MARS BLOG

Mission Day: 08

12/8/2019

Day Eight

CBHMM1. Mission Complete.

The 8th day of our mission and we are done our research. We are waiting for our “shuttle” back to “earth” which will be here around noon. Until then, we are still in simulation. Our first duty today is to clean the Hab for the next crew – there is a team coming in from the European Space Agency for a two week mission right after us. Indeed, our last official duty before we leave will be to train the ESA crew on how to use the Hab – how the systems work, how to go on EVA, etc.

Our research has been a complete success. Our brain performance assessment works as we thought it would. Over the course of one week in the Hab, we saw very clear trends each day showing a sharp decrease in brain performance and an acute increase in cognitive fatigue from the time we woke up till the time we went to bed. In other words, the stress and pace of life in the Hab took its toll each day and we were experiencing acute cognitive fatigue by the time we went to bed. In practical terms, this has been quite obvious to us. For instance, last night while we were trying to play cards during our down time before bed all of us made numerous dumb mistakes that were the tells of cognitive fatigue. If you look at the accompanying figure, you see a very obvious decrease in brain performance each day and the corresponding increases in cognitive fatigue. Interestingly, a trend emerged over the course of the week and we saw a slow decline in brain performance over our seven days in the Hab (and a slow increase in over cognitive fatigue). This makes sense, given that we have just worked seven 12 to 16 hour days in a row. And we are exhausted. The crew is definitely in need of some down time after the frenetic pace of a week with a high operational pace.

Our time in the Hab has been the coolest thing I have ever done and it is amazing to think that this crew, and our research, is playing a small but important part in the human effort to explore outer space. Additionally, the potential impact of our technology in areas such as performance monitoring and optimization, concussion assessment, tracking of cognitive impairments such as dementia, and of course fatigue monitoring is immeasurable.

Signing off,

O. Krigolson

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Mission Day: 07

12/8/2019

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Day Seven

I am being to truly appreciate just how hard it will be to put someone on the surface of Mars and keep them alive. Or even how hard it was to get someone to the moon.

This morning we work up to 5% charge in the batteries and shortly after officially browned out.

For the crew of CBHMM1 this was not a massive problem as we simply waited until the backup generator kicked in. When the sun began to charge the batteries around 8:00am our lives went back to normal. But I could not help but thinking on the surface of Mars we would have all been dead.

We sent out to EVAs this morning. The first was a quick trip to Caradhras by Gord and Tom to place a surprise in the tube for the next crew. Caradhras was our first tube and the first tube of most crews by tradition. The “surprise” is a memory card on which crews leave notes, images, and videos for crews to find. In that spirit, last night we pieced together a video of our time here at HISEAS and this morning Gord and Tom returned the memory card for the next crew to find.

The second EVA of the morning was a science mission for NASA Goddard. Chad, Kent, Michaela, and I went to the Kessel Lava Tubes to map the tube for NASA and to study and determine whether the growth in the tube is bio or geo chemical in nature. The progress was slow but I have to admit it was cool to be working on another NASA project.

This afternoon we launched a third EVA led by Chad so Gord and Tom could see the Kessel Lava Tubes as they were the longest we had crawled through to date.

This evening we have one more brain health and performance assessment then our study will be done. I have reviewed our findings multiple times now and all I can say is we can do it – we can accurately track brain health and performance. In this case, as we have shown here – we can track changes in cognitive fatigue with precisions.

The possibilities are endless – imagine testing doctors before they operate, pilots before they fly, even businessmen before they make crucial decisions. We can do this now – the science is solid and clear.

I will post full summary results tomorrow as we need the data from our last session tonight as the last data point.

We are both excited and sad that our mission is coming to an end. It will be great to get back to the real world and our loved ones. At the same time, being a part of HISEAS and the research we have done has definitely been a high point in our lives and a truly amazing experience.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission Day: 06

12/7/2019

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Day Six

You might be wondering about the format of these entries – one of our duties each day is to write crew reports. My job is to write the journalist report which is why this entry looks like, well, a report. Other reports that have to be written here in the Hab include the Science Report, the Engineering Report, EVA Reports, and the Daily Mission Report. As I have stated many times, our days are spent doing a wide range of activities to simulate life in a space station on Mars.

As I noted yesterday, life was starting to look like a science fiction movie and the theme at 6am was Ice Station Zebra. Our heater remain out overnight so when we woke up it was quite cold in the Hab, a balmy 4 degrees Celsius when we crawled out of bed. To make matters worse, the Hab was in a cloud bank with rain for most of the day so our solar array was not generating a lot of power. To add to our problems, the backup power generator failed to start which meant we started the day with only 15% in the batteries and with no way to charge them. Luckily, a call to CAPCOM prompted the release of a “repair drone” so we had to close the windows and wait for repairs to be done. I am happy to report as of 19:00 the heater is running again and the generator is providing power. We are hoping for a warmer sunny day tomorrow to return to solar power.

So what did we do all day?

Well, we woke up to presents from Crew Comander Michaela – she is from Slovakia and today is St. Nicholas Day for her so we woke up to festive clothing and freeze dried ice cream bars!

As the principle mission for the crew of CBHMM1 was our brain health and performance assessment we continued to do our tests and analyze our data. I have talked a lot about Cognitive Fatigue but tonight I will talk about a few of the other things we are measuring. Take a look at the figure below.

The trend within a day I have discussed before – an decrease in brain performance or as shown here an increase in cognitive fatigue. In other words, we experience low cognitive fatigue in the morning, and then an increase at midday, and a further increase at our evening assessment.

We are also examining other factors as noted – here you see that as the day progresses we need to exert increased mental effort. As noted in previous entries our assessment centres around playing cognitive games on an iPad that are relatively easy to play. However, as the day progresses we need to exert more cognitive effort to play these same games. In a related fashion, the games are harder as the day progresses because our ability to pay attention decreases. So, even though we are exerting mental effort, we are not able to pay attention as well as we can in the morning.

It is becoming more apparent to me that our brain health and performance assessment could have an impact a very wide range of areas.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission Day: 05

12/6/2019

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Day Five

Well, it is starting to seem more and more like a science fiction movie about outer space here... we are still without our heating system and we are cold.

In spite of this, the crew of CBHMM1 is in good spirits. This morning Gord, Kent, and Tom went to explore the Sarlacc Lava Tube while Olav, Chad, and Crew Commander Michaela stayed in the habitat.

On days in which we do not do out on EVAs the crew needs to exercise at least one hour a day to simulate the exercise needed to maintain muscle mass on Mars. As there is no gym in the Hab, the crew is forced to be creative when working out. With that said, we do have a treadmill and an exercise bike but the weight lifting equipment is lacking just a bit! With that said, Chad has managed to develop a Mars workout routine that he claims will keep anyone in shape.

In terms of our primary research mission, we continue to mine the data we are collecting and our results look promising. As noted yesterday, we do not seem to be experiencing cognitive fatigue between days which makes sense but we do seem to have increasing fatigue during the day – our brain health scores drop from the morning testing session to the midday session, and they drop again to the evening session. This makes quite a bit of sense given that we are working 12+ hour days!

Essentially, what we have developed at SUVA Technologies and in the Krigolson Lab are algorithms that combine the various aspects of brain function to predict cognitive states such as fatigue. So, in the figure that goes with this plot you see just this – a unique combination of brain health and performance scores to predict cognitive fatigue. And it works!

Back to the hab... we spent the afternoon in as the weather has turned against us a bit and to add to the fun of no heat, we are low on power as it was overcast most of the day. A cold dark night on Mars lies ahead.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission Day: 04

12/5/2019

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Day Four

Today it was business as usual in the Hab. What that translates to is we were all up early to do our first brain health and performance assessment – most of us wake up between 6 and 6:30 am. Breakfast was set as usual for 8am and we have the usual, a choice of oatmeal or smoothies. While that might sound quite appealing do not forget that all of our food is freeze dried so... let’s just say food here is an energy source and not something one consumes for enjoyment.

The morning EVA team of Olav, Chad, Kent, and Michaela was getting ready for a trip out to collect photographs and samples for a NASA Goddard project in a nearby Lava Tube when the Hab alarm went off!

An email told us that a solar flare had been detected and that it was imperative that we get inside a lava tube as soon as possible for protection. Now, before anyone gets concerned this was a training activity which was a part of the simulation. Some of us suspect that maybe, just maybe, a maintenance crew needed to fix some of the Hab systems and we needed to be off the premises for that.

In any event, the whole crew make the trek to the Caradras Lava Tube and descended inside to wait out the solar flare. We did a bit of exploring but by luck we had brought the chocolate oat meal bars that we had made the day before and one of our iPads had a copy of Star Wars on it so there we were... our research crew, in a lava tube cave, watching Star Wars, in space suits. Now that, I believe, is a fairly unique experience.

After the warning was over, we made the trek back to the Hab and carried on with our regular scientific duties. In our case, this mean analysis of our EEG brain health and performance data. The big goal for today was to do a preliminary analysis of the entire groups data – we hope to have results posted for tomorrow. As the results are literally being processed now we do know that as a group we have replicated the SUVA dataset, so more validation that PEER and MUSE work to collect ERP data that can be analyzed to study brain health and performance!

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission Day: 03

12/4/2019

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Day Three.

Today was again a day of EVAs and exploration of the surrounding area. The morning EVA team included the Crew Commander, Chad, Gord, and Tom. They went and explored the Sarlac Pits and explored the lava tubes there. In the afternoon, Olav and Kent went out to AT1, AT2, and AT3 and explored those lava tubes.

Our principle focus however for the CBHMM1 team is our study of cognitive fatigue. Included again below are my brain health and performance scores and again you can see they are trending down.

How can we be fatigued already? Quite simply, we had a long trip out and went straight into two intense days of training. After that, the mission began and as we have found life in the habitat is stressful and busy. There is literally always something to do – whether it is equipment checks, preparing for the next EVA, preparing meals, etc. And of course, the neuroscience of it all.

As noted, our tech seems to be working quite well. We are able to do a full brain health and performance assessment in under 20 minutes (the fatigue assessment by itself takes only 5 minutes).

Given the mission so far, I am more convinced than ever of the use of this type of technology for space exploration. While we are in simulation, there have been any number of “accidents” already – simple mistakes that have technically broken the simulation that would have killed one or all of us in a real environment. As such, it will be imperative during space exploration to have a capability to peer into the human brain and see what is going on.

And that is literally what our tech does – it allows us to peer inside the brain and see that is happening.

The MUSE EEG headband is proving to be as reliable as ever. Within seconds we have quality EEG streaming into our iPads. And the PEER app by Suva Technologies is working exactly as expected. The brain performance tests are quick and easy and the onboard data analysis is proving to be as accurate as offline analysis as expected.

Tomorrow brings a new day and more exploration. Time is flying by, but all of the crew are motivated and excited.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission Day: 02

12/3/2019

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Day Two.

Well, the big event today was our first two EVAs – Extra Vehicular Activity. The morning crew to go out was Olav, Kent, and Chad with Crew Commander Michaela. Our goal was twofold – to learn how the space suits actually worked and how to use them and to also explore a nearby lava tube. I think it is important to appreciate that on a real trip to Mars (or the Moon) geology will be of prime importance as it will be necessary to find fuel, etc to prolong a colonization mission. For instance, if you could find the proverbial water on Mars you would not have to bring as much with you – at least in principle.

The first EVA was a success but the team quickly realized how hard it is to walk across A’a lava – it is very broken, gives away, and just for fun quite sharp. With that said, we made it to our goal and explored down into a lava tube – BEYOND COOL! Lava tubes are created when the outer layer of a lava flow cools and the inner layer keeps moving leaving a, well, a tube.

Anyways, we got down into the tube and explored. Of interest geologically is the growth within the lava tubes – colloquially termed “space snow” but no one knows why it grows there. We made it quite far down the tube with Kent and Chad going on a crawl to reach an alternative exit.

On the way back we took advantage of the other type of lava, Pahoehoe, which is considerably more solid and thus easier to walk on. On the way back we saw the entrance to a massive lava tube that no one had been able to make it down to date. Future missions will try to explore but they will literally need to rappel in.

Lunch was a massive success today – the team that was not on EVA managed to whip up a pasta dish with free dried food that was impressive. I am not sure we will be opening a restaurant at the Hab anytime soon!

This afternoon the second crew (Gord, Tom) went on EVA and their goal was to test drive a new rover made by a Slovakian company. Obviously, future space missions will use this type of technology to do exploration of Mars and other solar bodies.

In terms of the scientific goals of CBHMM1, our tech is definitely tracking our brain health and performance! No major effects to be see, except if you look at the top score today after the morning EVA I was the most tired I have been all trip so far and this top line, PERCEPTION, is one that is sensitive to cognitive fatigue. So, based on that, everything seems to be working as planned. We will of course have to do a proper large scale analysis when we get back.

On a more human note, if I will, it is a strange experience to be locked in here and cutoff from the world. Currently, our internet is still down so communication has solely through a brief window in the evening. We all miss our loved ones already even though it has been just over a day.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report

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Mission day: 01

12/2/2019

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Our first day! Obviously, we were all excited to start our mission today. We were up early and got our scientific pretests done before breakfast. The HISEAS van came to take us to the habitat and you could tell by the banter that we were eager to get going. We got to HISEAS and unloaded our equipment and we got to spend our last bit of time before we closed the door to the airlock and started our mission.

Closing the door was a bit surreal. It is a simple barrier to the outside world but closing it means our mission has begun.

It is just a door, but we will only be opening it for the next week with space suits on for extra vehicular activities (EVAs). Our EVAs are scientific in nature – HISEAS teams explore the surrounding volcanic fields and lava tubes as a part of a geological / geographical survey much like astronauts would be doing on the surface of the moon or Mars.

Our first duty in the hab was to get settled in for the week and have lunch. Lunch was a bit of an adventure, Gord and Chad took the first go at freeze dried food and came up with something that approximated noodle soup. I would love to say it was Michelin restaurant ready but that would be a bit of a stretch. But, good on them for getting it done and we will all be taking turns cooking so we cannot really point fingers. A bit of casual fun, but not finger pointing!

After lunch we recorded our first in hab brain performance session – it is a bit tedious as we are collecting three experiments at the same time as opposed to simply doing the fatigue assessment, but we know it is the science that we are here to do. I wonder how my brain health and performance will change over the course of our week here. I guess that’s the point really. We will be publishing our results as we go, but we have to overcome a few technical difficulties first. Indeed, we never intended to publish our data this way so there is some analysis code to be written.

Our afternoon was spent getting familiar with the hab – there are duties that need to be done each day and these all end in reports that we need to write: engineering, science, journalist, and a daily overview.

We are lucky in that we have a crew commander from HISEAS with us – Michaela, to help us with the habitat. For longer duration missions the crew would have spent a lot more time training so we have to replace that by borrowing an experienced crew commander. With that said, we are all fairly sure that she is going to let us learn from our mistakes.

What else?

We drew straws and tomorrow our first EVA team will be Chad, Kent, and me. It will be cool to go outside but there is a lot of tech to learn about. More on that tomorrow.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some science and getting our exercise in, if we do not go on EVA we are expected to do one hour a day of physical activity. We have an elliptical, a tread mill, some weights and mat, and that’s about it. We will definitely be getting creative on that front.

Time to sign on and make dinner as I am the designated cook tonight.

Goodnight from Mars.

O. Krigolson

End of Report