Preliminary work begins
The excavator found the digging a bit hard going since the prolonged dry spell has hardened the soils of the observatory site.
Conduits are now being layed in the trenches and in the near future the power and fibre optic cables will be drawn in to link the upgraded antennas with the nerve centre of the telescope.
A few pictures of the excavations are shown below.
The excavator goes for a narrower bucket to penetrate the hard soil.
That's better. The narrow bucket digs much easier.
Hmmm, maybe the heavy clouds will give some moisture to soften things.
And yet another trench.
Things are moving fast. The first of the conduits are put in the trench.
Original: Tim Kennedy (21-Apr-1998)
Modified: Tim Kennedy (21-Apr-1998)