The spool piece by GV5 was pulled to allow access to the section of the arm cavity leading toward BSC8. Once the spool section was out and the Arm Cavity Baffle removed, Cheryl V., Mark L., and I went into the cavity to conduct an assessment of particulate content and document what we found. (As you may recall, this expedition was first contemplated during ICC at BSC8 because of the quantity of "detritus" that we found at the drop-off between the chamber nozzle and the larger diameter Arm Cavity.) Our objectives were to assess both the quality and quantity of "detritus", determine whether there appeared to be a gradient in the location of "detritus", get good quality close-ups of items in-situ, and to collect samples of various items. We accomplished all of our goals and the preliminary results are listed below:
1. The quality of "detritus"-Seems to be very similar to what we've found during in-chamber cleaning (pieces of glove, thread, "fluffy" fibers, metal fragments including what looks to be Al foil, "goopies" of various kinds, and a very fine patina of metal "dust")
2. The quantity of "detritus"-Again, very similar to what has been found in chambers (Cheryl will attach some pix to this post when she gets a chance.)
3. There does not appear to be a gradient in the quantity of "stuff". We thought we might see more "detritus" close to the BSC or gate valve but that does not seem to be the case. The "crap" seems to be quite evenly spread from gate valve to BSC...
4. Cheryl got some great pix including the fine metal dust falling from the top of the tube and the gate valve on the north(?)side of BSC8 showing its amazing quantity of "detritus"
5. We were able to collect several samples for Robert S. and others to look at.