Well, after a long weekend of late nights at the shop, Mike, Ray, Niladri and I made it to the playa on the Fourth with orb in tow. Big thanks to everyone who helped us get there, and to the folks at Geek Week who let us mooch off their wifi and shade structure. (As there were record high temperatures even for the desert, the latter was likely more than a metaphorical lifesaver.) In any case, we found and fixed several problems, got in some roll-testing and data-logging, and generally had a baking good time.
More pictures and pontifications to come, but here’s a video to start with. We were really happy how smooth things were rolling. Considering the challenging environment and the last-minute addition of the “bucket handle” radome, I don’t think this qualifies as anything less than a total success. So we raise a hot can of triple-digit Tecate to everyone! Woot!

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