That wondeful feeling

There are number of aspect in everyday life that have been strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the one I miss the most in the realm of work is the daily interaction with my colleagues. I mentioned a few days ago how rewarding direct praise can be: getting a pat on the back can really swing your day from awful to wonderful. But today I would like to discuss a more subtle and yet also powerful kind or reward: team work.

The gregarious nature of humans means that most of us need some measure of social interaction. For introverts the required amount of time is small and limited to a reduced number of individuals of their confidence. Extroverts enjoy spending a lot of time among people, even if they do not know them (yet). But one way or another being with the right people at the right moment is something that helps us give our life meaning or, at least, context; it positions us in the world and defines our relationship with them. And this reassurance happens not only with family and friends, but also in every other situation of a social nature, be it a sports club, a place of worship or an office.

Photo: pxfuel

The last couple of days has been busy at work because we had a test run of the instrument on Saturday. In spite of the talent and the hard work of the whole team, our resources are limited and the instrument is complex, so it takes time to get all the programs in place to ensure that the instrument works as desired. Furthermore, some aspects of the design have been explicitly left open waiting to see what the condition of the instrument is once it reaches the operational orbit: if it is in good shape, the rest of the programming is easy; if not, we will have to work harder to circumvent the problems that the hardware might have.

The instrument is now at probably 90% of its functionality, but still the most advance capabilities were unfinished. The test on Saturday provided a lot of information but we have a hard deadline to deliver the next set of command by tomorrow noon, so yesterday and today we have been hard at work deciding what new software to upload to the instrument and how to test it best. And although it has been a very taxing, the collaboration has been very rewarding.

Generating a new set of commands is no easy feat, especially if we have to upload new software. Martin prepares the software files, Don prepares the test sequences that should be executed in the instrument, Joe coordinates the plan and I check that all the pieces work together. The interaction is busy and chaotic, but beautiful at the same time. Take this example:

•  Joe: Can we use the ISS system when the instrument is in calibration mode or shall we go to observation mode?
• Me: No, the ISS system is also active in calibration mode.
• Joe: But we want to transmit the ISS information to other instruments onboard. Is the transmission active in calibration mode?
• Martin: Transmission is active whenever the instrument is on.
• Joe: No need to change, then?
• Martin and me: No need to change.
• Don: That's good, but here is a new version anyway for a different reason...

It is hard to describe how thrilling it is to feel part of the team that accomplishes great success in a difficult field like space research. We are limited and fallible, but together we are better and stronger, work harder, have better ideas and build more reliable sequences. It is hard work, but it is great. I hope you all have a chance to live this every now and then. Cheers.