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Update 22 June 2010: I’ve added some images acquired from Juan’s camera. Yesterday was a day for detector tests, while the cryostat is still off the gondola. Several FTS runs were made at different waveplate positions, and the XY stage was set up for beam mapping. In the evening, a small team stuck around to […] Update 22 June 2010: I’ve added some images acquired from Juan’s camera. Yesterday the scoop was finally mounted; it is very cool. The second star camera was also mounted. Our number increased again as Enzo and Andrei arrived. Enzo opened up the FTS to get it ready. In the evening, after pizza and beer, the […] Update 22 June 2010: I’ve added some images acquired from Juan’s camera. Yesterday Juan fully assembled his amazing side scoop. It couldn’t be mounted yet because he wanted to mark all the parts so that people other than him would be able to assemble it. The cryostat team started the many hours and several liquid […] Chris Field, a CSBF flight engineer with a good Texan-sized gun collection, asked us yesterday if we’d like to go shoot some of his guns. The answer, naturally, was yes. (Sorry Natalie, we couldn’t say no.) So, at about 6:30 we headed to the shooting range close to the base. Chris had brought an AK-47, […] Yestrday saw more gluing of the side scoop, more mirror alignment, and our second barbecue (this time without pouring rain!). Juan also went exploring a bit and took some good outdoor shots (apologies for awkwardly alliterative appellation). The day was also sad, since we lost Natalie and Barth. They will both be back, but it […] Yesterday Juan and Natalie glued the second layer of the side scoop, liquid nitrogen filling of the cryostat started, and the mirrors were mounted. There was also the England vs. USA match in the World Cup, which distracted a large portion of the team. Especially when the English keeper let in a terrible goal. In […] Other than coding (which yields very exciting pictures, and huge amounts of movement in timelapse videos) yesterday’s work consisted of the beginnings of side-scoop gluing, and assembly of the primary/secondary mirror. After dinner we had a few drinks outside the hotel. One of the locals brought over a frog to which he had given a […] Yesterday Natalie reothogonalized the gyroscopes, complicated by extra tape and paint added since last time. Mark worked on laser-aligning things in the optics box and gave an impromptu Optics 101 lecture. Half of the carbon fiber tubes for the side scoop arrived, but not the half that would allow Juan to start gluing. The other […] The purpose of today was to move all the things working in the Bemco chamber onto the gondola. We also had to fix some power system stuff, set up the gondola umbilicus, and the cryostat team opened it up for the usual post-shipping treatment (replace travel supports, and look for loose screws). All day there […] After three days of work we are done with Bemco testing. We drove the ACS and computer boxes up to 55 °C and down to -30 °C with all the systems working. Back in the other High Bay, the reaction wheel, the elevation drive and the inner frame were mounted and the cryostat was opened. […] |
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