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Project Phoenix: Preparing to Observe

April, 14 2003

by Peter Backus - Manager, SETI Observing Programs

Its a quiet Sunday morning at Arecibo. As I sit by a window in the cafeteria enjoying my first cup of caf con leche, I look out at a small tropical garden with showy red flowers. Beneath one of the flowers a small lizard hunts. He is motionless, his cold reptile eyes fixed on his prey.

For the humans, life is a little more relaxed on weekends at the observatory. Most of the Arecibo personnel are at home, enjoying time with their families. Project Phoenix observing starts a week from tomorrow, so we can slow down a bit, too. Suddenly, the lizard is half a body length further along the branch. I could swear that the move was instantaneous--a quantum movement.. Schroedingers lizard? Perhaps I need another caf con leche before starting work.

So, if observing doesnt start for a week what do we work on? Actually, preparations for this observing run began weeks ago. On March 19, the Project Phoenix team started the exacting disassembly process in our California lab, where each electronic signal processing component of the search system was carefully disconnected from fiber optic and data cables, bubble-wrapped, then and placed in foam-lined boxes.

Next, we opened each of the Programmable Detection Modules (PDM), the heart of the search system that performs all SETI signal detection and analysis on a roughly 2 MHz frequency band. After carefully removing and wrapping all of the signal-processing boards, we filled each chassis with pink anti-static bubble wrap then closed the PDMs. We fit each pair of these units into a special foam-lined box, and by March 21, six of the boxes destined for Jodrell Bank Observatory were ready for pickup. During the following week, twelve more boxes departed for Arecibo. On April 2, it was my turn to go.

My very long day began at 4:00 AM, when the shuttle van arrived to take me to the airport, followed by seven hours in the air, a trudge with my colleague, John Ross through the two-zip code Dallas Fort Worth Airport, another flight, and a two-hour drive after landing at the San Juan airport. John and I are the setup team for Arecibo. Our trip is a piece of cake compared to that of our three Jodrell Bank-bound colleagues, who later that same day would cross four time zones more than we did. After making sure that twelve large boxes lined the hallway of Building One, its time for bed. At 11:00 PM in Arecibo, our day ends.

With more than a touch of jet lag, we spend the next day unpacking the system and installing the components in racks. Its a small comfort knowing that across the Atlantic, five hours away, our team at Jodrell Bank is even more jet-lagged and doing the same tasks.

The tricky part is attaching the cables. Everything is labeled but thats no guarantee that polarizations wont be crossed. And there is the added possibility that something wasnt packed, or packed in the wrong box. As it turned out, our merry men in Jodrell Bank made a trip to Nottingham for some shielded Ethernet cables.

Its a little later on that quiet Sunday morning. Today we will test our computer networks and data connections. Tomorrow three more colleagues arrive at Arecibo to begin detailed tests of the system. Over the next week, the tests at each observatory will become more complex, eventually involving the systems at both sites which will operate as one. Finally, we will check the interfaces to the observatory systems. It will be a long week, but by then we will be ready to observe.

Im finishing my third cup of coffee, thinking about the week ahead. Schroedingers lizard is still hunting. Suddenly, he moves -- but this time I see his steps. Either he has slowed down or the coffee is having its effect. In any case, its time for work.