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| South Pole Diaries 2000/01 |
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Thursday
7th December 2000
From
John Storey.....
So what happened to today's diary entry,
you ask. Why have John and Paolo failed to submit a report
by the midnight deadline for transfer over Intelsat B? Have
they lost interest? Do they have nothing to report? Or have
they simply become, to use the expression Paolo found in the
Dictionary of Australian Slang, a "pack of bludgers"?
 Quite
the contrary. Thursday was the big one; the day when we got
everything assembled, wrestled the software to the ground,
solved a whole bunch of problems we didn't even know we had
until today, and crossed off almost all of our "to-do"
list. It was a very long day that started at 5:30 am for me
and finished at 1:30 am on Friday for Paolo. It began with
the Summit instrument poised over the electronics rack on
the tines of a remarkably versatile forklift, and finished
with the completed instrument sitting on the floor by the
doorway, ready for its first foray into the great outdoors.
Along the way we met and overcame a
series of unexpected challenges. One difficulty was that the
software automatically measures the temperature at 18 points
around the instrument once every 60 seconds. When it does
so it generates enough interference to---as Paolo put it---bring
down a C130 Hercules. That being the case it could probably
down a smaller plane, say a Twin Otter, at a range of up to
20 km. That could explain why we haven't seen one for several
days. Fortunately Michael Ashley was able to send us a software
work-around. We're still measuring the temperature of a 10kg
lump of copper every minute, but at least it's not completely
trashing our data any more.
My relationship with Eric also became
a little strained because of a misunderstanding between us
over the use of semicolons. (Eric is the fine young program
that actually runs Summit. He's a likeable lad, but somewhat
pedantic and a little unforgiving.) Anyway, semicolons are
not something I normally use much---my writing style being
characterised---so I have been told---by excessive---possibly
even profligate---use of the m-dash. It turns out that our
stepper motor controller is into semicolons, while Eric is
not. Sorting this out took a couple of hours.
Paolo set up a blue-foam customising
plant at one end of the lab and produced an excellent insulating
jacket which will keep Summit warm in temperatures that could
later dip to -80C.
At 8 am Friday a bulldozer will come
and drag Summit out of the building, ready for first light!
John
 
South Pole Diaries 2001
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