12 Jul Alex Birck, LASP, Week 6

Hello everyone!

Week 6 at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) was definitely different. Since many people were away at a conference in Copenhagen, I spent the week helping with many different projects and activities.

Me infront of testing chamber.

One of the first things we did was visit the NSF NCAR Mesa Laboratory as part of Astro Academy. We toured the testing chamber and learned about many of the current research projects going on. It was fun getting to see another research facility and see the work being done there.

Back at LASP, we spent a little more time working on the spectrometer. We helped one of the undergraduate students design part of the user interface for the system while also learning how it works. We also spent some time talking about aerospace engineering classes and the math curriculum in college. After about three hours of that, I was definitely ready for a break.

LEGOs !

On Wednesday, Astro Academy hosted a LEGO building event. It was a nice break from the normal schedule, and everyone worked together to build fun “LEGO” sets.

Thursday morning, I went with Mike to the CU Distribution Center to check gas tanks and see whether any of the ones we had previously used still had enough gas left to be sent back. We went through each tank one by one, checking how much gas was left and deciding which ones were ready to return. It was something a little different from the projects I’d been working on, but it was interesting to see another part of what goes into supporting the work at LASP.

Mike teaching me how to desolder.

Later in the week, we made coils to connect two wires for the motor that moves the optical fiber inside the spectrometer. We also helped assemble more of the 3D-printed MANTIS model, desoldered several connectors, and cleaned out a bakeout tank so it would be ready for cleaning wires.

Outside of work, we went to the CU Boulder Recreation Center pool, which was a lot of fun. We also went on several walks with our host family, and yesterday we played frisbee on a field.

Week 6 was another busy one with a little bit of everything.