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TIGER is up and running with aerogel / ANITA unpacks
Mike, Shige,
Marc and Dave from the ANITA group came out to the weatherport today to
get acquainted with life and work at Willy Field. After a brief
meeting with Dave Sullivan, they spent most of their day unpacking and
getting ready. Garry Simburger
was finally able to join us out in the field, and it made a big
difference. By the end of the day, we were all quite proud of how
things went.
In the morning, we all met up at the galley for two
classes: one to learn how to dispose of garbage appropriately and one
to learn how to get out and explore safely. Ever since the United
States passed the Antarctic Conservation Act in 1978, there has been a
great effort to keep the cleanest continent on earth as pristine as
possible. More than 60% of all waste generated in Antarctica is
recycled (which is far better than is done in the United States) and
the area in which people live is kept remarkably clean, mostly because
of the effort that is put forth to categorize waste. When
citizens of McMurdo dispose of garbage, it must be organized into a
number of different categories including mixed paper, burnables,
aluminum, construction debris, food waste, biohazard, light and heavy
metals, copper and brass, and wood. All of the waste is shipped
back to the United States (normally in one ship for all the American
bases: McMurdo, South Pole and Palmer Stations) and disposed of or
recycled there.
Since there have been a few tragedies in the past
with people getting caught in ice crevasses or suffering from
hypothermia, citizens of McMurdo are required to abide by certain rules
that govern where people may go in the area. Walking up Observation Hill or Scott Hut Point are allowed without
restriction, since they are near town and are on relatively safe
routes. However, walking the Castle Rock Loop (an 11-mile hike
around the north side of McMurdo) or travelling by foot or ski out to Williams Field while no shuttles are routinely
running requires that you check out and in at the firehouse before and
after leaving.
Okay, back to work. While the ANITA crew were
busy unloading all of their boxes, I was able to get TIGER up and
running in direct commanding mode (not using the SIP) and was able to
do some calibration testing. This was a quick and somewhat dirty
test, and I forwent doing any more testing so that we could use the
opportunity with Garry around and the ANITA crew busy with other things
to mount the aerogel
detectors in TIGER.
Aerogel is an extremely fragile substance that must
be handled very carefully as it can break rather easily. After
hoisting the top module of TIGER once again, we were able to install the aerogel in the afternoon and get
TIGER's top module lowered back down and secured before heading back to
McMurdo for dinner at 5:30.
It's my first full day with a brand new room.
After much ado, I was finally able to move out of the main building 155
and into a normal dorm room over in building 203A. I now have one
roommate, Andrew, who is actually working on the TRACER project (the
other balloon campaign this season) instead of a potential 3 roommates
over in 155!
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