ACES launch!

Yesterday I decided to stay out at Poker Flat with the ACES science team. This is another rocket team that was nearing the end of their launch window. They are working nights, so I hadn't really been a part of any of that action, but I had been meaning to stick around and check it out. The only problem was that they work until 3am, and we start work at 8am, so that wouldn't be great for sleeping. I managed to sleep 10 hours on tuesday night in preparation though. Plus they have couches in the science center glass room for taking naps viewing the aurora.

Here is a view of the glass room that I took a few days ago.


So anyhow, I am hanging out, trying to not get in the way of the ACES team too much. For practically the first time in 14 days there were clear skies, no high winds, and some aurora. Each of these things had continued to prevent a launch. I have also been checking out weather forecasts and space weather predictions quite regularly while I have been here, so I was getting the idea that wednesday night would be the last chance for this team to launch.

All night there was visible aurora. For the most part it was a stable arc very far north of us, beyond where the ACES rockets could reach. So we were just waiting and waiting for the arc to move far enough south to be able to give the team good science. Sometimes the auroral arc would gradually move south and then we would see a small substorm breakup and the arc would move north again. Here is a photo that was taken a few nights earlier, but shows the type of aurora I am talking about.

This photo, along with all other aurora photos in here are from Craig Heinselman, who is a space physics genius.

The following are photos of the aurora from last night that the ACES rockets were launched into.


This was seriously the most beautiful and dynamic aurora I have ever seen.


ACES consisted of two rockets, a high-flier and a low-flier. I think the high flier went to maybe 400km and the low flier to 150km or so. I am mostly making those numbers up, but I think they are fairly accurate. This would put one rocket above the aurora and one below it, which is pretty cool. Here are long exposure photos of each of the rockets.

On each of these photos you can see a red line near the rocket trajectory line. That is the red light that is on the weather balloon they launch at around t-10 minutes in order to make sure the winds are fine for launch.

My favorite part was when the second rocket flew through the smoke from the motors of the first rocket and you could see the smoke completely clear out.

Also, if you want to check out more of Craig's photos here is his rocket album.

Highlights

I don't have my pictures uploaded yet because my camera battery died, but I am working on charging it now. We are currently reading a weather forecast for the next few days and it is hilarious. This is why.

"THE UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL THEN RESIDE RIGHT SMACK IN THE
MIDDLE OF THE STATE."

"THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT IT WILL BE A VERY GOOD COLD SPELL
THAT IS NOT ONLY LIKELY TO RIVAL THE ONE PREVIOUSLY FELT IN THE
MONTH BUT LIKELY TO SURPASS IT IN TERMS OF EXTREME LOWS. THERE IS
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THAT SUGGESTS MOVEMENT OF THE COLD AIR OUT OF
THE AREA FOR A MINIMUM OF A WEEK."

"THE LOW LYING TYPICAL COLD AREAS THAT WILL BE CLOUD FREE WILL
LIKELY SEE TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S BELOW...OR COLDER IF THE
CURRENT MODELS MAINTAIN THE TREND. THIS WILL BE A VERY INTENSE
DEEP COLD."

It is a good thing we got our sledding in today before the cold weather rolls in. The hill doesn't look very steep from the bottom but once you get to the top it is a little frightening. Mostly it is frightening because the hill is covered in small trees. We are using the giant inner tubes and the only way you have to slow down is to drop your butt through the hole into the snow. On my first run I did this a lot because I'm kind of a pansie like that. For my second and final run Hanna and I decided to go on one tube together. There was speculation that this would slow us down and we would get stuck fairly quickly. This was not the case. We flew down the hill in an uncontrollable way, because two butts didn't fit in the center of the inner tube to slow us down in the snow. Also, we spend the entire run spinning around or going backwards. If we were about to hit a tree we never would have seen it coming. Eventually we got to the end of the sled run that had been carved out and we were both flipped off the tube into the snow. All of the above was amazingly fun. I didn't have my camera but the other four were all taking photos, and Steve even has video, so I'll try to get some of that in here eventually.

Oh and we saw three moose today. I didn't get pictures of those guys either, but I think Erik and Steve did. I am good for nothing lately.

So Busy

The title of this post is something I am not. Basically today is full of sitting around, so I did some good internet research on various things. Also, on the drive in we almost got hit by a moose. He was supremely large and moving about as quickly as I could imagine a moose moving.



He didn't really look anything like this moose, but this was a cute moose so he is now in my blog. I'm pretty sure the moose we saw was much darker in color and also much larger.

Arrival in Alaska

My arrival in Alaska was largely uneventful. And uneventful travel is largely a good thing, except when you want your blog posts to be more interesting. I haven't taken any photos yet either, so again my blogging is uninteresting. Things are pretty chilly and dark, although we do get a few hours of sunlight. I was under the impression that we would have zero hours of sunlight, and just a few hours of twilight. It is incredibly dry here though. The humidity in my apartment is 16% and the humidity in the assembly building is 10.3%. In Hanover the humidity is 64%.
We ate dinner at Pike's Landing. The landing is on a river that cars drive on in the winter. Apparently a car went through just a few weeks ago, so we were a little surprised to see someone using the "ice bridge" while we were eating. Also, our waitress asked, "why is it that when you whistle the aurora come and dance around you?" This was after she asked us if the really cold weather made the aurora stop dancing. Please don't ever ask me these questions.

Pre-AK Blog

It is possible that Roton has been spending more and more time sitting on me because cats just like to be in the warmest place possible, but probably, the more likely explanation is that he knows I am leaving for six weeks and just wants to spend as much time with me as possible. Obviously.

My lists lately have gotten a little carried away, which means my departure is near. The biggest dilemma is figuring out what shoes to bring, which probably requires the start of a new list of times I have never felt more girly. Seriously though, the big blue snowboots, the hiking boots, the regular nice boots, running shoes (I've got big plans for those guys!), and then possibly some sort of regular shoe. Oh and I might get to go to a contra dance, so possibly shoes that I can dance in without getting blisters. Six shoes is insanity, but none are easy or apparent to eliminate.

The other thing that may need reducing is number of books. I think right now I want to bring at least 6 non physics books. And I really ought to have a few physics books along, so we are looking at 8 to 10 books. sheesh woman. Also, Roton is perched on my arm in a horribly cute way.

I think my last big decision is whether or not to bring a mansuit. I do have my own snowpants, which will be smaller and more manageable but there is just something about those mansuits...

CO

So, I have had all sorts of traveling delays, as you may or may not know. Here is my adventure from the latest delay. So due to a lot of unfortunate things, I ended up staying in a hotel on saturday night in Milwaukee so that I could fly out early sunday morning. There was probably going to be snow in the morning, but I was just going to go for it, and hope for the best.

So I'm hanging out in my hotel room. Getting caught up on sending emails. Watching some weird movies on the tv. Giving myself a haircut with my new scissors (not the sewing ones!). All sorts of highly important and entertaining things. I finally went to sleep, only to wake up at 1am with a horrible headache. Normally I don't get really horrible headaches, so I didn't know what to think of that. Also, I was feeling pretty horrible and did not even want to get up to rummage around for some ibuprofen. So I guess I was lying awake for over an hour. At some point in there I remembered this story I had just heard about a friend whose house had very high and very unsafe levels of carbon monoxide. So I got a little panicky and was sure I was going to die from CO poisoning in this hotel in Milwaukee. That was enough motivation to get me out of bed in order to open the window. I also got some ibuprofen. Two hours later I woke up, with my headache gone and my room absolutely freezing.

Still Matching My Poster

Okay so, let me just tell this tale of my never ending ability to completely suck at traveling.

This tale begins friday morning. I get up nice and early, and put on my nice shirt that I decided I would wear for my poster presentation. I made this decision long ago so that I could pick the appropriate colors for my poster, because it is a proven fact that if you clash with your poster people are less likely to want to talk to you.

I check out of my hotel, luggage in hand, and walk to the corner where the shuttle bus picks up. I have plenty of time and am pretty proud of myself for sticking with the plan thus far. I wait for the shuttle. No shuttle comes. I see fellow conference attendees with their poster tubes in hand just walking to the conference center. I was only about eight blocks away, but I just really didn't feel like wheeling luggage through the streets of San Francisco. Well eventually I hit the fifteen minute mark, and realized that if I was going to make it on foot I needed to start walking. So walk I did.

I made it to the conference center with enough time to check out the luggage checking booth. There was like a mini airport station set up where you could check your luggage for a fee of $10. I had heard a rumor also, that they didn't charge the airline fee of $15 to check a bag either. So pretty much, if this was true I was saving $5, and not having to deal with luggage all day. And guess what, it was true! This was nearly the highlight of my day.

The best part was that the line was not very long, so I had ten minutes to go over to the other building and hang my poster up and get ready for that to start. I had kind of planned on being at my poster between 8 and 9, and then taking a small break to get coffee and food, and then going back from 10 to 11. I ended up talking to various people, practically without any breaks, from 8 to 11:30, when I hastily departed for lunch.

I got back from lunch, took down my poster, and replaced it with one of my regular letter size versions that I had printed up for people to take if they wanted, which was probably the funniest thing I had done in awhile. I booked a ride on the SuperShuttle which was nice because they picked me up right outside the door of the poster session.

At the airport I soon learned the importance of checking your flight status before you leave. My flight was delayed 1.5 hours (the exact time of my layover in Minneapolis), because we were waiting on an aircraft to arrive from some place with horrible weather. When I arrived in MSP I ran clear across the airport to try to make an impossible connection. I had 4 minutes, and it took me 10 minutes. Even if I had made it in 4 I think I would have been too late. The two people at the gate were amazingly nice, even though I was amazingly angry. I was labelled a "distressed passenger" meaning that since the delay was technically weather related they could only give me a discount on a hotel, not a free hotel. They also gave me a voucher for a $13 dinner and a $5 breakfast. Thanks a heep.

So I called the number they gave me and booked a room at the Park Plaza, which was $60, because I really wasn't keen on being one of those people who were getting mats to sleep on from some closet in the airport. The Park Plaza also had a free shuttle service, so I called them up and the man said a shuttle was on its way. Well when I booked the room, the woman said it was a 9 minute shuttle ride. It was said with much confidence. I waited ten minutes, along with a bunch of others frantically trying to find the appropriate shuttle, when I hear this woman say, "Is anyone else going to the Park Plaza?" From there I managed to find myself agreeing to share a taxi with her and this other man, which would cost us $10 each. Fine. Apparently this woman's delays were not at all weather related, so she got a free hotel room. I was pretty jealous but also pretty tired. We are in line to check in and this woman says, "I could probably get a room with two double beds and then you won't have to pay for a room." I say, "really? That would be great!" And that is how I ended up sharing a room with Zina, the med student at McGill who is currently doing her residency and had a horrible time with their physics exam.

And let me tell you, it was pretty spectacular to wake up maybe three hours later to catch the shuttle back to the airport and still be wearing the clothes that match my poster.

I got to the airport and promptly spent my $18 of food vouchers. I had to buy an assortment of pastries, because apparently a bag of coffee beans doesn't qualify as 'food'. Whatever lady.

I finally got on a plane this morning, and I could start to see the end of this traveling ordeal. Until they decided the plane was broken, and we would be getting on a new plane. So we all get off this plane, walk ten gates to where a working plane is, and board the plane. again. Surprisingly enough it did take off. It even landed in Appleton, which was my destination of choice. And my luggage made it too. And over thirty hours later, I'm still matching my poster.