So for the first time since beginning work on the MSL site-alteration testing (which was January 15th), 7 days of (frustrating at times) work have resulted in our FIRST successful vacuum pump-down. We even got some good data too!
Like I said before, Ive gotten to know the facility manager, Ken, pretty well the last few days. He plays some great music in the control room while we work. All obscure, indie, progressive, scandinavian bands with wild names like "Porcupine tree". While Anita (my boss) and Manish (my research parter) argue about which Nitrogen tank configuration is the best for a 1 second burst, Ken tells me about the best underground rock venues in the bay area. Did I mention Ken is in his early 60's ? We talk track and field (he used to be a pole vaulter) while performing the manual labor for the project ( hauling 200+ 50lb bags of crushed walnut shells from the loading dock and dumping them into the test-bed!)
Anyway, I operate the computer systems for our tests. I control a high speed camera pointed at the test-bed, which films the jet blasting the soil away when it fires. I also control the pressure transducer and solenoid valves on the thruster ( basically, I fire the thing when im told to ) and record the measured pressure of the Nitrogen in the nozzle when it is fired. This tells us how powerful the jet was after each test, and if we were close enough to the desired pressure. After each test, I save all the data in a organized way onto an external hard drive.
Since today was the first time the NASA steam plant (power plant) was operational and pulling a vacuum, we knew it would be our first chance at actually running a test. To get down to 0.05 torr (mars atmosphere), it takes 45 minutes to an hour of continuous pumping, which is absolutely incredible considering how massive the chamber is. When the moment finally came to run the test, it was pretty much up to me to 1) click Record on the high speed camera 2) Activate the pressure transducer and 3) fire the thruster. The only problem is, the high speed camera only records 4 seconds of footage before shutting off/running out of memory, so if i click the buttons too slow, I essentially fire the thruster AFTER the camera finishes recording.
My hands were shaking so bad, I thought I was going to shit the bed for sure. I don't even want to think what Anita would of said if I messed up. (we have to smooth out the 9'x6' bed of martian soil perfectly before each test, wait an hour to pump down, and then wait another hour to pump back up to normal before anyone can enter the chamber, so if the thruster blasts the soil without any images of it happening, thats an entire wasted pump-down). Did I mention it costs $10,000 a day just to use a portion of the power that the steam plant produces? Its like $25,000 to rent it completely.
I held my breath for about a minute- but It worked. I was very relieved to say the least.
After spending the rest of the day setting up for the next test, I got back to my room around 4- and crashed hard. I was just exhausted and it seems like Ive been sleeping 12 hours a day. (and working the other 12). I haven't gotten to run since Tuesday, so im going to get off the base and head out for a run in the morning before work tomorrow.
A sunrise over the bay should look pretty sweet.
Later~
