After a leisurely morning and a great breakfast at Counter Culture Cafe in Santa Fe, we began the trek back to Fort Sumner. Most of the crew stopped at Montezuma hot springs, just north of Las Vegas, NM, but I headed straight for Fort Sumner so I could check on the cryostat -- and it's a good thing, too: The cryostat had about 1 liter of liquid nitrogen left in it, which would have lasted only 3 hours longer. It had about 4 liters of liquid helium, which would have lasted for about 8 hours.
Once I got back, Seth and I added some liquid nitrogen, and Seth filled me in on the Fort Sumner operations. Everything was pretty much copacetic while we were gone, and FIREBall is going to try to launch again tomorrow morning. If they don't launch, there's a chance that we'll get the next opportunity, as the weather forecast for mid-week is predicted to have some cloud cover that will significantly affect their altitude.
After the rest of the gang got back from the hot springs (which they said were actually hot, unlike the one we went to a couple days ago), Jeff and I added helium to the cryostat. We then headed home, and then watched a couple of movies (Lucky Number Slevin and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle) at one of the houses. A laptop, an LCD projector, a white sheet, and a Cambridge Soundworks MicroWorks computer speaker system makes for a pretty decent movie setup.
No pictures today. After all, Friday's mustache picture should be enough picture for weeks.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Day 74, 6/6/09 -- EBEX gets some culture
Another day in Santa Fe for the EBEX crew. Today we split up a little bit in the morning; I slept in which was much-needed. At around noon, a subset of us headed to a place called Bagelmania which, despite its rather silly-sounding name, makes a good breakfast. Crab cake eggs benedict? Yes, please.
Will, Daniel, and I headed to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. I hadn't realized before the breadth of her talent, and I particularly liked her philosophy on art, which was basically: I paint things I think are beautiful -- don't read too much into it! We then met up with Joy, Jeff, and Milligan at the New Mexico History Museum and learned about the rather violent history of this region (I suppose the same could be said of any region, though...).
While we were out getting our culture on, Hannes and François drove a little ways out of town for another hiking excursion. After they returned, Hannes suggested we go to the 2nd Street Brewery where we had some appetizers. We then re-agglomerated at the motel and walked into downtown for dinner at the Thai Cafe. After that, more Santa Fe nightlife, such as it is.
I didn't take any pictures today. And I just now discovered that I had accidentally duplicated blog post title day numbers -- all they way back at day 9 and day 14. I had to go through every single post and edit the titles, and I still haven't figured out how exactly I managed to duplicate June 3rd.
Will, Daniel, and I headed to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. I hadn't realized before the breadth of her talent, and I particularly liked her philosophy on art, which was basically: I paint things I think are beautiful -- don't read too much into it! We then met up with Joy, Jeff, and Milligan at the New Mexico History Museum and learned about the rather violent history of this region (I suppose the same could be said of any region, though...).
While we were out getting our culture on, Hannes and François drove a little ways out of town for another hiking excursion. After they returned, Hannes suggested we go to the 2nd Street Brewery where we had some appetizers. We then re-agglomerated at the motel and walked into downtown for dinner at the Thai Cafe. After that, more Santa Fe nightlife, such as it is.
I didn't take any pictures today. And I just now discovered that I had accidentally duplicated blog post title day numbers -- all they way back at day 9 and day 14. I had to go through every single post and edit the titles, and I still haven't figured out how exactly I managed to duplicate June 3rd.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Day 73, 6/5/09 -- EBEX still in Santa Fe!
The EBEX crew had another full day in Santa Fe yesterday.
We had a late breakfast at Tecolote Cafe, where we met a guy with a truly awesome Salvador-Dali-like mustache. The remaining members of the EBEX mustache crew (the stalwarts -- myself, Hannes, and François) got our picture taken with him (see today's album).
From there, we drove up highway 285 to visit Bandelier National Monument. Bandelier is a park set in the area around Frijoles Canyon, near Los Alamos, where the ruins of ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings were found (by a guy named Bandelier, hence the name).
After walking the trails at Bandelier and checking out the caves (which were pretty neat), we then drove towards Jemez, passing by Valles Caldera, to find a hot spring that Hannes had visited before. After a decent few-mile-uphill hike, we were rewarded with a spring that, if not hot, was at least comfortably warm. We soaked in the spring for a bit while getting our toes nibbled by minnows before heading back down.
On the drive back to Santa Fe, we took a different route than when we drove in, and were treated to some stunning views of red- and orange-hued cliffs and mesas. I have to say, the landscape in this part of New Mexico is truly spectacular.
Once back in Santa Fe, we headed to Il Vicino to get some pizza (real pizza from a wood-fired oven!) and then wandered around to check out the Santa Fe nightlife. The town was definitely more alive on Friday night than it was the night before.
The reader may have noticed that I put a new title image up on the blog. Also, the reader may have noticed that I somehow managed to get the dates screwed up in recent blog post titles. I'm working on sorting it out.
Pictures from today at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060509#
We had a late breakfast at Tecolote Cafe, where we met a guy with a truly awesome Salvador-Dali-like mustache. The remaining members of the EBEX mustache crew (the stalwarts -- myself, Hannes, and François) got our picture taken with him (see today's album).
From there, we drove up highway 285 to visit Bandelier National Monument. Bandelier is a park set in the area around Frijoles Canyon, near Los Alamos, where the ruins of ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings were found (by a guy named Bandelier, hence the name).After walking the trails at Bandelier and checking out the caves (which were pretty neat), we then drove towards Jemez, passing by Valles Caldera, to find a hot spring that Hannes had visited before. After a decent few-mile-uphill hike, we were rewarded with a spring that, if not hot, was at least comfortably warm. We soaked in the spring for a bit while getting our toes nibbled by minnows before heading back down.
On the drive back to Santa Fe, we took a different route than when we drove in, and were treated to some stunning views of red- and orange-hued cliffs and mesas. I have to say, the landscape in this part of New Mexico is truly spectacular.
Once back in Santa Fe, we headed to Il Vicino to get some pizza (real pizza from a wood-fired oven!) and then wandered around to check out the Santa Fe nightlife. The town was definitely more alive on Friday night than it was the night before.
The reader may have noticed that I put a new title image up on the blog. Also, the reader may have noticed that I somehow managed to get the dates screwed up in recent blog post titles. I'm working on sorting it out.
Pictures from today at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060509#
Friday, June 5, 2009
Day 72, 6/4/09 -- EBEX in Santa Fe!
Well, due to all the bad weather, people have scattered. We found out today that FIREBall is going to try launching again tomorrow, and then the weather gets really bad (hail, lightning, frogs falling form skies, etc.) for the next two days after that.
Because we don't have a chance at launching, Ilan and Shaul have gone back to Minnesota, Amber and Britt to New York. This morning, Will and I drove to Albuquerque to drop Michele off at the airport for a flight to Oakland so he could visit some friends in Berkeley for a few days. From there, we drove north on I-25 to Santa Fe, where we met two other cars containing Hannes, François, Milligan, Kate, Jeff, Joy, and Daniel.
The first order of business was, of course, lunch. We were all starving, and we found a place called The Shed in the downtown Santa Fe that, frankly, was delicious. It's not that Fred's is so bad, but it's not really...good. This food was good. I had forgotten how good food could be. We then sorted out lodging, and Will ran an errand (to send a gift to his daughter whose birthday is coming up).
After that, on a recommendation of one of Jeff's friends, we took a hike up the Atalaya trail. Starting at about 7500 feet, the trail takes a couple of miles to go up to the peak at approximately 9100 feet. It turns out that most of us in the group are pretty out of shape. It took a good hour to get up there, taking a few rests here and there to let our weary calves rest, but it was well worth it once we got to the top. On the way down, most of us at some point or another took to running down the trail, which was lots of fun and everybody managed not to trip and fall. Our legs will definitely be feeling the effects tomorrow though.
After cleaning ourselves up, we walked back into downtown for dinner. After a bit of wandering, we re-found an Indian restaurant that Will and I had seen earlier in the day. It was decent Indian food, but the main point is that it was Indian food -- something that many of us haven't seen for over two months.
After that, we went to a bar called Cowgirl that Jeff was really dying to go to. We hung out there for a while and eventually made our way back to the motel.
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060409#
Because we don't have a chance at launching, Ilan and Shaul have gone back to Minnesota, Amber and Britt to New York. This morning, Will and I drove to Albuquerque to drop Michele off at the airport for a flight to Oakland so he could visit some friends in Berkeley for a few days. From there, we drove north on I-25 to Santa Fe, where we met two other cars containing Hannes, François, Milligan, Kate, Jeff, Joy, and Daniel.
The first order of business was, of course, lunch. We were all starving, and we found a place called The Shed in the downtown Santa Fe that, frankly, was delicious. It's not that Fred's is so bad, but it's not really...good. This food was good. I had forgotten how good food could be. We then sorted out lodging, and Will ran an errand (to send a gift to his daughter whose birthday is coming up).
After that, on a recommendation of one of Jeff's friends, we took a hike up the Atalaya trail. Starting at about 7500 feet, the trail takes a couple of miles to go up to the peak at approximately 9100 feet. It turns out that most of us in the group are pretty out of shape. It took a good hour to get up there, taking a few rests here and there to let our weary calves rest, but it was well worth it once we got to the top. On the way down, most of us at some point or another took to running down the trail, which was lots of fun and everybody managed not to trip and fall. Our legs will definitely be feeling the effects tomorrow though.After cleaning ourselves up, we walked back into downtown for dinner. After a bit of wandering, we re-found an Indian restaurant that Will and I had seen earlier in the day. It was decent Indian food, but the main point is that it was Indian food -- something that many of us haven't seen for over two months.
After that, we went to a bar called Cowgirl that Jeff was really dying to go to. We hung out there for a while and eventually made our way back to the motel.
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060409#
Day 71, 6/3/09 -- No FIREBall launch
sorry for the late post!
FIREBall scrubbed this morning. We got a prediction for fairly bad weather for the next few days, so we finalized our plans to go to Santa Fe for a couple of days to relax for a bit. To that end, we put the appropriate amount of cryogens in the cryostat so it could sit unattended for a few days. Nothing much else happened.
In the evening, though, there was an awesome electrical storm the likes of which I have NEVER seen before. It was basically continuous lightning strikes to our south-southeast or so. I took a nice little video of it, set to the tune of Dvorak's New World Symphony (it was on the car radio). Towards the end of the piece, it actually seemed as if the lightning was flashing in time to the music!
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060309#
FIREBall scrubbed this morning. We got a prediction for fairly bad weather for the next few days, so we finalized our plans to go to Santa Fe for a couple of days to relax for a bit. To that end, we put the appropriate amount of cryogens in the cryostat so it could sit unattended for a few days. Nothing much else happened.
In the evening, though, there was an awesome electrical storm the likes of which I have NEVER seen before. It was basically continuous lightning strikes to our south-southeast or so. I took a nice little video of it, set to the tune of Dvorak's New World Symphony (it was on the car radio). Towards the end of the piece, it actually seemed as if the lightning was flashing in time to the music!
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060309#
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Day 70, 6/3/03 -- FIREBall's up next!
Big news today: FIREBall has taken tomorrow morning's launch opportunity. The winds look borderline, so it'll be what Bill Stepp calls 'groundhog day': They'll show up, stick their heads out and see what the winds are like, and make the call in the morning whether or not to roll out.
Anticipating this, several members of the group have left for a while. Shaul, Ilan, Amber, and Britt have all departed for a few days. This should work out well, since the weather for Friday and Saturday doesn't look good for a launch.
Most of us that have remained here are making plans to go to Santa Fe for a day or so to unwind a little bit. Assuming that FIREBall launches, the next possible launch attempt for us probably wouldn't be until Monday because FIREBall's flight track will take them almost all the way to California, and CSBF wouldn't have enough manpower to launch another payload until the FIREBall recovery team returned.
Again, no pictures.
Anticipating this, several members of the group have left for a while. Shaul, Ilan, Amber, and Britt have all departed for a few days. This should work out well, since the weather for Friday and Saturday doesn't look good for a launch.
Most of us that have remained here are making plans to go to Santa Fe for a day or so to unwind a little bit. Assuming that FIREBall launches, the next possible launch attempt for us probably wouldn't be until Monday because FIREBall's flight track will take them almost all the way to California, and CSBF wouldn't have enough manpower to launch another payload until the FIREBall recovery team returned.
Again, no pictures.
Day 69, 6/2/09 -- I'm running out of titles
Well, we didn't launch again. CSBF then told us that there would be no launch opportunity today, Wednesday morning (yeah, I'm posting this a little late), so Jeff and I ended up opening up the experiment and relocating a heater from the half-wave-plate drive motor mount to the rotary vacuum feedthrough on the cryostat -- there were concerns that the feedthrough would get too cold if we drooped down too low overnight, as it's only rated to -50C and at ~80,000 feet the temperature gets to about -55C. Jeff spent about 5 hours hunched over uncomfortably confined in the gondola inner frame, squeezed between the cryostat, the window champagne bucket baffle, and a gyro box working on the heaters while I fetched tools, offered advice, did some soldering, and helped out wherever I could. In the end, we tested the heaters and found that the feedthrough ran about 20C above ambient temperature, even in the high-pressure environment at ground level, and the motor mount got to 5C above ambient -- more than enough to survive an overnight flight at low altitudes.
Once we finished, we headed over to the ranch house where the rest of the crew had already started to party. Sam and Jerry have now gone home, and Joy and Daniel have moved into the ranch house in their place. If there's no launch attempt tomorrow, some of us are thinking of driving out to Santa Fe to see what it's all about.
I didn't take any pictures of the launch attempt in the morning because we didn't even roll away from the high bay, and everything pretty much looks the same as the previous attempts.
Once we finished, we headed over to the ranch house where the rest of the crew had already started to party. Sam and Jerry have now gone home, and Joy and Daniel have moved into the ranch house in their place. If there's no launch attempt tomorrow, some of us are thinking of driving out to Santa Fe to see what it's all about.
I didn't take any pictures of the launch attempt in the morning because we didn't even roll away from the high bay, and everything pretty much looks the same as the previous attempts.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Launch attempt 3 -- third time's the charm?
0315h local:
We showed up around 0215h for roll-out today. We're getting much quicker with the pre-launch prep. As of right now, the gondola is out the door, baffles are ready, and we're hanging from Big Bill. We're waiting on the wind direction to stabilize before we roll out to the pad.
0327h local:
Put up the pictures from yesterday's attempt at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060109#
0340h local:
Bill Stepp came by and told us there was a problem with one of the terminate package's squib -- either the one that separates the balloon from the payload or the one that separates the parachute from the balloon after landing. It'll take an hour to swap out...so we're stuck until then. We're watching Flight of the Conchords in the conference room to pass the time.
0440h local:
We're moving out to the pad. Still a question on wind direction, and the CSBF weather crew is being hampered by inoperational radar at Cannon AFB. But we have to try...
0522h local:
Still haven't moved out. And it is cold in here today. Brr.
0627h local:
A front is moving through, and there's a possibility of a lull in the winds after it passes, so we're still waiting.
0655h local:
Officially scrubbed, again.
We showed up around 0215h for roll-out today. We're getting much quicker with the pre-launch prep. As of right now, the gondola is out the door, baffles are ready, and we're hanging from Big Bill. We're waiting on the wind direction to stabilize before we roll out to the pad.
0327h local:
Put up the pictures from yesterday's attempt at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060109#
0340h local:
Bill Stepp came by and told us there was a problem with one of the terminate package's squib -- either the one that separates the balloon from the payload or the one that separates the parachute from the balloon after landing. It'll take an hour to swap out...so we're stuck until then. We're watching Flight of the Conchords in the conference room to pass the time.
0440h local:
We're moving out to the pad. Still a question on wind direction, and the CSBF weather crew is being hampered by inoperational radar at Cannon AFB. But we have to try...
0522h local:
Still haven't moved out. And it is cold in here today. Brr.
0627h local:
A front is moving through, and there's a possibility of a lull in the winds after it passes, so we're still waiting.
0655h local:
Officially scrubbed, again.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Day 68, 6/1/09 - I don't want no scrub
Launch attempt 2 was scrubbed, but once again FIREBall has declined the launch opportunity due to the flight profile, so once again we are at bat. We are aiming for a roll-out of 2:30AM this time instead of 1:15, as we spent a lot of time yesterday just sitting at the door of the high bay.
Pictures from this morning's launch attempt will be up later.
EDIT:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060109#
Pictures from this morning's launch attempt will be up later.
EDIT:
http://picasaweb.google.com/asad137/EBEXInNewMexico060109#
June 1 launch attempt
Well, we're here at the high bay again getting ready for another launch attempt.
0208h local:
We've got the gondola out the door, the baffles in place, and the flight suspension hardware on. The CSBF team is working on installing the crush pads. Things are going more quickly this time around -- amazing what a dry run will do.
0234h local:
Waiting...just hanging out outside the building before rolling out to the pad. People are very relaxed this time around.
0251h local:
Pi ball launched and indicates low-level winds are lower than yesterday.
0305h local:
Delay now is in figuring out which direction to lay out the balloon.
0326h local:
Rolling out to the pad.
0356h local:
Out on the pad, balloon truck is out, helium trucks are out. Current plan is for hands-off at 0430h, and CSBF is going to start unrolling the balloon then.
0420h local:
We are hands-off. All of our pre-flight checklists are done. The balloon crate is out by the balloon truck. Plan is to open it around 5AM and start laying it out.
0523h local:
Still haven't opened the balloon crate. There was some concern about wind direction, which now seems to be fine. There's some concern about the winds at ~400 ft, which were a little stronger than the winds at 1000 ft.
0530h local:
Winds have picked up...11 knots at 500 feet and 18 knots at 1000. Too fast to launch, but we're going to wait a while longer and see what happens. If they go down...
0619h local:
Low-level winds haven't died down. We're scrubbed.
0208h local:
We've got the gondola out the door, the baffles in place, and the flight suspension hardware on. The CSBF team is working on installing the crush pads. Things are going more quickly this time around -- amazing what a dry run will do.
0234h local:
Waiting...just hanging out outside the building before rolling out to the pad. People are very relaxed this time around.
0251h local:
Pi ball launched and indicates low-level winds are lower than yesterday.
0305h local:
Delay now is in figuring out which direction to lay out the balloon.
0326h local:
Rolling out to the pad.
0356h local:
Out on the pad, balloon truck is out, helium trucks are out. Current plan is for hands-off at 0430h, and CSBF is going to start unrolling the balloon then.
0420h local:
We are hands-off. All of our pre-flight checklists are done. The balloon crate is out by the balloon truck. Plan is to open it around 5AM and start laying it out.
0523h local:
Still haven't opened the balloon crate. There was some concern about wind direction, which now seems to be fine. There's some concern about the winds at ~400 ft, which were a little stronger than the winds at 1000 ft.
0530h local:
Winds have picked up...11 knots at 500 feet and 18 knots at 1000. Too fast to launch, but we're going to wait a while longer and see what happens. If they go down...
0619h local:
Low-level winds haven't died down. We're scrubbed.
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