MagAO-X 2022A Day 1: Unloading with distanciamiento de un metro

(distanciamiento de un metro is distancing of 1 meter, a required anti-COVID-19 measure)

MagAO-X arrived on its truck from Santiago this afternoon, and a familiar team of forklift operators and engineers was here to unload it. The next shift will have some new faces, but this shift was people we knew from The Before Times. We think. They’d grown ponytails and everyone wore masks, so who’s to say?

When I got the message via Jared that MagAO-X had arrived, I was just finishing lunch. While in Bubble Mode™ we have to wait around and hand off our trays to the staff to be returned to the lodge cafeteria, so I said I’d stick around for a few minutes.

Turns out I couldn’t wait, so I wrote some (hopefully correct) Spanish on my health check-in form as a sign for the staff and took off.

“Plates are just inside the door. We went to see our instrument!”

And here it is!

You don’t see it? Computer: enhance 224 to 176.

There we go. Right there on the truck. See it? No?

Fortunately, I was distanced by more than the required amount, and I could get closer.

No, closer than that…

Look at those three boxes of big science! But it’s not doing us much good on the truck…

Fortunately, LCO has their own fork lift. And very good operators.

Next, let’s get our electronics…

They set everything down outside, ready for unpacking when we’re out of bubble mode. Fortunately, these boxes were made to be left outside for a bit.

(Not pictured: The removal of a small plastic box containing our operator computer by means of a totally overpowered forklift. Still better than trying to clamber down from the flatbed!)

We did notice some oddities… the couple of missing tip-n-tell indicators indicate someone tipped but would rather not tell. Aircraft takeoff/landing angle, or something more nefarious? Also, something happened to trip the 10-G acceleration sensor in the electronics rack, but fortunately not the 25 or 50 G!

Bonus Animals

Just like in the virtual visit!
Just hanging out
¿Carlos Culpeo, que quieres?
Carlos Culpeo Close-up

Song of the Day

“A Tu Lado” (Translated: by your side) by Dos Santos