Aquarius Undersea Laboratory » NEEMO 13

NEEMO 13 Topside Report – Splashup and Thanks!

Dominic Landucci — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:27:10 +0000

^{^{^{The 13th NEEMO mission}^{and 90th mission for Aquarius ended today with “splashup” at ~ 8:45 am, concluding another safe and successful mission. The crew is healthy, our science and exploration objectives were completed, and we are another step closer to successfully returning people to explore the lunar surface.}}}

^{^{Aquanauts ascending to the surface for “splashup”}}

^{^{Return to shore}}

^{^{A couple of days ago the NEEMO, ISS, and Shuttle crews were able to conduct a ship-to-ship video linkup. Former NEEMO 5 crewmember Clay Anderson is currently on the ISS, while on the Shuttle crew right now are two more NEEMO alumni: Commander Scott Kelly and Dr. Dave Williams. Going back to Expedition 13/Jeff Williams, we have what promises to be an unbroken string of NEEMO alumni on the ISS for as far out as crews are assigned, with NEEMO 5 alum Peggy Whitson up next, followed promptly by Dan Tani from NEEMO 2.}}^{^{We want to take this opportunity to thank our hosts here at the National Undersea Research Center. They have helped forge a solid partnership between NASA and NOAA to the benefit of both agencies. Their professionalism and commitment to safety is second to none. They take great care of the nation’s only undersea research facility, they keep a close eye on our crewmembers, and they take great care of our Topside team and visitors. So to the habitat technicians, Jim Buckley and Dewey Smith: a hearty “thank you” for teaching our crewmembers how to live as aquanauts. To Mark Hulsbeck and Ross Hein, thanks for the training you contributed prior to the mission. To Craig Cooper, thanks for managing this (and all) NEEMO mission so professionally. This is the only undersea research facility in the world because you guys ensure that it can be safe and operational every day of the year. And for the rest of the Aquarius staff who potted daily, manned the watchdesk 24/7, and did it all with a smile, we can’t thank you enough. Finally, special and sincere thanks to Tim Roberts for being our host and boat captain for the last 3 weeks. It wouldn’t have been possible without you all.}}^{^{We can’t properly thank everyone who had a hand in making this mission successful, but a few key entities should be noted:}}

The Constellation Program at NASA for the funding, a crewmember, and the relevant lunar architecture objectives to start testing

JSC’s Flight Crew Ops Directorate, for the funding, manpower, support, and part of the crew;

JSC’s Space and Life Sciences Directorate, along with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) for contributing the life sciences objectives

JSC’s Mission Ops Directorate, for the majority of the manpower that makes this both an environmental and a mission analog;

The topside team, for the long hours of focused dedication and attention to detail;

Dr. Mike Gernhardt, Kevin Rullman, Jennifer Jadwick, Nick Skytland and Mary Sue Bell for the preparatory work on so many of the exploration objectives we accomplished;

Previous NEEMO crews who helped pave the way; and

The families and friends of all of us who’ve been away so long making this mission a success. We appreciate your sacrifices!

Thanks for your support and following along!

Sayonara

- NEEMO 13 Topside Team out

NEEMO 13 – Mission Day 9 Journal

Dominic Landucci — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:19:42 +0000

“Decompression Day”

The last full day of a saturation dive – one in which you’ve absorbed too much nitrogen to return quickly to the surface – is a busy one, and ours was no exception. We started with some robotics work, using a small manipulator to handle coral samples much the same way we might handle rock samples on the moon.


Then we went to work preparing for splashup tomorrow. First we packed all our tools and possessions in giant steel pots for transfer to the surface. We were only allowed to keep what we absolutely needed for the last half day. At 16:00, we closed the habitat’s huge steel door, which has been open all mission. We started the 14-hour decompression with an hour of breathing pure oxygen from masks and then started slowly depressurizing the habitat (we simply opened a valve and connected ourselves to the atmosphere above the sea through a small tube). As I write this, Aquarius’ air pressure is equivalent to being 17 feet deep in sea water, and our bodies are slowly ‘blowing off’ excess nitrogen we built up living at a depth of 45 feet for nine days. Aquarius itself is still sitting in about 47 feet of sea water, so the pressure outside is currently one atmosphere greater than the pressure inside. That exerts over 20,000 pounds of force on our thick steel door!

By 6 a.m. tomorrow, we’ll be at surface pressure and will have lost enough of our excess nitrogen to safely swim to the surface without getting decompression sickness, or “the bends.” Of course, we’ll still be inside the habitat at the bottom of the ocean … So, we’ll quickly repressurize the habitat, open the door and swim to the surface using small scuba tanks, appropriately named “bail-out bottles.” Our repress and bailout will be the equivalent of a 15-minute scuba dive – one that ends with us aboard a boat and in the sunlight for the first time in 10 days! After that, we’re only a 40-minute ride from Key Largo and two days of post-dive observation.

We’ve had an amazing and educational mission, and we look forward to sharing it with all of you when we’re back on the surface.
- The crew of Aquarius

NEEMO 13 Topside Report – Mission Day 8

Dominic Landucci — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:02:34 +0000

In the last report we showed you some work going on near the habitat to prepare for work at a remote worksite. Today we’ll follow the crew out to their worksites and see what they accomplished. Also, we’ll look at some of the life sciences experiments that we’ve done on this mission.

You may remember seeing the picture from yesterday of the beginning stages of building Lunasea. The exploration analog is that since the moon is such a smaller planetary body than the earth, you don’t have to go as far away to go “over the horizon.” But since the radio waves used for communications are line of sight, once you’re over the horizon, you’re unable to communicate back to the base. On the moon that distance is only a few miles. If we ever want to explore very far beyond our base, we’ll have to erect communication towers to extend the range. Lunasea is an analog communication tower. It requires assembly, transportation, and final construction at the new location. So what’s the best way to accomplish this? Build it all near the base and be stuck having to transport a large tower? Take all the pieces to a remote location out of radio contact and build it all there? NASA has to make decisions on these and thousands of other similar “ops concept” questions as we define our lunar architecture. For NEEMO 13, we built the tower in modules. Each module was built near the base, and then they were transported – via a powered “rover” with a trailer – to their ultimate destination, where final assembly was accomplished. In the pictures below you see the transportation of a module, the beginnings of construction, and the ultimate result. In the middle picture, note the small remotely operated vehicle on the left side of the picture which is allowing the control center to follow along.

Transporting a Lunasea module

Erecting the base

Lunasea erected at the outskirts of the Carpenter Basin

The other exploration activity they performed today was dubbed “lunar” coral. We mentioned that they earlier surveyed the neighborhood and noted the coordinates of interesting coral heads, much as a lunar explorer would note and mark interesting geological formations. We analyzed the data and pictures here on Topside, and sent them back to 4 specific sites in order to do much more detailed analyses. In the picture below you see Satoshi and Nick getting their sampling and analyses equipment out to go to work. The navigation device is stored on the cart in the foreground. No coral was harmed during this activity!

Satoshi and Nick analyzing “lunar” coral

Finally, we did some data takes with an ingeneous little Portable Unit for Metabolic Analysis – which of course we call PUMA. The goal of this study is to measure and monitor crew metabolic rate changes using a prototype PUMA developed by the NASA Glenn Research Center. Exploration-based EVAs will require three independent measurements of metabolic rate, but currently there is no adequate way to directly measure metabolic rate. Therefore, this will be a key evaluation of the PUMA calculations as well as providing the opportunity to assess hardware form, fit and function and give feedback in these areas. We did this before and after EVAs, which allowed the device to show the change in metabolism after the EVA. Below you see a PUMA run in progress. The head on the table is where it’s stored when not in use!

A data run of the Portable Unit for Metabolic Analysis

This mission is quickly winding down. Stay tuned for decompression day, coming up soon!

- NEEMO 13 Topside Team

NEEMO 13 – Mission Day 7

Dominic Landucci — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:00:11 +0000

NEEMO gets wheels!
Today was the second day of lunar spacewalks and our first day of lunar construction. We started the day by deploying a mock solar array module and quickly followed up with final assembly of the Luna Sea tower. As we have learned our way around the work area and gotten used to our gear, we have gotten much more efficient in terms of what we can accomplish in a day. We took a few minutes admiring our tower before disassembling it and carting it back to Aquarius. While we were taking pictures, someone else showed up to admire our work as well!

Barracuda greets Nick atop Luna Sea

Construction in extreme environments is something we have been doing on the International Space Station for more than seven years. NASA has also flown the space shuttle on nearly 120 missions spanning more than 20 years. So while we have considerable experience working in weightlessness, we have hardly any experience building things in lunar or Martian gravity. Our work here on Aquarius is helping NASA develop the tools, techniques and even the vehicles that will help us build the first human outposts on the moon and Mars.
Just like the final Apollo missions, NEEMO 13 has been fortunate not to have to walk everywhere. Today was the first day we used our rover, which really came in handy when it came time to move the three large modules of our tower out to the construction site. Building an outpost on the moon will likely require this “moving truck” capability, since each lunar lander that brings more supplies will not want to land too close to an existing outpost. Our rover with a trailer is one way to do this, and it was a very unique experience driving across the floor of the ocean! It’s likely that we had almost as much fun as the astronauts of Apollo. Satoshi will have to ask Dr. Jack Schmitt someday!

- Written by the Aquanaut Crew

Satoshi on the rover

NEEMO 13 Topside Report – Mission Days 6 & 7

Dominic Landucci — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:40:36 +0000

The Exploration EVAs started in earnest on Saturday, Mission Day 6. Several of these tasks were done in close proximity to the habitat, as they configured their tools and evaluated their equipment.

One of the first tasks was another EVA Physiology, Systems and Performance (EPSP) Project study in support of tasks identified by the NASA Lunar Architecture Team (LAT-2) as likely lunar geological exploration tasks for future lunar missions. The tasks performed in a 1/6 gravity environment included soil, rake, and drive tube samples, and rock collection. Operations procedures from the Apollo missions were used and the crewmembers evaluated human factors and operational considerations of prototype geological tools and a sample carrying device. The crew also evaluated methods for single tool usage versus combining the tools into a single transportable package that could be deployed and utilized at a lunar worksite. Multiple types of data were collected for each task and will be compared to LAT-2 estimates and actual Apollo data. In addition, recommendations and feedback were given on the design of future lunar tools and sample carrying devices. In the picture below, look between Satoshi and Nick and you can see the tools attached to a gray board, which is attached to the structure (bell) in the background. Satoshi is recording data from one of his runs.

Satoshi and Nick on the “Apollo Tools” task

Another task they performed is called a “Solar Power Unit (SPU) deploy”. On the moon we expect to need a solar power collection device located away from the landing zone (so it doesn’t get blasted by sand and rocket exhaust) and perhaps even away from the habitat (for example, to improve the lighting.) But how would one actually take this SPU, deploy it remotely, and run the power back? The method we tried was to tow it behind the lunar rover on a trailer, with a simple reel mechanism to feed the power line out. In the pictures below you see Chris and Ricky laying out the power line while setting off to a distant location where the SPU will end up. This simple, manual reel mechanism has little possibility of failure or jamming.

Securing the cable and setting off

Top view of SPU deploy

One of the first things any newly arrived explorer would do upon arriving at their alien home would be to survey the local area. Here you see Nick conducting a field survey using an ingenious undersea navigation device. It allows him to mark the coordinates relative to the base of any features of interest or that may be worthy of closer examination. They did in fact mark multiple locations of “geological” interest (in this case, we used coral formations as a substitute for rock formations). After review by our team planetary scientist, Mary Sue Bell, a few sites were chosen which will be returned to later in order to conduct a more detailed in situ analysis. Satoshi is carrying a lightweight, portable cart which can hold the navigation device, light tools, cameras, etc. on their excursions.

Satoshi and Nick doing a field survey

Finally, a picture to give you a better appreciation for the beehive of activity that occurred on this excursion. In the background you see Aquarius, their home base, towering over the scene. At the far left is a remotely operated vehicle being driven by the Mission Control Team. It is mobile and provides excellent live camera views so that the control team has better situational awareness of on-going activities. Front left two aquanauts are assembling a tower, called Lunasea, which will be described in more detail in an upcoming report. Between them and Aquarius, another aquanaut is preparing the SPU for deploy. The bell, with the plexiglass bubble, has their tools mounted to it, and parts for the construction task sheltered below it. On the right, another aquanaut prepares the rover, which is about to be connected to the SPU trailer. As you can see, all 4 are busy working, and there’s a lot going on here… This is in keeping with our current thoughts at NASA that all 4 of our astronauts will do excursions together at the same time on the moon. … and in case you were wondering, these shots are not staged in any way. All of this activity is happening as planned per the timeline.

A busy day for NEEMO 13 at the Aquarius Reef Base

We’ll see you soon,

        - NEEMO 13 Topside Team

Mission Day 6 – Autonomous Operations Begin

Dominic Landucci — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:16:28 +0000

Today we began autonomous operations, as a lunar habitat on the moon or Mars will one day operate. We have been working with built-in communication delays and limited direction from the ground. We have been given several prioritized tasks to complete over the next few days but have been left to our own to develop and implement the plan to get the tasks done. We are learning very quickly about the challenges autonomy brings, as we are very used to relying on very smart people on the ground to help us solve our problems. Down here at 20 meters below sea level, we really feel like we are on our own.

Our day started out supporting science back on Earth. Satoshi had us all up bright and early, which had the entire crew anticipating a traditional, home-cooked Japanese breakfast. Much to our chagrin, the only thing he had prepared for us was a blood draw. Doctors back at Johnson Space Center are very interested in the similar blood changes that occur on orbit and during saturation diving.

On the moon and Mars, we will need to build structures to allow astronauts on foot or in rovers to explore farther and farther away from their habitat. To simulate this, one of our major objectives this week is to build a communications relay tower at a prescribed distance from Aquarius. Today we assembled several components of our tower (called “Luna Sea”) and surveyed a location that we believe fits all the criteria established by mission control. Tomorrow we will finish building the components of the tower and deliver them to our chosen construction site. We also did a field survey, marking points of interest than can be used to track the health of the reef around Aquarius. The lessons learned from this exercise will be used to develop similar geologic surveys that will take place on other planets.

Chris and Ricky begin construction on the “Luna Sea” communications tower

Nick surveys the ocean floor around Aquarius.

Tomorrow we’ll be “out the hatch” early, for another six-hour excursion on the ocean floor. Though it is always great to be working in the sea, tomorrow will be even more special as we’ll be the first NEEMO crew to drive a rover across Carpenter Basin.

Written by Aquanaut Crew

Mission Day 5 – Mission mid-point

Dominic Landucci — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:16:03 +0000

Today we started preparing for autonomous operations. This means all of our communications with “mission control” now have a built-in time delay of 20 minutes in each direction, as 20 minutes is the average delay in communication between Earth and Mars. This morning, in place of a morning teleconference with our mission control team, we watched a video they had ‘up-linked’ to us. In the evening, we videotaped our reply and sent it to them.
We also had the opportunity to talk with interested members of the media about our mission and the current station and shuttle missions. We talked about our status and how we are happy with the mission. We were also excited to share that we our growing our own basil on Aquarius in a growth chamber similar to one that was just delivered to Expedition 15 crew member Clay Anderson by the crew of Endeavour. Clay will also be trying to grow basil on the space station. Additionally, Endeavour will return to Earth carrying millions of basil seeds that will be available to students for use in their own experiments. We want students to think about how we can grow our own food in extreme environments and build growth chambers that will make true autonomy possible on the moon and Mars.

Chris and Ricky prepare our plant growth chamber. By day 5 of the mission, we have seedlings!

Our first task today was a pair of medical drills. We evaluated the status of the patients (ably played by Ricky and Chris), did cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and administered simulated medicine according to our procedures. If you were watching, we hope you saw the sign we posted on the main lock wall to say that these were just drills! The drill went well. We hope such emergencies do not happen in space, but it is nice to be prepared. On a six-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS), you can’t count on being lucky enough to have a doctor on board as we do here on Aquarius (JAXA astronaut Dr. Satoshi Furukawa), so we need to have procedures that any crew member can follow to stabilize and treat a critically ill patient.

Nick and Ricky work through a medical emergency drill on the habitat floor.

In the afternoon, we set up a small robotic manipulator for handling coral samples in the habitat. When we go to the moon and Mars we will need to find a way for astronauts to collect, catalogue, and analyze rock samples without contaminating them. The robotic arm we are using on Aquarius will help us provide data to those people developing the hardware and procedures for those future missions. Of course, all of us on Aquarius dream of conducting future robotic arm operations on the shuttle, ISS, or the moon. We also think a lot about the advances that will be made in robotics by the time students in school today will actually be using robots on Mars.

Nick and Chris set up a robotic arm for processing “lunar” samples

The other big task today was ‘potting’. Supplies come down to Aquarius in large steel cylinders called ‘pots’. Each watertight pot is packed at the surface and must be slowly equalized with the habitats atmosphere, which is at 2.5 times the pressure at sea level. The ‘topside’ team sent down the supplies we will need over the next four days for our autonomous exploration spacewalks – scuba gear, navigation equipment, and a special propeller-driven, wheeled rover that will help us get around the sea floor.
Tomorrow we begin our autonomous phase spacewalk plan. We will be surveying the area for an optimal site for building a lunar communication tower as well as doing a geology exercise using the beautiful coral surrounding Aquarius. We are hoping that through our work, we can help our partners at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitor the health of the reef around Aquarius while we develop procedures to perform geology excursions on the moon and Mars. Finally, we will also be testing Apollo-era tools (shovel, rake, etc.) for efficiency and ease of use.
We are really looking forward to our spacewalks over the next three days!

Written by Aquanaut Crew

Mission Day 4 – Our last day of hard-hat diving

Dominic Landucci — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:28:16 +0000

Today we had our last dives in the ‘special diving’ helmets. They are super, but they are not light at all. They weigh 27 pounds, which is not an issue in the water, but is when you are getting “hatted” (or, in other words, are having it put on your head). Having the opportunity to work in these helmets has been critical (and fun) as any spacesuit designed for the moon will require a helmet for head protection, visibility, and communication. The helmet provided us all three.

You have probably noticed that we have spent quite a bit of time working outside Aquarius over the past few days. Aquarius is a complicated machine, and the reason we are able to devote so much time to our exploration projects is that our two habitat technicians – Jim Buckley and Dewey Smith – are working very hard to keep her running. They are the first ones out of their bunks each morning, checking the health of Aquarius, and the last ones to turn in at night. In the interim, they spend the better part of the day on the incredible amount of maintenance and upkeep that one would expect when humans put a metal house in this highly corrosive marine environment. Aquarius reminds us a lot of the International Space Station – another complicated machine in another unforgiving environment.

Habitat technician Dewey Smith keeping our view of Carpenter Basin crystal clear.

Tomorrow is a turn-around day. We’ll have a lot of supplies sent down as we prepare for our four days of autonomy. All of our communication with “mission control” will have a built-in time delay of 20 minutes in both directions — 20 minutes is the average delay in communication we experience between Earth and Mars. Tomorrow also marks the halfway point of our mission. It’s hard to believe we’ll soon be on the downhill side, especially with the amount of work we have left to do.

Habitat technician Jim Buckley works on valves of Aquarius’ life support system.

It is great seeing the crew settle into a rhythm aboard Aquarius. Everyone is happy, healthy….and busy!

Written by Aquanaut Crew

Mission Day 3 – Exploration EVAs for Spacesuit Research

Dominic Landucci — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:28:03 +0000

Our third day on the surface of Carpenter Basin started with a planning conference with our NEEMO mission control. After going over the schedule for the day’s events, we went right to work preparing for the simulated spacewalks on the surface of the ocean floor. Once again, with the help of our habitat technicians Jim and Dewey, we prepared our helmets and suits for a morning “spacewalk”. Just like yesterday, two of us went out in the morning and the other two in the afternoon, each for around two or three hours. While one pair was outside, the other remained inside manning the radio, and reading instructions. As you may have seen on our webcam, some of the tasks were very challenging, but we still loved every minute of it. Later in the mission all four NASA crewmembers will go out at the same time on six-hour spacewalks, with no support from inside the habitat.
One of the striking things about this area is all of the interesting (and interested) wildlife around us. We’ll be walking across a patch of sand while a barracuda gazes from a few feet away, and after we leave, dozens of bottom-dwellers will feed on the microbes in the sand that we just kicked up. After a day of such bizarre and beautiful sights, we cannot help but think about the bizarre and beautiful discoveries we may someday make on other planets.

Ricky Arnold catches his breath underneath Aquarius

Apart from the spacewalks, back in Aquarius we had a very special day. From the bunkroom we watched as Shuttle Endeavour launch to the International Space Station. We feel very much a part of what is going on in space right now. Not only is there the common bond of NEEMO aquanauts on each of these three missions, but a goal of each mission is to bring the benefits of spaceflight into the classroom – especially since our future programs will need the generation of students who are in our classrooms today.

The NEEMO 13 crew watching the launch of Endeavour from the Aquarius bunkroom

Our thoughts are with the crewmembers of Endeavour and ISS for a successful launch and a great mission in the coming two weeks. It was an inspirational sight to see from the ocean floor!

Written by Aquanaut Crew

Mission Day 2 – Exploration EVAs

Dominic Landucci — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 01:27:18 +0000

Our first breakfast on the reef was followed by our first heavy work of the mission: a set of two ‘spacewalks’ that took up most of our day. First out of the ‘airlock’ were Nick and Satoshi, who spent about three hours running an obstacle course of lunar activities on the sea floor: running, walking, picking up rocks, climbing. For each run around the course we wore a large metal backpack that allowed support divers to adjust our centers of gravity to mimic one of several proposed spacesuit designs. In the afternoon, Ricky and Chris performed a similar space walk, wearing a diver’s weight suit, which allowed their weights to be adjusted to change their traction and locomotion. As each pair went outside, the remaining pair played the role of ‘mission control’ from inside the habitat – a role which Houston will not be able to play easily when we’re on Mars – the communications time delay will be too long for two-way radio from Earth.

Satoshi Furukawa climbs the habitat’s ladder in his lunar suit simulator

Today was a day of firsts for us as a crew, and none was more significant than the end of our first night sleeping on the reef. The confined quarters of Aquarius (no more than two people can stand in the bunk room at once!) are an excellent preparation for life aboard any spacecraft – past, present or future.

Chris, Ricky, and Nick wait for their ear-drops to take effect after a hard day of diving

And at 10:19 a.m. Eastern time, Ricky, Satoshi and Chris officially became aquanauts, having spent a full 24 hours underwater! Nick hopes he has retained his aquanaut status from 2003.
Good night from Aquarius and the NEEMO 13 crew!