With our detectors at cryogenic operating temperatures (0.3 K), our team of detector experts have been tuning the readout to make them as clean and well behaved as possible. We’ve been monitoring and testing detector health, and doing some pre-flight calibration tests. And fixing bugs in the fight code, testing satellite communications, and churning through our list of little things to build or fix.
At the same time, there’s a whole bunch of arts and crafts going on, primarily to turn our sun shields from the empty frame they’ve always been previously into something that can actually block the sun, and keep our instruments from overheating. Eventually all of Spider will be covered, except from the front side where it looks out at the dark sky.
We might have a launch opportunity next week (it’s too early to say, but near enough to start trying). So we’re going to be pushing hard, and cutting some corners (only the cuttable ones, of course) to be ready in time. Wish us luck!
Digger demolishes dorm
Part of the big station renovation project
A (partial) sun shield appears
The SIP arrives
With all the NASA communication electronics
Cold load testing
With a big "black" (to microwaves) source overtop
Swiss cheese plates
Titanium gondola reinforcements that the original shop made totally wrong. But they're lighter now!
Night shift spinning
Spinning the TRPNS (angle calibrator)
Elle destroys a circuit board
In a deliberate controlled manner
The damage
Scratched traces to disconnect a bad circuit
More "damage"
Can you find the missing parts?
Jason is super excited about antenna mounts
For the TDRSS antenna
Iridium antenna too
Doors open
Spider is going outside
Sunbathers
Sunny Spider spinnners
Spider out on the front deck
Jeff and Elle and Spider
Jeff takes a sit
Rose's Spider selfie
Jahanna and the baffle
Testing Spider's view of the sky through a baffle is why we went outside
Spider's Antarctic backdrop
Sun shield wing
The big asymmetric port side wing is assembled
Foam cutters resort to power tools
There's a lot of foam cutting that has to happen
Foaming the wing
Caught Bill soldering
SCIENCE penguin
One of several cute sculptures hidden around McMurdo
Joseph navigates the space insdie the sun shield
Joseph, in his forest of antenna mounts
TDRSS too
Sasha's shiny suit
Myseterious foam cat
Cargo diving
Most of our useful things are inside, but sometimes one needs to dig through the shipping containers outside
Bit sync surgery
With real battery stabbing. (For our line of sight radio link)
Jigsaw works well on foam
Jared spies me
As I stick around for a night shift one day
Sho mixes glue
Suren foams
Sasha is really excited about "Sasha's Box"
A box of things mostly left from Spider-1 that we've kept around and I had named after her.
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