Unexpected cold delay.

Recently I haven’t posted much since day by day we have been cancelled due to weather and not many  adventures happen in the lab.  That is not to say  that progress is not being made.  Each day I continue to work on the Madison College Automated Weather Station MRI.  We have encountered many obstacles along the way, as is with any prototype.  I have worked hard to overcome these obstacles, to leave behind a functioning system.  In three days time I am scheduled to board a C-17 to head back on my journey home.  At this point time is against us.  I have crafted back up plan on top of back up plan.  I am still waiting on cargo that shipped from MATC back in early December.  Dave and Marion were scheduled to leave yesterday, they were delayed, today Dave got his care package from back home, the day he left.  Things take a lot of logistics to happen here on the ice.  A simple care package sent in early December arrived today, where is the cargo for the MATC system?  There is a backup plan even if I don’t receive the power system, solar panel and sensors that was in our cargo.  I plan to be successful by leaving behind something with electrons running in it to complete our test.

Today was a break from the weather delays upon weather delays.  Dave and Marion boarded a C-17 back to New Zealand, Matthew and I split up.  He headed by twin otter to “Tall Tower!” And I headed by Helo to Lorne again to fix the modem issues.  The Helo flight on the way out to Lorne was windy and a little turbulent.  The pilot requested the coordinates from me.  Fortunately, Carol had provided us all with little books to write notes in and details of each site visit.  In the book there were pictures of each station, the coordinates and some other important details.  We found the station no problem, landed and I got to work.  I took pictures from every angle around the tower, pulled the data card and shut down the system.  I then replaced the antenna and the modem and made a few satellite calls back to Lee in Madison.  The system works by sending data back to a site on top of a hill in McMurdo through a repeated site on top of White Island.  I tried numerous times to ping the sites at McMurdo and at White Island.  I moved the antenna higher up the tower.  The site at White Island is only turned on for the first 10 minutes of every half hour to conserve power; these systems run on solar power and battery.  In the winter they need to power off the antennas to prevent transmissions from draining the batteries.  This poses a slight problem when you are troubleshooting you only have ten minutes and then have to wait twenty before trying again.  I tried with phone support and Lee remote desk-topped into McMurdo T-Site.  It was quite windy and cold out on the ice.  We tried for close to two hours.  The Pilot came out to tell me he was going to fire up the Helo to warm the oil, but I still had more time.  He was warning me just so I didn’t think he was leaving me.  I continued to work, I heard some noise from the Helo but i didn’t notice it start up.  The Helo Pilot came out again and informed me, as I was packing up, that I had all the time I needed since the Helo is not starting up.  I was cold and needed to take shelter in the Helo to warm up; my hands were ice.  Apparently the Helo started motor has a sheer spot designed into it and that is suspected to have failed.  There are four of us, huddled into the Helo, waiting for support to be sent from McMurdo.  We came prepared with emergency survival gear for four people.  I joked with the Pilot, “When do start digging our snow trenches and setting up camp?”  He informed us that another Helo, the mechanic and the suspected part will be on their way.  It is about a 30 minutes by Helo to Lorne, the other Helo will be arriving soon.  The Helo fogged up with us inside.  It wasn’t too long before the other Helo arrived.  I watched for a little while the Helo being fixed.  The design is quite good.  The part did its job protecting the rest of the engine and is easily swapped out.  The parts position is right on the side and easily accessible to the mechanic.  It didn’t take too long and he had the new part in and did a quick test.  The Pilot fired up the engine and we sat for 10 minutes to warm the oil and engine.  A little paper work and we were headed back to McMurdo.  Dinner tasted so good after a quick trip turned into a longer excursion.  Burger bar!

Two days left here to get the prototype working, cargo to arrive and install it all before I  “bag drag” up the hill to turn in my bags before Friday’s departure.  Assuming the Harsh Continent doesn’t have some more weather in store for us to keep us longer.

(Sorry no pictures today, since it was a long day and I am up late writing this.  Goodnight!)