power plant update - SPEEV

The power keeps going out. We have 3 generators and an emergency back up. The generator that we are using now has been long overdue for a over haul - they seem to need one every 500 hours... but this is the only one that works (even though it leaks oil) since generator 2 is the one that had the glycol spill into it and is being repaired and generator 3 is broken. The emergency generator can support some of the vital parts of the station and gets kicked on as generator 1 putters out... yeah, makes you miss that warm fuzzy feeling of reassurance since we're out in the middle of nowhere.

As far as generator 3, McMurdo doesn't have these parts - they are on order or backorder. Hopefully, the part gets in before winter sets in. Some of the winter-overs are nervous. This is the first time for the new elevated station to have such troubles with the generators but then again this is a new facility. The last time there were generator problems was 10 years ago in the dome.

We just got an update on our flight situation. We are 28 flights ahead of schedule which equals to almost 1 million pounds of cargo ahead, and 300,000 lbs of fuel ahead of schedule. (Target for pounds of fuel is 10 million – we have 3.7 million pounds to go.)

But as a record breaking summer, we might be returning State-side sooner than planned. The current temperature is -22.8C/ -9F with a windchill of -31.7C/ -25.1F... so the weather is warming up. We have a few more weeks before the weather starts returning to colder weather. Our departure date depends on how cold it gets and how quickly.

Anyway, to much of the station manager's dislike some pranksters set up a South Pole emergency evacuation vehicle (SPEEV) just in case the generators quit all together.




Laura and I posing next to SPEEV. It's amazing what kind of stuff you find in the dome!












Tools we might need - a broken television dish, badminton racket, hammer, Wilson's cousin (from the movie Castaway - the volleyball), some rope, misc wires, goggles, a bag...









Couple hours later... it looks like the balloon got away. So much for an escape vehicle.