After taking yesterday off following the conclusion of science data collection with EBEX, most of the team headed to the LDB facility today to start packing up the high bay. The main goal of today was to figure out what we could pack before the payload is recovered and try and get it mostly packed up. We in fact managed to do that and filled one of our 8' cube shipping containers.
Shaul left yesterday as well, and a bunch of the team will be leaving tomorrow to head back home. I will be staying around for recovery and packing, as will Jeff, Michele, Chappy, and Joy. Milligan will be here a few more days but won't stay for recovery, as he has a real job whose responsibilities he is shirking in order to be here in Antarctica with us.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20130111
Friday, January 11, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Day 77, December 9, 2012 -- The King is dead
The EBEX cryostat has exhausted its supply of liquid helium, exactly on schedule.
The King is dead. Long live the King!
The King is dead. Long live the King!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Day 68-74 recap, December 31, 2012 - January 6, 2013 -- T + 8 days
EBEX has now been up in the air for a little over a week and we've settled into a routine. We've been working 24 hour shifts to monitor the payload and deal with any issues that crop up. I'm working the 4PM-to-midnight shift.
Over the course of the past week I haven't had time to do much besides monitor the experiment as I shifted my schedule later. I basically completely missed the McMurdo New Year's celebration, Icestock, because I was dead tired after launch operations and the post-launch lack of sleep. I hear it was pretty great, though, with 9 (!) bands and a chili cookoff.
Today (the 6th) I heard news of some penguins off of Hut Point, so I went down with my camera and managed to catch a couple of them hanging out. Sadly, the lighting was kind of crappy (strong backlight from the sun), but there are some decent shots in there.
We're currently projecting that the cryogens will run out around ~Wednesday so we're trying to get as much data out of the experiment as possible before then. However, the balloon is currently on the complete opposite side of the continent from us so it will be a while before we terminate -- CSBF is projecting a termination date of some time around January 17th to allow time for the balloon to come back around near McMurdo to make recovery efforts easier.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica2012123020130106
Over the course of the past week I haven't had time to do much besides monitor the experiment as I shifted my schedule later. I basically completely missed the McMurdo New Year's celebration, Icestock, because I was dead tired after launch operations and the post-launch lack of sleep. I hear it was pretty great, though, with 9 (!) bands and a chili cookoff.
Today (the 6th) I heard news of some penguins off of Hut Point, so I went down with my camera and managed to catch a couple of them hanging out. Sadly, the lighting was kind of crappy (strong backlight from the sun), but there are some decent shots in there.
We're currently projecting that the cryogens will run out around ~Wednesday so we're trying to get as much data out of the experiment as possible before then. However, the balloon is currently on the complete opposite side of the continent from us so it will be a while before we terminate -- CSBF is projecting a termination date of some time around January 17th to allow time for the balloon to come back around near McMurdo to make recovery efforts easier.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica2012123020130106
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Day 67, December 30, 2012 -- Hiatus
Now that EBEX is up in the air, I'm going to take the opportunity to take a little break from blogging for a while. Come back in about 10 days for stories of termination and recovery!
No pictures today.
No pictures today.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Day 66, December 29, 2012 -- LAUNCHED!
With the possibility of an early launch today, the roll-out crew came back to the high bay at 10PM last night to prepare EBEX for flight. This included refilling cryogens after an earlier fridge cycle (which required me to squeeze into a pretty tight spot on the experiment to avoid having to uncover and re-cover an access panel) and a whole slew of pointing-related checks. We got out on the deck and had our baffles and solar panels deployed, and were ready to be picked up by the boss ahead of schedule! The CSBF crew picked up the payload and drove away from the building to do their UTP tests, and once they were done we were ready to drive out to the launch pad a full hour and forty minutes ahead of schedule.
Once we got out to the pad though...we waited. And waited. And waited some more. The launch opportunity today was supposed to be a pretty small transient high pressure system, so we weren't sure ahead of time when the winds would settle down. We had predictions one way, then things changed. We initially oriented the gondola expecting winds coming from one direction, but after reviewing the new weather data, we ended up oriented about 90 degrees away from that. And then we waited some more.
Finally, after sitting on the launch pad for about 9 hours waiting to see what the weather would do, we got a break and everything started coming together. CSBF waits to unroll the balloons from their crates until they have a reasonable certainty of launching (because they can't be rolled back in and cost a few hundred thousand dollars apiece), so they started laying out the balloon and doing all of their pre-launch checks. We only had a few things left to do before launch, so we got them out of the way as soon as we could, and by about 20 minutes before launch we were hands-off -- EBEX was in the capable hands of the CSBF balloon launch crew.
And it was a beauty.
The launch could not have gone better. Unlike some launches, during which the flight train gets a fair bit of tension from the balloon getting ahead of the launch vehicle before the crew chief releases the payload, this time it was timed so perfectly that EBEX seemingly just gracefully slid off the pin and floated upward. It was by far the best launch I've ever seen (three in New Mexico, including EBEX's first launch, and two here).
Currently, after about 4h45m after launch, EBEX is at about 110,000 feet and things seem to be going pretty well!
The launch video can be seen here (make sure to select the 1080P full HD resolution):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_2ESkCf94
You can track EBEX as it flies around Antarctica here:
http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon11/balloon11.htm
And, of course, the usual (quite full!) album of pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica2012122902
Once we got out to the pad though...we waited. And waited. And waited some more. The launch opportunity today was supposed to be a pretty small transient high pressure system, so we weren't sure ahead of time when the winds would settle down. We had predictions one way, then things changed. We initially oriented the gondola expecting winds coming from one direction, but after reviewing the new weather data, we ended up oriented about 90 degrees away from that. And then we waited some more.
Finally, after sitting on the launch pad for about 9 hours waiting to see what the weather would do, we got a break and everything started coming together. CSBF waits to unroll the balloons from their crates until they have a reasonable certainty of launching (because they can't be rolled back in and cost a few hundred thousand dollars apiece), so they started laying out the balloon and doing all of their pre-launch checks. We only had a few things left to do before launch, so we got them out of the way as soon as we could, and by about 20 minutes before launch we were hands-off -- EBEX was in the capable hands of the CSBF balloon launch crew.
And it was a beauty.
The launch could not have gone better. Unlike some launches, during which the flight train gets a fair bit of tension from the balloon getting ahead of the launch vehicle before the crew chief releases the payload, this time it was timed so perfectly that EBEX seemingly just gracefully slid off the pin and floated upward. It was by far the best launch I've ever seen (three in New Mexico, including EBEX's first launch, and two here).
Currently, after about 4h45m after launch, EBEX is at about 110,000 feet and things seem to be going pretty well!
The launch video can be seen here (make sure to select the 1080P full HD resolution):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_2ESkCf94
You can track EBEX as it flies around Antarctica here:
http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon11/balloon11.htm
And, of course, the usual (quite full!) album of pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica2012122902
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Day 65, December 28, 2012 -- Launch opportunity tomorrow
We were all set this morning to go out and do some tests outside the high bay today -- the winds were extremely calm at ground level (though they were 20+ knots 800 feet up), making it an ideal time to take the experiment outside to get some fresh air. We got word, though, in the early morning that the weather had potential for a launch opportunity tomorrow morning. By the time of the official weather briefing at 11AM, that had turned into a definite "show" for launch (a "show" meaning we'd get ready to launch assuming the weather held up). So we finished the few things we needed to do in the high bay and the early crew left in the early afternoon to try and get a little rest before heading back to LDB at about 10PM.
I managed to get only a few hours of sleep, and am now waiting to get ready and head out to the high bay. Fingers crossed!
No pictures today.
I managed to get only a few hours of sleep, and am now waiting to get ready and head out to the high bay. Fingers crossed!
No pictures today.
Day 64, December 27, 2012 -- Spontaneous day off!
We had planned today to take EBEX out of the building and do some final shakedown tests, but a prediction of strong winds canceled that plan. So, with little to do in the high bay, most of the team took a spontaneous day off.
I took the opportunity to get a quick workout in at the so-called 'gerbil gym' before meeting up with Jeff and Kevin at the "day bar" -- the bar that's open from 7AM-11AM for night shift workers. There, we had a beverage and played a round of darts (which I handily won, surprisingly) before going to lunch. In the afternoon, I sat in my room and read (a book from Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan science-fiction saga, if you must know) until 4PM when I joined a few of the other EBEXers for some pool in one of the dorm lounges. It was there that many of us saw the first penguin of our trip to Antarctica, a small Adelie that was waddling down the road behind the dorms.
First, penguins are ridiculously cute -- especially when they waddle. Second, I didn't have my camera with me; Franky was kind enough to share a few that he took. The penguin made it down the road and eventually scrambled down some rocks and onto the ice.
Pictures (all penguin!):
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121227
I took the opportunity to get a quick workout in at the so-called 'gerbil gym' before meeting up with Jeff and Kevin at the "day bar" -- the bar that's open from 7AM-11AM for night shift workers. There, we had a beverage and played a round of darts (which I handily won, surprisingly) before going to lunch. In the afternoon, I sat in my room and read (a book from Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan science-fiction saga, if you must know) until 4PM when I joined a few of the other EBEXers for some pool in one of the dorm lounges. It was there that many of us saw the first penguin of our trip to Antarctica, a small Adelie that was waddling down the road behind the dorms.
First, penguins are ridiculously cute -- especially when they waddle. Second, I didn't have my camera with me; Franky was kind enough to share a few that he took. The penguin made it down the road and eventually scrambled down some rocks and onto the ice.
Pictures (all penguin!):
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121227
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Day 63, December 26, 2012 -- BLAST off!
BLAST successfully launched this morning around 8AM local time. The winds ended up being quite calm (probably calm enough for EBEX to launch, honestly), and the launch vehicle had to do minimal driving around to stay under the balloon before releasing BLAST. After about 5 hours they were at 130,000 feet and things seem to be working well for them.
I came in early to watch (and record) the BLAST launch, and the rest of the EBEX team showed up a little after 8 (having just missed the launch). EBEX's day was dedicated to more testing -- first a bit of noise testing and then full system tests with scanning in the high bay.
Besides the usual pictures, I also have a fun little animated GIF from near the beginning of balloon inflation:
http://i.imgur.com/UtfW5.gif
as well as the BLAST launch video I took and then immediately posted to YouTube (with the BLAST team's blessing, of course!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es95ac0qVJE
And, of course, the usual pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121226
I came in early to watch (and record) the BLAST launch, and the rest of the EBEX team showed up a little after 8 (having just missed the launch). EBEX's day was dedicated to more testing -- first a bit of noise testing and then full system tests with scanning in the high bay.
Besides the usual pictures, I also have a fun little animated GIF from near the beginning of balloon inflation:
http://i.imgur.com/UtfW5.gif
as well as the BLAST launch video I took and then immediately posted to YouTube (with the BLAST team's blessing, of course!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es95ac0qVJE
And, of course, the usual pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121226
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Day 62, December 25, 2012 -- Christmas Day
Another uneventful day in the EBEX world. A few people went in early to get some work done, but I didn't go in until about 11AM (and thus was able to partake in the post-Christmas-dinner brunch). When we went in, we heard that there is a potential launch opportunity tomorrow morning for BLAST (presumably the winds will be a bit much for EBEX).
Once in the high bay, I busied myself with doing a little bit of cleanup -- putting away random hardware that has been sitting around since it was last used, like our turbo pump, our millimeter-wave source, and our coordinate-measuring-machine arm. Mostly I just sat around and read a book. But for the first time in probably nearly 2 weeks, we were treated to a brilliantly sunny afternoon, and I got some nice shots of Mt. Erebus and some pretty dramatic-looking clouds above it.
I'm still debating whether or not to try and go in early for the BLAST launch attempt or just to sleep more and go in at our regular time and potentially miss the launch (the window starts at 7AM but I wouldn't get to LDB until about 8). Decisions, decisions.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121225
Once in the high bay, I busied myself with doing a little bit of cleanup -- putting away random hardware that has been sitting around since it was last used, like our turbo pump, our millimeter-wave source, and our coordinate-measuring-machine arm. Mostly I just sat around and read a book. But for the first time in probably nearly 2 weeks, we were treated to a brilliantly sunny afternoon, and I got some nice shots of Mt. Erebus and some pretty dramatic-looking clouds above it.
I'm still debating whether or not to try and go in early for the BLAST launch attempt or just to sleep more and go in at our regular time and potentially miss the launch (the window starts at 7AM but I wouldn't get to LDB until about 8). Decisions, decisions.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121225
Monday, December 24, 2012
Day 61, December 24, 2012 -- More testing
Today was dedicated to the (successful) completion of testing the stability of our fixed flight computer watchdog system. We did long-ish-term stability tests in the morning and a bunch of shorter tests in the afternoon to look at flight computer memory usage when writing various amounts of data to disk. In the end, we're confident we have a system we can fly, and if any problems arise we have the tools to deal with them in flight.
I mostly did a whole lot of nothing. When we returned to McMurdo we were treated to the base's Christmas dinner -- a movable feast of roast meats (beef wellington and prime rib), seared duck breast, and baked lobster tails along with various sides as well as an impressive array of house-made desserts (pecan pie, buche de noel, fudge, etc) as well as the ubiquitous Frosty Boy softserve, tinted a season-appropriate green.
I didn't get any pictures of the food, though, since I don't usually take my camera to meals and I forgot to do so even on this special occasion. You'll have to make do with pictures of people in the high bay.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121224
I mostly did a whole lot of nothing. When we returned to McMurdo we were treated to the base's Christmas dinner -- a movable feast of roast meats (beef wellington and prime rib), seared duck breast, and baked lobster tails along with various sides as well as an impressive array of house-made desserts (pecan pie, buche de noel, fudge, etc) as well as the ubiquitous Frosty Boy softserve, tinted a season-appropriate green.
I didn't get any pictures of the food, though, since I don't usually take my camera to meals and I forgot to do so even on this special occasion. You'll have to make do with pictures of people in the high bay.
Pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104253244018605213307/EBEXInAntarctica20121224
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