Moving people and supplies across the Great White South is unreliable , unmanageable , and expensive with logistical costs constituting as much as 90 percent of an expedition ’s budget — about $ 125,000 a trip on ordinary . And that ’s assuming the convoy is n’t swallowed by an shabu crevasse en route . But a unexampled radar - equipped wanderer could help the National Science Foundation keep open lives and meg of one dollar bill a year .
The Antarctic is a hotbed of scientific research stations study everything from newly - discovered marine environments to the uttermost reaches of the universe . But do these job ask large amounts of fuel , which is not an easy good to find given the United States Antarctic Program observatory ’ space hundreds of geographical mile from the south-polar coast and the perfidious , shift deoxyephedrine sheets . The NSF can and has hire C-130s to simply airlift fuel out there but each flight costs a thumping $ 8,000 .
They have also recently begun dragging the supplying to distant outposts aboard tractors but they look the constant peril of fall into a hidden crevasse ( read : a crack in the ice piece of paper 30 foot all-inclusive , 200 feet abstruse , and cut through by a weak “ span ” of snow ) . “ In purchase order to get up onto the meth cap , you have to explore a crevasse - free route , ” project co - lead Jim Lever told The Dartmouth . To do so , tractors have traditionally suspended primer coat penetrating radar onward of themselves on 30 - foot boom but this method only leave 2.5 seconds to react before falling in .
But now , tractor gang are being run by the Yeti , a four - roulette wheel thrust wanderer equipped with dry land penetrating radar designed by students at Dartmouth ’s Thayer School of Engineering coordinate with engine driver from the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover . “ Yeti does exactly the same thing [ as the boom - suspension method acting ] , but you’re able to program it a road and have it force back a route in front of the lead fomite , and it will use the radar to ascertain where the crevasse are , ” Lever said .
The radio detection and ranging “ generates a continuous wave form of the layers it detects under the surface , ” Lever continued . substantial meth multitude creates a unshakable horizontal band pattern while conceal crevasse seem as an “ interference pattern that has a very characteristic appearance . ” Plus , the rover is both light enough — just 150 pound — to avoid demote the Charles Percy Snow bridge and tumbling to a frozen tomb as well as cheap enough — just $ 25,000 — to be easily replaceable if it does .
“ It ’s not likely to fall through , and there ’s no risk to the robot except misplace the robot , ” said Laura Ray , Dartmouth engineer and co - lead of the Yeti project . In fact , the NSF count on that Yeti - direct trips to McMurdo Station alone will deliver the organization $ 2 million annually over the C-130 method .
Researchers are already looking to build more Yetis to steer additional supply runs throughout Greenland and the Arctic as well as shift the Yeti ’s applied science — currently confine by the rover ’s three - minute bombardment life — to Dartmouth ’s solar - poweredCool Robot .
[ Discovery – Live Science – The Dartmouth–Dartmouth.edu – figure of speech : Dartmouth ]
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