Yesterday was Mark’s first day here (after arriving very late the night before). He sees to aligning the optics before close-up can proceed. Then the rest of the day is spent with the half-wave plate rotator (HWPR). HWPR is pronounced “hooper” or “whipper” (in the southern H-before-W manner) depending who you ask. Juan and I spend the day in debugging Hell—dealing with broken thermometers and the biphase link, respectively.
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- Pump fittings make Nick feel…umm…let’s call this wistful
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- The ground station computer: widow/israel (it has two names)
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- Nick stands up on the gondola, talks to Mark
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- This changes into Mark’s first discussion with the safety people. Can you see the sparks flying?
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- Nick goes back to retapping holes screwed up during powder-coating
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- Squeeze Doll (Important cargo, brought by Matt)
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- Doll Squeezed
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- Mark gets out the laser and turns off the light to align optics
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- The red dots on this side aren’t particularly informative
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- These are the more important red dots
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- Juan continues to work on thermometers, in the dark
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- The flight engineers Joseph and Chris also arrived with Mark…
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- …they unpack the SIP (Standard Instrument Package)…
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- …like most rectangular object, it has four sides…
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- …and I photograph them all
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- Joseph works on the SIP
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- Matt and Mark start to close the optics box
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- Elio is very proud of his new ROX cable, so he shakes it
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- The main data umbilical
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- Inside the umbilical is a pile of small and expensive cables
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- The inner frame balance tanks, and pump box (barely visible)
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- Torque testing, of HWPR drive shaft
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- Test fitting the pieces on the HWPR’s floor
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- Elio and his gears
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- The gears, ready for the HWPR to show up
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- The HWPR is in watertight packing, so it won’t rust
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- Desiccant helps too (plus, Multisorb Technologies is a sweet name)
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- The HWPR, unboxed
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- Alignment dots. Very important
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- The top surface, no visible damage
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- Similarly for the bottom
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- Mark positions the HWPR
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- The brushes for the potentiometer are attached
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- Blackness, gear, and potentiometer rails
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- One last shot of Matt working on the HWPR
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