stupid computers
Well, as expected, as soon as Kevin's flight left the ground we started having problems (actually, they were there the night before, but we didn't realize it). Our computer that controls the CCD camera (the thing that takes the pictures) kept crashing and not starting up properly. Michael and I ended up removing it from it's box on the tower and lowering to the ground using a hastily rigged sling and some rope. After two days of diagnosis, we confirmed that the solid state disk (selected because it should be more rugged than a regular disk) doesn't work in the cold. It doesn't even like a slight chill. We think we've found a way around the problem: keep the computer warm. Michael also added some improvements to the computer including two switches that allow us to change what disk is used to start up, and a nice handle so it can be lowered off the tower more easily. I hope drilling holes in the computer case and rewiring the disks doesn't void our warranty.

We have had some good news: we got our first outdoor picture - a blurry image of a nearby building - but we were having minor problems that required several trips up the tower. It's difficult and kind of scary to work up there, as there is very little room, it's about 25 feet high, and it's cold. And this is the summer! Hopefully we can fix the problems early tomorrow and get some focused pictures. The Gmount has been another source of good news. We leveled it, and were able to find the Sun (harder than it sounds). As soon as we can take good pictures we can find star bright enough to see in the daytime and calibrate the mount properly so it'll know where it's pointed.

Jason borrowed some cross country skis and has been using them to get around quite efficiently. I thought it looked like a good idea, so I got some too. Unfortunately, I'm not quite as efficient: I can ski at about walking speed and I get about twice as tired. At least I don't feel so guilty stopping by the ice cream machine now.
posted by Doug Caldwell at 11:33 PM

Everything in place

As of 8:00pm last night all of our equipment was in place and functioning (for the most part). We spent much of the day yesterday pulling the last set of cables and getting the Vulcan South equipment powered and turned on. After dinner, Kevin braved the heights of the tower to connect the Gmount cables, and within an hour the Gmount knew where it was and was slewing happily around. Meanwhile, Jason and Michael managed to track down some quirky computer issues and get all of our machines talking to each other over the network.

Unfortunately, now that we're ready to start tracking a star to level the mount the weather has turned and it's completely overcast. It's also too warm here, a tropical -28C, so we were running into problems with the EES overheating - a rather ironic problem for the South Pole. We hope to come up with a fix today. Opening the door would work, but there should be a better way.

Kevin is leaving the South Pole today. Since everything is working now, I know if something goes wrong I'll get all the blame. Oh well. Kevin, have a good flight(s) and thanks for all the great work.

cheers,
Doug
posted by Doug Caldwell at 8:54 AM

To the tower

We've been busy as bees the last two days. With lots of help from Carpenter Dave and everyone in station support we managed to get both the External Equipment Shelter (EES) and the Gmount with telescopes up on the tower at the AASTO. On Monday, Kevin and I hoisted the EES up the tower from below while the carpenters pulled from above. There were a few dicey moments when the box was hanging from a rope 30 feet above the ground wedged against the ladder. I heard some gasps from Kevin as it looked like 6 months of his hard work was going to come crashing to the ground, but he had a good hip belay and the four of us managed to wrestle it into place on the tower platform.

Meanwhile, over in the Weatherhaven, Mark & Michael were diagnosing an intermittent fault with the Gmount that had caused some problems last winter. They managed to isolate a suspicious pre-amp and swapped it with a spare. With help from Bob "Indispensible" Spotz, Michael managed to balance the telescopes on the Gmount. The AFOS now has a 20kg lead brick on a brand new adjustable bracket mounted to its side. Fortunately, the Gmount is up to the task and the extra weight doesn't seem to be a problem.

Last night, Mark, Kevin, and I unwound in the library in the dome, where we watched the film "Red Zone Cuba" (it hurts to use the word film in the the same sentence as that title) get parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3K. It was appalling, but hilarious. Perhaps it's the lack of oxygen that made it so funny.

This morning we found out that we were booked into the crane schedule at 2:20pm today for moving the Gmount onto the tower. With all the construction going on, the crane is in high demand, so you take what time you can get. We all went out to Weatherhaven for final preparations for the move. We made final adjustments to the balance, unconnected the cables and readied the mount and telescopes for the fork-lift. Fortunately, the whole back of the Weatherhaven opens up and the driver was able to get the fork-lift right inside to scoop up the top-heavy contraption. We were all worried, but again the station support crew had no troubles moving the mount out and placing it on a very large sled, which was used to ski it over to the tower to await the crane. As it was sledding over, with Kevin and I following along on a skidoo, we were stopped at the runway crossing to wait for Jason Dunham's plane to land. Once he was safely on the ground, the telescopes continued on their way and I went over to welcome him. We decided not to make Jason finish and debug all the software today, but Kevin did manage to collect our second computer from Jason's luggage and get it set up in the AASTO.

After lunch, we went out to watch the big Mantis crane lift the Gmount up on to the tower. Carpenter Dave and Co. wisely made us all stand back while they did their work, and in 15 minutes the Gmount was safely bolted to the tower. It took much longer for the crane to drive over from the station than to actually do the job. After the tower was secured, Kevin went up and connected the heater and temperature monitoring cables so we're now controlling the temperature of both the photometer and the EES. It's great to see the telescope actually in place on the mount and ready to start working.

cheers,
Doug
posted by Doug Caldwell at 7:58 PM

Weekend activities...
The Vulcan-South crew had a very successful weekend, which was especially welcome after our setbacks at the end of the week.

On Saturday, in the midst of -55F windchill we finally managed to pull 10 cables through about 40 feet of conduit. Kevin and Michael were inside AASTO spooling out the cables and trying to keep them from tangling. Mark was outside AASTO feeding them into the conduit end, and I was pulling on the rope at the other end of the pipe. We tried several different schemes for attaching the cables to our pulling rope and covering the connectors, but the cables kept getting caught at the first bend in the conduit. After much pulling and pushing and tying and untying we finally listened to Kevin's suggestion to cover the whole set of connectors with slippery metal tape. The rest of us knew it wouldn't work, but decided to humor him. We lined up the cables, gave a quick pull and they slid right through! It only took the four of us two days to do it. We've still got to pull the original Gmount cables through another conduit, but now that we know the secret, it'll be a breeze.

Saturday night we all unwound and attended the 1st Annual South Pole Film Festival. All of the short films were locally produced. Almost all of them were really good. They were funny and very professionally done. There was action, adventure, romance, and heartbreak. The modern re-telling of Scott's epic journey was especially good, as was the intimate look into the lives of two construction worker/ballet dancers.

Sunday was a beautiful day. There was almost no wind and it was as clear as I've ever seen it. If it's like this much of the winter, we should get great data.
We had a rather relaxed day, but Kevin managed to get some wiring done inside the AASTO, while Mark fixed the Gmount after a clever bit of troubleshooting.

Taking advantage of the warmth and sun, Kevin and I took a short walk out the the storage area to have a look at the abandoned Russian plane. It was flown to the South Pole a year (2?) ago. When the crew ran into mechanical problems, they left it here and charted a Twin Otter back to civilization. It is a single engined biplane that will seat 10 or so. It's got fabric covered wings and skis. Clearly designed for Polar travel, it's available to anyone willing to fix it up and fly it out. Bring your own fuel.

We plan to start moving equipment to the tower tomorrow and hope to have the Gmount in place on Wednesday, if all continues to go well.

cheers,
Doug

posted by Doug Caldwell at 10:49 PM