Sol #35 – Our Day Outdoors

This morning our crew spilt into two parts. Alex and Claude-Michel visited the UK Space Agency camp a few kilometres down the road and then they were invited to watch the Germans in the next camp, (the Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und-Raumfahrt) change the battery on their incredible leggy spider rover. The rest of the crew continued the second day of our science operations trial in a remote canyon north of the hab.

It’s a non-sim day, (one of the few on this mission), where we don’t use tanks and space suits when we leave the hab. Today, we looked a bit more like escapees from Guantanamo than Martian astronauts but we are very comfortable in our orange overalls.

To get to the field site we walked along a well-exposed stream channel to a large area about 500 metres square, part-surrounded by cliffs of lovely salmon pink, dark rust red,
brown and cream, the colours of the Morrison Formation. Immediately we could see that our working environment today is so ancient and so amazingly Mars-like, that in terms of science, we could spend a lifetime doing Mars analogue research there. It’s really true when people say words are not enough and they never are.

Without spacesuits, we began the science field work while our biologist PI Shannon Rupert took her own notes and kept time and track of our movements. Anastasiya Stepanova again was our documentary film maker for the day. Within the time constraints, we were aiming to get the maximum science return and a complete overview of the geology out of simulation. As we began, our biologist PI Shannon Rupert took her own notes and kept time and track of our movements. Fossils and petrified logs were so abundant that geologist Jon Clarke spent most of his time half way up a cliff. It’s was a beautiful day here in the desert and it felt good to experience the warmth of the sun and the breeze on our skin. One of the reasons we love Mars is because we appreciate our planet Earth.

Annalea Beattie

October 30^th and 31^st, two EVAs were performed to test in the field, and for the first time, the SSUIt project. The good news is that the untested/unevaluated characteristic that I was worried about are not an issue after all. The bad news is that despite all my tests on the interface, there are bugs here and there that need to be corrected ASAP.

So let’s start with the bad news.
During the first EVA, the GPS ship did not track any satellite. I find out later in the Hab that the ship is probably out of service. So I used another one that worked well during the second EVA during which I wanted to tried the navigation system which unfornutally frozed. I had to hard reboot the system and doing so I lost my navigation data which was stored in a USB flash drive… left in the Hab. Bottom line, I could not tried the navigation system, and I still do not know why it frozed.

Now the good news.
Firstly the wristband does not disturb the field operations. The cap, that protects the screen, has a slight tendency to open by itself or due to the wind, but I will quickly resolve this detail with a little bit of sewing and some Velcro. The screen could be a little brighter but there is nothing I can do about it.

Secondly, the battery seems to hold the charge. I was concerned about the time I will be able to use the interface on the field because the Raspberry Pi, all the sensors and the screen can draw a fair amount of current. Around 1.5 amps, which is more than the fans. For my two first tests on the field, which lasted about 2 hours each, I had two batteries in the backpack while usually only one is used. I believe that the EVA can be expanded to 4 hours with two batteries or 2 hours with only one. The battery voltage before departure was 11.6V and the drop was around 2V at the end of the EVA.

Finally, the system was more stable than I would have though. All the Python daemons that record the sensors data and work in the background did not crash, the web browser that displays the interface did not crash either. This is very good news because any crash (like the navigation system) on the field would be very difficult to investigate the cause back in the Hab.

Anyway, despite the difficulties, I have recordings from few sensors. Several surprises. The temperature in the helmet is not excessively hotter than the outside. Roughtly the temperature difference is about 4°C and can reach 7°C. But when it is around 30°C outside, the inside is really hot. The system temperature can reach 50°C!

Regarding humidity, surprisingly, it is sometimes drier inside than outisde. Which is hard to explain at this point. The bump that occurred at around 7000 sec is due to the failure of the tape that supported the sensor that felt down close to my mouth.

During the second EVA, I had Yusuke’s tracker and the SSUIt GPS chip working. The comparison of the traces match. Yusuke’s tracker seems to have a lower float number resolution that makes the trace to “jump” from one position to another.

The SSUIt GPS track begins out of the Hab. After the navigation system froze I had to hard reboot the whole system. The plotted path is the one recorded after the reboot, therfore after leaving the Hab. The blue dots on the map correspond to the navigation waypoints intended to pass by. After the failure I decided to walk around, exploring the area North of the Hab then join the road and see if the track will match the road printed on the map. It turned out that the path and the road are superimposed very precisely.

I can even see on which side of the road I was walking on. The little knot on the path correspond to something I found on the edge of the road: a puddle of water that was turning around due to the wind with a green ring of algue in it.

Report by Alexandre Mangeot

Martian Halite and Preservation Potential of Biosignatures
By Crew Biologist Anushree Srivastava

First of all, what is halite?

Halite is natural salt – sodium chloride (NaCl) – or table salt. Halite is also commonly known as rock salt. Halite is formed or precipitated as a result of evaporation of salt lakes and seas, and in turn called evaporite. During evaporation, liquid water is transformed into gas and the halite precipitated. Halite makes cubic crystals and is found in sedimentary salt basins. Halite deposits are potential targets for astrobiological exploration of Mars due to its capability to capture organics and preserve them over a long period of time. Osterloo and co-workers detected more than 600 locations of chloride bearing deposits, including halite, on the surface of Martian Southern Hemisphere using the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). These deposits date from Noachian (about 4.5 billion years ago, to about 3.7 billion years ago) to Hesperian (about 3.7 billion years ago to about 3 billion years ago): Martian geological timescale. The Noachian period is considered to be warmer and wetter and thus more conducive to life. Moreover, multiple geomorphological observations suggest the formation of these Martian evaporites through surface water runoff and evaporation and these deposits are considered to be contemporaneous to the age of the formation of valley networks on Mars. This is also suggestive to the last widespread water activity on the ancient Mars.

Halite and Fluid-inclusion.

Nice illustration by Lowenstein et al., 2011 “Photomicrographs of fluid inclusions in ancient halite from Saline Valley and Death Valley (Calif., USA) cores. (A) Dunaliella cell (left) and miniaturized prokaryotes (circled), in irregularly shaped fluid inclusion, Saline Valley core, 93 m, 150 ka. (B) Light green and orange Dunaliella cells suggest preservation of chlorophyll and β-carotene, Death Valley core, 17.8 m, 34 ka. Modified from Schubert et al. (2010). (C) Miniaturized prokaryotes in cubic fluid inclusion, Death Valley core 16.5 m, 31 ka. Modified from Schubert et al. (2009). (D) Portion of large fluid inclusion containing yellow-green Dunaliella cells and two cells coated with outward radiating crystals of β-carotene (brown). Miniaturized prokaryote is circled. Death Valley core 15.7 m, 29 ka. (E) Portion of fluid inclusion showing Dunaliella cells heavily coated with crystalline β-carotene, Death Valley core 15.7 m, 29 ka. Arrow shows the boundary between the fluid inclusion and the host halite crystal. (F) Dunaliella cells in various stages of degradation within a large fluid inclusion, Saline Valley core, 44 m, ca. 70 ka. Arrow shows ruptured glycocalyx (cell coat) of one Dunaliella cell.”

Martian Geological Timescale and corresponding features.

Global Mars Elevation Map by Osterloo et al (2010) indicating locations of chloride bearing deposits on the Southern Hemisphere of Mars.

Halite is capable of entraining and preserving carbon or biosignatures – any substance that is indicator of past or present life – through the mechanism called sequestration. Therefore, any microorganisms were surviving on the ancient Mars which was suitable for life could be captured inside halite. Furthermore, halite encases inclusions of the precipitating fluid which form a favourable micro-habitat to any microorganism trapped inside it during the growth phase of the halite crystals.  Fluid-inclusions are rich of minerals and sometimes host algae which secrete glycerol. Therefore, any entrapped microorganism that can utilize these resources can survive a prolonged period of time (possible over thousands or million years) buried inside the halite crystals. Halite can also act as a shield for these microbes in order to protect them from high radiation. Studies have also found halite in multiple Martian meteorites such as Zag, and Monahans. Hence, halite should be one of the prime targets of the astrobiological exploration of Mars 2020 mission!

Schematic presentation of the features of halite and Halobacterium salinarum that facilitate long-term survival inside halite crystal (Credit: McGenity, 2014)

Zag: Martian meteorites hosting 4.3-4.5 Ga (billion years old) halite. (Credit: Fries et al, 2015)

Monahans: Martian meteorites hosting ~4.5 Ga halite. (Credit: Zolensky 1999, Whitby, 2000, Bogard 2001)

Further reading:

DasSarma S (2006) Extreme Halophiles Are Models for Astrobiology. Microbe 1: 120-126

Davila AF et al. (2011) A large sedimentary basin in the Terra Sirenum region of the southern highlands. Icarus 212: 579–589

Davila AF, McKay CP (2011) Salt Flats in Terra Syrenum-A site to search for extant and extinct life on Mars. Analogue Sites for Mars Missions.

Fries et al (2015) Martian Halite: Potential for both Long-term Preservation of Organics and Source of Water. Abstract in “First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars”.

Gooding JL (1992) Soil mineralogy and chemistry on Mars: Possible clues from salts and clays in SNC meteorites. Icarus 99: 28-41

Gramain A, Chong Díaz GC, Demergasso C, Lowenstein TK, McGenity TJ (2011) Archaeal diversity along a subterranean salt core from the Salar Grande (Chile). Environmental Microbiology 13: 2105–2121

Landis GA (2001) Martian Water: Are there Extant Halobacteria on Mars? Astrobiology 1: 161-164

Lowenstein TK, Schubert BA, Timofeeff MN (2011) Microbial communities in fluid inclusions and long-term survival in halite. GSA Today 21: 4-9

McGenity T (2014) The immortal, halophilic superhero: Halobacterium salinarum – a long-lived poly-extremophile, Microbiology Today 24-27

Osterloo, MM et al. (2010). Geologic context of proposed chloride-bearing materials on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research 115

Rieder R, Gellert R, Anderson RC, Brückner J, Clark BC, Dreibus G, Economou T, Klingelhöfer G, Lugmair GW, Ming DW, Squyres SW, d’Uston C, Wänke H, Yen A, Zipfel J (2004) Chemistry of Rocks and Soils at Meridiani Planum from the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer. Science 306: 1746–1749

Schubert BA, Lowenstein TK,  Timofeeff MN (2009) Microscopic identification of prokaryotes in modern and ancient halite, Saline Valley and Death Valley, California. Astrobiology 9: 467–482

Schubert BA, Lowenstein TK, Timofeeff MN, Parker MA (2010) Halophilic Archaea cultured from ancient halite, Death Valley, California. Environmental Microbiology 12: 440–454

Squyres SW, Knoll AH, Arvidson RE, et al. (2006) Two years at Meridiani Planum: results from the Opportunity Rover. Science 313: 1403–7

Treiman AH, Gleason JD, Bogard DD (2000) The SNC meteorites are from Mars. Planetary Space Sciences 48:1213–1230

EVA NARRATIVE 2/11/16
Jon Clarke

Theatre of Operations

Not everything that is done in Mars analogue research station needs to done “in sim” to be useful  Sometimes specific studies need to be done which require out of sim observers, testing specific technologies, or comparison of operations both in and out of sim need to be done.  Such research has been performed since the earliest days at MDRS and has included some of the most valuable work that has been done.  Such controlled experiments help us understand the variables that might influence operations on Mars and how they could be improved.

PI Shannon Rupert briefing the team prior to unsuited EVA.

The last two days we have been working on one such trial, comparing EVA operations in and out o the simulated space suits.  Yesterday a team consisting of Annalea, Anushree, Yusuke, and Jon carried out their normal field work within a specified and for a specific period.  Today they repeated the work but wearing just flight suits and field gear.  The field area and study objectives were selected, designed, and supervised by the Mars 160 Principle Investigator, Shannon Rupert.

Anastasiya filming.

Our work area was a beautiful alcove valley a few hundred metres of Jurassic sandstone, conglomerate, and shale, all of the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation.  There were beautiful sedimentary structures exposed in the cliffs, fossils, including fossil wood and burrows, and lichen colonies on fallen boulders.  The team studied the stratigraphy, lithology, and lichens, documenting everything with field notes, drawings, and photographs.   All activities were filmed by Anastasiya.

Looking for lichens-suited.

Back at the station we debriefed our experiences with each other and with Shannon.  The next two EVAs will be similar in objective and execution but in a different location.  We are looking forward to them!

Looking for lichens-unsuited.