The two week stay of Crew 25 at MDRS has certainly been an exciting and high paced rotation. Although the rotation got off to somewhat of a rocky start, the team quickly rebounded, determined to live up to the MDRS standard. What follows is a summary of the major accomplishments and other noteworthy exploits of Crew 25.

Crew Dynamics

Quite possibly one of the most interesting features of Crew 25 is its makeup. This crew features the oldest MDRS crew member (Dennis Creamer -- 70 years, 9 months), the youngest MDRS commander (Kevin Sloan -- 22 years, 7 months), the largest age differential in MDRS crew members (Dennis Creamer, Amy Blank -- 51 years, 2 months), and possibly the youngest average MDRS crew age (19, 19, 21, 22, 24, 70 -- 29 years). While having a 70 year old retired biologist working in an isolated environment with 5 college students might raise a few eyebrows, Dennis proved that true age is nothing more than a state of mind. He came in to the mission as an 11th hour add-on, and arrived with an open mind and a great attitude. Dennis was an invaluable addition to the team. When asked about his experience, Dennis jokes "it was a zoo... you guys are crazy."

This crew began amidst turmoil, with the last minute appointment of Kevin as the commander. As the first undergraduate student to serve as commander at MDRS, he definitely had his work cut out from the start. The crew never missed a beat, however, as the entire team rallied behind him. Within the first few days, Crew 25 was a finely oiled machine that needed very little true leadership. It is a tremendous credit to this entire crew that Kevin experienced such little difficulty as commander.

Among other concerns with this crew was the fact that there were one graduate and 4 undergraduate students participating. Despite students being notoriously lazy, haphazard, and apathetic, Crew 25 was able to dispel all of the myths. Being used to hard work, long hours, no pay and less than ideal conditions, the younger members of the crew felt right at home. Coupled with Dennis' eager spirit and strong work ethic, Crew 25 turned out a very successful two weeks.

Tele-Science Operations

With 5 engineers and a marine biologist in its ranks, Crew 25 was lacking some of the more desirable background experience for an exploration crew. This provided an opportune situation to perform tele-science with the Remote Science Team (RST), led by former MDRS Commander Shannon Rupert Robles (MDRS Crew 21). The RST played a very large role in coordinating the EVAs (Extra Vehicular Activity) for this rotation. They initially provided the crew members with a Geological Primer, Biological Primer, and In-Situ Field Methodology Guideline to inform them about the basics of geological and biological sample collection and lab analysis. The crew then came up with their own Bio and Geo Collection Procedures as a way of showing their understanding of what RST had provided.

RST also provided EVA locations that they wanted the crew to investigate, as well as instruction on samples to take at those sites. The crew would then discuss the results with the RST, with the two groups collaborating on follow up reports. This tele-science approach to field research is intended to investigate the feasibility of conducting research not planned by the actual crew, and without requiring the presence of a team of scientists specializing in those fields. In theory, expert scientists back on earth would come up with experiments and tests for astronauts on Mars, who would then perform them and send results and questions back to Earth for analysis. Crew 25 and RST collaboration on this project met with a great deal of success.

This experience helped establish protocols and standard procedures for conducting tele-science in the future. Frequently when scientists write instructions for conducting field testing, they assume that the audience has a similar background. This was not a valid assumption in this case, and the RST learned very quickly what it takes to fully convey their message to engineers.

RST Directed Biology

During this rotation, Crew 25 executed five biology EVAs directed by RST. The crew visited South Hab site, Tank Wash, Fathi's Creek, Phobos Peak and Lithe Canyon to collect soil core samples. Time, UV exposure, soil temperature, and geological character of the sampling site were recorded for each sample.

In the lab, 10 g of each sample was removed for RST to test later to determine soil type, pH, and salinity. The remaining portion of each sample was massed. Next, vials containing about 4 g of soda lime were placed into the containers, which were then sealed for six days. When the samples were opened, the masses of the sample and soda lime were re-measured. All mass measurements and sampling site data were placed in a spreadsheet and sent to RST.

In the first data set, no trends were visible. Two probable reasons were inadequate sample size (less than 45 g) and inconsistent measurement methods. For the other three sets, the samples showed a general increase in the mass of soda lime. The changes in soda lime mass depend directly on the amount of CO2 produced by microbes in the soil, so this data will help determine the microbial richness of the soil samples. The data collected by Crew 25 will be combined with data collected by previous crews in order to identify relationships between microbial richness of the soil and physical features of the sampling site.

RST Directed Geology

Six geology EVAs were completed by Crew 25, as requested by RST. The sampling locations were Kent's Reservoir, Hab Ridge, Western Tank Wash, shale deposits between Chluda Pass and Brahe Highway, Coal Mine Wash, and Muddy Creek Overlook. At each location, representative rock samples were collected for analysis. GPS coordinates, sample description, and sample site description were recorded for each sample.

Before samples were taken, a panoramic photo of the location with directions indicated was taken to aid future crews in finding the location. Then for each sample an outcrop photo and a close-up photo were taken in the field. Back in the lab, another close-up photo was taken with a ruler and extra lighting, as well as microscopic photos of the weathered outer surface and the internal surface after breaking.

MDRS Engineering

Overall, the engineering team of Crew 25 considers the mission to be extremely successful. Several improvements were made to the Hab, including the integration of new units to the MDRS infrastructure. The Hab was kept operational throughout the entire rotation, even during the most difficult times, enabling the crew to continue working and performing desired duties.

The most significant event that occurred during this rotation was the transition from the Generac propane generator to the "China Special" diesel generator. This transition was extremely rocky and the Hab was on power consumption restriction for a large portion of the first week. Upon arrival, the crew was informed that the Generac propane tanks would not be refilled due to the arrival of the diesel generator. The plan was to switch to the diesel immediately. Unfortunately, the diesel generator was made in China, and thus to different standards, and came equipped with an L14-20 plug. The Hab uses an L14-30 plug. The adapter did not come in until the first Saturday, and the propane ran out on Wednesday. The backup gasoline generator, "Lil' Genny" supplied power to the Hab until the adapter was purchased.

The first night the Hab switched to diesel power, the generator started shooting sparks like it was a Chinese firecracker. A brown-out immediately occurred and Jason quickly killed the generator. Upon shutdown, a burnt odor was detected and the exhaust manifold was glowing bright orange. Several theories have been proposed to explain this occurrence, including the generator running low on fuel, and poor oil performance; however none of these seem to fully explain the generator's behavior. It has not happened since, and hopefully will not happen again.

With the addition of the new diesel generator, a cover had to be constructed to protect it from the elements. The covering for the generator was created by using a warped plastic sheet from the GreenHab and bracing it with rebar and four metal pipes. The rebar is inserted approximately 18-inches into the ground for support and at least 24-inches into the metal pipes. This was done to enable the covering to withstand the 50+ mph winds in the desert.

Another of the many engineering projects completed during the rotation were door handles for the inner airlock doors. The handles were constructed out of extra PVC pipe and metal braces from the GreenHab. Their size was specifically set to make the door easy to close while wearing suit gloves. Both are stabilized by attaching them directly to a 2x4 in the core of the inner airlock door.

Fairly early in the rotation, Jason completed a rewiring project of the pumps that supply the internal water tank. Don Foutz had requested this update, as the second pump in the line was running dry for the first few seconds before water reached it. Each of the two pumps was placed on its own switch, allowing the first pump to be run for several seconds before the second pump would be activated. The second switch was placed with the existing switch on the top deck next to the internal tank.

Upon the arrival of Crew 25, several of the space suits were showing considerable wear and tear from previous crews. Amy attended to several of these problems, which were mainly torn out crotches resulting from suits sagging too low. She did an incredible job of patching the suits, which are now in greatly improved condition.

Before departing, Amy and Jason put together a series of tutorial video clips. Since crew transition is such a large portion of MDRS, they explained all of the engineering procedure in their videos. These clips were left on a CD in the Hab, and should greatly assist with crew transitions in the future.

PSUMS Rover

Four of the members of Crew 25 are members of the PSU (Pennsylvania State University) Mars Society, who came out to do research for their rover assistant project. The concept behind this project is a modular rover assistant that is controlled by a user (presumably an astronaut) wearing virtual reality (VR) gloves that are integrated into space suit gloves. The team brought their rover prototype out with them to MDRS.

Simply participating in the field research during EVAs, the PSUMS members gained incredible insight as to how such a rover assistant could be integrated into a mission. The potential uses became incredibly obvious during the RST directed mission in which protocol and procedure were a major issue.

Unfortunately in the midst of so many other projects undertaken by this crew, field testing of the rover moved down on the priority list, and didn't happen until the latter half of the second week. Although the rover was not suitable to be taken on long range EVAs, it was tested around the Hab. As was expected, the rover had a small amount of trouble dealing with the terrain. Also, the sampling device aboard the rover had trouble with the abundance of rocks in the area. Considerable information was obtained through the crew's efforts that will be able to be applied to both this and future versions of the PSUMS project.

GreenHab

The crew came in to this rotation with a long grocery list of tasks to be completed in GreenHab. Unfortunately the power situation that plagued a large portion of this crew's rotation put a damper on progress with those tasks. During the several days when Lil' Genny was providing all of the crew's power, MDRS was running on only essential power systems. Because of this, most of the electrical systems in GreenHab were not up and running.

During the second week, various tasks were completed. Among those was the implementation of the immersion heaters into the TF Reservoirs. These will hopefully take the place of the space heaters in GreenHab which are very high power. Crew 25 also looked into bringing GreenHab to a more autonomous state. Potential upgrades would create a better system flow, and also allow the entire system to select its own power source (solar vs. generator). These recommendations are being submitted in a separate report.

Acknowledgements

The PSUMS team would like to thank all of its sponsors at Penn State: The Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, the Engineering Undergraduate Council and the University Park Allocation Committee.

Crew 25 would like to thank Mission Support and the Remote Science Team for all of their hard work. With the new tele-science methodology there was a great deal of confusion surrounding several of the reports, but everyone was very patient, and thanks to a lot of hard work everything turned out great. Also, thanks to Tony Muscatello and Robert Zubrin for their continued faith in the crew amidst all of the early turmoil, and also for providing the crew members with such an incredible opportunity. An extra special thank you goes out to Don Foutz, who helped keep the lights on in the Hab during the China Special debacle, and helped the crew out in countless other ways.