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Lowering module 1, thermal shields and extreme weather
Today was a
pretty exciting day, mostly because of the weather.
The winds really picked up today and visibility was getting pretty
low. And it was cold,
to say the least. But, as they say down here, "it's a harsh
continent." It's a fantastic saying, really, because, for the
most part, the facilities down here are much better than one would ever
imagine. You can always expect a hot shower, a nice meal (we have
New York Strip steak tonight), and a warm bed to sleep in. So,
when someone says something like, "Man, I didn't get much sleep last
night," it's always good to retort, "well, it's a harsh
continent." I think the origin of this quote was from
Shackleton's diary from the early exploration days in the beginning of
the 20th century. Another quote for which he is famous is "Great
God, this is an awful place." The Antarctic Sun newspaper, which
is released every Sunday, actually runs a Quote of the Week. Last
time I was here, they opened up a waffle bar for breakfast and someone
was quoted as having said, "Great God, this is a waffle place!"
Another great quote that I've seen is on the wall of the outhouse
(incidentally, a pretty unpleasant place, as it is on any continent, but here with the
added effect of frequent blasts of cold air), "I wish I was where I was
when I was wishing I was here." When things get a little
repetitious and lonely down here, as they often do, that is the quote
of quotes.
Back to Willy
Field. After all the Reynolds
high-voltage connectors were checked, Dana and I carefully lowered
the top module down onto the top Cherenkov detector. Since all of
the signal cables and low-voltage connections to the top module must be
removed in order for the separation to take place, it took a while to
plug in the approximately 60 signal cables that go to the top
module. Dana thought that it would be a good idea to begin building TIGER's thermal shield,
since as soon as the rest of our crew and the ANITA crew get down here,
it might be a little too crowded to get it done easily.
After lunch, Chris,
one of NSBF's technicians, came down to the weatherport to begin
looking at getting our SIP (Support Integration Payload) up and
running. Things still look about on schedule to have the
instrument up and running by late this week or early next.
Garry Simburger, our Electrical Technician and four
guys from the ANITA crew were scheduled to arrive today but the weather
delayed their flight until tomorrow. We'll see though. The
weather is calling for 25-35 knot winds at -53° F!
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