After receiving her official crane operator/rigger certification, Natalie had to bask in her own awesomeness for a while. Otherwise, we had a group meeting and tackled a list of small tasks. […]
Many of us spent a lot of yesterday outside. That’s because we were out on the dance floor again, and had to move BLAST around for some tests. We had to point at a star, and adjust the pointing to track it as the sky rotates. In the afternoon, Team Rotate really got into action as we did some 360 degree scans to calibrate the magnetometer (a fancy compass). Because this job can involve a lot of waiting around, some of us spent the time constructing a sort of igloo. In the evening, Barth and I headed out to the pressure ridges for a tour. This is an area near Scott Base where the sea ice collides with itself (caused by interaction with the nearby land and permanent ice) to create some pretty dramatic formations. […]
Super-TIGER had to go outside yesterday for its compatibility test. Because we’re in the front of the highbay, this meant we had to go out to the dance floor to get out of the way. While out there we worked on more attitude sensor tests, trying to find a bright star (Canopus) with the star cameras. […]
There wasn’t a lot of action in the lab yesterday: Juan did some some more arts and crafts covering the sun shields in aluminized mylar, and Tyr balanced the inner frame. To supplement this crop of photos, I went outside and took a panorama of the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) site. In the evening, Greg, Laura, and I also climbed up Ob(servation) Hill, while Barth and Tristan were scared off by the heavy and cold wind. […]
After a weather abort the day before, BLAST-Pol took a trip outside yesterday to the "dance floor". This is a wooden platform that’s away from buildings so that GPS antennas work better, in the sun so that sun sensors work better, and away from ferromagnetic objects so that the magnetometer works better. Basically it’s where all of our coarse pointing sensors work better. And so we go there to test and calibrate them. […]
Yesterday we went outside, briefly. The plan was to get carried over to the "dance floor" (a wooden pad, placed away from the buildings) to test pointing sensors and telemetry. We were also going out to make room for Super-TIGER to go out on the deck. The weather’s plan was to be potentially windy, and because there wasn’t a good reason to press the issue, we conceded. Also, unsurprisingly, a very effective way to make the highbay freezing cold is to open the main front doors for more than a few seconds. Because some confusion has been expressed to me in the past: The Boss is the large red and black launch vehicle. The bossiest Boss that ever bossed. […]
Yesterday, Natalie was finishing the SBSC (Spider Bore-sight Star Camera, which is being test-flown as a roll sensor). I got some photos now, since eventually it will get boxed in foam. Otherwise, a lot of the day was spent sorting out the solar panels, but since I as working, I don’t have many photos. After dinner, Barth, Juan, Mark, Tristan, and I went for a walk around Arrival Heights. This takes you all around the coast on one side of town, and up into the hills where it gets pretty windy. Pretty scenic, and a good evening dose of outdoors. […]
My flight brought be down just in time for the base’s Saturday Thanksgiving feast (because in McMurdo, all celebrations take place on Saturday). But, naturally, we didn’t take the day off. Instead we were busy preparing for Monday, on which we plan to go out to the dance floor to test pointing sensors. (And in preparation for which everyone else had been working very hard prior to my arrival.) I’m glad to be back at LDB. […]
Perfectly on schedule (somehow), my flight to the ice took place yesterday. I’m back! (And no longer feeling a little left out, as the last to arrive.) We’ll see if maybe Tristan wants to continue making posts. More photos are better. […]
Since leaving Princeton and Spider, I have been heading down to Antarctica for the BLAST-Pol flight campaign (on which Tristan has already made several posts in my absence). Because everything ran on schedule (somehow), I spent only one full day in Christchurch: gear issuing in the morning, and a bit of exploring in the afternoon. The day was spent with a group of people from the WISSARD project, who had been staying at the same hotel as me. Being biologists, they were full of fun information at the botanical gardens. […]
After receiving her official crane operator/rigger certification, Natalie had to bask in her own awesomeness for a while. Otherwise, we had a group meeting and tackled a list of small tasks. […]
Many of us spent a lot of yesterday outside. That’s because we were out on the dance floor again, and had to move BLAST around for some tests. We had to point at a star, and adjust the pointing to track it as the sky rotates. In the afternoon, Team Rotate really got into action as we did some 360 degree scans to calibrate the magnetometer (a fancy compass). Because this job can involve a lot of waiting around, some of us spent the time constructing a sort of igloo. In the evening, Barth and I headed out to the pressure ridges for a tour. This is an area near Scott Base where the sea ice collides with itself (caused by interaction with the nearby land and permanent ice) to create some pretty dramatic formations. […]
Super-TIGER had to go outside yesterday for its compatibility test. Because we’re in the front of the highbay, this meant we had to go out to the dance floor to get out of the way. While out there we worked on more attitude sensor tests, trying to find a bright star (Canopus) with the star cameras. […]
There wasn’t a lot of action in the lab yesterday: Juan did some some more arts and crafts covering the sun shields in aluminized mylar, and Tyr balanced the inner frame. To supplement this crop of photos, I went outside and took a panorama of the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) site. In the evening, Greg, Laura, and I also climbed up Ob(servation) Hill, while Barth and Tristan were scared off by the heavy and cold wind. […]
After a weather abort the day before, BLAST-Pol took a trip outside yesterday to the "dance floor". This is a wooden platform that’s away from buildings so that GPS antennas work better, in the sun so that sun sensors work better, and away from ferromagnetic objects so that the magnetometer works better. Basically it’s where all of our coarse pointing sensors work better. And so we go there to test and calibrate them. […]
Yesterday we went outside, briefly. The plan was to get carried over to the "dance floor" (a wooden pad, placed away from the buildings) to test pointing sensors and telemetry. We were also going out to make room for Super-TIGER to go out on the deck. The weather’s plan was to be potentially windy, and because there wasn’t a good reason to press the issue, we conceded. Also, unsurprisingly, a very effective way to make the highbay freezing cold is to open the main front doors for more than a few seconds. Because some confusion has been expressed to me in the past: The Boss is the large red and black launch vehicle. The bossiest Boss that ever bossed. […]
Yesterday, Natalie was finishing the SBSC (Spider Bore-sight Star Camera, which is being test-flown as a roll sensor). I got some photos now, since eventually it will get boxed in foam. Otherwise, a lot of the day was spent sorting out the solar panels, but since I as working, I don’t have many photos. After dinner, Barth, Juan, Mark, Tristan, and I went for a walk around Arrival Heights. This takes you all around the coast on one side of town, and up into the hills where it gets pretty windy. Pretty scenic, and a good evening dose of outdoors. […]
My flight brought be down just in time for the base’s Saturday Thanksgiving feast (because in McMurdo, all celebrations take place on Saturday). But, naturally, we didn’t take the day off. Instead we were busy preparing for Monday, on which we plan to go out to the dance floor to test pointing sensors. (And in preparation for which everyone else had been working very hard prior to my arrival.) I’m glad to be back at LDB. […]
Perfectly on schedule (somehow), my flight to the ice took place yesterday. I’m back! (And no longer feeling a little left out, as the last to arrive.) We’ll see if maybe Tristan wants to continue making posts. More photos are better. […]
Since leaving Princeton and Spider, I have been heading down to Antarctica for the BLAST-Pol flight campaign (on which Tristan has