Baltic Sea Mine-Clearing Robot
By Ryan Oakley. Filed in robots |Tags: baltic sea, mines, robots
The Russians want to build a gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea. There’s just one little problem: There’s still over 150,000 unexploded WW2 bombs in that sea.
pic nicked from here
Bactec Int. has been contracted to clear the Baltic Sea of the 70 mines that block the pipeline.
“When the robot finds a mine, a surface ship releases a high-pitched wail to scare away nearby marine mammals, sets off a small explosive to scare away any fish, and then plants and detonates a small charge on the mine. Altogether, it takes Bactec two days to clear each mine.”
There’s some worries about the exploded mines adding to pollution but it sounds like the Baltic is already a toxic, mine-infested shithole. So let the robots pollute and let the humans choke on their waste. Because at the end of the day, you either choke on your waste or you get blown up by it while you build a pipeline to help you produce more waste. It’s just that simple.
