We're on our way...

This post is a bit late, but we've been busy! Everything has now been shipped to South Africa and will soon be on it's way by boat to Antarctica. The campaign is really almost here.

We've labeled all the SKB's (those big black crates). Inside most of them are our payloads, almost all put together to make it easy for the teams at the ice to get them set up and do the final testing. They are also easier to pack this way. Once we pack them up in the lab at Dartmouth, we have to drive them over to the shipping center. Thank goodness a few of us have larger cars so we can get a few of them in at a time. 

The shipping center isn't far away, but once there it's a lot more work to be done. First we have to take all the supplies which aren't packed in SKBs, such as the balloons and the solar panels which are shown below, and pack them on slates. The wooden platform is built so that it can be easily carried by the fork lift. In order to make sure that everything stays put we first try to tighten everything down with some strategically placed ribbons. We then essentially have to wrap the whole lode with saran wrap. 

Once everything is packed we "stage it". All that means is that we move all of the packages to the loading dock. 

Then it's just a waiting game till the shipping truck comes and picks them up. And now they are off to South America. 

Remember that during the campaign we will be live tweeting the the payloads are launched, cutdown, and other interesting tidbits. 

See you all at AGU!