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January 15th, 2008
SCIFER 2 (Sounding of the Cleft Ion Fountain Energization Region Two)
Tuesday January 15, 2008 Update
Hi Everyone,
This update has a different format. Yesterday I did not sent an update because everyone was so tired and we had not launched. Today, Tuesday, contractor work rules require us to take a day off. So I slept in until 5:30 AM. We are now at UNIS (Norwegian for the University for Northern Studies) watching the space weather from the comfort of town. After the window yesterday my car broke down at the location where it was parked 1 km from the auroral observatory. Fortunately I was able to alert some departing colleagues who could drive us the ten miles back to town. The car is now repaired. Two polar bears have also been spotted in recent days so we must be careful about being outside. My colleagues carry rifles but we have none. We can no longer drive the last km to the auroral observatory and must take the band wagon again. I have attached a picture from the inside where the seating is coach class and the experience is similar to a Disney World ride. In addition the Swedish group here tried to reach the auroral observatory this morning but were blocked by a snow drift on the mountain which nearly captured their truck. We hope for better luck tomorrow and can continue to the 20th which is the last posssible day to launch the rocket.
Tomorrow
Science station time is 0230 UT (0330 Norway time) at UNIS IPY room. A decision will be made whether to stay in town or to proceed to the KHO Auroral Observatory. The forecast tomorrow is for -5 C and snow. The rocket window opens at 0500 UT.
cheers, Paul
Phone numbers for science launch operations
Backup Science Center at UNIS, Longyearbyen 79 02 64 48
KHO Auroral Observatory 79 02 64 70 or 71
EISCAT 79 02 12 36
CUTLASS Ops 44-116-252-3520