Photos Day 4 MDRS

Pressing hard!!

Chris Haberle, from the MDRS Crew 112 uses a drill while in the NDX-1 suit, Carol Stoker (NASA Ames) assists with the task

Chrisa Haberle and Carol Stoker during unsuited drill testing

Carol Stoker, Pablo de León and Chris Haberle discussing about the test to be performed

Final Day of NDX-1 Space Suit testing with MDRS Crew #112

Final Day of NDX-1 Space Suit testing with MDRS
Crew #112
Report by Annie Wargetz

Thursday, February 9, 2012
Today was the final day of space suit testing with the MDRS crew. Testing was conducted at the “Kissing Camels” site once again, this time with a drill. A test subject ran a baseline test without the suit, but with the biomedical and communications equipment donned. He drilled two holes stopping every two inches so the soil collector could get soil samples from what came from the hole.

Once the baseline was done, the subject donned the NDX-1 and performed the same test: to drill two sample holes and collect residue from the drill site. Testing in the space suit was completed in 30 minutes. For both runs, copious amounts of geological and biomedical data were
gathered.
The crews packed up all equipment and returned to the MDRS habitat where a round table discussion ensued. The discussion points centered around impressions from all five subjects who had donned the suit. The main points discussed were about the suit's mobility and how peripheral vision was affected by the suit, center of gravity changes, glove dexterity, among other items.

Photos Day Three

Some climbing

Pablo de León,Tim Holland and Annie Wargetz, the UND Space Studies Team at the MDRS

Tim Holland, UND at the MDRS

NASA, MDRS,UND crew

Tim and Pablo taking a rest

Mary Beth taking samples

Wireless Biomedical System

Day Three of MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing - “The Kissing Camels”

Day Three of MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing - “The Kissing Camels”
Report by Annie Wargetz

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Today was a very productive day for both the MDRS crew and the crew from the UND Human Spaceflight Laboratory. The crews trekked out to a spot named “The Kissing Camels” by a former MDRS crew. The spot lies between two large boulder deposits.
Throughout the day, three MDRS Crew #112 members ran through 9 and 10 point transects. Each crew member ran through a 9 point transect to collect baseline data both geologically and for biomedical reasons.
Then, after donning the NDX-1 space suit, they ran through a different 10 point transect. Each member had their own transect once the suit was on. At each point, approximately 10 pieces of data were collected using different measuring tools, such as rulers and a smartphone that measured strike and depth.
While in the space suit, the geological tasks were only minimally more difficult, and it was reported that field of vision was reduced and hand mobility was reduced, as expected.
After completing the transects with all three members, both crews returned to the MDRS habitat where the space suit was donned by UND graduate student Timothy Holland for additional mobility testing on the hills surrounding the habitat.

MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing, Day Two Part II

Carol Stoker, Senior Scientist, NASA Ames is giving instructions to Chris Haberle (NASA Ames)who is using the NDX-1 space suit, while Tim Holland (UND Space Studies) and Noah Warnke (Cornell) assist.

MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing, Day Two

Tuesday, February 8, 2012
MDRS Crew #112 Field Testing, Day Two

Report by Annie Wargetz

Today, various MDRS crew members were trained on their geological core drill. Once the core drill training was complete, a baseline bio-medical test was done on one of those trained. The test subject (Chris Haberle) then donned the NDX-1 and completed the same drilling test as before. While in the suit, the geologist was even able to pry the core sample out of the drill shaft, as it was stuck. The geologist was able to label and package the core sample that was collected.
Once the drilling task was accomplished, the geologist walked around the drilling site in order to get better acquainted with being inside the suit. This was the tallest subject to don the suit this week so far and the suit fit correctly. The geologist found it easy to maneuver while in
the suit.

Patch of MDRS Crew 112

Field Testing with MDRS Crew #112 begins

Monday, February 7
Field Testing with MDRS Crew #112 begins
by Annie Wargetz

On Monday, the team from the UND Human Spaceflight Laboratory (HSL) met with the crew members from MDRS Crew #112. During a breakfast meeting, we discussed the logistics of the day and then set out to begin observations.
The MDRS Crew had already selected a transect to review for the day's activities. The transect was 5 meters by 5 meters and was sectioned off using staked flags and rock markers.
In order to collect valuable data regarding the changes in collecting information while the NDX-1 suit, it was decided that three MDRS crew members would run through the transect and collect
data for 30 minutes without the suit on. During the run without the suit, the team members would rehearse the process of communicating with a designated "capcom". The bio-medical equipment would also be donned in order to get a baseline reading on the subjects while they performed various geological measurements.
Each MDRS crew member attempted to take as many readings in 30 minutes as possible. Once the run was completed without the suit, the crew member donned the NDX-1 and completed the same geological readings. Due to readouts being received by two of the three members
during their space suit run, the tests were cut short due to high pulse rates.
The third member completed their data run with the suit on for the entire duration without incident.
After six hours in the field taking various biomedical measurements of the MDRS crew, the teams packed up their equipment for the day and retired to a dinner served at the MDRS habitat.
We will publish some photos on the next post.

New Field Testing at the MDRS

There is little point in going all the way to the moon and Mars if you cannot protect
the rocks collected from contamination. That’s why graduate students and faculty
from the UND Human Spaceflight Laboratory (HSL) will be testing procedures for protecting these “samples” at a Mars analog site starting February 5. HSL Director Pablo de León, with Masters of Space Studies students Annie Wargetz and Tim Holland, will spend a week at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), a famous simulated Martian exploration habitat in South
Utah owned and operated by The Mars Society. “For us, it’s also useful because we learn more about operations in a very remote place,” de León says. “We have to be very careful and well organized to bring with us all the things we will need out there. If something breaks down, we need to fix it with the tools we have on hand.” Living and working on MDRS not only
provides training in procedures, but also lets students work hand-in-hand with seasoned space professionals from NASA Ames Center.
Teamwork in challenging environments is an integral part of space exploration and will
be valuable experience for the participating students, who will receive financial support from the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium for the trip.
The team from UND will bring the North Dakota Experimental-1 (NDX- 1) Mars Prototype space suit for testing. This is the first planetary space suit built at the university level. It has been tested in the North Dakota Badlands, Marambio Base in Antarctica, and the Pilbara region in Australia.
“The complexity [of testing the space suit] in a remote place, such as the MDRS, due
to the logistics involved, helps us to imagine the complexities of an “out of Earth” expedition,”
says de León.

For updates on the testing, please visit this blog.

NDX-1 Testing in Antarctica

Equipment Testing

Testing of drills and related equipment. In this photo, Jon Rask, NASA Ames (left), Margarita Marinova, NASA Ames (center) and me.

Video of the landing at Marambio Base

This is a short video of the landing and downloading of cargo and personnel at Marambio Base, Antarctica.

Arrival to Marambio

The C-130 of the Argentine Air Force right after landing in Marambio, Antarctic Peninsula.

Arrival to Marambio

The C-130 of the Argentine Air Force right after landing in Marambio, Antarctic Peninsula.

Logo in Spanish

And the same logo in Spanish

From Rio Gallegos to Antarctica

In this photo, from right to left, Comodoro Perez, Argentine Air Force, Magarita Marinova, NASA Ames, Jon Rask, NASA Ames and Pablo de Leon, UND.

We left yesterday from Rio Gallegos to Antarctica on a C-130 Hercules. The same one that departed from Buenos Aires the day before. While the accomodations cannot be considered first class, the crew made the flight very enjoyable. It was smooth and without turbulence, and in four hours we were in Rio Gallegos. Spent the night there and the next day we departed for the Marambio Base, in the Antarctic Peninsula.

From Rio Gallegos to Antarctica

We left yesterday from Rio Gallegos to Antarctica on a C-130 Hercules. The same one that departed from Buenos Aires the day before. While the accomodations cannot be considered first class, the crew made the flight very enjoyable.

Logos for the Antarctic Project

Our testing in Antarctica was named "Mars in Marambio", being Marambio the name of the Antarctic base owned by Argentina, where the space suit testing will take place.
The logo of the project depicts the Southern Cross, the planet Mars, one of the Marambio base hangars and the NDX-1 space suit, along with the participating institutions, NASA, the University of North Dakota and the Argentine Air Force.

From Antarctica

We arrived yesterday to the Argentine's Marambio Base in the Antarctic Peninsula, and are waiting to start operations as soon as the weather improves. Winds of more than 70 miles per hour are not permitting operations outside, but we are confident that tomorrow we can start testing. Meanwhile we are preparing the gear, charging the batteries and enjoying life at the base.

NDX-1 Goes to Antarctica

Under a new research project in cooperation with NASA Ames Research Center we are getting ready to test sample collection techniques using the NDX-1 space suit, this time in Antarctica.
We will be publishing on this blog details of our trip.

NDX-2 Assembly at the UND Spacesuit Lab

Here are some preliminary photos of the NDX-2 during initial testing. In the pictures, Gary Harris, designer of the NDX-2 working with graduate student Lynn van Broock (Space Studies)and undergraduate student (Mechanical Engineering) Tyler Jacobson.