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TRACER's hangtest / installing the TIGER thermal shield
Today we were out of commission all day
long, for the most
part. The TRACER group, who is also launching its payload this
season, had their hangtest
today. Since communicating by radio is extremely important during
the hangtest, we turned TIGER off for the day and let TRACER have both
line-of-sight and TDRSS communication. These hangtests mark the
end of the integration period here in Antarctica. And so, it
looks like this year TRACER will be getting the first launch
opportunity in the coming weeks.
Dana and Garry spent most of the day fitting,
cutting and fitting TIGER's thermal
shield.
The thermal shield will be important during the flight to keep the
instrument from overheating.
Back in McMurdo, I had a long, leisurely dinner with
some of
the friends that I've met since I've been down here. They include
people from all walks of life: from journalists to cargo workers, and
glaciologists to McMurdo operations crew. As I sat at dinner,
Drew walked by and handed me a sheet of paper describing when we will
be able to get access to the TDRSS satellites tomorrow. It looks
like our TDRSS test has finally arrived, and it's going to be a big day
tomorrow.
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