Rocket Science! - 5 February 2008
- Published: 08 February 2008 11:24
- Author: Phil Wells
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- Last Updated: 11 February 2008 15:07
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Tuesday 5 February 2008
This week we have been launching XBT rockets off the back of the Shackleton in the name of science. How cool is that!
All of us passengers signed up and with lots of excitement and wearing full PPE including eye protection we watched the first launch. It was a success but not quite what we were led to believe. It went with a plop rather than a wiz or a bang. We then took on the task of collectively saving the data gathered by the war head, into the computer in the dry lab.
It was interesting to see how the collective excitement of five people can turn into disorganised chaos as we tried to feed the required information into the DOS programme. All of us against one computer and the computer won every time. The instruction sheet from BAS said the process was 'self explanatory' but I think this applies only to scientists. Eventually we got the job done, not long before the next rocket had to be launched.
The rockets are ready for launch
The requirement was to release rockets every six hours and we put and names against the various time slots. The most fun part was finding out, after every launch, what story there was to tell. Usually it was how the rocket picked up too much 'noise', or how the temperature path on its descent into the sea was rather an odd shape. It seemed like everyone was turning into a scientist – except me. My stories were how I couldn't get past the screen saver to begin the experiment, or how the rocket canister refused to engage with the launching gun, or how I ran into another argument with the program in trying to input the data. I hope to make a successful test by the time we get to Halley.
One concern I have is that the co-author of the experiment is Jon Shanklin who we have been working very closely with at BAS on the design of Halley. God knows what he's going to get when he sees the data we've collected. I have been trying my best – honest.
The sea is slightly more choppy today and ice bergs have re-appeared (quick change of subject). I launched a rocket this morning at 6am and am now getting ready (having a cup of tea) for kitchen duty. I hope the day improves.
