morning.
The stars...
There is an amazing telescope at MDRS called C-14 but that's not because it dates from immemorial times like everything else around here. It's actually a top notch telescope in its range, at the verge of professional (perfect for back-yard science) and yet a very accesible and easy to operate jewel. And through it "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe, attack ships on fire over the shoulder of Orion..." (as majestically Blade Runner tells the story!). And you know, "all these moments could have been lost in time... like tears in rain" if it were not for the ST8300 new camera attached to it (also top notch). I am telling you, this telescope is a dream for any crew astronomer! And why not taking astronomy to Mars? Outpost for searching asteroids, radio silence, reduced light pollution... and the list can continue or ... simply carry on inspiring generations to look at the stars and imagine (with or without the camera - forgive the pun). Looking at Albireo. Navigate by the stars. Building solar dials that tell the story of the equation of time! Don't start me!
But talking about time... time stops here. I am sure all you connaisseurs agree that being at MDRS feels like a spatio-temporal bubble from where you go back in time millions of years. Protected by the rovers, the suits and inspired by some of the most passionate geologists I encountered - my MSPS amongst them, watched over by outstanding world-class specialists, we looked at rocks, observed them, learnt from them. And at night we lifted our sight to the stars wondering... The awe in the eyes of my crew when they saw Mars (oh yeah!) and Saturn (oh my God!) a couple of days ago in our first clear night, they looked at the Moon and observed their first globular cluster in the shape of M13... These moments they say will stay with them forever! As for me, happy to have successfully installed the secondary telescope onto the C-14, sort out the balancing issue by adding a couple of dumbbell weights taken from the 'gym' equipment, I declared the first light as being a girl - planet Venus. Happy to further entertain my team I reached for my green laser and found stones. It just occurred to me then and there:
We had stones in all our pockets and stars in our eyes and we knew they were one and the same together with us! And that's what this place is making of you.
Long live MDRS!
Ad Ares!
Haritina Mogosanu
Commander KiwiMars 2012 (Crew 118 MDRS)
Commander's Report
Date and time: 30 April 2012, 20:00
Written by Haritina Mogosanu, haritina@marssociety.org.nz, Crew 118, Commander:
Kia Ora from inside the Orion Spur on that time of the year when at night we can see the center of the galaxy rising slowly onto the sky. There are roughly four billion stars in our galaxy (same number of neurons you can roughly find in four people's brains) and we live two thirds from the center and one third from the edge. The hills on which our Hab landed formed one galactic rotation ago, the time that earthlings know as Jurassic. We know that from looking at the landscape - we are surrounded by the beautiful red colours of the Morrison Formations. Earth was teeming with life then but it was very different from what we know today. Wind blew, water flowed, the Sun shone and somehow today all that changed to layers of dust: strata. We walk here today on barren ancient land unveiled and transformed by the elements, learning how it all came together. We watch the lines carved by the water in the rock and recognize where life could have a niche. Here life fights back: you pick up a rock you find a hypolith, move just a bit further lichens take over through ancient shell beds that laid once on the bottom of the sea. There is hope for life, it is tougher than we think. But the strength of life consists in sticking together, forming ecosystems, working as one.
Hop one planet, is there anything resembling to what we know? Just like engineering it's all about understanding the principle on which things work. Some people call this Planetary Science. It is remarkable how much we learned about planet Mars since we arrived here and only by looking at Planet Earth.
Who knows how Mars will look like in another galactic rotation? I sure hope it will have a bluish tint added to it. And it will surely take an entire planet to terraform another, an entire planet that will draw strength from the diversity of her people. Diversity is one of the biggest strengths we have, it's what made us survive and MDRS is one of those unique places that reveals this. Our crew found this out the good way, and the biggest reward of this rotation (our rotation) is how perfectly we adapted to work together and yet be so different.
Something about the sand around Muddy Creek today reminded me of my origin land, the finesse of it, the hues of the hills. And so upon my return I painted the flag of my mother country, Romania. It' a neat project of Annalea, she started it when she saw our Kiwi Warrior flag. New Zealand's flag is already on our flight suits. The US flag is everywhere around the hab. The other day she encouraged Bruce to paint the Maori colours and herself started with the Aboriginal symbols: the red Earth, the black of the people and the Sun at the center. But the very first one she did was the flag of MARS: RGB. We go through life painting flags of things that matter to us. I am very happy and lucky that MDRS's is one of them, it makes me feel I am a planetary citizen.
END OF TRANSMISSION
Ad Ares!
Haritina Mogosanu
Commander KiwiMars 2012 (Crew 118 MDRS)
From: Mike Bodnar
Location: Mars Desert Research Station (MD RS), Utah Desert, USA
Subject: KiwiMars 2012 Mission 118 MDRS: blog of the second five days
Transmission date: Monday 30 April 2012
Thursday 26 April
Although possible thunderstorms and a 40% chance of rain were forecast we awoke to bright sunny weather with just a few clouds.
Following breakfast, four of the crew geared up in the spacesuits to EVA to the pressurised rover, ready to set off on a combined photographic, fossil and rock-gathering mission to a location about seven kilometres distant.
Health and Safety Office Bruce Ngataierua and I stayed back at the Hab, Bruce to catch up on communications with Earth, and me to compile a blog for the New Zealand Kiwispace website covering the almost-first week of the mission, to take more photos, and to shoot more video footage for the documentary.
The weather deteriorated somewhat during the day with cooler temperatures, wind and the occasional spots of rain, but no thunderstorms. Somehow it doesn't spoil the illusion of Mars, although it almost certainly hasn't rained on the Red Planet itself for millions of years. The thing about Mars is that there's life, in the sense that Mars is an 'alive' planet. While our moon is barren, airless and virtually unchanging, Mars has an atmosphere, winds, dust devils, dust storms, clouds, ice, geysers and water vapour. There are landslides. Mars has plenty of activity, so to hear the wind blowing against the side of the Hab, and to watch the clouds scudding doesn't change a thing here.
Perhaps obligingly the temperature dropped enough to become chilly, a timely reminder that the real Mars is anything but hot!
About 1600 hours the EVA crew returned full of excitement about Lith Canyon, the petrified wood they had found (including a whole fossilised tree, which for some reason they failed to bring back!)' crystals, and bag-loads of rock samples.
Unfortunately the 360 degree camera refused to work properly so Ali had to abandon her panoramic photographic mission. However, the crew brought back dozens of photos so have a good record of the expedition.
The forecast is for the gloomy weather to clear tomorrow, with a return to higher temperatures.
Friday 27 April
It's easy to forget that deserts can be cold. Being millions of kilometres further from the sun than Earth, Mars - despite being a desert planet - is well below freezing most of the year.
So to wake up to a chilly morning in the Hab today was a timely reminder that even on Earth deserts can be extreme at both ends of the temperature scale. Not that it was freezing, but given the very warm days we have had (endured?) this week it was a bit of a shock to find the air temperature a brisk 14 degrees Celsius. Just like home!
Undaunted by the cool morning three of the crew set off on an EVA to Kissing Camel Range, approximately 10 kilometres away, to scout for fossils and anything else of interest.
While they were out, Don the Flight Engineer became Don the Flight Potter, as he took some clay he created from desert soils and began shaping a bowl, using an old cast-off piece of space helmet as a template. If he can find a good and safe way of firing it, or baking it, he plans to take it back to Australia as a handmade souvenir of his stay here.
The first long-term explorers on Mars might make their own ornaments and bowls, if their water supply allows, to help alleviate the long days of EVAs, analysing and report writing.
Meanwhile, Commander Mogosanu and I went on an EVA near the Hab to check out a proposed site for moving the Musk Observatory to, since it can't stay where it is due to subsidence of its base. We also scouted a second possible location a bit further away, which we both agreed gave better sky views, although more power calling would be needed to reach it.
Later in the day I helped Don with a water pump problem, which we discovered when we were trying to transfer water from the mobile tank on the trailer to the Hab's main supply. The electric submersible pump wouldn't operate, so instead we turned to science for the answer, and, because the trailer tank was higher than the Hab tank, used the good old-fashioned siphoning technique to transfer the H20. It worked a treat. Ironically, a couple of hours later the electric pump decided to function again!
But it brought home that pumps and knowing how to maintain them, will be a big thing for Martian settlers. Think about it: the air supply, water supply, airlock pressurising and depressurising, hydroponics, the waste water system... all of these will rely on pumps operating efficiently. The humble pump could literally be a matter of life or death for Martian explorers.
And let's not forget the value of heat pumps on the cold windswept deserts of Mars. Which reminds me, tonight's forecast here is for near freezing!
Saturday 28 April
We can now all tell the difference between Morrison and Somerville formations, we know a capstone when we see one, and it is very obvious (when you know) why some of the sedimentary layers are tilted rather than straight.
This is all thanks to a visit to the Hab by Jon Rask of NASA Ames. Jon has come out here to recover some remote field sensors, but took the opportunity to host us on a day-long field trip to nearby locations and enlighten us on the geology and geography of the surrounding landscape.
Here in the Utah desert there are plenty of purple-reddish features whose horizontal sedimentary layers tend to be quite widely separated. And then there are others, usually dark reddish brown in colour where the sedimentary layers are tightly packed together, rather like a stack of pancakes. The former are Morrison, the pancake stacks are Somerville. Now you know.
But since sedimentary layers are laid down generally by water deposit or volcanic activity, you would think they would settle reasonably straight. Water after all is governed by gravity, so should always settle level. Why then do some sedimentary layers tilt? Whoever heard of sloping water?
Well, according to Jon, it's not that they didn't settle level - they almost certainly did - but the entire formation has subsequently been tilted by tectonic activity. Essentially the land has been lifted, and along with it, the layers.
Locally we can blame the igneous Henry Mountains for doing this, as they heaved and squirmed their way up over aeons, pushing the sedimentary layers aside, tilting some, annihilating others, to finally stand magnificently above all else and provide a glorious southern backdrop when viewed from the Hab.
Standing on the lower slopes of the Henries today we could finally appreciate what drama the land has gone through over millions and millions of years, and how it has been shaped and formed into the fascinating environment it is today.
The intense age of everything around us is also a humbling reminder of how little time we as humans have been here. Geologically speaking, hardly the blink of an eye.
Sunday 29 April
Every exploration team needs a day off. Even on the International Space Station the crew gets days off, and why not? Wo wants to work non-stop day in, day out? It would be bad for morale, counterproductive and would likely result in mutiny.
The Mission Commander therefore declared today a day of rest for KiwiMars 2012 which meant different things to different people. For one it meant wrestling with one of the airlock doors trying to make it swing closed more easily than it does. For others it was doing some art work, or photography, taking the ATVs on an EVA to go and visit nearby landforms, or strolling across the Martian landscape looking for fossils.
I took the opportunity to shoot some more video, take photographs, and read a Michael Crichton sci-fi novel called 'Sphere', about an alien craft discovered under the sea. I haven't finished it yet, but the book does raise some interesting issues about alien life. For example, many, many sci-fi books and movies portray aliens as being basically humanoid in shape- two arms, two legs, a head, etc.
In reality, life that develops in an alien environment will be the product of that environment, and not ours. If their world happens to be earth like then yes, maybe they could look like us, but what if their planet has virtually no light, very little gravity, or no solid surface? Hmmm. The aliens could actually be pure thought with no physical form. Something to think about (get it?).
As for life on Mars, well, at least the Red Planet has a rocky terrain, an atmosphere (of sorts), gravity, wind, and clouds occasionally. It might even have sub-surface water ice. A quick glance around the habitat here in the Utah desert and you would think this environment is devoid of life, but on closer examination there is plenty of it. Cacti, shrubby grasses, flowers, lichens on rocks, and lizards, desert rodents, the odd bird, and occasional snake. But you could send a remote control rover around here and potentially not find any evidence of life, yet how wrong you would be!
Even more reason to send people to explore Mars.
Monday 30 April
Mmmmmm... Food. I can't recall whether in the past 23 years Homer Simpson has ever had to eat astronaut food in an episode, but it's doubtful he would survive for long. And had he been here as part of Crew 118 KiwiMars 2012 he would by now have stolen an ATV and ridden into Hanksville to Stan's Burger Shack.
The Mars Desert Research Station is challenging in lots of ways; the confined space, sharing it with other people whom you don't know very well, conserving water to the point of showering only every third day, and eating dehydrated just-add-water food.
The habitat diet is under the auspices of Cornell University, who are undertaking a nutrition study of the MDRS crews. This means we follow a regime of 'cooking days' and 'non-cooking days', using the food supplied, and filling in a daily online survey so that those behind the research can gather data.
The food here represents the sort of diet astronauts and Martian explorers might have. If you have ever done any serious hiking you would recognise many of the items in the Hab pantry: beef freeze dried, chicken freeze dried, freeze dried pasta primavera, jars of freeze dried blueberries, cherries and papaya, along with other common add-water items like instant soups.
Jars of flakes of spinach, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms also await our pleasure.
Some foods require cooking, such as rice, pasta or instant potatoes, and there are various stocks, spices and sauces at our disposal. However, fresh vegetables, salads and fruits are nowhere to be found except in our imaginations, which are now, in week two, working overtime.
Each evening we fill in our nutrition surveys, which ask questions such as how hungry we felt before the day's main meal, how satisfied afterwards, what we ate, how much we ate, whether we feel sluggish or euphoric, what health issues we have, and what the high and low pints of the day were.
We also have to weigh ourselves each morning, also part of the nutrition survey information.
It is interesting keeping tabs on daily food intake, moods and weight, and I think we each reach our own conclusions about whether there are correlations between the diet and our moods or energy levels. Personally I'd kill for a steak.
But we are all agreed on one thing: come Saturday and the end of the mission we're all really looking forward to a salad, or vegetables. Or both. And ice cream. And anything that's not freeze-dried.
Mmmmmmm... Food!
ENDS
We returned to this location to have a closer look for marine fossils today. Bruce and I took off on the ATVs for the short ride down to Kissing Camel Ridge in about 23 degree heat which is a lot cooler than some days here so far (e.g. 34 degress!). Even in the cooler weather and on ATVs the simulation astronaut suits are cumbersome. There were 4 fossils found. All yet to be confirmed (images will be emailed to our friendly Australian Geologist Jon Clarke) but we think they are 1 x coprolite, and 3 x (shell or sponge or coral).
Kia Kaha on a great morning from Mars.
At 0520 hours this morning - time we started operation Antipodes 3, where we simulated loss of contact from Aouda.X space suit located in Dachstein/Austria and their Cap-Com Mission Control. KiwiMars 2012 acted as Mission Control for the duration of the experiment and had the support of Wellington Mission Control, our Flight Director Mr Elf Eldridge on hand.
Snapshot 1- See through Aouda.X helmoet video-camera. The person in white is the assistant for the suit-tester
Antipodes is an operations experiment, where we assume a loss of communication between the Mission Support Center on “Earth”, whereas a parallel landing party on the other side of Mars will take over the coordination of an ongoing Extra-Vehicular Activity via their habitat, relayed via a satellite in Martian orbit.
Participants
- Kiwispace crew at the Mars Desert Research Station, Utah, Commander Haritina Mogosanu
- Kiwispace Mission Control Center, MacDiarmid Institute, Wellington/New Zealand, Flight Director Mr Elf Eldridge
- OeWF field team, Dachstein caves, Austria
Snapshot 2 - Aouda.X collecting contaminated ice under the direction of CapCom - KiwiMars from MDRS
Scenario
After losing the communication to “Earth” (e.g. satellite is out-of-range), a request is sent to the MDRS and/or MCC Wellington to take over operations for an ongoing experiment within the cave. The telemetry data are relayed to MDRS / MCC Wellington for approximately 30 min.
There were 3 Antipodes experiments planned.
ANTIPODES 3 (MDRS directs Aouda.X)
Tue, 01May2012, 14:00 (DS) = 06:00 (MDRS) = 00:00 (NZ): Antipodes 3
- T -30 min: establishing contact between MCC Wellington, MDRS & Aouda.X & OPS/D - verifying broadband access, go ahead from both Flight Directors. Announcing who is the suit tester for this EVA.
- T 0: Upon OPS/D "GO", cave team at Dachstein crews commences experiment, MDRS follows the procedures
- T +10 min: Loss of satellite signal, "no connection" between Aouda.X and OPS/D, requesting handover to MDRS by Aouda.X
- T +11 min: MDRS monitors Aouda.X, has a few minutes to adjust and get ready: verify connection to OPS/D
- T +15 min: MDRS takes over and continues experiment, e.g. sample site selection based upon video data
- T +30 min: MDRS concludes procedure, OPS/D resumes operation and continuous experiment.
- T +45 min: Experiment closure for MDRS - opportunity for informal communication.
The operation was a success as we relayed our commands directly from MDRS to the Aouda.X suit tester in Dachstein, Austria. We had voice contact via Mumble and Video contact with the camera on the space suit (attached two snap shots taken during the exercise). The two 'parties' landed on Mars cooperated successfully in this world-first event of its kind.
Please advise if you need further detail ref. this morning's operation.
End of transmission
Ad Ares!
Haritina Mogosanu
Commander Crew 118 KiwiMars
Objectives: Compare Muddy Creek gravels with Cow Dung Road Cattle Grid gravels (already collected (EVA 2)
Does it ever end! Every location we go to is amazing in its own way. No disappointments yet! Today we went to Muddy Creek via a couple of secondary sites. Rationale: Rivers act as sampling mechanisms across large area, studying their sediments provides both average and specific geological and geochemical information for much larger areas than can be otherwise obtained for a single site.
The Mars Pathfinder targeted in the outwash area of Ares Vallis because the deposits were expected to contain a range of rocks from further upstream,. The rocks were examined by the Pathfinder camera and the camera and APX onboard the Sojourner rover. A diversity of rocks was observed, consistent with fluvial transport and mixing, confirmed by the evidence of boulder imbrication.
On Earth mineral explorers and environmental scientists use stream sediment sampling (focusing on sediment mineralogy and chemistry) to look for mineral deposits or sources of contamination upstream. One single sample can characterise an entire subcatchment.
Outcomes: 1) understanding on how rivers collect sediments across their catchments and export them. 2) Works on Earth and Mars - universality of physical processes)
Results: We visited Muddy Creek via Factory Bench - elev 1430 12s 0508255 utm 4257618 and the San Raphael Swell (?) - elev 1450 12s 0505430 utm 4260801.
On Factory Bench we stopped at an outcrop that contained coal and gypsum. The gypsum is approx 1/4 inch thick and was continuous in more than one layer. Don took a sample of the coalish layer (which has a yellow coating on it) and we think we can see tiny amber specks inside. Also inside is some tiny fine white filamentous mineral. On the road approx 1 mile back at a sandstone outcrop (and campsite) we found a little piece of what we think is volcanic glass (browny black in colour and melted onto the sandstone). Plus some chert conglomerate. There were more oyster shells up on Factory Bench, some in matrix.
At the south end of San Raphael Swell (?) we found some tiny bivalves and a tiny gastropod (tbc) in the shale.
At Muddy Creek we collected 100 pebbles to complete the gravel experiment. The first noticeable thing about the gravel was that, compared with the gravel at Cow Dung Road, it is smooth (round or flat). We saw one brecciated conglomerate.
Lessons Learned: Keep a watchful eye while in Utah! - at Muddy Creek we saw big cat paw prints leading down to the river. They were about the size of a woman's palm.!
Objectives: Compare Muddy Creek gravels with Cow Dung Road Cattle Grid gravels (already collected (EVA 2)
Rationale: Rivers act as sampling mechanisms across large area, studying their sediments provides both average and specific geological and geochemical information for much larger areas than can be otherwise obtained for a single site.
The Mars Pathfinder targeted in the outwash area of Ares Vallis because the deposits were expected to contain a range of rocks from further upstream,. The rocks were examined by the Pathfinder camera and the camera and APX onboard the Sojourner rover. A diversity of rocks was observed, consistent with fluvial transport and mixing, confirmed by the evidence of boulder imbrication.
On Earth mineral explorers and environmental scientists use stream sediment sampling (focusing on sediment mineralogy and chemistry) to look for mineral deposits or sources of contamination upstream. One single sample can characterise an entire subcatchment.
Results: At Muddy Creek we collected 100 pebbles to complete the gravel experiment. The first noticeable thing about the gravel was that, compared with the gravel at Cow Dung Road, it is smooth (round or flat). We saw one brecciated conglomerate.
We went for a blast on the ATV's today. The ATV's are our simulation for rovers on Mars. Over the course of 3 hours we saw more of what we've seen so far, plus new stuff too – like the sanddunes in the area. I had a hairy moment getting up the dunes on the ATV when I couldn't get any traction. I couldn't recall what Mike had taught us about what to do when you lose traction, but I just applied the gas and made it slowly to the top. When I caught up with her, Hari said she'd also had a bit of a moment. While on the ATV's we wear normal motorbike helmets instead of the 'space helmets', but also wear the 'breathing units' on our backs to stay in simulation as much as possible. That said, it was a fantastic feeling having the air zipping by. The spacesuit simulation is quite restrictive and can be horrible to wear for long periods of time – but that's the point; to feel how it feels to be an astronaut. Having said that, I suspect that contemporary astronaut suits are much lighter and comfortable than ours.
At this particular location we stopped to look at some rock strata. It was the Summerville formation and therefor Jurassic. We found some lovely bits of petrified wood – some blackened, and some colourful (because of the mineralisation process).
When we got home to the hab, Annalea had been cooking up a storm – we had rehydrated chicken and pasta, followed by an apple desert (brown, mushy and out of a tin, but nutritious and filling).
by Ali Harley
Mission Specialist Planetary Sciences
Written by Mike Bodnar, Crew Journalist
We can now all tell the difference between Morrison and Summerville formations, we know a capstone when we see one, and it is very obvious (when you know) why some of the sedimentary layers are tilted rather than straight.
This is all thanks to a visit to the Hab by Jon Rask of NASA Ames. Jon has come out here to recover some remote field sensors, but took the opportunity to host us on a day-long field trip to nearby locations and enlighten us on the geology and geography of the surrounding landscape.
Here in the Utah desert there are plenty of purple-reddish features whose horizontal sedimentary layers tend to be quite widely separated. And then there are others, usually dark reddish brown in color where the sedimentary layers are tightly packed together, rather like a stack of pancakes. The former are Morrison, the pancake stacks are Summerville. Now you know.
But since sedimentary layers are laid down generally by water deposit or volcanic activity, you would think they would settle reasonably straight. Water after all is governed by gravity, so should always settle level. Why then do some sedimentary layers tilt? Whoever heard of sloping water?
Well, according to Jon, it's not that they didn't settle level - they almost certainly did - but the entire formation has subsequently been tilted by tectonic activity. Essentially the land has been lifted, and along with it, the layers.
Locally we can blame the igneous activity of the Henry Mountains for doing this, as they heaved and squirmed their way up over aeons, pushing the sedimentary layers aside, tilting some, annihilating others, to finally stand magnificently above all else and provide a glorious southern backdrop when viewed from the Hab.
Standing on the lower slopes of the Henries today we could finally appreciate what drama the land has gone through over millions and millions of years, and how it has been shaped and formed into the fascinating environment it is today.
The intense age of everything around us is also a humbling reminder of how little time we as humans have been here. Geologically speaking, hardly the blink of an eye, but long enough at least to begin to understand the land we stand on.
Written by Ali Harley
The objectives for this field trip was: photographic (for Mars/Earth comparison) and sampling rocks to bring home for the kids. Annalea Beattie, Bruce Ngataierua, and I took off at 10am this morning on the ATVs. This was a stunning trip. We managed to climb to the top of the ridge (was known as Kissing Camel Range) and move north towards another oyster field and take pano's. The motorised pano head is now officially dead, so pano's are hand-held. We found concretions at the top of the range and on the plain below. The ones at the top on the cretaceous layer were imbedded and perhaps 5 inches in diameter, and tan in colour. The ones on the plain below were approx .5 inch diameter and brown/grey in colour. There is much broken highly coloured flint/chert (?) and some petrified wood on the plain to the west below. It was much cooler today and therefor easier to wear the sim suits. Today we did no 'gps trail' as the crew member with the equipment was using it elsewhere. Kissing Camel Ridge is 'an inverted channel' which means that it once was a river bed. Over time, the river bed filled with sediment which compacted and solidified. Eventually the stream bed was filled with harder material than the land around it and survived the general erosion in the area. It survives today as a ridge. Inverted channels are believed to exist on Mars. This was another awesome EVA (extra-vehicular activity).
Written by Commander Haritina Mogosanu.
Today was the day we went to Lith Canyon. We split into two teams, one stayed closer to the gate to take panoramic pictures and the other went along the track to the waypoint marked in the data base as the end of the canyon.
The canyon was simply astonishing. The impact it had on all of us was beyond any description.It made the sim and the EVA one of the most amazing field days I have ever had. We took a few hundred pictures for our science reports back in New Zealand and also for our personal eye enjoyment. I am looking forward to being able to walk through Lith Canyon out of sim and so does my crew. However I must confess that all this extraordinary scenery would not have had such a high impact on myself if it was not so related to Mars and space exploration. Seeing the canyon today (and the rest of the destinations) through a geologist eye made me understand why this is a paradise for anyone interested in planetary sciences. Even though since Jurassic times our solar system became one galactic year old (what an achievement!!) I have to say that I find lichens more fascinating over dinosaurs, probably for the mere fact that they are such survivors! And this is something I wish for the human race too, and to me the only way to achieve this is entering space! Another very inspiring day in the line of very inspiring days here at the Mars Desert Research Station!
Back at the base Mike Bodnar and Bruce Ngataierua kept busy by catching up with their science and communication work. This can become a chore given the fact that everything takes twice as long as it would take on Earth.
Tomorrow I will take a 'day off' from any EVA's and Hab duties to concentrate on the astronomy side of the things. The sky was amazing until two nights ago (we only had two nights of amazing sky), Mars and Saturn are up there and I would really like to see them through the C-14 (telescope).
