Interesting week so far. Some guys from Lockheed Martin in Denver came down to do some troubleshooting on the PTL, the Payload Testbed Lab. This is our rack of computers we use to simulate the spacecraft, and run our tests. They also brought out the OPUS rack. The Odyssey/Phoenix UHF System, is another rack of computers that simulates the Odyssey spacecraft's telecom system. We will now be able to run a test, uplink that data to OPUS and then transmit that data to the Ground Data System. This is just like Surface Operations. Of course, no data will actually be sent through the air via radio waves, it's all done using cables. Transmitting data over the air could be hazardous to our health.

After setting up the system, we were trained on it. The same person that trained us on the PTL system, trained us on OPUS. He's a good guy. We talk to him almost everyday, but we haven't actually seen him in months, almost a year maybe. It was good to work with him, and the others, again.

I really enjoyed the three-month stay in Denver. It was over January, February and March, and I had a blast with winter. Living in the desert for 3 years at the time, I hadn't seen much of snow. My training was more like a vacation. Plus, my girlfriend is from Denver, so I got to hang out with her family and friends and see where she grew up. She even came up and spent a weekend. Third day on the job, and I got an all expenses paid trip to Denver, CO for 3 months! Welcome to the Phoenix Mission, indeed.

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