Ian's Pictures from CSXT's Space Shot 2002

Wednesday, September 18, 2002 pictures

These are my pictures from Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at CSXT's space launch attempt.

On Wednesday morning's playa closure, I was assigned to guard the 3-mile entrance. Owen and Jeremy were at the 8-mile entrance. There was a lot more activity there, mainly from cars driving by. Two vehicles that wanted to get in were ones who had tried to enter at the 8-mile entrance after the countdown had reached the hard-closure point so they had to be sent to enter at 3-mile and then approach the CSXT flight line from the open direction to wait for approval to proceed further onto the playa.

The winds were better than Tuesday but still out of tolerance. Wednesday morning's launch was scrubbed and we were recalled back to the launch site to turn in our radios for charging.

After breaking for breakfast in Gerlach, everyone set about to their activities for the day. All the preparations of equipment had been done by Tuesday. But since we were going to help with the tracking/recovery, we thought of exploring the downrange area where the rocket was expected to come down, along a line just short of the Black Rock Range mountains between Black Rock Hot Springs and Double Hot Springs. Coincidentally, Jeremy and I had already been to Black Rock Hot Springs a week and a half earlier on the StratoFox 1 camping trip. Owen had only seen it in my pictures and was curious to go there. Clark Larsen whose camp site we set up adjacent to came along with us too. The plan was to visit Black Rock Hot Springs briefly, then proceed to Double Hot Springs where we'd have lunch. Then we'd return to the launch site before the countdown for the afternoon launch window began.

It basically happenned according to that plan. On the way there, I noticed we were coming close to the location of the StratoFox 1 camp site from 9 days earlier. So we went there to see a properly cleaned-up camp site (a refreshing contrast to all the Burning Man debris we were finding at the CSXT launch site.) We found it only by GPS, tire tracks and probable spots where the tents had been.

From there we saw someone else had set up camp less than 1/4 mile west of the StratoFox site. At first we headed toward it to chat with them to make sure they knew about the launch that afternoon. But as we approached it, I recognized it as the same camp I saw through the binoculars from Trego on Tuesday morning, which the pilot in our surveillance plane had spotted. It had been visited by the BLM Ranger already. We decided we weren't stopping after all. But as Owen and I talked on the radio, the same two dogs that had chased me on my bike on Tuesday came bolting out of the camp toward Owen's SUV. The dogs were so busy barking at Owen's vehicle that the didn't see me at first. And now they were in front of me. It was too tempting to resist - I gunned the engine and gave the dogs as good a scare as they gave me the previous day.

With that behind us, we proceeded to the Black Rock Hot Spring. After a little while looking around, we proceeded westbound on the Lassen-Applegate Emigrant Trail, now used as a 4x4 trail, to Double Hot Springs. After looking around a bit at Double Hot, we had lunch.

Then on the way back, we marked the GPS position of the playa entrance. We knew we were on the north edge of the playa. We were surprised to see the playa edge continue on our right as we entered it. So the playa entrance at Double Hot is the northwest corner of the West Arm of the Black Rock Desert playa. Good to know...

It was 20 miles back to the launch site but we were back on time. The afternoon launch preparations came close to launching. But this time it was a software glitch that caused the scrub. I was again assigned to guard the 3-mile entrance as I did that morning. With the winds aloft data collected, I was told that the software became unexpectedly slow and couldn't resolve the landing area before the decision point. Without a projected landing location in hand, the launch had to be scrubbed.

That was very disappointing for Owen, since he had to go back home to be at work the next day. So Jeremy would ride back with me. Both of us felt sad for Owen, but knew that the same situation would be upon us if the rocket wasn't launched by Thursday afternoon's window, since each of us had to be back in the Bay Area on Friday.

(1536x1024 1864K) (500x333 24K)	Here is my truck blocking the 3-mile entrance to the playa during the Wednesday morning playa closure.
(1536x1024 1777K) (500x333 22K)	This is a zoomed-in view of the launch site from 5 miles away at the 3-mile entrance to the playa.
(1536x1024 1829K) (500x333 22K)	This is a zoomed-in view of the launch site from 5 miles away at the 3-mile entrance to the playa.
(1536x1024 1905K) (500x333 27K)	This shows the brand new signs that BLM has installed at the playa entrances. The "Three-mile playa access" sign is just the name of the entrance. The sign on the right is BLM's notice of the playa closures for the CSXT space launch attempts.
(1536x1024 1958K) (500x333 36K)	CSXT placed a JP Aerospace sticker on their rocket to thank us for our help.
(1536x1024 2152K) (500x333 44K)	CSXT placed a JP Aerospace sticker on their rocket to thank us for our help.
(1536x1024 1925K) (500x333 21K)	This is the Burning Man "Department of Public Works" pickup truck which showed up whenever this guy came to harass us. By the end of the event, even the most open-minded of us had become very irritated with the people who put on the Burning Man event.
(1536x1024 1992K) (500x333 33K)	Enroute to the Black Rock, this was an interesting mirage effect we had to stop and get a photo of. The right edge of the Black Rock Range mountains has a mirage reflection which makes it look like the other mountain range has a piece sitting in front of it. In reality, the mountains in back are far north near the Oregon border.
(1536x1024 2028K) (500x333 21K)	Water boils from the geothermal vent at Black Rock Hot Springs.
(1536x1024 2055K) (500x333 28K)	Our off-road vehicles on the right (Owen's 4x4 SUV and my 4x4 truck) and the original off-road vehicle on the left (remains of an 1840's covered wagon.)
(1536x1024 1795K) (500x333 12K)	On the historic Applegate Emigrant Trail from Black Rock Hot Springs to Double Hot Springs.
(1536x1024 2427K) (500x333 44K)	At Double Hot Springs (also known just as "Double Hot") the group inspects the setting, knowing full well that these hot springs are dangerously hot and have claimed many lives. Note that some of the sides around the pools are steep loose dirt. If you come here, you want to be careful to stay away from the sides. Also restrain any children and pets from getting too close to the pools. Anyone who falls in will be instantly injured and unable to rescue themselves. It will be impossible to rescue them, endangering anyone who tries. Even recently, people have died trying to rescue their dogs from these pools. This became the subject of a silly lawsuit against BLM by one such person's family, which is why BLM is now putting up signs all over Nevada warning against approaching hot springs on public lands. This is the spring that started all that. Rumor has it that one of the dogs remains in one of the pools. All we saw was the head of a bull under the murky water. Presumably the rest of the bull was still attached to it.
(1536x1024 2450K) (500x333 45K)	A small side pool boils menacingly.
(1536x1024 2315K) (500x333 35K)	The clear pool carries a dangerous beauty to it.
(1536x1024 2438K) (500x333 53K)	A short way downstream from Double Hot Springs, someone has set up a small rudimentary hot tub, with a hot water valve that can be used to adjust the temperature. This may be the only way to try the water without risking injury.
(1536x1024 2705K) (500x333 53K)	This is a makeshift dam of wood where the hot water pipe to the hot tub begins. The runoff from Double Hot Springs is still so hot that you can't even stand too close to the runoff water here.
(1536x1024 2629K) (500x333 48K)	The boiling water runoff from Double Hot Springs flows down this little stream.
(1536x1024 2388K) (500x333 48K)	A view of the hot tub at Double Hot Springs from up the small stream that feeds it and runs by it.
(1536x1024 2188K) (500x333 32K)	Leave it to Jeremy to demonstrate that there's actually a safe way to take advantage of the heat at Double Hot Springs... In this picture, he enjoys his geothermally-cooked Cup 'O Noodles for lunch. He used a camping cooking pot with drinking water inside it to make a double boiler for his Cup 'O Noodles for lunch. (Don't use water from the springs for drinking or cooking!) Keeping away from the danger of the main springs, he placed the double-boiler in the near-boiling runoff stream from Double Hot Springs. Hmmm... using a double boiler to cook at Double Hot Springs seems to make yet another word play on the place. It's already nicknamed "Double Hot" for being very hot, but was probably named "Double Hot Springs" for the two main pools.
(1536x1024 2135K) (500x333 33K)	This picture shows the new BLM sign at Double Hot Springs. (BLM was placing signs like this around the area during our visit.) Our vehicles are parked in the background.
(1536x1024 1992K) (500x333 16K)	The Moon rises Wednesday evening over the Black Rock Desert, as viewed from the CSXT launch site.

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