A visit to the USA
In January 2004 it was announced that NASA's Space Shuttle would retire, so the time to witness a launch was running out. Pittcon 2010 was to be held in Orlando, Florida. A group of my friends in the USA planned to run in a marathon in Florida. So it seemed like a good idea to visit Florida early in 2010. Since the shuttle launch and Pittcon was not near the same time, I'd have to spend a week or two in Florida, visiting friends and family.
For blogging about this trip, I used the wonderful service Posterous: to make a post one simplly sent an email to a specail email address, and then the email automagically appeared as a blog post. Posterous is now defunct, but I'd saved the posts. I've copied the text and images to this website.
It seems that I made two kinds of posts: some were longer posts which included pictures, and many were short posts which were just status updates. All the posts were cross-posted to Facebook.
February 2, 2010: Setting up.
I'm going to be in Florida from 6 February 2010 until 5 March 2010. I'll be trying Posterous to blog my experiences.
February 5, 2010: Equipment
Space Shuttle Launch viewing equimpent:
Binoculars for looking.
Camera for taking pictures.
Radio for listening to the count-down and commentary from NASA-TV.
February 5, 2010
got everybody paid. Leaving with a clean conscience.February 5, 2010
is packing.February 5, 2010
is having tea before leaving. He'll see you all on the road.February 5, 2010
poses no risk to international air travel, has had his passport stamped and is ready to board.February 6, 2010
is on the ground in Orlando, and loves free WiFiFebruary 7, 2010
is awake after an all-nighter to view Space Shuttle non-launch. Trying agan for Monday 04:14.February 8, 2010
sent the Space Shuttle off at 04:14 this morning.February 10, 2010: Space day.
Today I saw another rocket not launch, and met an astronaut.
February 11, 2010: Sent it flying.
Today I watched a Delta V rocket launch a scientific satellite, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, into orbit.
February 11, 2010: Vlamgat!
This is a picture Holly took of the rocket. Lenses for photographing birds also work well for photographing rockets!
February 12, 2010
arrived safely in Jacksonville, and spent the whole afternoon talking.
February 14, 2010: Sunset
This evening we enjoyed a tranquil sunset over the St Johns river.
February 15, 2010: STS-130: The movie
Some idea of what a night shuttle launch is like. What is not shown in the picutres is the sleeping in a car, the cold and the wind, and the creeping disappointment when the end of the launch window rolls past with no launch.
February 16, 2010: St Augustine
Today we went to visit St Augustine, the oldest continuously European-inhabited town in the USA. Here is a picture of the Castillo de San Marco, the fort built in 1672 to protect the town.
February 17, 2010
is on JAX, and luckly did not attempt to get through security with his Swiss army knife.
February 17, 2010
is on the ground at Houston, after flying over the Mississippi & the Gulf of Mexico.
February 17, 2010: No gettting away from it.
I just left Florida and the space industry, and then found this (1/15th) model of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in the terminal building of the Houston airport. They call it Space City, USA. ("Houston, we have a problem.") Not staying, just changing flights.
February 17, 2010
has safely arrived in Phoenix, AZ.
February 18, 2010
thinks Arizona desert winter weather is lovely.
February 19, 2010
is off to play in the snow at Flagstaff, Arizona. He's leaving his computer, but taking a book. And a sniffly cold.
February 20, 2010
had fun tobogganning at the Wing Mountain snow play area and having snowball fights.
February 20, 2010
says it's not his fault if there's free WiFi in the cabin in the woods.
February 21, 2010
Is this what one calls 'home turf'?
Edit: Jack Ass Acres was an abandonded gas station in Arizon, once billed as Arizona's westernmost gas station. Satellite imagery seems to indicate that only the lamp post, the signboard, and a concrete slab remain at the site. A large new service station was built next to the site.
February 21, 2010: Snowman
There had been plenty of snowfall in northern Arizona. We did not experience the five feet of snow they had earlier, but it snowed all Saturday and Sunday. This left us with a nice layer of fluffy snow on cruncy ice, ideal for playing. We spent Saturday morning at the Wing Mountain Snow Play Area, an unforested hillside for tobogganing.
We found this snowman next to the road and stopped for a photo opportunity.
February 21, 2010: Snow
It might look like Switzerland, but it's Arizona.
February 22, 2010
bought a life jacket. It's raining in Phoenix.
February 24, 2010
had lunch with a beautiful view of the Catalina mountains. Now heading back to Phoenix.
February 24, 2010
is back in Phoenix, after a visit to Biosphere 2.
February 24, 2010: Biosphere 2
Today I took a trip to the south-east of Phoenix, almost all the way to Tucson. Here in the desert stands an amazing structure, like something from a Bond movie. To the uninitiated it would look like a greenhouse, but if it's greenhouse it's a highly sophisticated one. It was built during the 1980's, and was built to be completely isolated from the outside world, but capable of sustaining human life for two years. This was, in effect, a new biosphere and therefore called Biosphere 2.
From 26 September 1991 until 26 September 1993 eight people inhabited this super-greenhouse habitat. They were sealed inside, with no matter of any kind going into or coming out of this habitat. They farmed inside it, facing challenges like cockroach infestations and loss of species, but emerged at the end of the project having fed themselves from this closed system. The ideal of a perfectly isolated system was not quite met, because some of the oxygen disappeared from the system and had to be replaced, and it was only after the coming out that the problem was solved.
Today the facility is managed by the University of Arizona as a controlled-environment greenhouse. It is one of the few 'big-science' biological facilities in the world, filling a gap between the world of the greenhouse and the natural world.
This morning I joined an hour-long tour of the facility. We met in what was the dining room of the biospherians, and from there went into the savannah biome. The tour continued to a view of the ocean from the mangrove swamp, and from there into the coastal fog desert. From the desert we entered the basement of the greenhouse, where the machinery for manipulating the environment is run from. From here we went up to the tallest part of the structure, where the foggy rainforest is located, getting a view of the tiny beach by the 'ocean' on the way. From here we went to one of the 'lungs' of Biosphere 2. This is a misnomer, for there is no gas exchange here, it's a room with a rubber roof that allows for the expansion and contraction of the air when the facility is sealed off.
The final stop on the tour is at the viewing windows of the ocean, which also includes a small aquarium that demonstrates the importance and functioning of coral reefs.
Although Biosphere 2 can prevent mass transfer to and from the environment, it cannot operate without energy transfer. An unventilated greenhouse in the Arizona desert in summer will rapidly overheat and destroy all the life in it. In the cold winter nights the rainforest could very well cool down too much. Therefore there is also a huge machinery plant on site to supply the heating and cooling necessary for the climate control inside.
After the tour I had lunch from the small cafeteria on site, overlooking the snow-topped Catalina mountains.
Unfortunately I had to leave soon after my lunch. The trip between Phoenix and Biosphere 2 is similar in distance and time to the trip between Johannesburg and Potchefstroom.
February 25, 2010
is off to school. Going to give a talk on Antarctica to 3rd graders.
February 25, 2010
wonders why he feels so tired.
February 26, 2010
is thinking of packing ...
February 26, 2010
is preparing for the final phase.
February 26, 2010: Free flights
Balloons being launched in Happy Valley, a suburb to the north of central Phoenix. See how green everything is after the recent rain.
February 26, 2010: Bradshaw mountains
A view of the Bradshaw mountians in Arizona.
February 27, 2010
at the gate at PHX, enjoying the free WiFi!
February 27, 2010
is enjoying the classy wooden furniture and the free WiFi at the gate at ABQ (Alburquerque).
February 27, 2010: Visit to Crown King
The cast of characters of the story of the Old West is not complete without the prospector and the miner. A crusty fellow, usually unshaven, handy with the dynamite.
Arizona, with its highly eroded landscape and plenty of exposed rock is an ideal playground for the geologist, and mining still forms part of the basis of the Arizona economy. Children in school are taught about the "Five C's" of Arizona: Copper, Cotton, Cattle, Citrus and Climate.
In the heady days of the opening of the West, the thing they looked for was Gold, of course, and gold they found. Numerous mines sprang up, and railroads to supply them. People flocked to the mines, and towns sprang up. The mines, however, were never very productive, and as soon as the investors' money had been spent, the towns fell on hard times, and the people left again. On Friday we visited the ghost town of Crown King in the Bradshaw mountains. One turns off from the I-17 freeway that connects the cities of Phoenix and Flagstaff. It quickly turns to a dirt road running into the Horse Thief Basin Recreational Area, essentially uninhabited rough country that offers free camping anywhere. The road runs through places like Bumblebee and Cleator, before it starts up the mountain, following the bed of the railroad. Near the top of the mountains, among the pine trees (and the snow, at this time of the year) and at the end of the road lies the 'town' of Crown King, where there was a gold mine that had produced two million dollars' worth of gold through its life, but closed down in the 1950's. Today the town has about 80 to 100 permanent inhabitants, enough to have a primary school. The town consist of a few original buildings, like the general store and the saloon, and a large number of cabins used as holiday accomodation.
This is great country for exploring, and ideal for playing with quad bikes and off-road vehicles - indeed, one of the popular ways to reach Crown King is along a very rough track that comes up from the Lake Pleasant recreational area.
We had lunch at The Mill restaurant, a new building that looks old because it was built from material harvested from abandoned buildings in the old town. It is heated by a fire built in a boiler from the mining works.
It was a very pleasant and interesting day out.
February 27, 2010: Crown King Saloon.
February 27, 2010: Mountain track near Crown King.
February 27, 2010
is on the ground at MCO (Orlando) and should have a bed to sleep in before dark.
February 27, 2010
has a place to sleep. He didn't get here before dark, but there was a full moon. And of course the bright lights of Kissimmee.
February 27, 2010
discovered that the TSA opened his suitcase. He wonders how a lifejacket compares to a slab of Semtex in X-rays.
February 28, 2010
is heading out to Pittcon.
February 28, 2010
is registered for Pittcon, studying the final programme and getting ready for a lecture by the inventor of GC.
February 28, 2010
has not been at Pittcon two hours, and has already met two friends. Waiting for the award ceremony & plenary lecture to start.
February 28, 2010
is disappointed: for health reasons Jennings will not attend Pittcon and will not give his award lecture.
February 28, 2010: How Minnesotans dress for Florida's winter.
March 1, 2010
thinks this is more what Florida weather should be like.
March 2, 2010: Moon rover
Pittcon is a technical conference, and Florida is a NASA state, so NASA has an exhibition here, the most obvious being this moon rover.
March 2, 2010
finds the Florida weather is back to normal: cold and windy.
March 3, 2010: The Simpsons.
I never knew this, but apparently I own a Simpson-skin jacket!
March 3, 2010: Dux
Video of the ducks in the Peabody Hotel
The ducks of the Peabody Hotel marches to bed every day at 17:00.
March 4, 2010
is preparing for his last afternoon session at Pittcon. Preparation will include a nap: Universal Studios Orlando was tiring.
March 4, 2010
is done with Pittcon 2010.
March 5, 2010
had an aircraft-filled day.
March 5, 2010: Trick Question
Identify the aircraft.
March 5, 2010: No tricking
I don't think there is any mystery about this one :-)
March 5, 2010: Not a trick either.
When I look at this picture I get the feeling that it's photoshopped, but it wasn't. The little biplane is under the wing of the Short Sunderland flying boat, and there's space for another one.
March 6, 2010
is packed and ready to leave for the airport.
March 7, 2010
is back at home, 15 hours and three on-board movies later. See you when I wake up.
March 11, 2010
thinks 20 minutes on the street in SA exposes one to more variety than a week in the US.