Introduction:

Crew 26 were an international and interdisciplinary group of six people, coming from five different countries and with an age range from 24 to over 50. Their stay at MDRS was conducted from 13-27 March 2004.

This document summarises the experiences and scientific research conducted by the crew during their stay and concludes with a synthesis of lessons learned and recommendations.

Crew Experiences:

Over the two week stay at MDRS, the crew were engaged in a wide range activities. A recount of their experiences in their own words is shown below.

Susmita Mohanty (India): The two weeks at the Hab has been rather eventful and engaging from an engineering perspective. All of the crew members have had to get their hands dirty (in a good way of course) in trying to help out with the maintenance, repair and daily operations of the various technical components essential to run the Hab: the generators, the water tank, GreenHab, ATVs and so on. There has not been a single day when we did not have some technical issue or the other at hand to resolve (e.g. something as simple as a broken nut on the fuel hand pump to something as dangerous as electrical arcing inside the Hab). These everyday problems for most part had the challenge we had been looking for in simulation training; sometimes though they did interfere with our schedule in undesirable ways.

Heather Hava (USA): Overall we had great conversations and laughed a lot. We all worked well together and were very motivated to accomplish group chosen tasks due to crew cohesiveness. I feel very lucky to be with such a good crew because with the variability of six strangers a crew can turn out to be a failure or a success. The Lego rover project I brought was not only built to be used as an educational tool for high schooler's but was also educational and entertaining to the crew. The rover project also gave everyone a chance to work toward a common goal; however, one of the most significant contributions the crew made to MDRS was doing much needed maintenance, cleaning and organization. Along with this we created many documents that will help future crews run the Hab more efficiently and continue what we initiated. For the most part I loved being with my fellow Martians.

Jamon Neilson (USA): Coming to participate in the MDRS has been a very enjoyable experience. I had lots questions as to what it would be like. My teammates are a diverse group of people coming from a wide range of nationalities, race, and educational back grounds. I have learned so much about other cultures that has added to my own life experiences. I am impressed by everyone's curiosity about each others point of view and there is a level of mutual respect and concern. There have been disagreements between crew members, but we've been able to work out our differences in a positive manner. I have also enjoyed the experience of being here in Hanksville, enjoying the scenery and the reality of being a Martianaut.

Richard Humphreys (United Kingdom): This was my first international flight from the UK and with no experience of other cultures and very little notice of joining Crew 26, I was extremely apprehensive about joining a group of (what I considered) more qualified strangers in a simulation for two weeks. However due to my nature, experience in people management and willingness to learn, I found myself at ease with the similarly characteristic crew.

With such a diverse crew, the wealth of experience, ability and knowledge gave the group an added flavour to the rotation period. There were crew members who suffered due to the difference in temperature from their home, to the different cuisine and to the different attitudes. Over the fortnight we learnt about each other, different cultures, religions and opinions. We dealt with adversity, each in our own way dependant on our upbringing and background, allowing a variety of solutions to present themselves to each problem, giving the crew an edge. These things allowed the crew to meld into one team, inter-dependant on each other but each section being strong enough to take the lead when required. We experienced real problems, such as power failures, water leaks, and crew disagreements, which would occur on real space missions, and each one was dealt with and rectified, and we arose stronger for it.

Edwin Loosveldt (Belgium): I performed a series of innovative experiments while at MDRS. Everyday at dawn and dusk, I travelled to a fixed location (where I had planted a tripod during my first EVA) by ATV and took panoramic photographs of the Martian landscape. I reconstructed a piecemeal rover called CRV and deployed it down a cliff over a number of EVAs. My objective was for the CRV to record interesting geological features such as sedimentary layers and fossils. I also conducted a psychological survey designed by a Belgian psychologist as well as created a short film about the Hab, the crew and the mission. I really enjoyed the way the crew had to adapt to new problems (technical, programmatic etc.) on a daily basis despite having an overall mission plan. I also liked living, interacting and collaborating with a multinational crew. The Martian landscape was so breathtaking that I felt as if it were a beautiful dream. As I am about to leave for Earth, I want nothing more than to soak up as much of the surrounding beauty as I can. Another thing that I will miss a lot when I return to Earth are my crazy escapades on the ATVs. For me, the best way to capture the whole experience is: YES! WE ARE ON MARS!.

Reece Lumsden (Australia): I was given the challenge of being the commander for Crew 26 and it certainly put my leadership, perserverance and strategic thinking skills to the test. I really enjoyed the opportunity to work with such a unique mix of people in a very unique environment.

Scientific Research:

The crew participated in and conducted numerous scientific studies and experiments throughout their stay:

Susmita Mohanty (India).

Human factors and habitat design issues. Conducted two surveys developed by NASA Johnson for Shuttle-Mir and ISS missions: (1) PHADES (Planetary Habitat Analog Design Efficiency Survey) and (2) SOIRT (Space Operations Issues Reporting Tool).

She conducted in-depth research (via extensive crew debriefs, photographic documentation, and sketches) on issues such as crew composition, high-fidelity simulations, habitat layout and design, and the various habitability factors.

Participated in research surveys from other members and participated in EVAs, Hab rationalization and cleaning efforts.

Richard Humphreys (United Kingdom).

Investigated areas of science that I had not explored before such as examining and categorizing rocks and soil. examined and adapted water recirculation.

Jamon Neilson (USA).

Primary focus was working on growing plants using Lada (equipment developed by Utah State University). Lada is a vegetation chamber created to provide a "space garden" for astronauts during their long flights. It is now hosted on the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and will remain in continuous use through 2006.

Development of Check list: A check list was developed to define a concise flow of how to run the different systems at the MDRS Hab. The information was gleamed from several different sources: MDRS Hab Ops manual, fellow crew members, personal experience, support personnel, and previous check list developed by former crews.

Field Manual "A Martianaut Field Guide to Science and Exploration": The purpose of this document is to compile a field manual for science experiments and exploration methodologies to be used by crews that come to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), located in Hanksville, UT. This document is intended be a guide where by a crew that is assigned to come to The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) can transition as quickly as possible to living at the Hab. It is intended to be an ongoing work where by members of different crews may add simple to complex experiments and procedures that could be used by future Martianaunt that come to MDRS. It is hoped that it will provide a forum that will teach, instruct, and spur innovative practical ideas and experiments on how to conduct research in the field of human planetary exploration.

Remote EVA Station: I was unable to complete this idea because of weather. I hope another crew will take interest in doing it. I requested Mission Support to let us set up and conduct a remote EVA station. We recently built a tent structure from parts that we cobbled together from the junk yard to house the generator, and fuel. There are enough parts to build a second tent structure. During our second phase of our simulation we obtained permission to use the truck as pressurized rover, and set up the tent at a remote location stay the night then come back to the Hab the next day.

Reece Lumsden (Australia)

Documented the maintenance engineering requirements for the MDRS, the results of which are to form the crux of a paper on the sustainability of an MDRS like station. Participated in the "Cogstate" Psycholgical state computer based survey. Undertook a project to develop a solar power source for a communications relay station

Edwin Looseveldt (Belgium)

Conducted a psychological study survey. Tested over several EVAs the functionality of a rover descending over an incline and imaging the rock face

Heather Hava (USA)

Conducted ongoing medical studies into the variability of blood pressure and pulse over various sections of an EVA. Collated crew members vitals from the entire mission

Lessons Learned:
Lessons learned from the crew in no particular order were:

• Different cultural backgrounds, instead of causing division, give a crew a great wealth of knowledge and experience to learn and grow from.
• Teamwork is essential
• EVA definition cannot always be done in a pre-determined fashion
• One's psychological state has a large impact on what they experience on the mission

Recommendations:

Website Data Base: Many of the crew discussed the possibility of having a website database where data could be collated by crews into an easy to access format. The crew reports are good in that they provide a general summary of what they have been doing, but it takes a lot of time filtering through them all to find out what the coordinates are for waypoints, and types of research that has be conducted. A good format would be sectioned into different areas such as: waypoints, operating manuals for equipment, procedures for conduction laboratory experiments, research projects, and checklists.

Hab Rationalization: There is an enormous array of equipment and information in the hab that is currently going unutilized because of the hab's state of disarray. A pro-active plan of making sure the hab is squared away and information that is distributed throughout the hab is collected into central repositories is desperately needed.

Strategic Overview: The Mars Society must take a strategic view of research done at MDRS. Towards this goal, there should be more advantage taken of the opportunity MDRS affords to conduct long term studies that build up a data aggregate of information. At the moment, no such strategic perpective is being taken.

Communications: the communications equipment used for the space suits at MDRS are poor at best. Range is very limited and the large hills and valleys create lots of line of site issues.

Clean-up and Rationalization: a large contributor to crew well being and health was the clean up of the hab. This gave the crew a sense of pride and ownership and allowed them to stylize their living area to reflect their own personality. This assisted in the transition from a place they were just staying at for two weeks to somewhere they were "living in" for two weeks.