Day 83, 8/19/2012 -- Compatible Now

After many days of testing, EBEX has finally passed its compatibility testing. Yesterday we gambled with the weather, trying to squeeze in whatever testing we could in between breaks in the weather. We got most things done yesterday, but since we didn't finish we left EBEX in the "Tim Shed", the large open building where the launch vehicle parks. Conveniently, we still had line-of-sight uplink/downlink, so the pointing crew was able to do some things overnight (though not actually point the gondola).

We awoke this morning to an absolutely beautiful summer day, with clear blue skies and quite moderate temperatures. Since the gondola was already hanging from the launch vehicle, it was quick business to disconnect from wall power and get the gondola moving. We parked outside the high bay and we finished with the "compatibility" part of the day by about 10 or 10:30AM. We then continued to hang while Chappy and Joy did some pointing test, we took some sun sensor calibration data, and Matt and Michele tried to diagnose an odd problem with the liquid cooling system pump motors. Still, we were back in the high bay by 2 PM, at which point we refilled all the cryogens in the cryostat and began a fridge cycle.

Pictures from yesterday:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInPalestine20120818

Pictures from today:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInPalestine20120819