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.