Yesterday we went outside to the porch for some testing. We ended up spending much of the time debugging, when we really hoped to demonstrate that everything works. Not quite there yet, but we still have time. While we were out there, EBEX went out on its deck to observe the sky for a while. It was fun to see the neighbouring telescopes. Finally, because Juan and Greg will be leaving us, we took a little time to pose for group photos. […]
|
||||
|
|
||||
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. […]