The Hab's pedometer trial has continued successfully over the past few days with interesting results. However life in such a rugged environment has already taken its toll on some of the sensors -- which is why it is important to think ahead and bring spares on any Mars / Utah mission!

The objective of the pedometer mobility trial is to try and to establish mobility pattern clustering. This information can be used to primarily improve applied exercise programs for planetary astronauts, but the results also have significance in other fields such as mission planning and ergonomics. Preliminary examination of the results show surprisingly that things are actually quite positive with regards to gross average daily step patterns in such a small work / living environment.

Today also saw the start of a second mobility assessment trial at the Hab. This trial uses accelerometers to monitor astronaut's mobility using a pair of twin axial acceleration sensors. Phase I of this trial is the validation of the sensors accuracy in determining various activities such as walking, climbing, etc. Phase II is the actual long term logging of data of a planetary astronaut's day using the described system, and from this data, building up a detailed picture of the astronaut's day from a biomedical perspective (e.g. How much time were they sitting? How much walking did they do?). The unique environment of the MDRS allows this trail to examine the astronauts mobility "in sim", both living in the Habitat and outside on EVA.