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Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute) talks about the 2008 field season with the Haughton-Mars Project.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
Marcelo Vazquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason) talks about a number of research projects he was involved with this field season for the Haughton-Mars Project.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
If all goes well today the last of the HMP 2008 participants will leave Resolute today headed south to their various homes. It's been our longest and best field season ever with an incredible amount of research conducted in a short time. We still have many reports and images to post so keep coming by for a visit.
As one field season comes to an end, the cycle will begin shortly to prepare for next year. In the meantime there are a loose ends that need completing.
Thank you for tuning in to our activities. More to come.
Scott Thackrey, a planetary geologist from the University of Aberdeen, talks about his research on Devon Island for the Haughton-Mars Project.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
Pam Baskin from the NASA Johnson Space Center and NSBRI talks about her study during the Haughton-Mars Project 2008 field season.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
Prof. Charles Mason (Morehead State University) is working with his former student, Megan Ennis (who graduated on this day!), mapping the area around the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station in greater detail than has been done before.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
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| Dr. Stephen Braham, Christine Pires, Steve Baird |
| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Since 1999 the primary exploration systems support at HMP have been provided by Dr. Steve Braham, Mars Institute/Simon Fraser University (SFU) and his team. Dr. Braham, now in his tenth field season, is the Chief Field Engineer and Associate Director for HMP, and, this year. He is the lead of the Exploration Systems Operations Centre (ExSOC) project at his lab at SFU, PolyLAB, which is a unit of the SFU Telematics Research Laboratory, lead by Steve's long-term research partner Professor Peter Anderson.
Steve is assisted by Christine Pires and Steven Baird. Christine, another key figure at HMP, is in her fourth field season here, and is Steve's right hand person, without whom much of his work on Devon would be impossible without her. She is a fully-qualified Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and provides most day to day user support at HMP, as well as helping Steve during the year in designing, configuring, testing, and delivering systems for analog planetary exploration missions. Steven is new to the team, and is a mechanical engineering student at UBC. He is showing himself to be invaluable in day to day support of systems in the field. Together the tight-knit team allows HMP to provide a high-fidelity environment for lunar exploration systems and science research.
Since 1999, The Canadian government's Communication Research Centre (CRC), in Ottawa, has provided the primary C-band satellite link for the project, operating via Telesat's Anik F1-R spacecraft in geostationary orbit. CRC are long term collaborators with Peter and Steve. The C-band link connects HMP directly into Canada's high-speed research backbone. CA*Net4, and this link is the basis for the fully emulated planetary exploration network, allowing high quality of service network connections that behave like those used in actual planetary exploration missions. In addition to this link is a high-speed Ka-band link, provided by Telesat, in collaboration with CRC and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), that provides for day to day operational traffic for HMP, such as e-mail and web traffic and other services.
The dishes connect to the world's most advanced network found in a planetary exploration camp - with high-speed enterprise-grade networks, operating with fibre-optics, wireless meshes, and long-range high-speed wireless connections up to 20km away from HMPRS. This network, developed by SFU, has validated and demonstrated, over the last decade, many of the approaches now found in the present NASA baseline lunar communication architectures. The ExSOC team is now looking forward to the next decade, and next generation of networks, where they will push capability and capacity even further to understand full-up mission operations at the data rates expected on the moon, at a range of analog sites, including HMP.
-by Dr. Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director)
We are in the last few days of the HMP 2008 field campaign and will soon be making preparations to close camp. This will include the webcams going offline sometime on Friday, August 15th.
It should be noted that we've created a time lapse movie for each day for all three webcams during the field campaign. They are archived and available from our YouTube channel. Here are the individual links to each webcam playlist;
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
This afternoon saw snow, and lots of it! By dinner the HMP Research Station was blanketed. It was very pretty, but not be conducive to traversing or Moon and Mars video imagery. Thankfully it started melting in the late evening. However, some very thick fog rolled in. Due to the snow, not many participants ventured away from camp, however, meetings and research continued at the Research Station. The season will still be in full swing until the afternoon of the 15th.
Dr. Jonathan Clark, M.D., a Space Medicine Liaison from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), gave an evening lecture titled "Space Suit Systems for Crew Survival". He talked about his current activities as a member of the NASA Spacecraft Survival Integrated Investigation Team, and a member of the Constellation Program EVA Systems Standing Review Board. Dr. Clark is also involved in commercial space activities. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Excalibur Almaz and the Team Lead for Safety and Survivability for Orbital Outfitters/Space Diver.
Photo Set: HMP-2008: August 11
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Dr. Brian Glass (NASA Ames), the principal investigator for the Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) project, and his team: Sarah Thompson (NASA Ames), Sarah Huffman (NASA Ames) Shannon Statham (Georgia Tech) and Joanna Cohen (Honeybee Robotics) had a successful 2008 field season on Devon Island at the Haughton-Mars Research Station, Devon Island, High Arctic.
Dr. Brian Glass (NASA Ames), the principal investigator for the Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) project, and Steve Baird (UBC / HMP Field Assistant), set up a repeater to help with communications between the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station and the DAME tent.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Andrew Abercromby (Project Engineer, EVA Physiology Systems and Performance Project / NASA Johnson Space Center) did a video interview for Film Director, Laurent Lichtenstein. Laurent is interviewing several participants for a documentary he is working on with Dr. Charles Frankel (author, planetary geologist).
Brian Glass (NASA Ames) took his final gravity measurements near the HMP Research Station to use as baseline measurements for calibration. He has cleaned and packed away the gravity instrument.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Brian Glass celebrated the completion of the walk-back experiments, and the success of the DAME this season, by breaking out a can of diet coke he had been saving for this moment.
Scott Thackrey (planetary geologist, University of Aberdeen) and Prof. Charlie Mason (Morehead State University) went on a traverse to look at impact ejecta and ground surges. Prof. Charlie Mason's students, Megan Ennis and Bill Atwood, did more mapping near the HMP Research Station and around the air strip.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
There were three great talks this evening in the mess tent. Horton Newsome gave a talk about the Chem Cam experiment on the Mars Science Laboratory Rover. The Chem Cam experiment is a joint USA/French experiment that does laser-induced remote sensing for chemistry and micro-imaging. The laser can target an area out to 9 meters. Andrew Abercromby (Project Engineer, EVA Physiology Systems and Performance Project / NASA Johnson Space Center) gave the second talk of the evening titled "The Challenge of Moving Past Apollo", followed by a talk by Dr. Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director) titled "HMP, Lunar Surface Communication Architectures, and Future Analogs."
Photo Set: HMP-2008: August 9
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Departing on the twin otter were Mary Roach (Author of best sellers: Bonk, Stiff and Spook), Air National Guardsmen, Stefano Guadagnuolo and Warren Ruedy, and Dr. John Parnell (University of Aberdeen).
Dr. Horton Newsom (Research Professor, Institute of Meteorites, University of New Mexico) participated in a "webinar", watching Dr. Lucy McFadden discuss her adventures in Antarctica last year. During the webinar, Dr. McFadden posted pictures of our HMP Base Camp Manager, John Schutt, during an expedition in the Antarctica.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
A walk-back experiment took place after lunch with test subjects Andrew Abercromby (Project Engineer, EVA Physiology Systems and Performance Project / NASA Johnson Space Center), Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute) and Pam Baskins (JSC / NSBRI). The walk back was led by Brian Glass (NASA Ames), Sarah Thompson (NASA Ames) and Marcelo Vazquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason), with assistance from Pauline Akeeagok (Senior Field Guide from Grise Fiord).
Dr. Charles Frankel (author, planetary geologist) gave an after dinner talk about an impact crater in France, showing a bit of his "detective work", complete with Inspector Clouseau impressions.
Photo Set: HMP-2008: August 8
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
On a separate traverse, Prof. Charlie Mason (Morehead State University) and his student, Megan Ennis, did some more surveying near the HMP Research Station, mapping areas of interest.
Photo Set: HMP-2008: August 6
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Several participants traversed to the Geological Survey of Canada Dome, including Dr. John Parnell from the University of Aberdeen and Phd. student, Scott Thackrey, Prof. Charlie Mason from Morehead State University and his students, Megan Ennis and Bill Atwood. Pauline Akeeagok (Senior Field Guide from Grise Fiord), and two Air National Guardsmen, Stefano Guadagnuolo and Warren Ruedy went on a separate traverse to do some surveying.
The Humvee was very carefully packed and went on a dry run through Von Braun Planatia in preparation for a Moon traverse scenario that will be starting tomorrow. The project is being led in the field by Andrew Abercromby (Project Engineer, EVA Physiology Systems and Performance Project / NASA Johnson Space Center) and Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute). The project's Principal Investigator is astronaut Mike Gernhardt at NASA Johnson Space Center.
Photo Set: HMP-2008: August 5
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
HMP participants had use of a helicopter for a few flights. Film Director, Laurent Lichtenstein, took shots of the landscape for his documentary, and several HMP participants were flown to areas of interest for their research.
Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute) led a meeting of the HMP Core Team in the Core Module of the Research Station, making plans as the team looks toward the tail end of the field season.
Megan Ennis, from Moorehead State University, enjoyed a birthday today and was presented with an "ejecta block cake" after dinner, courtesy of camp cook, Mike Langenhan. She was also surprised with a helicopter ride that took her to a geologic location of interest to her and her team.
Photo Sets: HMP-2008: August 3 | HMP-2008: August 4
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
Mary Roach is visiting the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station as inspiration for her new book in progress.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
Eleanor Whitworth is a writer of short stories and the daughter of Alex Whitworth who is currently sailing the Northwest Passage from Australia to London.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Marcelo Vazquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason) did walk back scouting with Sarah Huffman (NASA Ames) and Brian Glass (NASA Ames), doing a dry run in the gully. They are gathering data on different types of terrain in order to calibrate their instruments to analyze data from last season's walk back. Measurements taken were related to cadence, number of steps, heart rate and respiration.
A twin otter came in this morning and brought seven new participants: Andrew Abercromby (Project Engineer, EVA Physiology Systems and Performance Project), Scott Thackrey (planetary geologist, University of Aberdeen), Pam Baskins (JSC / NSBRI), Pauline Akeeagok (Senior Field Guide from Grise Fiord) and three Air National Guardsmen: Warren Ruedy, Jake Williams and Stefano Guadagnuolo. Leaving on the plane was the old incinerator and the large honeybee robotics crate with the DAME equipment.
Sarah Huffman (NASA Ames) is reopholstering a headrest of the Mars1 Humvee Rover, and has also sewed on an ESA patch to Dr. Pascal Lee's dog, Ping Pong's, fleece. Sarah Thompson (NASA Ames) helped to clean up the DAME and got it packed up for the twin otter flight.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Prof. Charlie Mason (Morehead State University) and his students Megan Ennis and Bill Atwood, along with Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute), his dog Ping Pong, and [yours truly] Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute) to fossil city. Prof. Charlie Mason and his students are developing a map of local geologic areas of interest.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Not to be dismayed by the clouds, HMP participants happily flocked to a good viewing site at the HMP Research Station, while [yours truly] Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute) provided live commentary over streaming video in the Core Module, with some additional commentary by Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute). Thanks to Dr. Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director) and the rest of the communications team Christine Pires (SFU / HMP System Support) and Steve Baird (UBC / HMP Field Assistant) for getting the streaming video up and running, in addition to other web cams that captured the dramatic darkening of the sky.
To take full advantage of this rare celestial event, Bill Atwood (Morehead State University) performed radio frequency observations of the total solar eclipse in three different frequencies. This particular experiment worked with cloudy skies, and he collected some solar eclipse data that he and his team will be analyzing in the days to come.
Although the eclipse event was a thrilling change of pace for most HMP participants, the normal HMP schedule was not altered, due to how valuable time is here with the sheer amount of science planned. HMP participants met for breakfast at the normal hour of 7:30 am with our morning meeting at 8:00 am, led by Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute). The field season is about to get even busier with the Mars1 Humvee Rover scenarios and walk-back experiments in the late planning stages.
The Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) team put in a very long day, reached their core sampling goals and started packing up the equipment and tents. Brian Glass (NASA Ames / PI for DAME Project) and his team, Sarah Thompson (NASA Ames), Sarah Huffman (NASA Ames) Shannon Statham (Georgia Tech) and Joanna Cohen (Honeybee Robotics) were congratulated during the breakfast meeting and awarded HMP badges.
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| copyright 2008 Mars Institute |
Without the help of his assistant cook, Mia Bourne, Mike Langenhan still managed to present us with a fabulous turkey dinner with blueberry cobbler and ice cream for desert. He makes it look so easy. Sasa Simeonie from Resolute Bay carved a beautiful arctic scene into a whale bone that we admired during the dinner meeting. There was much to talk about during the meeting, as the HMP camp is kicking into high(er) gear for the rest of the season with Mars1 Humvee Rover traverse scenarios, walk-back experiments, and other research surrounding those activities.
Related to these activities, Tom Chase of Hamilton Sundstrand is working out a way to secure the space suit in the Mars1 Humvee Rover. Marcelo Vazquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason) finished the site selection for the walk back experiments with Dr. Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director) and Brian Glass (NASA Ames).
John Parnell (University of Aberdeen), Prof. Charlie Mason (Morehead State University) and his student, Megan Ennis, traversed to Trinity Lake for the day, doing geological mapping and research.
Meanwhile, several participants took video footage from the total solar eclipse event that needed editing and uploading. [yours truly] Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute) is editing the streaming video with live commentary from herself and Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute) down to a 10 minute piece. Elaine also set her "Devon Island" song to Marcelo Vazquez's (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason) real-time video of HMP participants watching the eclipse event. Christine Pires (SFU / HMP System Support) worked on a time lapse video from a camera she set up overlooking HMP base camp. Film Director, Laurent Lichtenstein, put together a very dramatic time lapse of the eclipse as well.
Photo Sets: Total Solar Eclipse at HMP RS | HMP RS - August 1, 2008
Video: Laurent Lichtenstein, Film Director
Music: "New World" from the "Mars" CD by Elaine Walker
HD Time Lapse Video of Total Solar Eclipse at HMP Research Station, Devon Island
Live Comentary by [yours truly] Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute) and Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / Mars Institute, SETI Institute, NASA Ames)
Streaming Video With Live Commentary of Total Solar Eclipse at HMP Research Station, Devon Island
Videography: Marcelo Vasquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason)
"Devon Island" song by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Real-Time Video of Total Solar Eclipse at HMP Research Station
Written account of the eclipse by Dr. Pascal Lee
(Mars Institute, SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center)
Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008 as experienced from the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station, Devon Island, High Arctic
One of the HMP scientists, Bill Atwood from Morehead State University, did some radio frequency observations that did not require clear skies.
Watch his science report here
"HMP7SFU Portable Elaine out and clear"
Mars Institute, SETI Institute & NASA Ames Research Center
On 1 August 2008, a total solar eclipse was observed at the Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) Research Station on Devon Island, High Arctic (Fig. 1). Totality was expected to be centered at 9:25 am UT (4:25 am CDT) and to last approximately 1.5 minutes, with the Sun at an elevation of approximately 8 degrees.
Observations planned for the eclipse included optical astronomy, in particular a search for possible comets in the vicinity of the Sun (PI: Dr Alan Hale), and a radio-astronomy experiment (PI: Bill Atwood). In addition, time-lapse videos would be acquired and a live web-cast conducted in support of the HMP's Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) activities.
Weather conditions at the time of the eclipse were unfavorable: Overcast; Winds: 15-20 kts from the South. The Sun's disc was not visible at any time during the eclipse. Optical astronomy observations were cancelled. The radio-astronomy experiment was carried out successfully. Results from the latter will be published after data analysis is completed. The time-lapse videos and web-cast did not encounter any technical difficulty.
No significant dimming of ambient light was perceived by the naked eye until approximately 4:15 am CDT. By then, the HMP Research Station (HMP RS) was well in the penumbra zone. Ambient light levels continued to drop significantly from 4:15 to 4:22 am CDT, then rapidly and dramatically from approximately 4: 22 to 4:24 am CDT. By approximately 4:24 am CDT, "night fell" on the HMP RS as the umbra zone passed over camp. For approximately 1 minute and 35 seconds, the site experienced almost complete darkness. Light levels had increased significantly again by approximately 4:26 am CDT. By 4:30 am CDT, ambient light levels appeared to be back to normal.
The last total solar eclipse over any portion of Devon Island was on 21 August 1914. The last total solar eclipse over the HMP RS site was the annular eclipse of 6 May 1845. The next total solar eclipse over any portion of Devon Island will be on 23 August 2044. The umbra zone of that eclipse will again include the HMP RS site.
The following thirty HMP-2008 participants were present at the HMP RS during the eclipse:
Joseph Atchealak, Bill Atwood, Steven Baird, Mia Bourne, Stephen Braham, Tom Chase, Joanna Cohen, Jean-Marc Comtois, Megan Ennis, Charles Frankel, Brian Glass, Sarah Huffman, Jarloo Kiguktak, Mike Langenhan, Pascal Lee, Laurent Lichtenstein, Charles Mason, Jonathan Nelson, John Parnell, Christine Pires, Mary Roach, John Schutt, Sasa SImeonie, Shannon Statham, Sarah Thompson, Marcelo Vasquez, Elaine Walker, Jesse Weaver, Eleanor Whitworth, Nicholas Wilkinson.
In addition, two dogs were on site: Kimmiq and Ping Pong.
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| Figure 1: Map showing the path and duration of umbra in Arctic Canada for the Total Solar Eclipse of 1 August 2008. The "Mars Camp" dot on Devon Island marks the location of the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station. (Source: NASA 2008 Eclipse Bulletin, F. Espenak & J. Anderson). |
On August 1, 2008, Bill Atwood performed radio frequency observations of the total solar eclipse at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station on Devon Island, High Arctic.
Video by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
Copyright 2008 Mars Institute
Video by Film Director, Laurent Lichtenstein
Music: "New World" from the "Mars" CD by Elaine Walker
Watch the video below or click here to view it in HD!
This was the live streaming video of the Total Solar Eclipse on August 1, 2008, 4:25 am CDT, at the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station on Devon Island, High Arctic. It includes commentary by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute) and Dr. Pascal Lee Dr. Pascal Lee (Director, HMP / NASA Ames, Mars Institute, SETI Institute). The totality, which was one minute and 41 seconds has been shortened in this version.
Thanks to the HMP Communications Team for the streaming video: Dr. Stephen Braham (SFU / HMP Associate Director), Christine Pires (SFU / HMP System Support), Steve Baird (UBC / HMP Field Assistant)
Videography: Marcelo Vasquez (NSBRI, Space Radiation Liason)
"Devon Island" song by Elaine Walker (EPO, HMP, Mars Institute)
This is a 1 hour time lapse movie of the August 1, 2008 total solar eclipse as seen from the HMP Research Station Webcam2 on Maynard Hill looking North. It was overcast at the time but you can see everything go dark. The time lapse interval is 1 frame per second and each frame is taken a minute apart.
Check back just after 4:00 AM Central Standard Time for streaming video of the solar eclipse! Totality is at 4:27 AM. That is 9:27 UT.
For those who sleep through it, we will have the best parts of the video up on this site for your viewing pleasure when you wake up.
We now have thick and solid cloud cover and even an odd sort of darkness from the clouds, but we may get lucky if there are high winds to clear the clouds.
At the very least we will experiencing one minute and 41 seconds of darkness, which will be amazing in itself after some here have seen 24 hour sunlight for weeks on end.
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