Burning the candle

Throughout my life, I’ve often heard the saying “Don’t burn the candle at both ends."  It's useful to have reminders to make tough choices about how to spend your limited time and energy.

Even though joining this mission did feel rushed and similar to the "burning both ends" phenomena, I don’t think this transition deserves the negative connotation of that saying.  I am now much closer to the goal of living simply and passionately.  Instead of worrying about burning the candle at both ends, I’ll make "burning the candle in the right places” my mantra.  I've made it to the right place and feel so thankful for this opportunity.

On a lighter note ;) here at the dome, we are burning tons of calories by committing ourselves to a daily fitness program!  This is our first week of the workout regimen.  My Jawbone UP data shows evidence of how sore my muscles are feeling, since outside of workouts, I've had about 60% less activity today.. I walked around much less because my hip flexors are killing me!  

But no pain, no gain!  Tomorrow is yoga, definitely looking forward to a good stretch!  Here’s some photos of fitness-related engineering from the past week:

Zak duct-taping some steps and a bucket together for our tabata workout, okay, so this is not exactly engineering..

But Martha and Sophie repairing our treadmill motor definitely is!

Our kitchen-made incense holder is important too, keeps the dome from smelling like a gym!  There's a glimpse of our Martian kitchen in the background.

Next post, I'll give you a tour of the place.  We are slowly getting organized.  It takes time just like moving into a new house on Earth!  My sister and brother-in-law can testify as they are moving into their new home this week, congrats Kayla and Lee, can't wait to see your new place too, xoxo!

Training Wheels

This past week has been a series of crash-courses in power systems, geology, EVAs, inventory, and IT networks.  Our dome habitat is powered by photovoltaics (10kW solar array) with hydrogen fuel reactors as a secondary energy source.  We are surrounded by basaltic lava and living in isolation on the slopes of Mauna Loa where there is little evidence of plant or animal life.  

Today was our first full day of the mission.  We have been diagnosing network problems and doing inventory on our shelf-stable food supplies.  The majority of our food is freeze-dried, including fruits, vegetables, eggs, and meats.  We also have a large supply of cereals, rice, flour, spices, pasta, and snacks.  From the start, a thorough inventory is critical, since we must divide our massive food supply into rations for the long-duration mission.

One of the goals for HI-SEAS is exploring how to effectively promote crew autonomy.  With a mission to Mars, the wide distance makes communication difficult.  Depending on the current positions of Mars and Earth in their orbits, information packets from Earth take between 10-25 minutes to reach Mars.  Therefore, a crew on Mars should be able to operate autonomously, rather than waiting for orders from mission control. During the HI-SEAS mission, instead of "Mission Control," we have a "Mission Support" team.

(Illustration by NASA)

The only communication we can have with the outside world, including mission support, is through email on a NASA network that is delayed 20 minutes to simulate the distance from Earth.  Our cell phone services have been turned off and our internet access is limited to static web pages.  There will be no chatting or webcam conversations.  I am still able to post to social media through my delayed email, but I cannot participate fully, since newsfeeds are dynamic and infeasible over the wide distance to Mars.

Of course, this is a simulation, so if emergencies arise, then we do have an emergency phone to call for help.  In fact, we are monitoring a potential emergency situation as Tropical Storm Ana is making her way to the Hawaiian islands.  During training, we practiced evacuations and learned about the weather conditions that our vinyl dome is able to withstand.  If the winds get too strong, then we will hunker down in the supply container until the storm passes.  The training wheels are coming off as our new reality is setting in!

Mahalo for the gadgets!

The crew has made it to Hawaii along with NASA researchers and mission support.  Traveling to Hawaii was especially exciting for me because it was my first time leaving North America.  I caught some great views of LA as we started flying over the Pacific.  

During this week of training, we are staying at a beautiful ranch on the Big Island.  As glamorous as it may sound, in reality, our days in training have been filled with powerpoint presentations and questionnaires.. but this has been augmented by the fun of training with high-tech gadgets!

During this 8-month Mars analog mission, we will facilitate research studies of biological samples, social interactions, as well as psychological and cognitive testing with the goal of learning how health and performance change throughout our time in this isolated, confined, extreme environment.

It’s sometimes difficult to be unbiased when answering survey questions about how you are feeling and performing.  So, we are working to develop methods that can automatically infer our mental and physical states in an objective, quantitative manner.

My favorite device in the toy chest is Hexoskin biometrics, which are physiological sensors and data processors built into athletic shirts.  Data collected include respiratory and cardiac activity along with movement and sleep monitoring. The Hexoskin application for mobile devices has really amazed the crew with it's beauty and responsiveness.

In the Hexoskin app, the lungs on the screen inflate to match every breath you are taking, and a real-time electrocardiogram scrolls across the screen to show how your heart is beating.  We will be wearing these devices during exercise inside the dome and when we go outside the dome in our spacesuits to explore the slopes of Mauna Loa volcano.

One of the main tasks of our mission will be exploring and surveying the geology of Mauna Loa, which is the largest active volcano on Earth. The crew will be evaluated based on our performance during these assigned extra-vehicular activities (EVAs).  So, up next, we will be traveling to Hawai’i Volcano National Park. There, we will learn techniques for geological surveying that we will need for completing our EVAs throughout the 8-month mission.  

Can’t wait to see the glow of lava!!

Playing Tetris

It's been a whirlwind! Managing my time has felt like a game of Tetris, where the pieces seem to be falling faster and faster. But rather than ending up with a wall of bricks and a game over, the pieces have aligned and tasks are being completed.

The HI-SEAS crew selection took place in the wilderness of Wyoming while backpacking through the Wind River mountain range. It was a harsh transition going from the solace of the mountains to the honking streets of Chicago and from no access to phone, email, or paperwork to being completely immersed in modern world tasks.

My first week back from selection was focused on administrative details and organizing hundreds of files in order to hand-off my current research project. Then this past week, I packed up my apartment and literally played a game of Tetris in fitting diversely-shaped and obnoxiously-heavy boxes of belongings into my Jeep. 

When I started driving away from Chicago, I felt so thankful for a pizza party with my friends the night before. So many changes had happened so quickly. It was great to relax and soak it all in. The pizza pies were delicious and the conversations helped me realize that the pieces are coming together in the Tetris game of life!

I'm on my way to Hawaiian Mars! But first, it's time to play some golf with my Dad and co :) 

The countdown begins

Counting down until October 15th, when I will enter the 1000-square-foot dome where I will be living and working with five other crew members for 8 months!  Still, I haven't completely decided if this is a countdown to a party or a prison sentence. But all I know is that, lately, every day feels like Christmas!  

It is sad to know that I will be missing out on traditional Christmas festivities this holiday season. However, in feeling the support of my family and friends, I've been experiencing Christmas now for almost a week! Thank you folks for making my heart happy and my eyes eager! This new journey will certainly require community support. I am so appreciative for all of your ideas, curiosity, and consideration!

Also, here's a link to the HI-SEAS announcement with crew biographies: http://hi-seas.org/?p=3275

Meet the blogger

My name is Jocelyn Dunn, often called Jocey or Joce by friends and family. I grew up in Sebring, Florida surrounded by the rural landscape of orange groves, swamp land, cattle ranches, lakes, and golf courses. Without the distraction of city lights, my hometown is perfect for star-gazing and that's where I started dreaming about space exploration. I am so thankful for those five-star views of the heavens and for the immense support of my family, teachers, and coaches!

After high school, I landed academic and athletic scholarships at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL. I was fortunate to find a supportive environment for academics and athletics, a place where I could both study aerospace engineering and compete in golf at a collegiate-level.  This is also where I was first exposed to academic research.  I had wonderful mentorship from faculty in physics and aerospace medicine that helped me pursue my academic interests.

Over the course of my undergraduate studies, my dreaming about space exploration became attuned to the challenges that astronauts face while living and working in space, such as bone and muscle loss from being without gravity and radiation damage from being outside Earth's protective atmosphere. I was thinking broader and began studying biology, chemistry, and psychology in addition to engineering sciences. Human performance in the extreme environment of space is really what fueled my desire to go to graduate school to study biomedical engineering.

After graduation from Embry-Riddle, I moved to Indiana to begin studying biomedical engineering at Purdue University. Graduate coursework deepened my understanding of the engineering sciences and sharpened my ability to apply engineering principles to new contexts, specifically the biomechanics of human physiology. For my master's thesis, I furthered the development of a patented biomaterial for replacing damaged soft tissues, specifically liver tissue and blood vessels.

During this time, I found myself thinking "big picture" and wanting to address healthcare problems from a systems perspective. In studying chronic diseases I realized that better policies and methods for system improvement are as vitally needed as medical solutions. I started reading more and more scientific articles from the field of industrial engineering, and so began my PhD program in Operations Research at Purdue.

I am now working at the interface between humans and technology. My dissertation focuses on 1) developing intuitive and reliable methods for harnessing knowledge from real world data, and 2) implementing these methods to aide system improvement. The overall goal is generating data-driven knowledge that will help improve systems design, operations, and policies. These methods are general and can be applied to analyze data from wide-ranging domains, such as education, finance, and healthcare. My goal after graduation is to join a team in applied research that is focused on improving systems in order to positively impact people's lives; whether it be the lives of astronauts, patients, or young students, I want our work to have a positive impact on society.

Outside of research, I enjoy participating in K12 outreach programs for local communities. I've worked with teams of graduate students to organize tours of research labs, design activities for classrooms, and setup hands-on demonstrations at local fairs. The goal is to encourage young students to be interested in science and engineering. Inspiring young students is a great accomplishment, and I think we've had a lot of success on topics ranging from renewable energy to the scientific method to orthopedics.

As for hobbies, my golf game is not as sharp as it was in college, but I hope that after graduate school, I will have more time to practice. My long-term goal is qualifying for a US women's amateur championship. I stay active by running, weight-lifting, and practicing yoga each week. Then, recreationally, I like to play softball and volleyball, go biking, or take a swim. If you ask me to choose a restaurant, know that I have become a connoisseur of Neapolitan wood-fired pizza, so bring an appetite and curiosity for trying pizza pies!