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| Before heading to NH, the engine is assembled in lab and mounted to the test stand. |
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The house in Thornton, NH that we stay at. The test field is behind the house. |
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| This is the high speed video camera we borrow from the MIT Edgerton center. |
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And here's a regular camera slightly in front of the high speed video, being aimed and focused by Sam. |
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| The control center is located in the house. We use the feed from the video cameras to monitor the situation down at the test stand. Here, John is checking valve controls (on the computer) with someone down at the stand. |
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Steve and Luke work on connecting the plumbing to the engine. |
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| The field containing the test stand bunker. |
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A close-up of the electronics box, which was updated again over the summer. |
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| Here you can see the results of a facilities upgrade we did back in May: Permanent power lines were run to the test bunker from the house, allowing us to use normal power outlets at the stand. |
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Here's Laurent, Carole, Anne, and Scott working on connecting the gas supplies. |
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The back of the test bunker, seen here from a distance just before a test.
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The inside of the test bunker, as seen from the front.
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Everyone works for hours, helping to connect all of the plumbing and wiring, and testing the systems to make sure the test stand is in proper working condition.
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The excess liquid oxygen (LOX) is dumped via this tube. The tube is coiled and immersed in water to help boil off all the LOX.
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Up in the control center, Dan and Tom help test the fire suppression system.
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This is the engine after the explosion. From this angle, nothing appears amiss except for a couple of tubes which were blown off their connectors. But down below, there was more obvious damage.
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