We Have Bot House!
Yesterday, Vickie, Josh, and I went out to our field site to help out getting the tarp on the bot house skeleton that has been waiting for weeks to be covered.
The weather was clear and calm, if cold, and we had some excellent views of the surroundings.
McMurdo Station nestled amongst the hills of the Hut Point Peninsula, with Mts. Erebus and Terror filling out the background. (photo: Vickie Siegel)
The polar fata morgana: instead of a warm layer of air on the ground bending light from the sky up to look like water, a cold layer of air on the ground bends light down to make distant slopes look stretched. (photo: Vickie Siegel)
As if to put and exclamation point on our excellent day, the C-17 came in for a landing just as we finished guying out the completed tent.
Bot house with C-17 on approach to Pegasus runway. (photo: Kristof Richmond)
Today, interior work continued, and heaters and electrical outlets were installed. Josh, Justin, Peter, and I headed out to unpack components of the Launch And Recovery System (LARS)—a rolling frame with winches that will lift ARTEMIS and rotate it vertically to fit down the bore hole, and reverse the operation to bring it back out.
Reporting by Kristof Richmond