makrolab | makrolab information bulletin | 001

bulletin

date                 04 Jul 97
bulletin number      0001040797

This is the first MAKROLAB information bulletin 
and is edited after the initial phase of the 
setting up of the laboratory is ending.
The setup took more than expected due to last 
week´s heavy rainfall and low temperatures and 
unexpected logistical problems connected with 
the transportation and finalisation of the 
construction in Slovenia.

The phase 1 construction of the lab took 4 days 
and 320 man hours, a crew of 4 expert workers 
from Slovenia coordinated the effort. 
The time schedule was the following:

Week from June 16 - 23
Base camp established. Frank Rast and Brian find 
a trailer, tents set up a week before, with the 
whole team.
Makrolab territory is defined.
Sat dishes and video link are operational on 
June 17. Koeditz is delayed for much more than 
we thought, but the video link is operational. 
The console was broken one day after the 
opening, and we repaired the microfilm reader on 
Monday, June 23. People have problems with the 
interfacing at the console, too technical. Will 
look into this and try to solve some user 
friendly details. Bottom line is that people 
don’t like to read the manual, but is there 
because of the complexity of the whole 
interface. Brian and occasional helpers align 
the 1.80m dish, which is still too small for 
what we intend to do. Inmarsat doesn’t go 
through.
Problems with the antenna, offset dish, 
receiving unit.

- Tuesday, June 24 
9:00am truck with the Makrolab systems arrives 
on Lutterberg
10:00am terrain is prepared for the construction 
works
11:00am truck has to go to clear customs in 
Kassel
12:30pm start of unloading procedures, Mr. 
Fraaz, the farmer on whose land Makrolab
is situated helps with his 40 ton tractor and a 
trailer
2:30pm the truck is unloaded, the material is on 
the ground
3:00pm start of initial construction works 
6:00pm first beams supporting Makrolab are in 
place
9:00pm the initial construction is in place - 
the skeleton of the lab starts looking
similar to the plans
10:00pm the crew goes to rest, everybody is very 
tired 

-Wednesday, June 25
9:00am the working crew starts setting up the 
supports for the cover membranes
1:00pm the support for the covers is in place
9:00am the Makrolab crew starts preparing 
systems for SAT receiving. Brian Springer sits 
in the tent for the whole day, trying to align 
the dish. Difficult and wet job.
10:00pm the day is over. Makrolab is covered, 
but not inflated. The generator was running 
almost for the whole day because of heavy power 
consumption from the side of the construction 
crew. 

Thursday, June 26
9:00am start of finalisation works. Still many 
details of the covering not solved. Projekt Atol 
will file an official complaint because of the 
delay, but the working team is very very fine. 
10:00am Internet suddenly starts working again. 
After two visits of DT; which just told us what 
we knew from before, that there is an error 
somewhere, the pipeline just started functioning 
properly. Good news.
Weather really bad. More angry people at the 
console, because nobody is here to talk to them. 
Everybody is working, no time for comm. at the 
moment. Logistics first, comm. later. 
6:00pm Makrolab is standing and works. First big 
shower, some leaks, which are immediately 
repaired. The construction team came without 
replacement material  for some membrane covering 
and they had to find some of the same kind in 
Kassel next morning. Shouldn’t be a problem.
Friday, June 27
9:00am final works. The crew from Slovenia 
leaves. Only the Makrolab team remains. A lot of 
little work to be done from now on. Expected 
date of full operationality, July 11, expected 
date of limited continuous operations July 7.
11:00pm After a whole day of logistical problem 
solving, the crew goes to rest. Very long day.

Saturday, June 28
10:00am Water supply installed and operational. 
Toilet operational. Galley operational. 
3:00pm First real lunch at Makrolab. Galley 
functional for 6 people. Satisfied.
11:00pm Everybody leaves, but Jurij stays for 
the first Makrolab night. 

Sunday, June 29
10:00am Sunday slow start. Bad weather. Sun. Bad 
weather. A lot of technical set up works in the 
comm lab. A lot of work around the terrain. 
Auxiliary power unit installed, but fails in a 
short circuit. Almost a small fire in the box. 
APU has to be repaired, because essential. 
Following the goings on the Mir. Colleagues in 
trouble, hope everything goes well. Somebody did 
something bad with Progres. They don´t want to 
say who...
11:00pm After a dinner at the lab part of the 
crew moves into Kassel because of operational 
reasons - storage etc. Part remains. Monday is 
going to be a difficult day, because Jurij and 
Bostjan leave Monday night, a lot of things 
still due. Seats, and a number of invisible 
details. 

Monday, June 30
10:00am Cleaning, setting up of chairs, water 
re-supply. Brian and Marko leave for Enger to 
get a new communications receiver as a 
replacement for the one lost by the post or 
documenta, plus the HF transceiver and antennae. 
The remaining crew works on the lab supply and 
operations details and cleaning. 
11:00pm dinner
2:00am next day - leaving for Slovenia, only 
Luka and Brian remain.

Tuesday, July 1 - Friday July 4 
Comm and internet operations setup. Video link 
operational. 2 cameras for the moment. Koeditz 
still has problems with the transmitter. Has to 
get some parts. The generator never runs. Very 
well. Frank K. has built the fifth  feed up to 
now. It works well with the 1.8 m dish.  But not 
with the offset. 
First minutes to write the newsletter. Finally. 

END of  0001040797