[All] CPEX-CV - Reporting from Sal Island.

[Salazar, Vidal (ARC-SGG)]

Dear ESPO
I am writing this as the NASA DC8 takes off for the first science mission of the 2022 CPEX-Cape Verde field campaign.

It's been a long road getting to this point, but the overall feeling is already of accomplishment and success. Traveling internationally these days is not as much fun as it used to be; crowded airplanes and long layovers, topped with COVID regulations that change by the day, have made deploying in Cape Verde challenging. All the predicted roadblocks (shipping delays, Covid challenges, etc.) have made an appearance, but thankfully, the early contingency planning and the attention to detail have helped minimize their impacts.

Upon arrival in Sal Island in late August, we found the FBO office space half finished; the area was still under construction. This brought back memories from CAMP2EX (and other campaigns), where the bathrooms were installed moments before the first PI group walked through the door. We didn’t want to be left off this list, and we weren’t! Toilets, light fixtures, furniture, doors, and some of the flooring were installed moments before our crew arrived in Sal. We now have a beautiful, brand-new office space housing the large number of project participants on site.

The Internet backbone on Sal is modern with plenty of bandwidth (the island has fiber optic service to mainland Europe), but this hasn’t eliminated IT issues. Our biggest IT challenge has been navigating NASA IT regulations and the constant software updates that kill your Office apps (including Outlook) without warning, making you lose your work. VPN back to work has also had its challenges, and unfortunately, there is not much we can do as these issues live at the different NASA Centers our teams are connecting to. Several team members have loaner laptops, which adds to people's confusion and IT issues. I have my own set of issues with not being able to reach NASA internal sites (Webtads, Id.NASA), but I am working through the problems.

Our air and sea shipments made it to Sal without delays (thank you, Logistics!); we had some significant issues unloading the sea containers and making sense of the contents of the shipments. Still, we managed to be prepared for the arrival of the science crew and the DC-8.
We have some lessons learned that we would recommend discussing at large for future deployments.

The local FBO has been super helpful and accommodating. They have managed to keep us honest with airport procedures and requirements. Our large group has taken over their facilities, but they always keep smiles on their faces.

The hotel has also been treating our group very well. They made breakfast and lunch boxes to-go and even fumigated (we think) for our ant problem. People are happy with meal options and large breakfast and dinner buffets, and the restaurants outside the hotel offer a welcome “change” in flavors and cuisine.

In addition to all this, Lynn and I are doing great keeping busy watching balloon launches and helping the CPEX-CV PI concentrate on their science.

Best regards to all!


[ESPO]
Vidal Salazar
Project Specialist
NASA – Earth Science Project Office
650 499-6405


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