We’ll depart soon on a short 45 minute flight to Ushuaia Argentina.
The Punta Arenas airport has runway construction scheduled to begin soon, which will shorten the usable runway length and not permit the NASA DC8 to take off with sufficient fuel for our Antarctic OIB missions. Therefore OIB has to relocate to Ushuaia airport for the remainder of the deployment (thru Nov 18)..
Tomorrow will be a set-up and preparation day in Ushuaia, and we hope to resume OIB science missions on Saturday.
The DC8 passing near Rothera Research Station in Antarctica on the Oct 30 mission
NASA 817 being loaded with science cargo this morning
The German Alfred Wegener Institute Basler BT-67 aircraft arrived at Punta Arenas just before the DC8 departed..
Punta Arenas Chile and Ushuaia Argentina (red map dot) on GoogleEarth map