It’s been a bit of a crazy time here. We received notice around 10 days ago that our campaign would be shorter than we expected, so we scrambled to be ready as soon as possible. A flurry of work followed turning Spider from mostly working to ready to fly.
As I type this, the balloon is inflating to (I really really hope) launch Spider, on our fourth attempt.
Penguin me
Turns out skua had a section for free onesies
TRPNS
Measuring polarization angles
Magnetometer
A compass to help us not point at the sun
Shiny sun shields
Preparing to install the SIP
NASA's communication electronics
RIgger power
One of the most straightforward ways to install things
Final adjutments
The back of Spider
Seen for nearly the last time, before being covered by sun sheilds
Final adjustments at the back
The pivot hole
BIll ropes the pivot to the top of the sun shields
Sun shields on!
Requires a lot of "adjustment"
More extra adjustment to align the wing tip
Delta ride
Becuase the bigger more comfortable buses were broken
Joseph wiring up antennas
Now that the sun shield, with antennas on top, is mounted
The wing
The solar panel
Brought over after assembly in the other higbay
Solar panel wiring
Non-magnetic connector for Maggie
Inside Ivan the Terrabus
A pretty full ride
Steve's dent
Is flying, apparently
Heading outside
For antenna testing
This side out
Spider outside again
Cleaning up the empty bay
Like a hero
An extra TDRSS antenna
For testing
Susan + Spider
Posing while outside
Corwin + Spider
More sun shield wiring
Chainsaw truck!
Digging a cable trench to the theodolite
Solar panel lifting
Wrestling into place
Do Not Wiggle
Bill Wiggles
Making baffle blackeners
Flight computer surgery
For the "last time"
Clever computer stand
Of exact calibrated ehight
Crane anti-rotation device
To allow our pivot to control rotation
Brick compatiblilty
This is a test payload in case they get a chance to launch a BIG 60 mcf balloon
Jared makes (shiny) waves
Unsticking The Boss
Which sunk in the soft snow at LDB
Boxing the mushroom
The Iridium Pilot antenna
Spider mostly assembled
"Swiss cheese" braces in palce
Closing the pivot hole
In the sun shields
Finishing up the baffle outer coverings
Test lock actuators
Building a box around the elevation motors
Which stick out outsside the sun shield frame, a little bit
Bracing reinforcements
Group action
On HWP motors, and making more things shiny
First baffle installed
The complete wing side
The mini-monitor
Always a good sign when that comes out
Draw bars
Used for balance weight. We buy out the Tractor Supply in Palestine to get these
All the baffles installed
Sun shield hole to access computer
Spider
Starting to look kind of complete
Modeling lab PPE
Inside the gondola floor
Extra tape
As a proxy for what we'll add after the official weigh-in
Sho climbs the narrow gap
To try to reach between gondola and sun shields
Lift test drive
For the operation to disconnect out pump just before launch
Slow cooked spider
Do Wiggle!
At long last
Solar panels, and braces
Pump on the floor
To allow us to scan while pumping
Belly and floor
Poking at MCEs
Pump hole
To allow the last minute swap, and quick tape-over.
Bitsy Rules!
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