Log Book for January 14, 2011
Science Report 1
Judah Epstein Reporting
The purpose of this project is to explore the effectiveness of a slow sand sedimentary water filtration system in a planetary environment. To simulate a planetary environment the experiment is conducted at the Mars Desert Research Station, a self-sustaining planetary research experiment and simulation expedition.
Background information regarding the project abstract, purpose, goals, and specific experiment details and information are included in the Science Report from January 6.
Data collected from Jan 14 and prior is available in this spreadsheet.
Updates on results:
Filter 1 (Martian Simulant) and Filter 2 (Commercial Sand) are not achieving optimal results as the filter is clogged with extremely low hydraulic conductivity. Therefore not enough effluent water was produced to take measurements with the Qanta probe (Temp, SpC, DO, pH, TDS, DO%, ORP).
Turbidity results: Turbidity of effluent from all three slow sand filters has generally been increasing. Turbidity of effluent from the wetland, greywater, and Hab potable are remaining generally consistent.
Based upon results from the experiment it was determined that the slow sand filtration system is not a suitable replacement or backup for the wetland system. But it was determined that the slow sand filters do significantly increase the water quality versus greywater. Therefore, in an emergency scenario, slow sand filtration could be used as a backup to supply influent toilet water if the existing Hab water filtration process has failed, such as in the scenario of a long-term power failure. The advantage of the slow sand filtration system is that the system requires no electrical or power input.
Additional and extensive analysis will be completed on datasets collected from the experiment for a more thorough review and interpretation of the data.