11/26/2022
Happy Thanksgiving!
In McMurdo we don't celebrate Thanksgiving until the weekend and its two days off instead of just one! So its lots of fun and festivities around base. This morning was the Turkey Trot and most people wear costumes while they run. I didn't run but had fun cheering at the finish line!
SPIDER Updates
Its been a busy few weeks and I haven't had the time to make as many updates as I'd like. Since my last blog post we have made a lot of progress. All the telescopes are wrapped up and installed in the cryostat. I took one last picture with Y4b, the telescope that has been at UIUC for the last four years. It was a little weird putting the copper wraps on the telescopes for the last time.
There are lots of fun reflections and neat framing to snap pictures during close-up.
After all the telescopes were installed added all the insulation, layers, filters, and windows back onto the cryostat to close up. While Lloro (the cryostat) was on the vacuum pump we did several purges with dry nitrogen gas to get the base pressures lower and lower each time as more water gets removed from all the surfaces. Compared to last run in the Texas humidity, we saved three days on pumping and purging.
We didn't detect any air leaks, (for the second cooldown in a row!), which really speeds progress along because we don't have to fully open up and fix anything. This is partially in thanks to the team, (mostly Johanna and Simon, I think), that valiantly leak tested all the window buckets outside in the cold, and replaced a lot of old O-rings that weren't making good seals anymore. They were making sure that the thermal contraction from the cold air wouldn't cause any issues with the windows, and found and fixed these other issues along the way.
We have the carbon fiber and aluminum gondola built and are getting all the electronics situated and cables routed where they need to go. There were a few days where it was really cold inside the highbay after we left the doors open for a full day. We were bundled up, but still having a good time. I found that the reaction wheel hub made a very austere, and heavy, crown.
We are currently holding with liquid nitrogen inside the main tank, while we wait for our liquid helium deliveries to show up. We should be able to lift Lloro onto the gondola on Monday, and start helium fills Tuesday. From there out it will be all the cryo filling operations, and getting the detectors tuned up, flight code running, and other systems operational and ready for a launch day. This week we did a lot of arts and crafts adding the thermal treatment (blue foam and aluminized mylar) to Lloro.
Jeff, Riccardo, and Steve finally made it to McMurdo on Monday and Tuesday after a long delay in Christchurch and New Jersey. They brought with them some warm weather, and we enjoyed several days of 20 F+ days this week. People are practically sunbathing on the beach in this weather.
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
When Steve arrived we had a Christmas Steve session where he handed out all the things we asked him to hand carry last minute. From tennis shoes, phone cases, 600 1/4" flat washers, and 10 lbs of candy. We have priorities, clearly.
A pair of NewBalance shoes and a charger that works
Is the wish of Susan and Sho
Washers that stop screws from taking a walk
Is the hope of Simon and Lun
And Jeff and Bill can hardly wait for SPIDER to fly again
Fun Updates
I've gotten to do lots of fun things in our spare evening times. Cross-country skiing out on the sea ice, hiked up Ob hill with Corwin, went down the Observation Tube under the sea ice.
Ob(servation) Hill
A 760 foot climb above McMurdo. 360 degree views from the top to Mt. Erebus, Cape Evans, The Royal Society Range, and even all the way out to LDB on the Ice Shelf. LDB is the furthest thing out toward the horizon. Sort of a white patch at the end of a line, the snow road. It was about 7 degrees Fahrenheit, full sun, and no wind when Corwin and I climbed. So we were comfortable in just fleeces on the steep hike up, but added wind breakers on the way back down. There is a cross at the top in memory of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his expedition members that died on their way back from the South Pole.
Skiing
Simon and Susan very graciously traded me skiis and poles because mine were the wrong size. I'll have to trade before I go out again. I haven't gone cross country skiing since the 4th grade, and I only fell over about 5 times. The Central Comms office, where you check out radios to leave base or go on the sea ice, asked when we got back, "Any falls?" Simon replied, "a couple?". They laughed and said, "we know! we saw!" If they had their bets on me falling the most, they would have won.
Observation Tube
The ice formations are really neat to look at and you can hear the seals whistling eerily to each other. We all feel like Super Mario coming out of the tube. Its amazing.
Touch Tank
One day we got to go to the Phase Three in Crary Science lab and visit the touch tank. Its filled with things that live in the water here. McMurdo is a seaside town, although most of the year its socked in with ice. The water for the touch tank is pumped continuously straight from the bay, and so it is very very cold. I got to hole LuLu the Sea Lemon. And we really enjoyed the sea urchin with the cowboy hat.
Sasha and I had some fun doing cartwheels. Sasha is looking awesome in her snowsuit for Fancy Friday.
Weather Station Tour
Jason, Simon and I tagged along on a tour of the weather station Jared had set up. We got to go up on the roof where they do the daily forecasting.
Sundogs and Fog
That's all for now! I'm off to Thanksgiving dinner soon, I've heard its worth getting excited about! I hope my pants dry in time because I forgot all about my clothes in the washer while making this post.