A follower on Twitter asked what the squeaking noise was on one of Antonio Litterio’s videos we posted recently:
@esa what is that squeaking noise?
— Oliver Foggin (@oliverfoggin) October 6, 2015
Here is Antonio‘s reply. As always Antonio suggests some music to listen to as you read:
About squeaking noise: it was the camera. Microphone membranes change behaviour in the cold and in that shot I was touching the window with the camera body which made that squeaking noise.
It has been a year now I am now living and working in the Netherlands for the BepiColombo test campaign in ESTEC, but often my mind goes back to Antarctica.
I remember the night before my departure from Concordia, I thought of going far from the base to dig a hole and leave something of mine. At night I set of outside and when far enough from the base I stopped and started to watch the snow around my feet. I was about to leave a small object that I had kept in my room throughout the stay together with a small piece of paper and some words, but then I thought it was useless because I was going to leave a deeper piece of me. A piece of my heart.
I don’t remember how much time I sat on the snow after that… maybe a whole life… I kept the small piece of paper blowing in my hand… in my mind it is still blowing in the wind somewhere…
Strange, since returning I haven’t dreamt about Antarctica. But sometime with my eyes open I see her wildness. My eyes see the flat horizon, I stand up in the middle of the Antarctica night wearing my red clothes, my white boots, my eyes uncovered, with the lights off. I am standing on black snow, surrounded by the darkness, that touches me, squashing my body and my soul. Silence…. just silence around me….my eyes looking for a horizon below the stars. I can see it… it is there where the stars disappear and only darkness fills the view.
I miss that.
I speak about Concordia station, but I am not able to explain what my eyes continue to see.
Antonio
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