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Archives for: February 2006

MoonSkin? Mechanical Counter-Pressure Suit (Day 02)

by Moonbase Team Email

MoonSkin? Mechanical Counter-Pressure Suit (Day 02)
Principal Investigator: William Fung-Schwarz
Crew Health & Safety Officer, Human Factors Research Lead
William Fung-Schwarz, was2@utah.edu

Observations:
Today I wore the MoonSkin MCP suit for the first time. The suit specifications are included in this report. Donning of the suit was incredibly easy. I substituted a modified knit cap for a neck warmer and substituted this for the full head MCP hood. The air unit, radio, and other equipment were stored in a traditional waist bag (see photos). Hydration unit tubes and air tubes fit comfortably into the protective helmet. The air unit was run in intermittent burst (mostly due to the fact that the system is so loud). Intermittent use was not sufficient to prevent fogging of inside of helmet. I consumed 2 liters of water during the 1.5 hour excursion. Sweating was a small issue, only light undergarments were worn beneath the MoonSkin MCP. Elastic neoprene socks allowed for copious pedal perspiration. A shower after the EVA/Surface Excursion was a very welcome way to end the trial run.
http://w3.marsstuff.com/media/mdrs/fs05/images/crew45/c45d02eva07.jpg

Project Goals:
1. Create a realistic analogue simulation of a Mechanical Counter-Pressure (MCP) suit [first described by: Webb (1967, 1968); Annis & Webb (1971); Hargens et al. (1987); Aratow et al. (1993)] and currently being developed by F.A. Korona and D.L. Akin (at the University of Maryland) and Dava Newman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
2. Collect descriptive and subjective data from 1-2 users of the
MoonSkin MCP about comfort, utility of manual dexterity, and temperature of suit.

Suit Description
1. Body: Mens 3/2mm Tilos Titanium Skin Chest Full Suit Jumpsuit Wetsuit (Model #J3020, size 3XL)
2. Hood: Standard/Unisex 6/3 Scuba Diving, Snorkeling, Water Sports Hood w/Vent (Model #H6010BK, size XL)
3. Inner Footwear: NRS HydroSkin? Neoprene Socks (Black, Large, Item 722203)
4. Outer Footwear: La Sportiva Latok (TRK) Boots (US size 12)
5. Hydration: Camel Pack Rogue (70 oz/2 litres, Item 720121)
6. Protection: Black Diamond Bod Climbing Harness (size XL)
7. Helmet: BMW/Shoei RF-1000 Helmet (large, with clear visor)
8. Forced Air Apparatus/Ventilation: Coleman Quickpump Rechargeable (Model 5999C400)

Estimated Suit Cost
1. Body: $67.99 (purchased from all3sports.com)
2. Hood: $19.95 (purchased from all3sports.com)
3. Inner Footwear: $33.00 (purchased from REI)
4. Outer Footwear: 250.00 (purchased from Campmor.com)
5. Hydration: $45.00 (purchased from REI)
6. Protection: $60.00 (purchased from Black Diamond)
7. Helmet: (borrowed) estimated cost $200.00
8. Ventilation: $32.00 (purchased from Gart Sports)

Future Upgrades
1. Helmet: Reevu Rear-view mirro helmet (http://www.reevu.com/)
2. Ventilation: 3MT Belt-Mounted Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) GVP-Series

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Log Book for February 27, 2006

by Moonbase Team Email

Log Book for February 27, 2006
Commander's Check-In
Peter Kokh Reporting

Projects underway! Today was our first full day. We are now settled in and got a start on several projects: the Human Factors project (William); the Space Frontier Diet simulation project (Laurel); Project MAST (Hugh); putting together our sponsors banner (Peter) and getting our Moon flag ready to put up tomorrow (Peter). Last night?s dinner, a vegetable curry with basmati rice, was a clear thumbs up winner, and will be the first entry in our Space Frontier Cookbook.

EVA: We had our first EVA today! William and Guido suited up today, William in a blue Mars skinsuit that he had made himself, and Guido in the standard EVA suit. Guido our journalist, is a professional and is posting radio and web reports daily to a number of media.

Crew Physical Status: One crew member has a bad cough, but otherwise we are all well and happy to be here.

Plans for Tomorrow: Tomorrow our ongoing projects will continue. Peter plans to begin assembling the arched top sections for the simulated pressurized tunnel to connect the GreenHab with the Hab. Getting beyond that depends on when Don can deliver the 40 PVC pressure pipes that we had on Big Blue before it died a noble death en route to the Hab from Salt Lake City on Saturday afternoon.

Miscellaneous: The sky was overcast last night at bedtime, but by 3 am every sky in the universe shown out the commander?s stateroom window. The commander resisted the temptation to share his excitement with the rest of the busily sleeping crew.

Maintenance: All utilities performed perfectly today, and that made Steven a happy camper.

Inventory: Plenty of food and other supplies. We did forget a few things in our shopping efforts, but with ingenuity, we?ll do just fine.

Support Requested: None.

Report Transmission Schedule:
1. Commander's Check-in, 19:00
2. Engineering Report, 19:30
3. EVA Report, 21:00
4. Science Report, 21:00
5. Journalist Report, 21:00
6. Photographs, 21:00
7. HSO Report, 21:00

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"Denver, we have a problem!" - Peter Kokh

by Moonbase Team Email

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"Denver, we have a problem!" Today was supposed to be the first full day of the first Moon Society crew ever at MDRS (temporarily renamed the Moon Desert Research Station). But in fact, only one crew member, coming in via Grand Junction, CO arrived yesterday. The five us driving south from Salt Lake City had a simulated pressurized rover malfunction. The Mars Society's trusty 1983 Ford Crew Cab pickup, despite obvious signs of mechanical aches and pains, pushed on valiantly. But then alas, our faithful steed took its last breath about half way between Price and Green River. We thank it for picking the one small cellphone hot spot along the way. We were able to call for help.

Several people passing by stopped to see if they could be of assistance. Final, Don Foutz, our fix-anything can-do agent in Hanksville, arrived. After trouble shooting battery cables, the oil system and a loose starter, we finally got the engine to start only to hear the characteristic racket of a bad rod. We waited a couple of hours more for a tow truck. The crew packed in Don's van and we followed the tow truck with Blue, finally arriving in Hanksville a bit past 9 pm. A command decision was made to spend the night at the Whispering Sands and get a good nights sleep before coming out this morning. The alternative would have been to transfer all the luggage and cargo and to arrive by midnight, maybe.

After morning showers for all and something to eat, Don drove us out to the Hab about 8 am for our briefing by Crew 44 and the handover of the Hab. We had arrived with minimal essentials, so while waiting for the rest of our luggage and cargo to arrive, we held short planning meetings, and took a tour of the facilities to acquaint first timers with everything. We didn't expect the cargo to arrive before late evening, but the departing crew pitched in to transfer it from Blue to a trailer, and it was delivered about 3:30 pm. Thanks to Danielle, John, Jonathan, and Lealem !!!!

We are all in good spirits. Tomorrow will be our first full day and we expect to get a start on our various projects. Meanwhile, for the balance of today, the order of business is to unpack, have a good meal, settle in, and relax.

Peter Kokh, Commander
Artemis Moonbase Sim 1
MDRS Crew 45
February 26,2006

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Pre-Mission Update from Hugh S. Gregory T-Minus 12 hours

by Moonbase Team Email

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Feb 24th, 2006 22:57MST
. . . . . . . this is Artemis Control.
We've just passed the T-minus 12 hours, and 5 minute mark in the countdown towards the departure of the Artemis One crew from the Selene Launching Complex aboard the BIg Blue space to luna transporter.

At this time Crew Scientist-Surveyor Hugh S. Gregory, reports a safe arrival at the Whispering Sands Motel Pressure Dome in Hanksville. His Earth to Moon transit aboard the Skyjumper "Anik 21" was uneventful and he was met at Grand Junction Spaceport by Don Foutz aboard his personal pressurised moon rover "da van". Hugh reports that going in by Grand Junction has many advantages over going in via the Selene Launching Complex, the two big advantages were, 1.) no rush hour traffic and 2.) a two hour drive versus a nearly 5 hours drive.

Mission Commander Kokh and Crew Nurse Fung-Schwarz completed most of the provision assembling today. Tomorrow they will greet the final arriving team members and execute a de-orbit burn on the lunar lander Big Blue to start their descent into the Artemis One landing site.

All systems on the Artemis One Hab are reported to be functioning nominally. Next report when events warrent it.
This is Artemis Control.. . . . .
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Pre-Mission Update from Hugh S. Gregory T-Minus 3 Days

by Moonbase Team Email

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Feb 22nd, 2006 00:02PST
. . . . . . this is Artemis Control at T-minus 3 days, 10 hours and 24 minutes until Descent Orbit Insertion commences for the Big Blue lunar (simulated) lander. At this time all crew members have reported in on their preparation for the first attempt in over 34 years to return a human presence (in simulation) to the lunar surface.

Mission Commander Peter Kokh reports that the plans for the construction of a tunnel from the Artemis One Lunar Habitat (actually the MDRS Habitat) to the GreenHAB grey water recycling greenhouse and farm are now complete and that the proper materials for this construction are awaiting collection at their various Depot's at the Selene Launching Complex in Utah (SLC aka Salt Lake City, Utah). This tunnel will be a perminent addition to the Mars Desert Research Station and wlll remain behind when the ascent stage of the Big Blue lunar lander/ rover lifts off on March 12 to return the Crew to SLC where they will change to their respective commercial Earth return transports.

Crew Scientist Leslie Wichman reports that her prepartions for her plans to upgrading the existing flow meters for the GreenHab water reclamation system to enable instrumented data output, as well as the addition of filters to allow the meters to function more consistently are proceeding on schedule. Leslie will also be installing and testing a "solar still" to try to harvest some of the GreenHab recycled greywater for drinking water purposes. She has also been corresponding with other crew members to figure out how to collect the crew activity and food consumption data she needs for one of her projects without impacting the already busy crew schedules. Finally, she reports that her recovery from a nasty bout with the flu is nearly complete and that she is on time and track for seperate arrival at the Artemis One landing site at approximately T plus 3 days and 2 hours into the Artemis One Moon Base simulation mission.

Telemetry at this time indicates all systems are nominal on the Big Blue lunar lander currently docked at the Comfort Inn portion of the Selene Launching Complex. Reports from the Engineering Desk indicate that the (simulated) nuclear power plant at MDRS failed to power up yesterday morning for a battery charging cycle on the MDRS Hab and current crew had to make a Rover EVA into Lowellville. There they requested the assistance of the Mars Society's local representitive and engineer to get the power plant affectionately known as Wendy fired up. Don Foutz made two EVA's to the lander site yesterday and latest telemetry indicates operations are once again nominal.

All of you back on Earth can observe the activities of the crew currently in residence at the MDRS hab by web cam. To do this point your web brouser to

http://freemars.org/mdrscam/

Here you will also be able to observe the activities of the Artemis One Moonbase (simulation) crew as they live and work on the analogue Moon at MDRS starting on Saturday February 25th.

Further reports will be transmitted as events warrant.
This is Artemis Control. . . .
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Pre-Mission Update from Hugh S. Gregory T-Minus 5 Days

by Moonbase Team Email

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Feb 19th, 2006 23:35PST
. . . . . this is Artemis Control.
We are now at the T-minus 5 days, 12 hours and 25 minutes until the Big Blue lander commences Powered Descent Initiation to ferry the Artemis One Crew to Hanksville Utah and the start of the Moon Society's first every Lunar Surface Excursion Simulation. At this time the team members are continuing their final preparations before launching off of Earth for their respective flights to SLC where Big Blue (our simulated Lunar Lander) awaits us.

William Fung-Schwarz, our crew RN began his mission preparation about a year ago...after his return from MDRS Crew 33. After a summer of data synthesis, literature review, contacting other human factors scientists, he was left with a 264-page draft of "the survey"...although the human factors survey is only one portion of the overall study (there are focus groups, activities, and interviews)...it is the central feature that the whole study rests upon. William has since put in about 4 months of revisions, additions, deletions, and a field trial...he submited the survey (and other study documents to the ethics committee at the University of Utah...called an "Institutional Review Board". This is a big step for a new investigator. The IRB was very friendly and helpful and he was awarded "approval" in about 3 weeks to continue. Currently he is now helping Laurel and Peter coordinate "cargo" requisition and purchasing for our mission as well as making some last minute modifications to the mechanical counter pressure (MoonSkin MCP) analogue suit that he will be trialing during our Moonbase mission.

Our Crew Engineer Steve Winikoff has been finalizing his studies on MDRS Engineering Systems and between this task and his regular day job, he has found time to research, design and impliement a web based "fill in the blanks" Crew Engineers daily report form. This is a long overdue improvement for documenting engineering activities at MDRS and FMARS and his efforts to standardise this reporting process is greatly appreciated by the Mars Society Engineering Team.

Ben Huset reports his pre-mission conditioning for the cold of the Lunar Nights is proceding well as is own astronomical observation schedule has him outside for many hours under the crisp, clear, sub-zero winter sky's. Ben is looking forward to further upgrading work on the MDRS web cam system and together with Hugh S. Gregory, will be tackling further upgrades and repairs to the Musk Observatory. Both Ben and Hugh are Astronomers on the Musk Observatory Team and Hugh is the Principle Investigator of Project MOSS, the Musk Observatory Supernova Search.

At this time all systems are Go on the Big Blue Lunar Transfer vehicle, currently docked at the Comfort Inn portion of the Selene Launching Complex awaiting our arrival and instruments show that systems on the Artemis Habitat are reported to be nominal with no major red flag events having occurred since the last telemetry session.

We will keep you posted as events unfold.
This is Artemis Control. . . . . . . .
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Pre-Mission Update from Hugh S. Gregory T-Minus 8 days

by Moonbase Team Email

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Feb 16th, 2006 23:12PST
. . . . . this is Artemis Control.
We are now at the T-minus 8 days, 12 hours and 48 minutes until the Big Blue lander undocks from the Selene Launching Complex to ferry the Moon Society's first ever Lunar Landing Simulation crew down the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, UTAH. Although individually scatter across the North American continent, crew members are continuing with their pre-flight preparations.

Our Miami, USA based German Radio Science Journalist Guido Meyer reports that he is pretty much done acquiring radio stations willing to air "The Martian (Lunar) Chronicles" ... has arranged the placement of 26 reports so far, each between 2minutes 30seconds and 30 minutes long. He has also filed at least one newspaper article. During this evenings comm's session with Artemis Control Guido confirmed the first in the radio series of reports will go to air next Friday while the crew is "in-transit to the Selene Launching Complex, Utah. It will be a kind of a preview of our mission, including soundbites from Rick Tumlinson ("The Space Frontier Foundation"), Edward Hudgins, Washington Director of the Objectivist Center and author of the book "Space: The Free-Market Frontier", Harrisson Schmitt, last man on the moon with "Apollo 17", including some german scientist.

Crew Scientist-Surveyor Hugh S. Gregory, the Principle Investigator for Project M.A.S.T. passed a major preparation mile stone today with the acquiring of a brand new Garmin Global Positioning System receiver which is absolutely critical for acquiring the final data needed to complete Project MAST. He will spend the next few days in the local lunar simulator, practicing the skills needed to use this new instrument during our Moon Mission Simulation.

At this time monitoring systems report that there is a possible minor water line leak somewhere external to the Artemis Habitat itself. Under the guidance of Paul Graham, the Mars Society's Engineering Team Coordinator, trouble shooting is underway to discover the source of the problem, so that it can be examined and a fix diagnosed. This anomaly will not adversely affect the deployment of the Artemis One in a little over eight days time.

Weather at the Moon Landing simulation site has been high winds for the past few days and for this weekend, a possibility of rain or even snow has been forecast. Next report as events warrant it.
This is Artemis Control. . . . . . . .
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Pre-Launch 8 Days 12 Hours

by Tom (admin) Email

. . . . . this is Artemis Control. We are now at the T-minus 8 days, 12 hours and 48 minutes until the Big Blue lander undocks from the Selene Launching Complex to ferry the Moon Society's first ever Lunar Landing Simulation crew down the Mars Desert Research Station in Hanksville, UTAH. Although individually scatter across the North American continent, crew members are continuing with their pre-flight preparations. Our Miami, USA based German Radio Science Journalist Guido Meyer reports that he is pretty much done acquiring radio stations willing to air "The Martian (Lunar) Chronicles" ... has arranged the placement of 26 reports so far, each between 2minutes 30seconds and 30 minutes long. He has also filed at least one newspaper article. During this evenings comm's session with Artemis Control Guido confirmed the first in the radio series of reports will go to air next Friday while the crew is "in-transit to the Selene Launching Complex, Utah. It will be a kind of a preview of our mission, including soundbites from Rick Tumlinson ("The Space Frontier Foundation"), Edward Hudgins, Washington Director of the Objectivist Center and author of the book "Space: The Free-Market Frontier", Harrisson Schmitt, last man on the moon with "Apollo 17", including some german scientist.

Crew Scientist-Surveyor Hugh S. Gregory, the Principle Investigator for Project M.A.S.T. passed a major preparation mile stone today with the acquiring of a brand new Garmin Global Positioning System receiver which is absolutely critical for acquiring the final data needed to complete Project MAST. He will spend the next few days in the local lunar simulator, practicing the skills needed to use this new instrument during our Moon Mission Simulation. At this time monitoring systems report that there is a possible minor water line leak somewhere external to the Artemis Habitat itself. Under the guidance of Paul Graham, the Mars Society's Engineering Team Coordinator, trouble shooting is underway to discover the source of the problem, so that it can be examined and a fix diagnosed. This anomaly will not adversely affect the deployment of the Artemis One in a little over eight days time. Weather at the Moon Landing simulation site has been high winds for the past few days and for this weekend, a possibility of rain or even snow has been forecast. Next report as events warrant it. This is Artemis Control. . . . . . . .

-- Hugh S. Gregory - Spaceflight Historian - Chief Documents Editor for MDRS and FMARS research stations - Commander Crew 35, Crew Scientist-Surveyor Crew 45

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About The Moon Society Blog

by Moonbase Team Email

About our title: We are taking advantage of the first Moon Society Crew exercises at the Mars Desert Research Station, February 26-March 12th, 2006 to kick off our new Moon Society blog. We hope to keep the blog running as a permanent Moon Society outreach tool after this first "Artemis Moonbase Sim 1" mission is over. We think that the subtitle "Artemis Moonbase: Under Construction" is appropriate, not just for this mission, but for everything the Moon Society does: all its projects, its efforts at collaboration with other space advocacy organizations, any contests or competitions, etc. All our efforts make sense only if they help advance the day when the first private enterprise civilian outpost on the Moon becomes a reality. "Artemis Moonbase" is thus more than a trademark name for the project begun by The Lunar Resources Company and Artemis Society International. It becomes the code name for all our efforts to advance the day when human settlements will flourish on the Moon, developing and using local resources to support their own needs and as a basis of trade with Earth and low Earth orbit markets as well as emergent markets elsewhere in space.

In the Masthead above, the symbolism is clear. to the left is an image suggestive of the Mars Desert Research Station where we begin our efforts, here on Earth (left hemisphere of the globe at center) that will lead to the Moon (right half of globe at center) and a first moonbase module deployment. The graphic shown is artwork by Artemis Society and Moon Society founder Gregory R. Bennett in 1994 to suggest how a module would be landed vertically, and then swung down to rest on a horizontal frame. It does not matter if we end up doing things this way or not. Meanwhile, the shading in the background goes from light (we see the present more clearly) to the dark (the future is harder to discern) also symbolizing the bright skies of Earth, left, and the black skies of the Moon, right.

- 02-12-2006, Peter Kokh, President, The Moon Society.

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Pre-Launch Update from Hugh S. Gregory

by Moonbase Team Email

The following was written by Hugh S. Gregory of Vancouver, Canada who is flying on the Artemis One Expedition as Crew Scientist-Surveyor and PI of Project MAST. Hugh has also been invited by the Moon Society to undertake the tasking of Crew Trainer for which he is very well qualified with three previous MDRS trips under his belt.

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Feb 13th, 2006 21:53PST
. . . . . this is Artemis Control.
We are now at the T-minus 12 days and 13 hours until the Big Blue lander undocks from the Selene Launching Complex to commence the 5 hours orbit transfer down to a land mark locally known as The Whispering Sands where Powered Descent Initiation will occur. At this time the Crew's 2IC or XO Laurel Ladd, is finalising the dietary requirements of the Artemis One Crew.
This is very important for a Moon bound crew as everything must be hauled "up" from Earth with us. There is NO opportunity to go to the local green grocer or butcher when you are 240,000 miles from home and the same applies to crews who use the Mars Society's research stations. Everything must go in at the beginning. If you run out of something, well, lets just say the menu's will get very inventive.
This was my experience when I last visited as Commander of MDRS Crew 35 last year. We didn't starve and proper preplanning saw us run of of food on the last day as planned. At this time all systems on the Artemis Habitat are in nominal and telemetry shows no major system problems at this time. Further updates as events warrent.
This is Artemis Control. . . . . . . .
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Pre-Launch 12 Days 13 Hours

by Tom (admin) Email

. . . . . this is Artemis Control. We are now at the T-minus 12 daysand 13 hours until the Big Blue lander undocks from the SeleneLaunching Complex to commence the 5 hours orbit transfer down to a land mark locally known as The Whispering Sands where Powered Descent Initiation will occurr. At this time the Crew's 2IC or XO Laurel Ladd, is finalising the dietary requirements of the Artemis One Crew.

This is very important for a Moon bound crew as everything must be hauled "up" from Earth with us. There is NO opportunity to go to the local green grocer or butcher when you are 240,000 miles from home and the same applies to crews who use the Mars Society's research stations. Everything must go in at the beginning. If you run out of something, well, lets just say the menu's will get very inventive. This was my experience when I last visited as Commander of MDRS Crew 35 last year. We didn't starve and proper preplanning saw us run of of food on the last day as planned. At this time all systems on theArtemis Habitat are in nominal and telemetry shows no major systemproblems at this time. Further updates as events warrent. This isArtemis Control. . . . . . ..

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Post from crew member Hugh S. Gregory

by Moonbase Team Email

This is from crew member Hugh S. Gregory of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His position is Crew Scientist/Project MAST Surveyor.

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Feb 11th, 2006 00:02PST
..... this is Artemis Control. We are now at the T-minus 14 days and 12 hours mark of the count down to PDI, Powered Descent Initiation for the Big Blue lander and mankind's first return to the Moon (in simulation) after a 34 year absence. All system look good on the spacecraft at this time with surface exploration team members doing final gear selection and packing in preparation for their liftoff on The Moon Society's first every voyage of discovery and lunar surface exploration simulation. The liftoffs of individual crew members will be staggered depending on the booking made with various commercial ground to space services being utilized to bring the crew together at the Selene Launching Complex (SLC, Utah) at the T-minus One Day mark. Here they will board to the orbit to surface landing vehicle Big Blue which will ferry them down to the Artemis Habitat Lander in a little over 14 days from now. Further updates as events occur This is Artemis Control. ........
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by admin Email

The Moon Society Blog - Kicking off with the Artemis Moonbase Simulation One!

We will be posting pre-launch, daily and post-mission updates here.


The main website for the Artemis Moonbase Simulation One is here.

The Moonbase crew is headed by Expedition Leader Peter Kokh and includes: Laurel Ladd, Guido Meyer, Leslie Wickman, William Fung-Schwarz, Steven Winikoff, Ben Huset, Chip Proser, and Hugh S. Gregory. A crew biography is here.

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by scottyg Email

Posting from William Fung-Schwarz:

...I was looking at the hab this evening in the webcam, it was all bathed in the pale moonlight.

Please let me know if there are any changes to the main Artemis Moonbase Simulation website that you would like me to make (was2@utah.edu)(!)

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Pre-Launch T-Minus 14 Days 12 Hours

by Tom (admin) Email

..... this is Artemis Control. We are now at the T-minus 14 days and 12 hours mark of the count down to PDI, Powered Descent Initiation for the Big Blue lander and mankind's first return to the Moon (in simulation) after a 34 year absence. All system look good on the spacecraft at this time with surface exploration team members doing final gear selection and packing in preparation for their liftoff on The Moon Society's first every voyage of discovery and lunar surface exploration simulation. The liftoffs of individual crew members will be staggered depending on the booking made with various commercial ground to space services being utilized to bring the crew together at the Selene Launching Complex (SLC, Utah) at the T-minus One Day mark. Here they will board to the orbit to surface landing vehicle Big Blue which will ferry them down to the Artemis Habitat Lander in a little over 14 days from now. Further updates as events occur This is Artemis Control. ........

Note: Selene is the Greek word for The Moon, Roman Luna. SLC, of course, is also (and perhaps better) known as Salt Lake City. It is here that crew members come from the four corners of the globe, to ride together in the venerably ancient blue crew cab pickup, affectionately known as Big Blue. From SLC it is a 250 mile drive along and through the Wasatch Mountains, breathtakingly beautiful in its winter coat, and on through some awesome scenery down to Hanksville, in south central Utah.

Hugh's narrative shows how we get in the mood for our simulation by pretending SLC is our Launchpad, and big blue is our ferry, etc.

Peter Kokh, Mission Commander, MDRS Crew 45,

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