Egypt

Update re robot investigations in the Great Pyramid

http://guardians.net/hawass/articles/news_on_the_robot_Dec_2005.htm

Zahi Hawass speaking on his website re the next robot venture into the Great Pyramid's so-called air shafts: "I received this week a proposal for collection of the pins and debris sampling inside the shafts leading from the so-called Queen's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid from Dr. Tc Ng, an independent researcher from Hong Kong. As many know, we received a proposal for a robotic exploration of the shafts from National University in Singapore (NUS). But this proposal described devices that can developed that could be added to the NUS robot with resistible impact, that will significantly enhance the upcoming robotic exploration, by reliably collecting the pins as well as other small artifacts. The Honk Kong robots are totally self-contained and require no resources. Their umbilical wires will add negligible mass to the Singapore robot. The Honk Kong expert said to me: "they added in their robots devices that are carefully designed to protect the pyramid's shafts." He added that all of the robots have been tested on slopes up to 45 degrees, on a variety of materials, including polished limestone. However, it is known that the floor of the shafts is the region of the pins and debris is rough and as such are ideal for maximizing the grip of our miniature rovers. Now that the two robots have been studied we will make a decision soon".

See the full article on the above URL, which has some excellent photographs.

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Egypt