ANITA Launches!

Finally, the weather conditions were adequate to get the first payload in line off the ground and on its journey to orbit the pole. The LBD crew were fast and efficeint, the complete process didn't take more than a few hours, and the balloon was in the air by 3:00 pm. This is great news for SBI because it means there is space in the payload bay now for final preperations for the pre-launch Hang Test. With some luck, BLAST will be able to launch this Sunday, we may be home soon!



Here is the gallery of the launch:

12.15.06 - ANITA Launch etc

Wish up luck!

Things to do in Antarctica when you can't launch a balloon

After 6 failed launch attempts for ANITA, and the forecast looking way too windy to even roll out for an attempt, the LBD crew and science teams needed some R&R. Most people slept in, rested up, or hung around McMurdo but SBI and most of the LBD guys were out at Willy Field (good thing too as it was steak for lunch, yummy!). Mark had brought along a power kite, a small trainer version of the kind used for Kite Surfing, but for practice and land sports where such a large kit is not needed. We headed out to the launch pad, a huge 1/8 mile diameter graded snow surface with an ATV, Power Kite, sled, and a snowboard.

Using the kite was not as tricky as I thought, but I needed a little more practice to get smooth power for a better ride. The problem was (a) the people who were more experienced flying the kite couldn't snowboard (b) the person who could snowboard (me) was a kite flying novice. Regardless, all of us could ride the sled with the kite, and I rode the snowboard behind the ATV. Good times were had by all.

Matt's photos:

12.14.06 - Kite Snowboarding

Hope we get a launch soon!

Signing the SBI Gondola

Today the SBI team signed the electronics cover plate on the gondola, signifying that we are launch ready. Unfortunately only those down here in Antarctica could sign, so Bliss our designated calligrapher wrote thier names in, as well as adding the fitting sun logo to the center. We all took turns climbing the ladder, trying to keep our signature legible using a huge sharpie while maintaining balance. Its a good feeling to have everything checked out, for Pietro and many of the others this has been nearly 10 years of work on this project (including multiple previous launches), so it will be hard to see it go. Actually, scrub that, after months of putting this thing together we are ready to shove it out the door and into space!

The signing of the gondola:

12.11.06 - Signing the SBI Gondola

How do you get to space using a balloon? Well, lots and lots of Helium. 30,000,000 to 60,000,000 cubic feet of it actually, enough to fill a large stadium. Here is one of 3 of the LBD programs Helium containers shipped here:

12.12.06 - Thats a lot of Helium

Its possible after being here for over a month that some of us are going a bit nutty.

Que the "Imperial March"

Yes, continuing with the Star Wars theme down here, I have a post of both entertainment and bad news. This could open a whole can of worms on the "bad news vs. good news 1st" debate, which I don't want to get into. Good news & photos first.

The SBI team took a tour of the old "Pig Barn" was it is known, the old balloon integration facility at Willy Field. At this point it stands about 15-20 feet below the surface of the ice, with only the entrance plowed out to enable access. The use of this biulding has stopped since the new payload bays were brought down last year. It was called the "Pig Barn" because it had a large pink inflatable pig on top of the roof. However, this was either taken down, lost, or blew away, because its not there anymore! (too bad too).

Here we are:

12.9.06 - The Old Pig Barn

During the last few days the bay doors have been opened a lot to allow the projects to go outside. When you open a door that is 3 storys high by 24 feet wide, it gets cold relaly fast, meaning we were bundled up as much as possible inside, but the Big Red parka is just too bulky to work in. Matt decided that his McMurdo hoodie, beard, and sunglasses ensemble makes him resemble a dark Jedi, complete with icicle light saber:

"Join me, and I will show you the true nature of the SBI project . . ."

Now the bad news. ANITA is 1st to launch, and has scrubbed (failed) the last 4 days in a row because of weather or technical issues. This would be ok, but they have been moving the preperation time an hour earlier each day, until it reached 4:30 and we decided we like sleep too much to try to watch someone elses balloon launch. The bad weather has rolled in now, so it looks like there is not much hope of me leaving before Christmas. Feel free to send me presents via e-mail. :(

Ending on a positive note, Matt makes some mean Italian Wedding Soup:



Think sunshine for us!