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Project Phoenix

February 18, 2004

by Dr. Jill Tarter, Center for SETI Research Director

Climbing Arecibo TowerI woke up with a slightly sore back this morning not surprising since yesterday I climbed one of the towers that support the cables holding up the focus platform for the Arecibo Observatory. 

Ive been coming to observe at Arecibo since 1978, but Ive never had such an opportunity until now, our last Phoenix observing run. Im familiar with the wonderful view to be had after one takes the cable car up to the focus platform, but the towers are higher and the view is even better.

The French paper Le Monde recently started a science magazine, and Pierre Barthelemy came to interview us at Arecibo in order to write a cover story on SETI. Le Monde also hired Louis Psihoyos to take photos for the cover and to illustrate the story inside.  I had never heard of Mr. Psihoyos, but I can now tell you that hes a wild man, and his photography is absolutely incredible!

The observatory takes safety seriously, so when the crew from Le Monde showed up on Friday, without having first gotten their plans approved by Tony Acevedo and the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center safety and insurance groups, there was a lot of flapping around.  But with the help of Sixto Gonzalez, the Arecibo Director, Tony Acevedo, and Felipe Soberal, all the paper work had been completed by the end of the day and Orlando Rodriguez had been assigned to work overtime as our rigger to keep everyone safe. 

Friday night there was the usual photography session at the Phoenix control console, and the bottle of champagne waiting in the refrigerator was also documented.  Phoenix is not observing on the weekends, so photography and interviews have to fit in around the observing schedules of other scientists.

Saturday morning I joined Louis, Dan, and Orlando for some birds-eye-view portraits of me and the telescope.  I havent enough sense to have any fear of heights, but Louis doesnt like them at all hed never get off the ground for anything but a unique photo opportunity.  This is very hard to believe when you look at his portfolio. He specializes in photographing the biggest of things, always using a human for scale and context.  Louis has climbed a Pyramid, the Chrysler Building, and into the forest canopy to get his shots, but he isnt comfortable. 

We started with the simple stuff. With Orlandos help I climbed out on the cable tray above the catwalk leading up to the platform.  Without any walls, there is a wonderful shot looking up along the cable tray to the platform hanging in the sky. All the while I was posing and trying not to squint. I remembered Sam Gulkiss story of mistaking the cable tray for the catwalk when he was directed to give a distinguished visitor a tour of the platform (Sam himself had been on site only a short while and had never been to the platform). He wisely turned back when he found the suspension cables he took to be hand rails getting lower and lower as he moved out. Although I could understand the aesthetic appeal of the shot, I spent my time looking into a black velvet cloth behind Louis instead of admiring the view.

That afternoon, I spent about 3 hours chatting with Pierre about SETI, past and present, and alas, it's recent inactivity in France.  Louis spent the rest of the day trying to track down special lighting gear he had arranged to have Fedexed in from Miami, only to run up against a we dont deliver to Puerto Rico on Saturday barrier that belied what he had been promised in Miami.

Saturday night, there was a four-hour window of observations at higher frequencies so Louis, his assistant Dan, and Orlando loaded a portable generator, strobes and cameras into one of the observatory jeeps and headed down beneath the dish for a practice run.  Louis envisioned a spectacular portrait of the telescope at night, with the silouette of a human strobed in at the edge of the dish to show the scale of this enormous structure. The process will take most of a night, and cannot be done when observations are taking place at low frequencies because of the possibility that the generator and lighting equipment can cause interference to the observations. 

Phoenix observations are being made at S-band (1.7-3 GHz) so we have agreed that they can work during our observing time, with little chance of interference. To prepare for this major staging and lighting campaign (when the equipment finally arrives from Miami), some experimentation was necessary. After a half-hour of strobing and struggling to get the desired illumination effects, the observer,Tapasi Ghosh, detected some interfering signals. The photo experiments were immediately halted, but the interference persisted. Freed from blame, the photographers went back to their staging until they blew out a capacitor on their power pack. But the Polaroid test image they created promised to turn into a fabulous photo of the telescope.

Sunday morning arrived with mixed clouds and sunshine, a real blessing since the clouds shielded us during the bulk of our exertion, and by being patient we could wait for the sunshine needed for the shots on top of the tower. We picked the tower near the visitor center to climb because it is only 260 feet above ground, others are 100 feet higher.  Louis was dealing with his discomfort over heights, and I was worrying about being an old lady without a lot of body strength to haul myself up to the top. Orlando roped us up and showed us how to use the ascender hooked to our safety belts. It made the climb safe, as it would stop any fall, but you have to lean outward from the ladder as you climb to keep the ascender from grabbing hold and stopping you a counter intuitive move at best. 

There are 8 stages to the climb up this tower, with resting points where you have to remove your ascender from one ladder and clamp it onto another. Taking advantage of these stages, I rested a bit longer at each successive one. When we finally reached the top and enjoyed the water in the pack we had hoisted up ahead of us the view made it all worth while. 

To pose for a portrait with the whole dish in the field of view, I had to back away from Louis. But there is no place to back to, except out on the cable stays themselves (the stressed bridge strands that hold up the platform). Orlando showed me how it could be done, and roped me in. It was magnificent! The only problem was that Louis is a perfectionist (as well as a wild man), so my butt got really sore sitting on that cable for roll after roll of film.  I certainly hope one of the photos is first class, I intend to use it for bragging rights.  Descending was a lot easier than going up and we all celebrated when we reached the ground.

After lunch, we walked up the catwalk and did some shots from the Gregorian dome. The lighting was alternately dark and bright, so I suspect some of these photos will be quite dramatic though nothing like the high wire work we had already done.

We ended the day with photos on the porch of B1, the visiting scientist quarters where I am staying, along with some chilled wine and Ron del Barrilito (3-star). By all rights my head should have ached this morning as much as my back, but remarkably it didnt.

Since the start of the Phoenix observations tonight, Louis, Dan, Orlando, and a new assistant, who arrived today with the equipment from Miami, have been down under the dish painstakingly lighting pieces of the ground screen around the dish for their large scale portrait, as a time exposure. Unfortunately, the skies have not cooperated, and just after midnight Louis walked into the control room dripping wet in Puerto Rico it seldom rains gently. Having borrowed my hair dryer to deal with soggy cameras, they will try again tomorrow night. For my part, I think Ive already had the best view on the island.