'Cosmic Burbujas' -Does it sound familiar? Maybe not; maybe to some quantum physicist like Dr.Sheldon Cooper it might make sense. Well, it’s an imaginary name I came up with that means ‘cosmic bubbles’, relating to the idea of the multi-universe theory. I gave this name to an alien object that was given to me last night to observe under the microscope and make notes to transmit back to Earth. Looking in through the lens of the microscope at the alien ‘plant’ was like looking into the dark skies through the lens of a telescope. It reminded me of Carl Sagan, and it is true when he said that the entire cosmos is also within us at the atomic level. It was incredible to see this similarity. Our crew-mates Josh and Chris were doing an experiment to see how crew members on Mars are capable of describing encounters with alien objects. Being an engineer and not much of a biologist I didn't know many of the scientific terms of biology. This is where the artistic side of me kicked in and I was able to blend science, engineering and art into one frame to describe what I saw. Later, they told me that we (Peter and I did the observations separately and compared notes) did a good job in describing the object. This was a thought provoking experiment, and made us realize how important it is to be cross-trained in various scientific arenas when you, and may be only a handful of humans are sent out to explore extra-terrestrial planets. I've spent the last week learning about the science of plants and helping my crew mate grow plants in Martian soil simulants, which is definitely something different than building rockets.
On the other hand, can you imagine being stranded on a mountain with no cell phones and your hiking buddy is not at your arms distance and you have an emergency? Oh, and what about being under water where you can’t talk and only use hand signals or tools you have to communicate? Now think of the same situation on Mars or Moon, in a pressurized spacesuit and to your bad luck you've lost communications over the radio. That would be a terrible day and a very plausible to occur. We simulated these scenarios and designed hand signaling protocols for EVA communication based on experience from aircraft, diving and mountaineering operations among the crew and standard published protocols. We practiced various scenarios on foot, driving Martian rovers (‘ATV’s in our case) and in conjunction with our little MACHO rover that has the capability to transmit video to the Capsule communicator. We will be using these in the coming week during our rescue operation EVAs along with a specially designed stretcher for emergency evacuation of injured crew members. Technologies for such things might seem to be straightforward, but in reality, it’s very hard to design and implement technologies specifically for human space applications- unless you get into the shoes of being in a spacesuit and realize the operational constraints.
While, during the day we got to peek through the microscope, as the skies darkened we eagerly moved into the observatory to look into the lens of the telescope to conduct our astronomy project. There we saw Jupiter, Mars and Sombrero Galaxy. I am still at awe with nature. Its beauty and perfection never cease to surprise me.
Kavya K.Manyapu
Crew Engineer
On the other hand, can you imagine being stranded on a mountain with no cell phones and your hiking buddy is not at your arms distance and you have an emergency? Oh, and what about being under water where you can’t talk and only use hand signals or tools you have to communicate? Now think of the same situation on Mars or Moon, in a pressurized spacesuit and to your bad luck you've lost communications over the radio. That would be a terrible day and a very plausible to occur. We simulated these scenarios and designed hand signaling protocols for EVA communication based on experience from aircraft, diving and mountaineering operations among the crew and standard published protocols. We practiced various scenarios on foot, driving Martian rovers (‘ATV’s in our case) and in conjunction with our little MACHO rover that has the capability to transmit video to the Capsule communicator. We will be using these in the coming week during our rescue operation EVAs along with a specially designed stretcher for emergency evacuation of injured crew members. Technologies for such things might seem to be straightforward, but in reality, it’s very hard to design and implement technologies specifically for human space applications- unless you get into the shoes of being in a spacesuit and realize the operational constraints.
While, during the day we got to peek through the microscope, as the skies darkened we eagerly moved into the observatory to look into the lens of the telescope to conduct our astronomy project. There we saw Jupiter, Mars and Sombrero Galaxy. I am still at awe with nature. Its beauty and perfection never cease to surprise me.
Kavya K.Manyapu
Crew Engineer