Alaska
January 2002
Towards the end of fall semester Dr. Larsen, with whom I'm working on the SPIRIT II project, asked if I'd like to go to Alaska. Needless to say the answer was yes. Within the next few days I was trained by Patti Larsen on all the requisite camera equipment I'd need to set up and hopefully operate. Dr. Larsen launches payloads which release a chemical called TMA, or TriMethyl Aluminum. When this chemical is exposed to oxygen it burns. At sea level it simply explodes, but at around 200 km the oxygen is so scarce that it just slowly burns. As it does so the high altitude winds push it around. By photographing it from several angles Dr. Larsen can determine the exact postition of the trail. I was to help with one of these camera sites, at Poker Flat Rocket Research Range, about half an hour outside of Fairbanks.
Joe Ziska, the overly humble frisbee fiend of first floor, was also asked to come. We left from Clemson on January 5th for an epic plane ride. Many hours later we arrived. Despite our preconceptions we found that there was scarcely more than a foot of snow in most places and that it was not as cold as expected. In fact, it hit 40 degrees above zero one day, a record high. Despite this we still had a great time. We were put up in a suite bigger than my (even Joe's) room, with a kitchen, living room, and the works. I got to go skiing for the first time, and we all enjoyed hockey games. Alas, the local team, the Fairbanks Icedogs, went 0-2 during our stay, but it was still enjoyable. There were impressive ice sculptures all over town, and the scenery was incredible. It was only light for afew hours a day, but we eventually got used to it.
There were two main hilights to our trip: the food at The Lodge right by the range, and seeing the Aurora Borealis. The food is really a joke. It was perhaps the greasiest place I've ever eaten at, but all in all I can't complain. I did survive the "Dredge Burger". No one else was brave enough to try. We had to wait afew nights, but when we did see the aurora it was unbelievable. The pictures don't even begin to do it justice. The way it moved was truly awesome, with edges suddenly shooting out, changing color, darting forward then back, oscillating all the while. I hope I'll be able to see it again someday. Oh, and I saw a moose. That made it a complete experience.
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