A couple weeks ago we began our final push to get Spider finished in time to pack up and leave. The primary target was the Compatibility test with CSBF’s telemetry electronics. But we also wanted to finish characterizing detectors and cryogenics, and to generally make everything more flight-like.
Meanwhile, because hair products had been obtained for styling mohawks, Bill decided to construct a potato cannon. After some very "meh" initial tests, the intertubes taught us that static guard is far more flammable than hairspray. The potatoes didn’t know what hit them.
Baccus (formerly CREAM) hang testing
Feat. Tiny Tim
Anne in the fortress
The desk we set up inside the sun shield frame
Baccus on the launch pad
Later in the day, presumably for testing away from buildings
Anne plumbing
While standing in the gondola
Spider doing more beam maps
Of the source on top of the cherry picker
Computer debugging
With mohawk
Bill's super strength
(ie. grad students that do all the actual lifting)
Beginning of potato cannon
Sawing PVC pipe
Ed glues a cryo boil-off heat exchanger
Potato cannon "shatter protection"
Jon and two heat guns
Melting a frozen valve on the cryostat
Loading
Spraying fuel
The "target": Jon
Fire!
Depleted ammo supply
Many too small to fire. Guess we can eat them or something
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