This past Saturday LogiCON 2014 played out successfully. My own presentation had a very warm reception, and the video feedback that I received from the crowd exceeded my expectations!
If you’d like to view my presentation, it’s now available on YouTube:
We had time to address three questions, summaries of which I’ve transcribed:
Q1: What am I finding the most difficult on sMars, and is it what I expected?
A1: The isolation at the HI-SEAS habitat is tremendous. The nearest human activity are the distant lights at the top of Mauna Kea. There are no plants or animals at the HI-SEAS habitat, and therefore no sound. The only sound, other than the sounds we generate, is the wind and the occasional rain storm.
Also, stop posting pictures of food on social media. Dehydrated food has a list of pros and cons, and the biggest con is the blandness!
Q2: How do we resolve interpersonal conflict at HI-SEAS?
A2: To be honest, there isn’t a lot of conflict in the habitat. There are two reasons for that, the first is that we address conflict early and often, before things can spiral out of control. The second is that we involve all of the crew in conflict, and rationalize solutions using a consensus model.
Q3: How is our water managed?
A3: We have “robotic” resupplies when out water storage runs low, and we have “robotic” grey water recovery when our waste water tanks are nearly full. These are human operations, and during these times we shut the window and turn on music to minimize the effect of the “robotic” activity has on the crew.