One week left and counting

July 30-

It rained a bit last night and I slept through it. Why is the only "Arctic weather" happening while I'm alseep.
 
This morning we started packing up to go home.  Are plans are to leave on Friday relatively early in the day. Up here you pack when the sun is shining because you never know whats going to happen. The current forecast is for some serious rain Wednesday and Thursday.

So today I became serious about doing the food and paper goods inventory. Yes we still have 800+ rolls of toilet paper, 12,000 ziplock lunch bags, a case of molasses and about 20 pounds of chocolate chips. I also went through the kitchen and re-wrapped the dishes which I just won't use before the end of the season.  It's great to think about going home but there is still SO much to see and do.


I will be leaving on the first flight out with the NASA team. We will go to Resolute then the next day fly to Yellowknife. I will be home (if all goes according to current plans) a week from tomorrow.

Give the cook a meal off

July 29,2011


Most Sundays at camp brunch is served instead of breakfast and lunch. This gives the cook the early morning off. (I'm up at 5:30 everyday) Well that's the plan anyway!  The first Sunday at camp was only our 2nd full day. The 2nd Sunday was the day when 8 additional people arrived so neither day was a brunch day.  Everyone had to be working by 8:00 so breakfast and lunch were require. Well the last Sunday ( in two days) will include some serious camp cleaning and the start of pack-up. So we declared today a brunch day. I slept in till  7:30 and then took the whole day REAL easy!

I stayed near camp as all the science teams were out!


We did finally run out of water today!!  John, Jesse, Mark and Ben had to go to a small stream behind tent city in order to get today's water.

Finally a good picture of Jesse

As evening approached the temperature dropped significantly and we did get some rain.  Enough to make mud but not nearly enough to help our water situation.

Sean Dougherty and the Robotic Arm

Sean with the Robotic Arm

July 29

Sean is an engineer for MDA-USA. he works at the Mars Science Laboratory( robotic arm section) in Boulder, Colorado. The company he works for has built arms for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.


The arm he has been testing on Devon Island is designed for the Mars Rover which will have a human driver. The Rover will be nuclear powered and feature drills, spectrometers and cameras.

There are many of applications for robotic arms on the earth including: repairing water or gas pipes, performing surgery and fun things like creating robotic crane cameras for the movie industry. 

The arm at camp has 4 motors and so can more from 4 different points on the arm --- the of wrist, elbow,shoulder and whole body.

Inside the cab of the Humvee is a computer which controls the arm. There are two screens. One screen shows the views from 4 cameras mounted on the Humvee and arm. ( left and right bumper, front view and view from inside the gripper. The other screen show you diagrams/drawings of the position of the arm. There are two ways to control the arm. The first is with a game controller. That's right a Logitech controller. The second is a strange ball that one moves to move the arm. The advantage of the second devise is that it gives you feedback if you touch objects. For most people the game controller works better but the ball and wires gives a feeling of more control.

Julie and Her Rock

Everyone at camp is going through training to learn to operate the arm.  I managed to "jam" the works twice and had to reset the arm. But I did manage to pick up two rocks, bring them close to the window to visually examine and place them in the sample basket.

The rock

The Arm in Action

View of Anderson Pass

July 28, 2011


Pascal, Kira and I make a trek out to her experiment site. It's about 1/2 mile from camp ( as the crow flies). Kira has inserted sensors into undisturbed (no previous activity has been done here) ground at 7 1/2 inches and 11 inches to monitor temperature and CO2 content. 

The surface is very dusty however it will take over a year for the footprints to disappear.

Then we headed out to an area called Anderson Pass. Thousands of year ago this area was filled with water encased by ice walls. When the ice walls broke the water flow cut valleys. What was left behind includes coral rocks.

This pass is named after one of the Columbia astronauts who died the 2003 disaster. Throughout the area the HMP camp participants have built monuments to all 7 astronauts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster


At  the base of each Columbia "Stone Man" is a jar containing a logo from the Columbia mission, an HMP sticker and a biography of the astronaut.

For these monuments the "men" are life size or larger unlike the ones at the airport.

I will be coming back to these Stone Men in another blog after I do some research and talk to Ben


Views From Anderson Pass

One of many "hills" our next stop

View from the top pf the hill

Looking very much like a Martian landscape

Small rock ( 3inches high) splitting from freezing/thaw cycle

Larger rocks 4 feet  square splitting by freezing/thaw cycles\

The valley floor

Meet Jesse Weaver

Jesse is unbelievable when it comes to fixing machines!  Changing tires in 3 feet of snow, rebuilding an ATV engine before lunch, fixing a generator no problem.

After 2 weeks I have no pictures of Jesse except with him bent over a an engine

Jesse lives in Tennessee where he is pursuing an AA in Mechanical Engineering. His ultimate goal is to be a pilot (specifically to fly small planes in the Arctic). How he ended up as a permanent staff member of the Mars Institute is a story of a fortunate meeting. With the contacts he's made here he hopes to stop at least briefly in his career at either The Johnson Space Center or the Ames Research Facility in Mountainview CA.

6 1/2 years ago Pascal Lee was teaching at the University of Tennessee. Since his course was only 3 months long he rented a room near the university. It just so happened that his temporary landlords were Jesse's grandparents. Over the months Pascal saw Jesse tear apart and rebuild  off road bikes, ATVs and just about anything with an engine. Pascal invited Jesse to Devon Island to support the camp vehicles. According to Jesse he really didn't expect anything to come of it until one day in early June when Pascal called to make travel arrangements for him.  At the time Jesse had just turned 16.

That was 6 seasons ago and now Jesse does EVERYTHING in camp.  He is the back-up fgor many of the critical functions. He has also been trained at a Humvee factory so he can service those vehicles. Which has included replacing tires with tank like tracks and repairing/rebuilding those tracks while stranded on the ice between Resolute Bay and Devon Island.

Jesse has also developed skills as a scout for traverses. He rides an ATV in front of the Humvee to ensure that the large vehichle does not go off a clifff. hit a rock, hit soft sand or break through ice or an some traverse all of the above.

Jesse is featured in Packing for Mars  by Mary Roach (chapter 9)

Chaos to Organization

July 27th

 Not everyday is about science and exploration some are just about cleaning.  Today I finally had time to tackle the pantry tent. All the food was just sort of piled into the tent from the Humvee. Some stuff was really organized some was not.

This says it all! there's a path through the boxes, bins and coolers not much else.

Julie's treasure chest! One of the previous cooks believe in spices so I get to be creative- Everyday I mix up a new oil and vinegar dressing for our salads.

After several hours some organization begins to appear. This will make my inventory and packing up much easier.

Dinner or at least part of it. Jesse, Mark and Ben went fishing at Sapphire Lake. They only caught 1 fish so I also fixed chicken. This is an Arctic Char. Ben caught it, Jesse cleaned it & I cooked it.

Yes we do have an official camp candy bar!

Sky views

From horizon to horizon- Wow!

Clear at the crater

Best light is between 10 p.m. & 1 a.m

Rain Clouds coming in

Kitchen Disaster

July 26-

OK maybe not an actual disaster but ...... For days I've been creating and adjusting recipes but tonight's dessert was going to be a slam dunk. I was making Dirt. Served at camps everywhere, you make chocolate pudding,top it with Oreo cookie crumbs and decorate with gummy worms. Well I got distracted while making the pudding and added about twice as much milk. So I ended up with Mass quantities of milk chocolate stuff that would never set up.  Since I had used the last of the pudding mix, I had only 1 choice. I served MUD.


 Since HMP is an analog for Mars and/or the Moon, MUD became an analog for every gooey, messy project the researchers had ever encountered. Kira offered to sink a CO2 sensor into it to see if it could support life.

Great After Dinner Speaker


 This year we don't have a DVD project to show movies to the group so our entertainment is sparse. So I was the entertainment. I started out by suggesting some improvements to camp---a camp song, evening sing along time---crafts!!!  Then I talked about Pathways, alternate education and home schooling. It went great. Afterwards I sat around a talked a bit before hitting the bed.

I miss animals:
I've seen a couple birds. I've heard more from a distance. Seen rabbit tracks and actually seen an Arctic hare. I'm told at Drill Hill  lemmings will actually take nuts from peoples hands and raid the snack boxes. Unfortunately that usually doesn't happen until 2 + weeks into the drilling season. I truely miss seeing animals. So I want to see my cat!

Cinna -- Mom needs Kitty cuddles!

More Crater Pictures

Dr. Brian Glass, NASA - Brian first told me about HMP 10 years ago, I've wanted to go ever since

Julie and her driver (mark)

A garden in the dessert- Probably a large animal died here 40-60 years ago- nutrients in the soil allow plant growth

thermals from a distane

A message for home

Ancient Thermals (geysers)

Edible plants--not on the camp menu

  

Into The Crater I Go

July 26

inside Haughton Crater

Brian Glass and the NASA drilling team have set up a work station on what is called Drill Hill. They are using an "Ice Drill" (more details later) to try to drill through the ice and rock that is the Houghton Crater. Last year they drilled 2 meters and they hope to drill 3 meters this year. Today they are repairing the drill due to damage done in shipping it to the Arctic. Mark has agreed to drive me out to the sight for a visit.

From From Drill Hill

   

The Drill

 

Typical Crater Plant Life

Shatter Cone- Proof that this is an Impact Crater

Arctic Polygons- the cracks widen every year as the earth freezes and thaws

 

Arctic Hare- about the size of a medium dog-                                                                                                                              Monty Python fans- I unfortunately left the Holy Handgrenaid of Antioch   back at camp 

More later form the crater I have to get lunch ready

Soemtimes Science just happens.

July 26-


We wake up this morning to discover that the CSA guys are WAY ahead of schedule and will be leaving today (3 days early). When they leave Anna-Lisa and Rob will be flying out and so will Chris from Honey Bee Robotics who I haven't even gotten a chance to talk to except while serving meals.


The Green House is empty-

Arthur C. Clark Greenhouse July 26, 2011

      

But science continues-

Science disclaimer: I may not have all the terminology perfect I wasn't taking note. I was just watching in awe.
  


 When taking apart the greenhouse and packing stuff for shipping they came across some acid used for cleaning stuff ( I think). To ship this small amount of stuff would require a large amount of paperwork and hassle so...... Our greenhouse team poured the acid over calcium rich rocks which created harmless gases and uncovered fossils within the rocks.

Acid eating away at rocks to reveal fossils

The Canadian Space Agency guys were wonderful to work with. I'm sad they left early but with the weather always uncertain you leave when you can. 2 planes came in today to pick up their stuff. And a final plane took 7 camp members away.

The joint CSA and University of Florida Greenhouse Research Team

Science Disclaimer: I was cooking dinner while hearing this -  I've actually heard it several times but it just didn't sink in.

Before they leave I overhear Anna-Lisa talking about her project and suddenly I realized I had been missing a big part of the research. Not only are they watching plants grow in the greenhouse via cameras. But the plants are also telling them when they are being "stressed-out" by their environment. The seeds planted in the greenhouse are genetically modified so that they"glow" when under stress. The cameras can see the color change and data can be collected regarding the conditions during these periods.

Greenhouse project sticker

  

   

One final word of thanks to Anna-Lisa and Rob for reawakening in me an interest in plant biology beyond what can be covered in a Kinder and 1st grade science class. I have a friend Jenya Bohr who should meet you!

Full Camp/Tired Cook

July 25


This is almost as full as camp is going to get. One more person comes in on July 26th.  I'm busy all day cooking, cleaning. Everyone is crazy busy.

Rob at work

The CSA people our working with Rob and Anna-Lisa to dismantle the inside of the green house.

The last University of Florida/CSA Greenhouse salad

1 of the wind turbines that has been providing energy to the greenhouse especially during the dark months

The solar panels that provide the greenhouse power during the summer

I'm sure you've been asking yourself. "What do scientist do for fun in the Arctic"

Try to see how close you can get the two Humvee's without actually touching.  Less than 1 inch!