Two days ago we took BLAST outside to the pad! (After the previous night’s late team fixed the terrible DAS-doesn’t-work-anymore bug we’d created. This is the primary reason I didn’t sleep in, and I’m glad I didn’t—otherwise I would have missed a bunch of important pictures.) Seeing BLAST outside, and The Boss in action are very worthwhile reasons to be present.
The day went surprisingly well: sensors worked, we managed to point the star cameras at a star (no mean feat with only manual control and Antarctic daylight in your way), and the weather stayed clear and calm.
Calm, that is, until the wind decided to pick up just before we came inside. In the wind, BLAST’s shiny sun shields work as a pretty good sail. A sail that really wants to tip over. Fortunately, the CSBF crew was around to help save us from some pretty serious damage. At Willy Field, less than 1km away across our featureless plain, the winds never got nearly as high.
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- The Boss awaits
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- We just barely can’t close the doors. People working inside had to be cold for a bit
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- Tristan, also out taking pictures
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- Curtis works on the deck, in The Boss’s new cage
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- Vic is the ladder man, switching the cranes around
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- Matt sparkles with excitement (and sunlight)
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- Matt also operated the crane, sparklingly
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- Nick and Mark, looking up. At The Boss
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- Off the crane and ready. For The Boss
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- Forward, Ho! To The Boss
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- Within Reach. Of The Boss
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- Attaching. To The Boss
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- Attached! To The Boss
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- The Boss
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- The Boss’s Boss: Derek
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- Vic gets ready to come down. Everybody else gaggles around
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- More of the cage
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- Joe. Thoroughly bundled up; he doesn’t mess around
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- Luke is around to enforce safety
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- The Boss, BLAST’s Boss
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- Range Safety Officer (Linda) takes notes
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- Some deck damage. This is why inside (where the floors contain hydronic heating) we rest on plywood pads
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- Mark, the second crew chief (in addition to Vic). Everyone’s out for the occasion
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- Elio waits. Some telemetry debugging was going on
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- Safety meeting, at a safe distance
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- BLAST is put on a leash, to keep it under control
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- Curtis and Cory act as leashmasters
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- Lifted. With a hydraulic lift rather than a big-ass gear, The Boss lifts a lot more smoothly than Tiny Tim
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- Hydraulic lift, source of The Boss’s smoothness
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- Leaving the pad. Out into the world
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- Luke and BLAST. Nobody else is in the way, because nobody goes closer than Luke
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- Hanging majestically, over the pylon-offed danger zone
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- Red Hats direct the action (rotating away from the sun)
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- Mark and Joe are the new ground-based leashmasters
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- The Greybeards head to the pad. “We only need a few scientists at the pad.”
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- Matt and Elio (and I) are not in the cohort of a few scientists allowed near the pad
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- Marvel at the continued majesty of the hanging
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- Continue to marvel
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- Arrival at the pad
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- Max Power! The solar cells bask in the sunlight
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- Tristan comes around behind and distracts me
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- Left alone. By The Boss
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- Ladies and gentleman, may I present…BLAST-Pol!
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- The scoop protects the telescope from the harsh rays of the sun
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- The pump (and other things) are reconnected so we can get running
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- Team Rotate makes its triumphant antarctic debut (with less people and more clothes)
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- Tristan helps too
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- And, of course, Rotate Commander
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- We test the scoop’s effectiveness by pointing closer to the sun
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- And the scoop appears to do its job well
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- Since we’re working outside, Mark takes the opportunity to smoke a cigar
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- BLAST, Mount Erebus, and the Danger Zone
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- Just BLAST and Erebus
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- We manage to find a star! Lorenzo runs autofocus and poses
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- Journey home to the warm, sheltered safety of the highbay
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- Standing clear, as The Boss drops us off on our doorstep
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- Ladder Man wows the audience with his well-practiced crane switch-a-roo
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- Good day. Bring it in
I’m jealous.
I don’t know what it all means… was confused about who’s the boss.. but anyway. WOW!!! Tristan this really looks like fun!
“The Boss” is the name of the launch vehicle (the big crane truck that carried us to the pad).