Summer on the Ice
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Here is the list of entries for Summer on the Ice based on the selected criteria.
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Final Call
Aug 15, 2011 09:34:34 AM | Kevin McCarthy
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- I wanted to close this out with a few words. MG1 is fully operational, as is the entire Antarctic Data Acquisition (ADA) link for MetOp. For the operational demonstration phase. NASA's "customers" EUMTSAT and NOAA are very happy with the ADA link for MetOp.
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Milestones and Hurdles
Feb 16, 2011 10:20:37 AM | Kevin McCarthy
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- Again, I apologize for the delay in posting this, but you'll soon see why. On December 23rd I accepted a transfer to the Climate Sensors Project at Goddard, as the Metop Mission Manager--the same mission we were upgrading the 10m antenna for! I had been thinking about a change of career paths for about nine months, but I didn't want to give up the McMurdo work I'd invested so much of the last three years in.
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Getting Caught Up
Jan 19, 2011 01:04:12 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- I haven’t posted for a long time, but in spite of that this will be a relatively short post. The NASA civil servants, except for me, have returned to the US. Mike Mahon made it home a couple of days before Christmas and surprised his girlfriend. Alvin Yew took leave in New Zealand and stayed through New Year’s. Honeywell, Hammers and L-3 Datron are down to a total of six people—HTSI/Bonnie Kramer arrived on January 7th.
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Happy Camper
Dec 30, 2010 08:48:23 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- Alvin and I took Field Safety Training Program's two day Snowcraft I (also known as Happy Camper here) which is a basic requirement for anyone in USAP who is going to one of the remote field camps or whose job may get them in a situation where they could be stranded. It is a course in basic risk management and survival techniques, spent almost entirely outside on the ice shelf, including an overnight.
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We wear our sunglasses at night...
Dec 14, 2010 03:18:59 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- We are done with the riskiest part of the project—opening the radome and destacking/restacking the antenna. My initial optimism at the end of the last post was crushed by the weather here.
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Weather Delays
Dec 04, 2010 11:50:39 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- It is December 4th, and we are three days late starting the uncapping of the radome. As the wind requirements are 12 mph or less, a delay is not unexpected. The preparation of the antenna went almost without a hitch. The old antenna electronics and cabling were removed as well as the wave guide that was in the way of the lift points on the antenna reflector.
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A Small Town (in Antarctica)
Dec 01, 2010 03:59:27 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- I grew up in Lanham MD, outside the Beltway of DC. While I’ve lived in NC and FL, I’ve never lived in a small town before. I’d visited McMurdo last January for ten days, but now that I have been here for almost two weeks, I can say I live in a small town.
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Guest Post by NASA's Alvin Yew to his Branch at GSFC
Nov 29, 2010 04:12:52 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- Alvin is our NASA Mechanical Engineer from GSFC-596. He arrived on 11-26 with NASA-Tim Regan and the guys from L-3 Essco (radome riggers) and L-3 Datron (antenna DLM). I knew he’d do well in the McMurdo 5K Turkey Trot but I was pleasantly surprised he finished first—I wish he worn a NASA shirt. I’ve added a couple of hyperlinks.
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Beginning the Upgrade
Nov 22, 2010 01:41:06 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- The last couple of days on Ice (slang: The Ice refers to any place and every place in Antarctica) the team spent pulling old equipment out of racks, packing the equipment for return to the US as well as populating the racks with the new equipment.
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Landed at McMurdo Station!
Nov 17, 2010 04:36:12 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- We arrived at McMurdo Monday afternoon after a five hour flight from Christchurch on a US Air Force cargo aircraft, a C-17 Globemaster III.
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The Clothing Distribution Center
Nov 15, 2010 11:08:50 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- We had our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) clothing issued today. The Clothing Distribution Center (CDC), located near the Airport outside of Christchurch, is run by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) contractor, Raytheon Polar Services Corp. (RPSC) and the employees are New Zealanders.
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Apollo 13
Nov 15, 2010 11:10:07 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- I arrived in Christchurch yesterday evening coming off vacation that spanned Auckland and Wellington. The train and ferry journey allowed be to see a great deal of sights and I had a few nights each in Auckland and Wellington. While I was in Wellington, I went to see the play Apollo 13: Mission Control at the Downstage Theatre.
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Well It’s Almost Time...
Nov 05, 2010 11:52:37 AM | Kevin McCarthy
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- My flight out of Baltimore leaves tomorrow at 2:35pm. I took yesterday and today off to start packing and run errands. While USAP issue Extreme Cold Weather Clothing (ECW), I’ve packed my own clothing for New Zealand and McMurdo as well as personal items and entertainment (MP3 Player, E-Reader, and noise canceling head phones) and work equipment (laptop, hard hat, safety shoes, etc.).
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NASA Engineer to Blog about Upgrades at McMurdo Station
Nov 05, 2010 02:23:03 PM | Kevin McCarthy
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- What are you doing for the holidays this winter? Spending time with family and friends?
More than a dozen Near Earth Network engineers and support personnel from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and Wallops Flight Facility in Va. will be packing their bags and spending their holidays far away from their families at McMurdo Station, Antarctica for the austral summer.
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