Ram Drill
Here are some shots of the ram drill. This project drills many
holes quickly and
places dynamite charges in the bottom of the holes to record soundings
of the
terrain beneath the ice. It is a tedious process. The
people involved with this
project deployeed from WAIS, out about 210 miles. We won't
see them back
at WAIS until January. They really live camping life on the ice
without benefit
of camp staff to do cooking or plow snow.
The ram drill is a drill that cuts a hole about 4 inches in diameter to
a depth
of about 60 feet as fast as possible. It is pneumatically
driven, and spews the
ice out of the hole from the cutter.
This drill is not quiet. It is screaming loud!
Here's the train of equipment that powers the ram drill.
This hole's done. Here's the drill head of the ram
drill. It has anti-torque springs just like the DISC
drill.
That's an aggressive bit. Don't touch.
The ram drill crew heads out for a 210 mile trip to do their
science. Fuel
caches have been placed along the way, so that's no where near all the
fuel they need.
Below are several other shots as they fade into the wilderness.
(It wouldn't
be sunset, 'cause there aren't any here for months.)
