Blue skies for installing the ground station the day before this first image uploaded, we worked together with Ray from Goonown. It was warm and springlike in Helston, the magnolias on the streets around CAST had just come into their element.

We thought we knew the aspect of the building but we were surprised by the direction of true north, we had been looking closer to north north west. Spent some time pondering magnetic deviation, unsure if the smart phone compass already accounted for it, wished we had a proper compass with us.

We chatted with Ray about the dry weather and how different it’s for them planting this year compared to last.

A few passers-by already stopped and mused on the new feature - ‘are you installing Sky TV?’.

The computer, sitting under the desk of the buildings office, seemed to be working okay and we were intrigued to see if it would upload. Ruth listened to the audio file before we saw the first image, as the automatic upload didn’t work the first time - a strange sound.

Seeing this first image we couldn’t quite comprehend any features poking through the noise, it wasn’t until someone else pointed out Scotland and Ireland beneath the clouds, upside down. We worried the granite building was obscuring the reading too much but were excited to see if we could trouble shoot the image with help from Sasha and Soph.

The Seaweed Institute