<\/a>Step one: out to the deck <\/div>
Featuring Tristan<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Climbing up the back <\/div>
To switch from the crane to The Boss<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Electronics team waits for their turn <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>The Boss picks us up <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>The Boss <\/div>
The flight-train is fully laid out, with the spool hanging off the back<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Pylons <\/div>
Mark the Danger Zone<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Steadying during liftoff <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Pulling on BLAST's leash <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Coffee time <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Unplugged cable <\/div>
Temporary source of commanding troubles<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Compatiblilty tests happening <\/div>
Can you see it?<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Solar panels, and infrared sensor <\/div>
All the extra things that CSBF will fly are attached<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Ballast hopper <\/div>
The semi-namesake of the blog<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Back of the electronics cart <\/div>
With all the basics a tech needs<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Tattered Jolly Roger <\/div>
Flown by the electronics cart. In defiance of maritime decency<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Mylar self-portrait <\/div>
BLAST is so shiny that I just can't resist<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>BLAST from many angles <\/div>
The sun side: solar panels and shiny stuff<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>BLAST from many angles <\/div>
Slighlty-less sun side. The few places where it isn't shiny just aren't filled in yet<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>BLAST from many angles <\/div>
The anti-sun side. Uncovered so that things can cool<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>BLAST from many angles <\/div>
The sun-better-not-get-here side. Otherwise it might be able to see into the scoop<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Parachute box, etc. <\/div>
Every single thing is tested<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>![\"The](\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8060\/8273870906_cf715c0d35_n.jpg\" "\\"The")
Yesterday we successfully conducted out pre-flight compatibility test! This means attaching everything that will fly: all of CSBF’s little sensors, and the flight train, parachute, terminate package, etc. Then we hang off The Boss and drive a little away from the highbay so that radio signals are cleaner. While it hangs there for a few hours, we pretend it’s flying and make sure that everything works as expected. And, it turns out, things worked as expected. Now, after a little more arts and crafts and touching up, we will be ready to fly. However, EBEX will fly before us, and we will not launch before the 20th. So, we will have a while to practice and test before launch. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6061"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6064,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6061\/revisions\/6064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}