Hang Test (and preparing for it): November 28 and 29, 2012

Wednesday morning we got to work on the final preparations for our Hang Test. I spent most of the day making and modifying our map of the locations of all of the temperature sensors located throughout the instrument. Kenichi updated our internal monitoring website with the maps that I had made and also made it possible to click on a sensor's location on the map and see the history of the readings it put out. This lets us track how hot and cold various parts of the detector are getting, and make sure that things aren't getting too cold or overheating. Makoto continued working with his monitoring and initial analysis software, while Dana and Frank sealed up the last parts of the insulation layer. After lunch, JohnE and I got to work looking at in-flight calibration of the instrument and where to set certain parameters. 

Thursday morning, we were told that the weather forecast called for some wind early in the morning that was expected to die down after a few hours, at which point we would do our Hang Test. The Hang Test is an important milestone, since a successful one means that a balloon payload is basically ready for launch. The tricky thing with the Super-TIGER Hang Test was balancing what we needed with what had to happen with BLAST. Right now, Super-TIGER occupies the back half of our payload building, while BLAST is in the front, closer to the door. Since BLAST uses liquid helium to cool down various parts of their instrument, and the Super-TIGER PMTs can be damaged if exposed to helium, BLAST has to do the filling of its helium tanks outside, so they need to be in front.

Luckily, BLAST has a number of tests that they need to carry out outside, so they are able to do those while our payload needs to be outside, minimizing the amount of re-arranging that needs to happen. The downside is that BLAST has very large shields to keep the sun out of their telescope, and these shields act as a giant sail if the wind picks up. Once the wind started dying down, BLAST got picked up by the CSBF launch vehicle, The Boss, and driven out to their "dance floor" deck a few hundred feet away from the building for their tests.

Once BLAST was out of the building, we got to work getting Super-TIGER ready to be lifted out onto our deck. We had to set ourselves down on the deck in order to be picked up by The Boss, and then moved about five feet off of the deck and set down on jack stands. This allowed the CSBF crew easy access underneath the instrument to install the Ballast Hopper, which will control the ballast that we will carry with us during flight, and drop if we need to maintain altitude. This was also when we deployed all of the solar panels that are used to power both our instrument and all of the CSBF equipment that is flying with us.

The Boss then drove us out a bit and arranged itself so that the Super-TIGER instrument solar panels were pointed directly at the sun, which was then almost above Mount Erebus. In the direct Antarctic sunlight, we were able to get more than twice as much power as we actually needed out of the panels. We then took some quick group photos and went inside to run through out test.

Essentially, the Hang Test was where we did everything we would need to do to launch the payload without actually attaching a balloon to it. We also pretended that we were in flight while hanging on The Boss, and sent commands via the fast Line-Of-Sight (LOS) antennas, as well as the TDRSS (fast) and Iridium (super slow) satellite links. We were able to verify that everything we needed worked fine, but when we got into the part of the checklist where we were doing some higher-level commands (that worked on Tuesday, during our pre-hang test test), we were told that the winds looked like they were picking up and we had to come inside.

We quickly sent several commands to the instrument to try to get as much testing as possible done, and then The Boss brought us back to the payload building and went to get BLAST. At this point, the wind was gusting up to 14 knots, so getting BLAST and their giant sun-shields inside was important. They got inside without any problems, so everything worked out ok.

We then went over the data we took during the Hang Test and made sure that everything was working. Everything looked good, so the plan for the next couple of days is to finalize our calibration, decide on priority thresholds and make sure our monitoring software is good to go. We'll also get to work training everyone on how to use the command software and making a personnel schedule for the flight monitoring.

It sounds like the vortex over Antarctica in the upper atmosphere that needs to set up before we launch is basically set up. The plan we heard yesterday was for the CSBF folks to launch a "Pathfinder" balloon on December 1 to verify that the vortex is indeed working properly. Otherwise, there is some paperwork and an approval process from higher-ups at NASA that CSBF needs to go through before launching, which is expected to finish up on December 4th. Otherwise, things look good for us going for the first launch opportunity that presents itself after the 5th. 

Pre-Hang-Test-Test: November 27, 2012

On Tuesday morning, we basically did the same thing as Monday morning. BLAST got picked up and taken out onto the deck of the payload building and then transferred on to the launch vehicle. Once that was done, we hooked up Super-TIGER to the crane and brought it out onto the deck. Once it was out there, we deployed the solar panels and ran entirely independent of the lab power supply we use inside.

This test was primarily a communications and compatibility test, so we went through a variety of exercises to make sure things were working properly. We were able to power things up and take more muon calibration data, and also get a good feel for the solar panel outputs. We also got a good test of the temperature sensors we have in various places around the instrument and how warm the foam insulation layer keeps things when the system is running inside and it's cold on the outside. The environment sitting on the deck is very different than during flight, but so far it looks like things will be warm enough when we go outside for the Hang Test and also when we're sitting on the launch vehicle waiting for launch.

From here, we have a day to make sure that everything is ready for our planned Hang Test on Thursday. If the weather cooperates then (which we don't have a good idea of yet), and things go well, we'll be in a position to declare ourselves flight ready on schedule and hopefully take the first launch opportunity that comes up. 

Attempt 1 at a Pre-Hang Test Test and Hodoscope Mockup: November 26, 2012

The plan for Monday was to get to work on our pre-hang test compatibility test. Essentially, the hang test is the last thing we have to do before we can declare ourselves ready for flight, and this pre-test was to double check that everything was going to go fine during the actual test. To do it, we were going to go out onto the deck of our payload building and run through our setup and commanding procedures, and verify that everything was working properly.

There is an area near the payload building where BLAST can be set down and do some of their calibration runs. To get there, BLAST had to be lifted out onto the deck, and then picked up by the launch vehicle (The Boss) and driven out to the "dance floor", where they would be set down. Super-TIGER would then be picked up by the crane in the building and brought out onto the deck. 

Monday BLAST made it on to the launch vehicle while Super-TIGER was rigged up to the crane and ready to lift when it was determined that the weather forecast had the winds too high to allow BLAST to stay outside safely. BLAST has some large aluminized mylar sun shields that do a great job keeping the sun out of their telescope, but these shields can also act as giant sails if a wind were to come up. Once we got everything set back up again, we set everything up and took some more calibration data.

One thing that we had been worried about on the Super-TIGER recovery was whether or not the scintillating fiber hodoscopes would fit inside the recovery plane (I'll have a post or posts up about the hodoscope, and the other detectors, and how the instrument works in the next few days). Essentially, we want to be able to get the entire hodoscope plane back in one piece, since making a new plane of fibers takes many months. Monday, Dana and Frank made a full-sized mockup of one layer out of blue foam. The two of them, along with JohnE, then headed over to the airfield to see if the mockup would be able to fit inside the plane. They returned with the good news that it seemed like things could fit. 

Monday night, most of the team went to a talk and screening of a documentary presented by Anne Del Vera, who works out at LDB and basically makes the entire LDB station run. In 1992-3, she was a member of the first all-woman team to ski all the way to the South Pole. The documentary went over that journey, and she was around to answer any questions that people had. It was a really amazing story and put the easy life we have in modern-day McMurdo in perspective. 

Day Off and Fire House Visit: November 25, 2012

Sunday was our first day off since arriving in McMurdo. Saturday night, though, I took a time-lapse video of our ride from LDB to McMurdo in a Delta and have finally gotten it up on youtube:

The video starts out at Willy Field, and we drive away and start heading towards Ross Island. Unfortunately, the impressive view of Mt. Erebus that we get is out of the frame. The second vehicle that passes us is a Delta with the EBEX crew in it (we were assured that our Delta was the faster one. Oh well.). Once we turn and run alongside the island, you can see the green buildings of Scott Base in the distance. There's a point where we go into shadow for a little bit, and right there is the transition from the Ice Shelf to Ross Island. We swing through Scott Base and head up the hill. The hill off to the left as we're driving around is Observation Hill. At the base of Observation Hill is the McMurdo fueling station, where vans and other vehicles fill up with gas. We then go down into town and take a left in front of the dorms. The two brown buildings on the right are the dorms that our team is staying in, and then we take another left and the video stops in front of Building 155, home of the shop and cafeteria.

Sunday I took advantage of not having to work and slept in. After lunch, Sean, Richard, and I went over to the Fire House to take a tour of the station. We got to see both of the fire trucks and heard about all of the equipment that they use down here, including the various hoses and ladders. We also got to climb into the driver's seat and turn on the flashing lights and floodlights. Eventually, we got to go to the truck that was outside and they turned on the pumps and our tour guide, Matt, talked us through what was happening. Then we went back inside and got a chance to try on all of the firefighting gear that they had. It was a pretty cool tour and certainly much more exciting than hanging around in the dorm all day.

Otherwise, I spent the rest of the day watching a movie in the dorm and going to Crary Lab to use the internet (the internet in our dorms was down for some reason). I had planned to go to the Sunday science lecture, but it was apparently cancelled. It was a pretty relaxing day, and nice to have a day without too much work, especially with a busy week ahead of us.

Thanksgiving Day (Observed): November 24, 2012

Saturday was the official Thanksgiving holiday in McMurdo, which meant that out at LDB we basically treated it as a Sunday. We rode the Deltas out, and Frank, Sean and Dana helped grill up lunch. We got another satellite test in, where we were able to double-check that we were getting data back from the instrument over all of our satellite links. Otherwise, we continued much as we have been doing the last couple of days.

Since we're basically on schedule, we decided that Sunday would be a day off for everyone in our group. This meant that Saturday was the last day out at LDB for Sean and Thomas, who will be leaving on Monday (but returning in early January for the recovery of the instrument).

We left Willy Field a bit earlier than normal so that people would have a chance to get ready before dinner. Thanksgiving Dinner in McMurdo had three seatings, and people had to make reservations in advance (the CSBF crew handled all of that for us). Since the cafeteria was closed until the time things started, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. I was pretty far back with Kenichi and Makoto, but behind us the line stretched out the door.

Once we got in, the Thanksgiving feast was waiting for us. There was plenty of traditional Thanksgiving food, as well as crab legs and tons of dessert (including both Pumpkin Pie AND Pumpkin Cheesecake). We had a very nice meal at a table for all ten Super-TIGER team members.

November 23, 2012

Friday marked the return of our old friend Ivan the Terra Bus, which had been in for maintenance most of the week. When we arrived at our payload building, we met members of the BLAST team who had been up most of the night working on a test they were doing out on the deck. Apparently things went well, but I'm glad that (so far) our work down here hasn't kept me up for 30+ hours. Taking advantage of the fact that BLAST was out of the way, we also took a group photo with the instrument first thing in the morning.

Dana, Frank, and Sean got to work "buttoning up" the instrument, sealing up the insulation so that everything will be ready for the pre-Hang Test on Monday. Drew installed the High Gain Antenna (HGA), which will be our primary way of communicating with the instrument during most of the flight. I worked with JohnE and Makoto on another round of calibration for the voltages of our Photomultiplier Tubes that we'll try out on Saturday. I also got to work on editing our quick-look software so that it will read out the GPS and pressure gauge data from the NASA SIP underneath the instrument. Thomas and Bob went over to a planning meeting for instrument recovery and presented our preliminary plans.

Eventually, it was time to head back to McMurdo for dinner (really good steak. It's a harsh continent.) and "Black Friday" shopping at the store. The store also has a few shelves of DVDs that you can check out for a few days for free, so a few of us got some things to watch in the next couple of days. JohnE, Richard, Sean, and I also went to Gallagher's, where there was live Bluegrass and then 80s music performed by local bands. Since most of McMurdo is off on Saturday, it ended up getting really packed.

Thanksgiving Day: November 22, 2012

The official Thanksgiving holiday for most of McMurdo will be on Saturday, and we will have an "official" Thanksgiving dinner then, but for lunch on Thursday the LDB Galley staff went all out. We arrived to find the tables re-arranged into two long tables for everyone to sit at, as well as an impressive Thanksgiving feast.

I also found out that Sweet Potato Pie is an acceptable substitute for Pumpkin Pie.

Back in the payload building, the BLAST folks were getting ready for a test that would take them outside to the deck of our building. They got things out the door in the afternoon and got to work. We opened up the insulation of the bottom of one of the modules so that Richard could get at an electronics box. One of the electronics boards needed a resistor replaced, but once that was done Richard got the box back together and ready to go.

Throughout the day, I talked with JohnE and Makoto about adjusting the voltages on individual photomultiplier tubes for the next step in our calibration process. We keep making smaller changes to try and get things working the way we want them. We'll try out these values on a Muon test on Friday. Thursday afternoon, Kenichi showed the monitoring website he had been working on. This site essentially uses the data sent down from the instrument and converts it into graphs that will (eventually) be available for our monitoring team to monitor from anywhere. The plan is to have one shift of people monitoring the instrument during flight here on the ice, with shifts in the US picking up the rest of the day, but that will get finalized later.

Super-TIGER in on schedule and everything seems to be working properly, so we certainly have a lot to be thankful for.