Status: Success
Observations
Mission Objectives
Visit Observatories Stay a respectful distance from observatories- We need to be cognizant of light pollution
- Radio observatories don't count
- Find survey points
- Make some observations
- Pilots make their own observations, they can be philosophical, meteorological, verifiable, incomprehensible, longitudinal, or otherwise
- Write some down
Mission Summary
This soggy last night of summer 2024, with many pilots still recovering from the previous week's Montreal Interuniversal, we set out to make some observations, while simultaneously not interfering with the observations of any nearby observatories. On the launchpad Wombat astutely observed that "it is wet". Ziqqurat navigated on a newly refurbished Trinity with groove aplenty thanks to Kilo3's backup mp3p0. In the Harvard Constellation we stopped adjacent to the First Unitarian Church, the site of a reference point for the National Geodetic Survey, where we were swarmed by a gaggle of agog civilians while Lunar Wolf attempted to make a time-lapse image. Our objectives now technically complete, Ziqqurat decided to wiggle just a little bit further through the persistent radiation before heading back to base. We briefly considered attempting a Lordmcfuzz century by looping 1000 times under the tent on the Harvard Science Plaza, but quickly jettisoned that idea. A couple blocks later, Lunar Wolf took a hard spill off Anger when her space pants got stuck in its propulsion transfer conduit, but avoided any serious injury. Nevertheless, we decided to make a beeline back toward base, following an interesting block-long underpass between Holyoke and Dunster Streets in Harvard Square, where we were nearly swallowed by a fast-acting parking gate. Back at the fort, Kilo3 forewent the normal landing pad closing ceremony in favor of getting out of the radiation as quickly as possible, and declared mission success directly inside Fort Antwerp.