FOXSI, round 2

Here we are, back in the desert just about two years after last leaving.  We left on a high note, with our successful first flight under our belts.  I remember leaving Las Cruces two years ago…it was more like crawling out, having used up the very last of my energy reserves packing out the truck.  But the exhilarating and ecstatic feeling I felt that day seems to have stuck around, because I could sense it immediately upon stepping foot back on the sand.

For those of you new to the blog (that's not you, Mom!), here's a bit of background.  We're testing out new Sun-observing X-ray telescopes by flying them on a rocket.  The experiment will launch on December 9 from the White Sands Missile Range and will be in space only for a few minutes before landing back in the New Mexico desert, where we'll recover the payload via helicopter.  The team arrived in New Mexico last week and we'll be staying for the next month, conducting tests and getting everything put together before the flight.

Things once again feel familiar here, with the same surroundings and many of the same faces as before.  But there are new things.  A new ground station in the Vehicle Assembly Building.  New team members, both on our side and NASA's.

And FOXSI itself is different.  I don't mean our upgrades, although those are exciting and you'll get to hear about them soon.  I'm referring to the fact that FOXSI is now a veteran.  The first time around, the payload was new, with a gazillion uncertainties, and all of the experiment team was new to rocketry.  Now, it's our second flight — we're a sophomore — and that sets the scene very differently.  There is a different level of comfort, as many of our systems are now tried and true, but there is also a different set of expectations.  For the first flight, we didn't know where to set our hopes, and we were rewarded with a happy surprise — the first focused hard X-ray image of a solar flare!  This time, we're aiming even higher, with an eye towards achieving the cleanest data possible.

Stop by over the next month to see how we progress towards this goal!  And to see photos from our first flight, check out our Google+ page.