<\/a>Wiring up the solar panels <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Testing the sun sensor <\/div>
Yes, I know all of the pinholes are covered in this photo.<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Painting the baffles <\/div>
The white paint is "black" as seen by Spider.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Attaching antennas to the sun shield frame <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Simon goes for a ride <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>To attach another antenna, slightly too high for a ladder <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Walking the sun shields around <\/div>
Including Shannon and Andi 2\/3 Princeton undergrads that joined us for the final couple weeks.<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Rigging up the pivot <\/div>
Which normally holds Spider up, but when it's dangling it's held by the sun shield<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Adjusting ropes <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Installing baffles <\/div>
These shield the telescopes from stray light<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Finishing lots of details <\/div>
Including Zakiya, the final undergrad. Sorry, I didn't have any good photos of you.<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Staring contest <\/div>
With Spider's fully baffled telescopes. (Some are deliberately only half white)<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Joseph and the amazing technicolour dream gyro <\/div>
The new gyroscope we're using to track our pointing is way better than the old ones.<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Shiny new gyro <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Spider in profile <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Lifting the sun shields <\/div>
Amazingly, they hang at pretty much the right angle for installation<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Bills drills <\/div>
To attach an antenna mount<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Hey it's me! <\/div>
Somebody (probably Simon) catches me watching as we rotate the now much more cumbersome Spider<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Rope checking <\/div>
The clearances are super tight<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Packing begins <\/div>
The schedule is tight, so anything no longer needed starts getting packed<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Spider rollling ourside <\/div>
Pay no attention to the winky face<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Spider outside <\/div>
To test satellite communication we need to see the sky<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Topping the mushroom <\/div>
The big Iridium Pilot antenna is installed<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>We rushed inside before getting soaked <\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Back outside <\/div>
The following day, where we're doing our official compatibility test.<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Lots of solar power! <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Emergency soldering <\/div>
One of the antennas needed a slightly different connector.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Group photo! <\/div>
Obligatory, on compatibility day<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Weigh in (lbs) <\/div>
To make sure we won't be too heavy for the balloon<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Compatibility passed! <\/div>
The heavens show their support<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Packing intensifies <\/div>
Now that we've passed compatibility, everything can go<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Solar panel deconstruction <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Solar panel deconstructed <\/div>
That was fast<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Tiny Tim <\/div>
A few of us go across the road to visit the old retired launch vehicle<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>Simon stop to pose in a large forklift <\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>
<\/a>![\"Group](\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52478649766_6d6f7eb3c3_n.jpg\")
This post is very late: my site had server issues that have finally been resolved. I post this just before heading out to join much of the rest of the team already in Antarctica! After successfully cooling down and testing Spider’s detectors, the final thing to do was our compatibility test. For this, the payload gets completely assembled and we roll outside to test that the NASA satellite communication (and everything else) works properly. This requirement is the primary reason that we go to Palestine in advance of Antarctic flights. This was the end of my stay in Texas, since I had to leave early to attend a conference. Though I missed the first couple days to stay for compatibility. Oops, sorry, I only missed packing. We were also joined by a few Princeton undergrads: Zakiya, Andi, and Shannon. Extra hands were very welcome in the final crunch, and hopefully they enjoyed a bit of science before the packing. Lots of balloon science is just packing and unpacking anyway. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6606"}],"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=6606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6607,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6606\/revisions\/6607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/droppingballast.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}