MARS2013/TASMARS/EUROGEOMARS

Status: undergoing, 4Feb2013

The ANTIPODES experiment is a multi-mission communications experiment

  • testing the ability to establish contact between various Mission Control Centers, field crews and scientific backrooms and
  • gather lessons learned on the workflows necessary to enable human Mars missions to benefit from the support of external Mission Control (on Earth or Mars orbit) entities as well as parallel landing parties on Mars.

The rationale behind ANTIPODES is to demonstrate that missions operated by international organizations, different working cultures as well as inhomogenous technical infrastructures can mutually assist during planetary surface missions.

Experiment Team
Gernot GroemerHaritina MogosanuDiego Urbina
Expedition Lead MARS2013
Austrian Space Forum
Flight Director TasMars
KiwiSpace Foundation
Commander MDRS
Eurogeomars mission

Contact Details

www.oewf.org

Contact Details

www.kiwispace.org.nz/mars2013

Contact Details
Mission Teams

(to be confirmed by MARS2013 Flight planning and MDRS 123, 124, 125 CDR’s)

Syntax: “A” stands for Antipodes, 12X for the MDRS mission, the last digit for the type of experiment

e.g. A123-1stands for MDRS Crew 123 doing experiment ANTIPODES 1.

MARS2013

01-28Feb2013

  • Alexander Soucek Flight Director
  • Thomas Bartenstein IT (until 09Feb,
    when Harald Fuchs will return from the
    shakedown-crew in the field to the MSC/
    Innsbruck and take over the lead in the IT team at the MSC)
  • Alexander Karl, team lead flight planning.

MDRS 123

 26Jan-09Feb

  • Haritina Mogosanu, Mission Director
  • Elf Eldridge, Flight Director
  • Melanie Nefield, Crew

MDRS 124+125 EuroMoonMars

09-23Feb2013

CREW A,

  • Diego Urbina (VU), CDR
  • Audrey Bruneau (ENSC) Habitat engineer,
  • Dejan Zamurovic (TBC), geologist,    
  • Kent Nebergall, engineer XO  
  • Sonia Leimer, artist 
  • Tristan Holotnak, MD              
Schedule (Preliminary)

Date (Mars Time)

MSC Innsbruck

MDRS Utah

Morocco

MCC Wellington

02Feb2013

 

A123-1

19:00-20:00 CET 

A123-1

A123-1

A123-1

06Feb2013

 

A123-4

 

A123-4

  • starts 0600hrs with comms check
    MDRS-Wellington 
  • 063000hrs comms check PolAres
  • experiment commences at 0700 hrs

1500 hrs comms check

 

  • starts 0200hrs with comms check
    MDRS-Wellington 
  • 0230hrs comms check PolAres 
  • experiment commences at 0300 hrs

06Feb2013

A123-2

 

A123-2

A123-2

 

 

 

  • 1600 hrs comms check

A123-3

A123-3

 

A123-3

  •  

11Feb2013

 

Mars landing “Media Day”

09:00-12:00 CET

 

 

MCC Wellington participates
via Skype (Greeting message)

Description of the experiments


ANTIPODES 1TasMars2013 = Comms - check
MSC InnsbruckMDRS UtahField MoroccoMCC Wellington
2 February 2013, 1900 hrs2 February 2013, 1100 hrs2 February 2013, 1800 hrs3 February 2013, 0700 hrs
  • Having a broadband comm-check for everyone involved
  • Verification of telemetry streams, lightning conditions, sound quality and verification of procedure versions and availability of experiment hardware
  • The following connections are checked
    • Mission Control Wellington
    • MDRS
    • MDRS spacesuits (they do not have to be on EVA, can also happen in the suit room)
    • BASE (Morocco base station)
    • Aouda.X
    • Aouda.S
    • In particular, the communication between the MDRS EVA suits and the Aouda-suits shall be verified. In this case, a verbal account of a current activities/status could be given by each crew member.

Antipodes 1 experiment is now concluded.

ANTIPODES 2TasMars2013 (MCC/W directs Aouda.X, MSC-Innsbruck is “offline”)

MSC InnsbruckMDRS UtahField MoroccoMCC Wellington
8 February 2013, 1600 hrs8 February 2013, 0800 hrs8 February 2013, 1500 hrs9 February 2013, 0400 hrs
  1. t -1 hrs: establishing contact between MCC Wellington, MSC-Innsbruck, BASE & Aouda.X - verifying broadband access, go ahead from both Flight Directors. Announcing who is the suit tester for this EVA.
  2.  t -0: Upon BASE  "GO" suit commences experiment, MCC Wellington follows the procedures
  3.  t +10 min: loss of satellite signal, "no connection" between Aouda.X spacesuit and BASE, requesting hand-over
  4.  t +11 min: MCC/W gets full telemetry stream, has a few minutes to adjust and get ready: verify connection to SAFETY, BASE, MDRS
  5.  t +15 min: MCC/W takes over and continues experiment, e.g. sample site selection based upon video data
  6.  t +30 min: MCC/W concludes procedure, BASE resumes operation and continuous experiment.
  7.  t +45min experiment closure for MCC/W - opportunity for informal communication between all parties

BME @ BASE is monitoring at all times, OPS-lead, SAFETY and BME can interrupt and abort anytime.

Antipodes 2 experiment did not take place/ cancelled due to connexion issues.

ANTIPODES 3TasMars2013 (BASE directs MDRS-EVA)
MSC InnsbruckMDRS UtahField MoroccoMCC Wellington

8 February 2013, 1800 hrs

6 February 2013, 1000 hrs6 February 2013, 1700 hrs6 February 2013, 0600 hrs

Click here to see the Antipodes 3 Mission Log

  1. t -60 min: establishing contact between MCC Wellington, MDRS & BASE - verifying broadband access, go ahead from both Flight Directors. Announcing who is the suit tester for this EVA.
  2. t -0: Upon MCC/W "GO", MDRS crews commences experiment, BASE follows the procedures
  3. t +10 min: loss of satellite signal, "no connection" between MDRS and MCC/W, requesting hand-over to BASE by MDRS
  4. t +11 min: BASE monitors MDRS crew, has a few minutes to adjust and get ready: verify connection to MDRS
  5. t +15 min: BASE takes over and continues experiment, e.g. sample site selection based upon video data
  6. t +30 min: BASE concludes procedure, MCC/W or MDRS Habcom resumes operation and continuous experiment.
  7. t +45min experiment closure for BASE - opportunity for informal communication.

MCC/W monitors at all times and takes over if necessary.

Click here for the procedures list step by step instructions and material list.

TODO
  • TasMars MDRS123 & EurogeoMars MDRS124: Define, which experiment will be conducted at MDRS for this; 
  • send procedures to MSC & BASE (contact: Alexander, cc: Roberta and Thomas &
  • ask them to check it and relay that information to Morocco via satellite link.)

Antipodes 3 experiment is now concluded.

ANTIPODES 4TasMars2013 (MDRS or MCC directs Aouda.X) CLIFFBOT
MSC InnsbruckMDRS UtahField MoroccoMCC Wellington
6 February 2013, 1500 hrs6 February 2013, 0700 hrs8 February 2013, 1400 hrs9 February 2013, 0300 hrs

Click here to see the Antipodes 4 Mission Log

MDRS or MCC directs a CLIFBOTT experiment in Morocco.

  1. t -30 min: establishing contact between MCC Wellington, MDRS & Aouda.X & BASE - verifying broadband access, go ahead from both Flight Directors. Announcing who is the suit tester for this EVA.
  2. t -0: Upon BASE "GO", the Morocco crew continues/commences geosampling experiment, MDRS follows the procedures
  3. t +10 min: loss of satellite signal, "no connection" between Aouda.X and BASE, requesting hand-over to MDRS by Aouda.X
  4. t +11 min: MDRS monitors Aouda.X, has a few minutes to adjust and get ready: verify connection to Aouda.X
  5. t +15 min: MDRS takes over and continues experiment, e.g. sample site selection based upon video data from mission.oewf.org/telemetry
  6. t +30 min: MDRS concludes procedure, BASE resumes operation and continuous experiment.
  7. t +45min experiment closure for MDRS - opportunity for informal communication. CONTACTS established connection to MDRS for a skype telecom to discuss the first impressions and lessons learned.

Antipodes 4 experiment is now concluded.


Common Communication Basics

The radio language for Mumble/Plumble radios is based upon on communication rules commonly used in air traffic and emergency services. 

Call signs:
  • MDRS-Station: MDRS-HABCOM
  • EVA crew member @ MDRS: MDRS-ALPHA (BRAVO, CHARLY,... for additional analog astronauts?)
  • Mission Control Wellington: CAPCOM-WELLINGTON
  • Mission Support Innsbruck: CAPCOM-INNSBRUCK
  • EVA crew member @ Morocco: “X-Ray” for AOUDA.X / “Sierra” for AOUDA.S
  • Operator station at the Morocco field base: BASE
Common phrases used
  • ACK” = acknowledged (pronounced “Aye-See-Kay”)
  • Confirmed” = indicated the called party has understood and agrees
  • Affirmative” = yes: received, understood and agreed
  • Negative” = No
  • Copy” = confirmation, that the message was received and understood, it does not imply, that the receiver agrees to it.
  • Go ahead” = send you transmission
  • ETA” = Estimated Time of Arrival
  • Out” = This is the end of a transmission and no answer is required or expected.
  • Standby” = wait a minute, I am busy but I will come back to you.
Common call signs
  • BASE” = on-site Operations
  • Capcom” = Capsule Communicator in MCC
  • Flight” = Flight director
  • Safety” = Safety officer on-site
  • “BME” = Biomedical Engineer
EMERGENCIES

Whenever there is an emergency situation (danger of significant damage or loss of life or equipment) in a PolAres setting, the safety officer, the suit tester, or the flight director may declare a “CODE RED”. This is ONLY to be used for real emergencies, NEVER, EVER use it jokingly in everyday language. This code is reserved for real trouble only. (If the team trains on simulated emergencies, the phrase “CODE ORANGE” is being used).

In such a case, any experiment is aborted, the local crew takes over and assess the situation and report as soon as possible back to THEIR MCC or OPS. FLIGHT decides further steps.