‘Van Mars’ Painting of the Night Sky with Star Trails

8 Oct 2013

Acting MDRS CDR Report – Haritina Mogosanu

Another very early start for the crew at MDRS in preparation for the Planet-wide World Space Week Walk.

The main event of the day, the World Space Week walk was a huge success although not without hiccups on the comms side. Our internet connection at MDRS failed a few times. One of them was exactly when the password had to be exchanged to make up the key phrase of the walk. Luckily we managed to reset the internet connection very quickly and all went well in the end. The Crew stationed at MDRS broadcasted our one-word contribution to the special message: “Space Research Connects People”!

On our side, Jean Hunter and Tricia Smedley suited up for the sim, I played the role of the camera operator and Randy stayed in the Hab as support on Mumble. We used Mumble on two iPhones “attached” to the analog astronauts by ways of duct tape (one of the things I would always choose to take with me on Mars, that and rope). I broadcasted the Google hangout through my iPad. Technology was on our side -ish.. but as Randy was saying, here is another good example of how the simplest most advanced technology should be used for space. I would also comment, make sure that your batteries are fully charged!!

After the Space Walk, we took a few more minutes to get impressions from our crew about the mission. They will be part of the content of the bonus vidcast series that we prepared the world space week series this year.

We also had to cancel the rest of the D-trex experiments as the temperature increased to very hot and at MDRS safety always comes first.

Myself, Tricia and Randy departed MDRS at 11:24 heading towards Earth, Grand Junction.

This ends the series of reports for the World Space Week 2013. We only started planning for this in March 2013 and achieved great results in such a short amount of time! The project was a great example of how people from different communities of practice connected across communities of interest, no matter the culture, language or boundaries but bound by their passion for space. Which is what World Space Week is all about!

Special thanks go to Gernot Groemer and the team at OEWF and to Jon Rask and the MDRS simulation crew.Thank you everyone for this fantastic effort and for volunteering your time for the World Space Week this year.

It’s been a pleasure to work with all of you, Happy World Space Week!

Clear skies,

Hari