The Upgrade team has begun to disperse—not all at once but in groups, like when they had arrived earlier in the season. But they’ve been taking nice group photos when and where they can, before too many people leave. Above is a small group gathered around the last D-Egg that was deployed—that’s a happy group. An unexpected drilling challenge arose at a late stage in the season, but the crew was able to quickly react, allowing them to complete the sixth (now final) hole. While this wraps up all the drilling and installation work, commissioning work is now in full swing, as establishing and checking out the communications on all the deployed devices is ongoing and at various stages across the six installed strings. The team showed some Wisconsin pride during US Senator Tammy Baldwin’s visit to the South Pole. And a few members got right down to business working on one of the Wisconsin-themed jigsaw puzzles presented by Senator Baldwin during her visit.
This is the final Upgrade Update as the last field work tasks have been completed and all the Upgrade personnel have left or are scheduled to leave the South Pole. Clear skies and sunshine show off the organized lineup of Upgrade drill towers and other structures that have been moved to the science …
Last week, the Upgrade season continued its wind-down, with people leaving and activities at the Pole focused on packing up cargo and winterizing the drill camp. For example, emptied water hoses were wrangled into tanks for long-term storage, and the drill tower and DOM handling facility had to be moved out to the …
Last week’s excitement for the IceCube Upgrade project centered around moving the drill tower and operations structures into place. The location is over hole 87, which will be the first Upgrade hole (the IceCube detector has 86 holes). The installation team is also making progress on setting up the area for acceptance …
