Today, Mission Day 10, while performing the portable ultrasound simulation experiment in the bunkroom (more in a minute), I glanced out the viewport just in time to see what I estimated to be an 8-9 foot hammerhead shark gliding within 10 feet of the Aquarius Habitat! No joke…!!! The first thing that came to mind was, “…Man, am I ever glad I’m inside….” The second thing was the ‘Shark rule’ of the mission: You don’t need to out swim the shark, you just need to out swim Garrett! The third pressing item was, “…Why are we doing this???” Well the answer to that question came directly from the ultrasound experiment.
The ultrasound “experiment” was actually a simulation. Emma was the “injured” crew member; experiencing symptoms for a possible kidney stone. Of course this is serious, and in a real situation, on orbit or undersea, options are limited.
Using a portable ultrasound machine and the habitat’s teleconferencing capability, we “tied in” with doctors back in Houston. With Clay and Garrett operating the ultrasound while listening to the doctor over the conference line, he directed us as to how to “drive” the probe to give him the views he needed to make a diagnosis. Fortunately, even with Garrett and me at the controls, the Dr. deemed that Emma was going to be okay!
The principle reason for this test was to see if this portable device would be suitable for use on a spaceflight. We think it will work beautifully. However, this is still too narrow of a scope. What is remarkable is that we are also providing valuable evaluation data for its use in other scenarios. Consider the ability to use it in a remote jungle in South America or a desert in Africa. Just think of it…tele-medicine; performing an ultrasound remotely to help determine the health of a child or the status of someone’s kidney. Without the need for the huge cost of a hospital…or a staff of doctors and nurses. This is real. This is the stuff that was considered “futuristic” just a decade ago. And here we are, fortunate enough to be contributing.
When I speak to people around the country, I always point out the benefits the public receives from space exploration and its associated research programs. But to date, I never really had direct participation. I do now…and I am very proud.
Ever heard of Stephanocoenia Michelini or Siderastrea Siderea? How about Porites Astreiodes, Montastaea Cavernosa, or Agarcia Agaticites? Sound alien to you? Well these are all types of coral that our NEEMO 5 Crew is working vigorously to measure, photograph, and document. Essentially, basic scientific data collection and field work.
The crew have become proxy scientists for the National Undersea Research Center’s Dr. Steven Miller in the realm of coral science. This week the crew has begun embarking on 4 coral science dives including a 5 hour and 33 minute dive yesterday. This dive was the longest dive that has been done by any of our NEEMO crews. During these dives, the aquanauts use transect lines to cordon off an area in which they will work. Within that area they then select the largest corals to study. After selecting them, they measure the coral and record this data. At this point, the aquanauts then make an evaluation of the coral that they are studying and estimate the percent living vs. dead coral on each colony and distinguish recent dead from long dead coral. In addition to the written data, the crew also document the coral via video. This field research, coupled with the dynamic underwater environment, creates a challenging task for our aquanauts and allows them to demonstrate and utilize their diving and scientific skills.
We hope that these dives provide NOAA with data that presents an overview of the health of various areas of the reef. Our data from this study will be compared to long term research at the site to evaluate the overall condition of the coral reef. Alarmingly, data has revealed that only 7.3% of the coral reef in the Florida Keys is living. While our contribution to this study may be a small one, we are proud of the relationship that has developed between NASA and NOAA through this and the previous NASA NEEMO missions.
Another article has just been written on astronomy.com
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Six consecutive hours outside the habitat, performing coral science. The longest excursion in NEEMO history. The longest time I have spent breathing only through my mouth, except for that time my college roommate decided to stop taking showers to conserve water.
I had never gone SCUBA diving for much more than an hour at a time before. This was a whole new experience.
It starts with some anxiety. How long will it be until lunch? But anxiety soon fades into new aquatic insights, like observing how trumpetfish turn vertical to hide in a patch of soft coral and how a lobster will put its feelers all over your head if you get face to face with him.
Those insights peak after the third hour. Most of the rest of the dive was filled with thoughts like “Hmmm… that rock really looks like Jabba the Hutt” and “How long will it be until lunch?”
My main job was identifying the coral that we would be sampling and laying down lines of cord to mark the sampling areas. My other job was holding up the letters and numbers that identified each coral to the camera. I refer to this second job as my game show hostess job, minus the grace, poise and wardrobe, of course. In all black and masked, I had all the pulchritude of Darth Vader or Zorro. It is left to the reader to decide which metaphor (good or evil) works for you.
Before we knew it, six hours had passed. I never knew that dehydrated reconstituted irradiated chicken teriyaki could taste so darn good.
WOW! What a day! Mission day ten is usually the day we return to the surface, so to still be here tonight is a great feeling. Since this is a NASA mission we had a special treat today. We participated in a live video link up with the International Space Station. What a feeling… sitting in the world’s only seafloor habitat, talking to the world’s only space station. It was great! Living under the sea is very cool, but “flying across the room” looked even cooler.
Currently living on the space station are astronaut Ed Lu and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. Listening to Clay speak in Russian to Yuri was very impressive. Yuri played a song on his keyboard for us and we shared our “love” of space food with Ed. Part of our current “space simulation” mission requires us to eat only the same type of food as what is available to those guys. As I told my nephew Austin; “when it’s the ONLY food you have , it starts to taste better”.
Linking up with the space station, along with hearing Peggy’s first hand accounts of living up there for six months, creates a new task for my “to do” list… become an astronaut! Although my current path through life is not leading me in that direction, it is an honor to live underwater with people who have been there and those who are headed there.
Although Garrett & Clay have not flown yet, let me assure you, the have “the right stuff”! I look forward to hearing “we’ve be assigned a flight” from them. We can’t forget about my fellow habitat technician Ryan Snow, who also has “the right stuff”. Although he hasn’t applied to the astronaut office yet, I’ve got a hunch we’ll see him orbiting the earth someday too!
When I took for this job two and a half years ago I never thought I would be living underwater with astronauts. So I’m glad I didn’t stop applying for the job, even after receiving my second “we’ve chosen someone else” letter. Staying determined in my quest is what got me sitting here in the position to be writing this journal. After some of the astronauts told me it took up to ten years of applying for them to be selected , one point became very clear to me… if you’re determined to achieve a goal , NEVER give up trying, no matter what the obstacles are!
Good night from the bottom of conch reef!
Today was a great day. Lots of hard work, both in and outside the habitat. We started a new “spacewalk/SCUBA” activity called coral science. We are helping oceanographers/scientists by evaluating the coral of the reefs in the Florida Keys near Aquarius. Our task is to find representative coral, measure it, videotape it and then estimate the percentage of the coral that is dead or dying. Sounds simple enough, but do you know how much coral there is in the Keys? Lots more than there is in Nebraska!
There was a bit of current out there today which made our 4-hour dive a bit more difficult than usual. So, we were pooped out after that one. A hard swimming workout like that usually means FOOD…and some more science inside the habitat, including Doppler, acoustic measurements, wound photography (ouch…I have contributed mightily here!) and exercise physiology.
So, what is in a name? I stated in an earlier journal that our crew has really bonded. So much so that we all have “call signs” or nicknames. Call signs are a tradition…I guess started in the military, whereby a person does something (not always positive) and gets “stuck” with the call sign. There are some strict “rules” involved:
- You can’t give yourself a call sign.
- If you hate your call sign, and people know you hate it, it will ALWAYS be your call sign.
- Call signs may change as a function of your “status” or endeavors.
- Call signs of more than two syllables are frowned upon and are not often successful (they don’t stick). Consider some examples.
“AccidentlyPinchedbyCaribbeanSpinyLobster” is not a good call sign (Rule 4), but “Pinch” or “Spiny” are fine by themselves. Also, with a bit of refinement to the art, we may arrive at “Pin” or “Spine”; both excellent call signs (again, see Rule 4). If you accidentally injure yourself during work say, by cutting your thumb, possible call signs would be “Thumb” or maybe “Slice.”
Peggy Whitson, our commander, is call sign “Boss.” Simple, straightforward and to the point. It carries the moment; she is, after all the leader of our mission.
Dr. Emma Hwang, our science lead is an excellent example of Call Sign Rule 3. When she draws our blood for our nutritional study experiment, she is “Vampire.” Pre-flight, she earned the moniker “Fleece” as she coordinated the procurement of our mission fleece jackets.
Dr. Garrett Reisman, my astronaut classmate of 1998, is “Chia.” Yes, as in “chia pet.” This label resulted from our pre-mission training on the Doppler experiment. This is the one that requires us all to attach a special probe to our chests…complete with tape whose adhesive levels border on those of electromagnetism or denture adhesive. Let’s just say that when Garrett first tried to remove said tape, we all saw the result and the call sign “Chia” stuck just as hard as the tape did.
And what about me…call sign “George?” Well, suffice it to say that I had a hand in the three previously mentioned nicknames, so turnabout was indeed fair play. Peggy and Emma nailed me to the wall in the very same Doppler training session. You see, I had trouble getting a viable pulmonary artery signal on the device due to my “massive” (my opinion, not necessarily theirs) pectoral muscles. Maybe it wasn’t really muscle, but whatever it was, it was stopping the signal. So there it was that I became “George of the Jungle,” or “George”, for short.
James “Base” Talacek, derives his call sign from an activity that reflects his “thrill seeking” persona…he parachute jumps off of big structures; bridges, buildings, etc. Ryan “Candyman” Snow, while in slight violation of Rule 4 (exceptions may be made, depending on the effectiveness, applicability and longevity of the call sign), earns his tag by being the first to reach (frequently!) for the candy stowage bag.
So there you have it; Boss, Fleece, Chia, Candyman, Base and George. All living together for 14 days in an underwater habitat. What’s that you say…we’re NEEMO 5? I like that call sign best of all.