View a recent day: August 20 | August 19 | August 18 | previous days | by month and year
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Giant Andes-scaling truck will install Alma array
This custom-built, 28-wheel truck was created by the German firm of Scheuerle Fahrzeugfabrik to scale the Andes bearing 115-tonne antennas that will form the Alma array in the high-altitude Atacama desert.
Look, it's basically a metastasized Hot Wheels toy. I haven't had my pulse so quickened by a truck since I was seven.
Link (via Gizmodo)
The vehicles will have to haul their heavy cargo safely from the 2,900m-high Alma base camp, where the antennas are assembled, to the array site, which lies at 5,000m - about half the cruising altitude of a 747.The vehicles must therefore be extremely powerful, as the journey will make extraordinary demands on the two 500kW diesel engines.
Because of the low oxygen content of the air at 5,000m, vehicle operators will need to wear portable oxygen canisters. The backrests of the driver seats are shaped to allow the driver to wear his oxygen tank while driving.
posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:51:21 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
View a recent day: August 20, 2007 | August 19, 2007 | August 18, 2007 | August 17, 2007 | August 16, 2007 | August 15, 2007 | August 14, 2007 | previous days | all BB archives by month and year
