FMARS 2007

cIclops · 2006-06-27 08:14:43

News article by Alan Boyle on MSNBC

The society's president, Robert Zubrin, confirmed last week's reports that his organization was forgoing its annual simulated mission on Devon Island this year, and concentrating instead on next year's Arctic expedition.
"Essentially we're saving the money from this year so we can do something bigger next year," he told me today.
Zubrin got the society steering committee's go-ahead last week for a project that would send a crew of seven up to Devon next year in the April-May time frame, when temperatures are still below zero Fahrenheit (-20 degrees Celsius) - and keep that crew there until the end of August.

Rxke · 2006-06-27 08:31:08

Cool! (pun intended)

I think this will be better than Survivor or Big Brother; four months on a barren place might tax people's psyche...

PurduesUSAFguy · 2006-06-28 22:05:56

I think that will be the most valuable thing that the Mars Society can do with the analog research stations is long duration 'missions' working up to a full length mission length.

cIclops · 2006-09-03 12:14:18

More words from Alan Boyle on the four month mission at Devon Island planned for 2007.

The airlock and the spacesuits may be make-believe, but the lessons are real, says Zubrin.
“It’s a very serious scientific endeavor,” he insists. “We were able to demonstrate a style of Mars exploration that exceeds what NASA’s current robotic program can do by several orders of magnitude.”

cIclops · 2007-01-07 05:24:04

Opps almost missed this annoucement:

Crew Chosen for Four-Month Arctic Mars Simulation Mission

November 20, 2006 – The Mars Society announced earlier this month the selection of University of New Brunswick geologist Melissa Battler as crew commander of FMARS 2007. This unprecedented four-month human Mars simulation mission will be conducted from May through August of 2007 at The Mars Society’s Flashline Mars Artic Research Station (FMARS) on Devon Island, in the high Canadian arctic. Battler and six other scientists and engineers will conduct a sustained program of scientific experimentation and field exploration while operating under most of the constraints of a real Mars mission, at a location only 900 miles from the North Pole chosen for its striking similarity to the Red Planet. Once complete, the mission will stand as the longest and most isolated human Mars simulation mission ever conducted.
“I’m thrilled and honored to have been selected as Commander for this expedition, and I’m really excited for the challenge,” said Battler. “The conditions will be harsh, and we will need to adapt quickly and learn to work efficiently as a team to ensure our success and survival. It will be difficult, but I’m looking forward to it.” Rounding out the FMARS 2007 crew will be Executive Officer and Engineer Matt Bamsey of the University of Guelph (Canada), Chief Engineer James Harris of Austin Community College (USA), Interdisciplinary Scientist Kim Binstead of the University of Hawaii (USA), Chief Biologist Konstantinos Kormas of the University of Thessaly (Greece), Biologist Kathryn Bywaters of Miracosta College (USA), and Geologist Simon Auclair of the International Space University (Canada).
The crew will be taking a number of steps to prepare themselves for the challenges presented by this mission during a two-week practice mission to be held in February at The Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station outside of Hanksville, Utah. While there, the crew will conduct tasks such as familiarizing themselves with the space suits they will be required to wear every time they venture outside and learning to collaborate with the Remote Science Team (RST) who will be supporting their efforts during their time at FMARS. Composed of NASA, university, and private scientists, the RST will provide scientific and logistical assistance in a role analogous to that of mission support anticipated by NASA for future human Mars exploration missions.
For those seeking to understand the practical value of such an intense, demanding research project, Battler had a simple explanation.
“Things will be similarly challenging for the first human Mars missions,” she said. “The lessons that we learn will contribute to successful human Mars missions in the future.”

SpaceNut · 2007-01-07 12:40:08

Mars Devon Island Research Station

Kathryn Bywaters Oceanside woman to join four-month simulation in the Arctic

The field exploration will be conducted May 1 to Aug. 31 at the Mars Society's Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in the polar desert of Canada's Devon Island, 900 miles from the North Pole.

Fresh letuce was just picked from the greenhouse as shown on main page upper right corner.

SpaceNut · 2007-03-21 21:44:59

Helping NASA plan for Mars

"In 10 days, Alejandro Diaz will be making his second trip to the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah" where he will "spends two weeks simulating life and work on Mars".

wow, they even simulate solar storms....

cIclops · 2007-04-23 00:42:29

Off on a mission to 'Mars on Earth'

Posted on: Sunday, April 22, 2007
By Mary Vorsino
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

What is it like to live on Mars?
Seven adventurous scientists, including a University of Hawai'i computer science professor, will look for the answer this summer in the Canadian Arctic.
From May to August, they will hole up in a futuristic-looking research station on Devon Island, an uninhabited wasteland 900 miles from the North Pole. When they walk outside into below-zero temperatures, they will wear space suits. Their research will mimic what scientists on Mars would likely study — climate, topography and daily changes in temperature.
But most importantly, they will experience the hardships of a not-so-simulated isolation, miles away from anything resembling civilization: They will eat freeze-dried or canned food, strictly ration their water intake, and follow a strict routine of work, exercise and rest.
"We're excited about both doing the science and being the science," said Kim Binsted, the UH-Manoa associate professor of information and computer sciences who will leave Wednesday to join her fellow crew members in Utah, where they will then travel together to their Arctic outpost.
"By doing the field science under mission constraints, we'll face, and hopefully overcome, many of the same challenges Mars explorers will face."
Never before has a group of scientists gone to such lengths to simulate a mission to Mars.
The Mars Society, which is funding the mission, has only undertaken one- to five-week simulation missions on Devon Island. Since 2000, when simulation missions started, the society has sent 10 crews to its Arctic outpost, while 61 other crews spent time at the society's Mars Desert Research Station in southern Utah.
"We're trying to learn how to explore Mars," Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, said by phone. "It's Mars on Earth."
Zubrin has gone on several missions to Devon Island and the Utah station. In 2002, he spent four weeks in the Canadian Arctic. "One thing I've learned, you want to have crew members who know how to laugh," he said, erupting in giggles. "If you lose your sense of humor on Mars, you're finished."
The Mars Society identifies itself as a "private international grassroots organization dedicated to furthering the case for human exploration to Mars."
Though much of the society's funding comes from private donors, it also gets money from NASA. And 20 percent of its crew members over the years have been NASA or European Space Agency scientists. The rest have come from all over the science world, from biologists to engineers.
In preparation for the upcoming trip, Binsted and her fellow mission crew members spent two weeks in February at the station in Utah to learn everything from how to survive in extreme conditions to how to cook with freeze-dried food. One of the recipes Binsted mastered was pizza — made with powdered-milk mozzarella.

cIclops · 2007-04-23 00:49:52

Mars Society website for FMARS 2007

Mission Blog

Number04 · 2007-05-02 11:32:17

Well, they are in business.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - Yesterday most of the crew members of 2007 Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) mission were flown in to the station 900 miles from the North Pole.

Looks cozy.

cIclops · 2007-05-03 03:31:20

Melissa, the mission commander, has started to blog and it's possible to add comments.

On to Devon! (from Mel)
May 1st, 2007
This is just a quick note to let you all know that the crew is alive and well, and preparing for the next stage of our adventure. As you know, James and Paul are doing well at FMARS, and the other six of us arrived in Resolute on Friday.

Number04 · 2007-05-17 14:46:40

http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/06-07/apr28.html#5

A CBC radio interview about the mission, for thoes of you that are interested.

cIclops · 2007-05-22 17:00:34

The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) is a different project to FMARS

Good link all the same

cIclops · 2007-07-03 14:31:17

Mars Mission Reaches Midpoint; Crew to Switch to Mars Time - 2 Jul 2007

by Alex Kirk — last modified 2007-07-02 13:37
The Mars Society's four-month Mars exploration Arctic simulation mission, the first of its kind, reached its halfway point today, and will now begin a unique experiment by shifting its operational cycle to Mars time.
The long-duration simulated Mars mission on Devon Island in the high Canadian Arctic has been operating successfully for two months. The seven-person crew of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) has conducted a comprehensive program of geological and microbiological field exploration in the island's Mars-like polar desert, 900 miles from the North Pole, all while operating under many of the same constraints that human explorers would face on Mars. By doing so, they are learning from direct experience many lessons that will be of critical value when human explorers actually set foot on the red planet.
At this writing, the crew has completed two months of mission simulation on the island, doubling the one-month duration record set by previous crews. The plan is for the crew to continue for two more months, quadrupling the previous record for an active Mars mission simulation.
As Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin explained, "This is an utterly unique experiment that goes far beyond anything that anyone has ever done before. In contrast to the isolation studies done by the Russian Space Agency, for example, our crews are not sitting in a room in the middle of a major city playing chess for weeks on end. Rather, they are being tasked to undertake a tough program of actual field exploration, doing real science under risky conditions hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement in one of the most hostile environments on Earth. It is by taking on challenges like this that people are going to learn how to explore on Mars."
Halfway into the mission, the crew is coping well, and making excellent progress on a range of field research. In particular, they are gathering data on microbial life in soil, snow and lakes, characterizing the changes as the Arctic season shifts from spring into summer. They are also comparing geological features seen on Mars, such as polygonal patterns and "weeping cliffs," with similar features found on Devon Island, in order to better understand conditions on the red planet. Chris McKay, of NASA Ames, the remote science principal investigator for this expedition, said, "This expedition is doing an in-depth study of the transition of permafrost ground from winter cold to summer warmth. This data will be relevant for Mars but also to understanding the response of the Arctic to global warming on Earth. There is a lot to learn up there in the land of the midnight sun." While sample collection is ongoing, the focus has shifted to analysis of the baseline data and lab analysis of the samples. According to crew biologist Kathryn Bywaters, "The fieldwork has been hard but very gratifying, and working in the Arctic, with its obvious parallels to what it would be like to work on Mars, has been inspiring."
This expedition is unique in that the crewmembers have been able to maintain a rigorous simulation for an unprecedented period of time. The human factors data being collected is therefore invaluable. There are five human factors experiments currently underway, including comprehensive sleep and exercise studies.
Starting today, the crew will begin a unique experiment and advance the intensity of the simulation a dramatic step further by switching onto "Mars time." The crew will live according to the Martian day (or "sol"), which is 39 minutes longer than the 24 hour Earth day. This will cause the crew to drift out of synch with the rest of Earth, gradually returning to Earth time after 36 days. Because the FMARS station is at 75 degrees north, it has no night and very little light variation in the month of July, so the day-night operational cycle can be rescheduled to correspond to that on Mars. This will be the first time that a group, in realistic space exploration conditions, has lived and worked according to the longer Martian day, and researchers want to know how well crewmembers adapt, and if there are any negative effects. Recognizing and compensating for any such effects will be essential for future expeditions to Mars.
To simulate the longer Martian daily cycle, the crew will move its own clock backward 39 minutes per day, black out the hab windows between their clock's 6 PM and 6 AM to simulate night, and schedule meals, sleep cycles, and outdoor work accordingly. The issues to be investigated include not merely determining if there are any physiological effects from switching to a Martian daily cycle for long durations, but also examining the operational effect of using different, and constantly shifting, clocks on the telescience collaboration between the crew (on Mars time) and the Science Advisory Group, Engineering Team, and Mission Support Teams (which will all remain on Earth time) supporting the mission. Such an experiment is unprecedented.

SpaceNut · 2007-07-31 21:02:48

Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station,
US-Canadian Team on 4-Month Simulated Mars Mission 1400 kilometers from the North Pole on Devon Island

8 member crew are part of the 11th Mars project at the remote outpost.
The $160,000 mission to the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station is funded largely by the Mars Society, a private group dedicated to human exploration of mars.

cIclops · 2007-09-01 05:51:07

Final Summary Report - 21 Aug 2007

Melissa Battler, Commander/Geologist
Commander's Summary
Mission Success! The F-XI LDM (FMARS 11 Long Duration Mission) simulation has ended. After 100 Operational Mission Days in simulation, we ended "sim" at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday August 21, 2007. In total, we were in simulation for 101 "Earth Days", but because 37 of our days were spent on Martian Time (as sols), each day was 39 minutes longer, and hence we lost one entire Earth Day.
Appropriately, along with enjoying our first sunset in 4 months, I am pleased to report that this week we successfully collected the last of our science data, and met all of our engineering, education, and outreach goals. We've had a safe, happy summer, and crew dynamics are as great as ever - we're all still friends! Today we even had a bit of time to breathe in the crisp Arctic air (and take a quick dip in Cornell Lake) and enjoy our surroundings, before beginning our mad dash to inventory, pack, clean, and write final reports.
Tomorrow we will begin our last full day on the island together by meeting with Astronaut Clay Anderson, who is currently in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Then, sadly, we will start to leave the island in groups of 2 or 3. The work won't end quite yet, however! After leaving Devon Island, we will head to Los Angeles to present preliminary results at the Mars Society conference, and we will spend the next 6 months writing up final mission results.
It has been an incredible summer and although I'm disappointed to see it coming to an end so quickly, I'm satisfied that we have accomplished exactly what we set out to do: conduct a long duration simulated Mars mission under nearly all of the constraints a real Mars crew would face, and safely execute an ambitious science program, eventually yielding results which will contribute to our understanding of Mars. At the same time, we carried out a rigorous education and outreach program, reaching hundreds of students and young professionals, and captured the imaginations of many "fans" and followers. We anticipate that our mission results will ultimately contribute to the planning of a real mission to the Red Planet, and help to inspire the next generation of explorers. I'd like to congratulate my team for a job exceptionally well done, and for always maintaining a high level of passion, enthusiasm, and dedication to our cause, as well as a great sense of adventure and fun.

See link for individual crew summaries.

SpaceNut · 2007-10-19 06:45:38

Want to Go to Mars? Crews Wanted for Mock Missions Family Living Analysis on Mars Expedition

If you have been waiting for your chance to learn what it is like to live and work on Mars wait no more!
The Mars Society is currently taking applications from the general public, educators, and students to develop the skills necessary to thrive in a regime analogous to The Red Planet.

2007-2008 Mars Desert Research Station Field Season Schedule
Crew D-8 (Dec. 8-23, 2007)—[Crew not assigned yet.]
Crew D-22 (Dec. 22, 2007-Jan. 6, 2008)—[Crew not assigned yet.]
Crew J-5 (Jan. 5-20, 2008)—[Crew not assigned yet.]
Crew J-19 (Jan. 19, 2008-Feb. 3, 2008)—[Crew not assigned yet.]
Crew F-2 (Feb. 2, 2008-Feb. 17, 2008)—Expedition Delta
Crew F-16 (Feb. 16, 2008-Mar. 2, 2008)—Expedition Epsilon
Crew M-1 (Mar. 1, 2008-Mar. 16, 2008)—Family Living Analysis on Mars Expedition Crew
Crew M-15 (Mar. 15-30, 2008) Georgia Tech Crew
Crew M-29 (Mar. 29, 2008-Apr. 13, 2008)—[Two Crewmembers assigned.]
Crew A-12 (Apr. 12, 2008-Apr. 27, 2008)—Hungarian Crew

cIclops · 2008-02-25 08:48:34

MDRS Crew 66 Summary - 21 Feb 2008

Expedition Delta (MDRS Crew 66) was Mars Society Canada's fourth mission in their Expedition Mars Analogue Research Training Series (ExMATS). During this mission three engineers and three scientists were introduced to the systems at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) and all six also gained experience in conducting research in planetary analogue environments. This was the first ExMATS mission to be instructed by two graduates of previous ExMATS missions: John Thaler (ExBeta) and Anna Grinberg (ExGamma). The ExMATS training program has a hands-on curriculum that covers topics such as power generation, water recycling systems, and extravehicular activities (EVAs). Another important objective is the cross-training which occurs as each crewmember teaches the crew about their area of expertise during an informal evening lecture series as well as impromtu lessons in the field. The training segments of the mission were a great success and the ExDelta scientists were able to complete four science projects which fulfilled the primary science objectives of the mission. The engineers were also kept busy with numerous maintenance and engineering projects.

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#1 2006-06-27 08:14:43

Re: FMARS 2007

#2 2006-06-27 08:31:08

Re: FMARS 2007

#3 2006-06-28 22:05:56

Re: FMARS 2007

#4 2006-09-03 12:14:18

Re: FMARS 2007

#5 2007-01-07 05:24:04

Re: FMARS 2007

#6 2007-01-07 12:40:08

Re: FMARS 2007

#7 2007-03-21 21:44:59

Re: FMARS 2007

#8 2007-04-23 00:42:29

Re: FMARS 2007

#9 2007-04-23 00:49:52

Re: FMARS 2007

#10 2007-05-02 11:32:17

Re: FMARS 2007

#11 2007-05-03 03:31:20

Re: FMARS 2007

#12 2007-05-17 14:46:40

Re: FMARS 2007

#13 2007-05-22 17:00:34

Re: FMARS 2007

#14 2007-07-03 14:31:17

Re: FMARS 2007

#15 2007-07-31 21:02:48

Re: FMARS 2007

#16 2007-09-01 05:51:07

Re: FMARS 2007

#17 2007-10-19 06:45:38

Re: FMARS 2007

#18 2008-02-25 08:48:34

Re: FMARS 2007

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