First MDRS Fall 2002 Crew Rotation Nears Conclusion

Posted by tourdemars to Mars Society at November 22, 2002 12:00 PM

The first Mars Desert Research Station crew rotation of the fall 2002 season is now nearing its conclusion. MDRS crew # 7 was commanded by Franco-American geologist Charles Frankel and included Hilary Bowden (United Kingdom, journalist and health & safety officer); Stacy Cusack (USA, executive officer, CapCom and geologist); Pierre-Emmanuel Paulis (Belgium, educational liaison); Derek Shannon (USA, geobiologist); and Alain Souchier (France, engineer and CRV operator). In the course of their 14-day stint, the international crew brought the Desert Station up to speed, implementing a number of new systems added in the past few months by Frank Schubert, Jeff Zerr and co-workers. Most notable is the “Living Machine” water recycling system, that routes waste water from the Hab to the H. T. Odum greenhouse, where it is purified by plants (mainly water lilies), pumped back to the Hab, filtered and sterilized by ultraviolet light for re-use in domestic chores. Fine-tuning of the system was achieved by on-board engineer Alain Souchier, with the input of Jeff Zerr through Mission Support. Biologist Derek Shannon did frequent screening for coliform bacteria in the recycled water, that came up negative, showing that the UV-filter performed flawlessly.