Scott and the Goddard team started leaving today. Their work here is done for the time being. For the next month or so, the Japanese will finish constructing the neon dewar around me. Scott has assured me that I’m in good hands.
Today they put my top on! They call it a neon shield, but it looks like a top for a wedding cake – it’s flat and round. That is, if you’re used to putting metal shields on top of your wedding cakes! Now I’m secure in the neon dewar.
Today we did an alignment check. This is to find out exactly where I am in the neon dewar and in what direction I’m pointing. Later, they’ll use this to make sure that I’m lined up properly on the satellite. Otherwise, I won’t be able to see everything I’m supposed to.
They put this shiny ball on top of me, and set up alignment cubes on the dewar. Then they set up these fancy instruments called theodolites to measure exactly where the ball is in relation to the cubes. I learned that a theodolite is a type of telescope that you look through to measure angles. They use them in surveying, navigation, and astronomy. By measuring the angles, you can figure out where something is. So they took a bunch of measurements from different areas of the room. I tried not to move! It’s some pretty complicated arithmetic (probably involves trig!), and there was a bit of waiting around. But we got a big thumbs up
