While the K1 cryostat was closed on the 13th, the 14th was spent debugging issues with the waveplate rotator. At the end of the day, it was ready to go, but at this point the process didn’t end until well past midnight. But, because my posts are sorted by day, this only includes everything up to midnight. To be continued…
This was also the dreaded day on which Walt left. In addition to being the general group IT guy, Walt is a very rare kind of person: the kind familiar with writing code for gcp. gcp is the huge control program used by several telescopes, including all three currently active at the south pole. For this—and for his company, of course—he would be missed. Thankfully, he had finished all the gcp hacking I required.
-
- Colin and Grant debug funny connections, in matching outfits
-
- The bottom of a “spittoon”. Not for actual spitting
-
- Heater strap around the cryostat. Speeds up pumpout
-
- Fridge, not yet installed
-
- Fridge and gold-plated heat strap. Opinions differ on how many things in a cryostat should be gold-plated
-
- Building, reduced
-
- People file out of Destination Alpha (the main station door)
-
- The plane quickly unloads and refuels before taking the passengers away
-
- Walt models his complementary SPT shirt
-
- The most dangerous game: soldering on the cryostat
-
- Original attempted fix: a little jumper wire
-
- Chin-Lin takes a well-earned bubble break
-
- SPT, seen from MAPO, not quite looking completely away this time
-
- Warm electronics for the waveplate rotator
-
- More of the waveplate electronics, in their box
-
- If Oscar really lived here, the waveplate electronics box would need more garbage
-
- Ridiculously thin carbon fiber legs. Actually useful for thermal reasons
-
- A stained-glass angel graces the door out to the roof
-
- Reflective encoder ticks for reading rotator position
-
- Dancing Fool. Not the first I’ve encountered in Antarctica
-
- Final waveplate fix: a pair or rearranged wires
-
- Heat strap, strapped. In place
-
- Mega Group Action Shot!
-
- Wires rigidly strapped, to try to reduce microphonics
-
- Justus gives a sneak peak of Ze Choppa, his bigger and better chopper
Finally, I have a special feature: a slowly rotating tour of the bottom section of an insert containing the fridge, JFET module, housekeeping stuff, and cabling/breakout electronics.
[image title=”Insert-Go-Round” size=”full” id=”5125″ align=”left” alt=”Animated Insert-Go-Round” ]
Leave a Reply