Science Team Arrives Taylor Dome
Today was the science teamĂs first full day at Taylor Dome, Brian made the first morning check–in via Iridium at 09:30. These morning check–ins will be a daily feature over the coming days, they allow the field party to express concerns/needs to a POC (Point Of Contact) back at base. As an example, today the field team requested several 6–foot lengths of lumber to build battery frames in each of the shelters, raw materials for the fabrication of two heavy-duty spreader bars, 16 clevis shackles for the new Berco skis, two 1.8kW generators, a 200A Miller welder for sled repairs in the field, and some AC chargers and external antennas for the Iridium phones.
It will probably take most of the day to sort this lot of requests out. It will involve running around McMurdo talking to the heads of the relevant departments, probably more than once…
We are also planning on sending McMurdo’ s resident solar power expert, Solar John, out to Taylor Dome to try and resolve some power issues that we have been having with the solar/battery array in the Blue Room. Along with Solar John, we will also be sending out two more qualified personnel to help with repairs and modifications to our traverse vehicles.