Thursday, November 21 When they told us to dress in layers for the flight, they weren’t kidding. At altitude, the C-5 transporting the Global Precipitation Measurement satellite is cold. After waking up from my exhausted sleep that passed the first five hours, my feet were blocks of ice from the draft along the floor. I […]
At 4:30 a.m., Nov. 21, a knock came at the door of the Goddard bus from one of our Air Force escorts at Andrews Air Force Base, outside of Washington, D.C. It was time to board the Super Galaxy C5 cargo plane. The NASA team of 24 slowly woke up from the naps most of […]
One of the keys to IceBridge’s success is effective communication between every member of the team. But keeping in touch in the remote locales IceBridge operates from can sometimes be tricky. On plane there’s the intercom system routing through headsets and the radios and Iridium satellite communication devices aboard the P-3 allow the plane to […]
Circadian Rhythms: On Friday, Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Wakata was unable to complete his first 36 hour Circadian Rhythms session because of an issue with the Thermolab Control Unit. Ground teams are investigating. 4K Camera Checkout: Wakata continued the checkout of JAXA’s 4K camera in the Cupola with remote setting for the camera and verification of …
Notes written on the side of the GPM shipping container. Credit: NASA/Ellen Gray “To: Japan, Love: GSFC.” So says a note, written in black marker on the outside of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) shipping container. This is at least the fourth satellite that has been transported in this particular container. Stenciled officially on […]
Countermeasures System (CMS) Periodic Fitness Evaluation (PFE): Flight Engineer (FE)-5 Mastracchio with assistance from FE-3 Hopkins, performed his PFE today. PFEs monitor crewmembers’ overall fitness levels, to ensure that cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health and performance is satisfactory. The activity consists of performing a graded exercise test on the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization …
Capillary Flow Experiment (CFE) Interior Corner Flow (ICF)-8 Test: Today, Flight Engineer (FE)-6 Wakata set up and initiated a CFE ICF-8 run. CFE ICF studies capillary flow in interior corners of vessels with various geometries. The ICF-8 vessel has vanes aligned along the vertex of a teardrop shaped cylinder. Liquid shifts from the base of …
Before the first survey flight of an IceBridge field campaign can get under way a lot of things have to happen. Instruments have to be installed on the plane, researchers need to get into the field and ground stations need to be set up. IceBridge’s McMurdo-based Antarctic campaign is the result of a year and […]
Right now if you want to take a look at the Global Precipitation Measurement mission’s Core Observatory, you can’t. As of last weekend, it’s sealed up inside a giant white shipping container, all prepped for its long journey to Japan where it will launch in early 2014. This isn’t your typical satellite delivery. As Project […]
Ocular Health (OH) Measurements: Flight Engineer (FE)-3 Hopkins completed a series of activities in support of his flight day 60 session of Ocular Health, the 3rd of his 6 planned sessions. FE-6 Wakata performed the vision, tonometry and blood pressure measurements tests, with ground experts providing remote support, on Hopkins. Researchers believe that the measurement …
