Overview of our rotation:

Crew 36 was unusual in many respects. We were the first crew at MDRS to utilize a small unmanned aircraft (dubbed an ARV) to scout for sites of scientific interest. We also had the first all woman crew at a Mars Analog Research Station during the second week of our rotation. Our rotation had two phases. Phase I, the engineering phase, was completed during the first week, and focused on getting the ARV to fly and record video from which the crew scientists could analyze images. Phase II, the science phase of the mission, took place during the second week, and focused on several areas of scientific inquiry involving concretion, endolith, desert varnish, evaporite and sapping sites, and their associated microbial communities.

The Red Flyer ARV:
(University of Illinois team lead by Mike Turner and Kelly Cole and including Randy Moore, Mark Hernquist, Kari Cheek. Analysis of aerial imagery done by Amber Church and Stacy Sklar)

The Red Flyer ARV was brought to MDRS to test its usefulness as a scout for scientific fieldwork. It proved to be useful for this task. The ARV is a re-designed hobbyist plane with a high resolution camera incorporated into the fuselage that can rotate 90º and take aerial imagery. The footage from the camera was sent to a USB receiver on a laptop in the field through non-GPS transmission, giving us a continuous real-time video stream. Software created by the team manipulated this video footage to create higher resolution images of the sites for use by our science team. With this imagery we were hoping to be able to find sites of scientific interest so that the geologists and biologist on the crew would be able to determine the sites of greatest importance and conduct further ground truthing. Unfortunately the plane did not withstand the desert conditions as well as we hoped and therefore did not take as much aerial imagery as was originally planned. This resulted in a small but valuable cache of imagery from training flights, which the science team of Crew 36 will analyze in the near future. Although we did not accomplish everything that we had planned, we have enough information to expand and improve for future missions.

Concretions:
(Veronica A. Zabala, Arizona State University)

The geology surrounding the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is an excellent example of a Martian terrain and provides the necessary realism of an environment a Martian Planetary Geologist (MPG) would encounter when stepping out of the airlock. Our objectives were to observe, collect and measure concretions within the host rock as well as for individual specimens. Photogeology was a major part of the initial mapping process, which was completed. An actual geologic map will be produced later on when the datasets are analyzed. The size distribution and frequency of the concretions that are within the Dakota Sandstone near Hab Ridge, south of the MDRS, are larger in size and frequency when compared to those behind the MDRS near the Musk Observatory. We also found desert varnish within meters of all our concretion sites. This suggests that the high concentration of desert varnish, which is partly caused by erosional processes, contributed to the genesis of these curious and quite magnificent concretions.

Endoliths & Desert Varnish:
(Stacy Sklar, Northern Arizona State University)

Data collection at endolith and desert varnish sites consisted of photodocumentation, location, and sample curation. Preliminary analysis of these sites indicates that the best sites are along Hab Ridge just past Robert's Rock Garden. Further chemical and microscopic analysis will be completed at the crewmember's home institution.

Sapping Sites & Evaporites:
(Shannon Rupert)

Unfortunately no sapping or evaporite sites were imaged by the Red Flyer. However, we were able to locate both a sapping site and an evaporite site which will be used in future studies to determine microbial community composition.

Soil Characterization:
(Lindsay Turner)

Soil temperature has been positively correlated to soil moisture content, in a study conducted by Shannon Rupert and Crew 21. Fifty-seven soil samples used in that study were characterized and the data will be used to further investigate the relationship between soil type and soil moisture content.

Air Canada In Flight Magazine Article:
(Debra Weiner)

Debra will be writing about her adventures as a member of the first all woman crew at MDRS in a story in enRoute, Air Canada's award winning in flight magazine, to be published later this year.

SEMS:
(Stacy Sklar)

We conducted a systematic field documentation approach to ground truth using an updated version of the Scouting Exploration Methodology Study (SEMS), which was tested at all three Mars Analog sites this past year (2004). Using both SEMS and other datasets, we will determine what is the most effective way to incorporate aerial imagery into the field methodology approach of SEMS. Data were collected during the ground truthing portion of the rotation. Imagery and collection method will be further analyzed.

It was an honor and a privilege to serve at MDRS. We will be presenting our work at the Eighth International Mars Society Conference, which will be held in Boulder, Colorado from August 11th through 14th, 2005.