100 Years Later, China to Build Nicaraguan Alternative to Panama Canal
This new project is going to dwarf the Panama Canal in every way. HKND Group will be permitted to choose any route it likes, but even utilizing the large Lake Nicaragua on the Pacific side will mean cutting through about 178 miles of earth to reach the Caribbean. It will also be 22 meters deep at its shallowest points.
The Panama Canal was completed long before supertankers existed, and that continues to cause headaches for shipping. Many of today’s largest vessels are unable to fit in the canal, leaving them with little choice but to take the Cape Horn route around the tip of South America. The Great Nicaraguan Canal would be wide and deep enough to accommodate such ships.
Advanced global positioning technology and super-precise surveying will make the design of this canal much easier than it would have been over a century ago. The building process will also be completely mechanized, whereas the Panama Canal relied on huge numbers of laborers who could contract diseases or become injured. Satellite imagery could also play a crucial role in planning and monitoring the construction process. The world will be able to watch from space as the canal is carved out over the course of 10 years.
If a route is decided on soon, construction on the Great Nicaraguan Canal could begin as early as 2015. If it completes the canal as agreed, HKND Group will be granted a 100-year concession to operate the canal.
(via Chinese company plans to build Nicaraguan canal to compete with Panama | ExtremeTech)
Solar-Powered Robotic Sailboat Set To Break Navigational Record, Research Porpoises
Austrian scientists are looking to break the record for the longest journey made by a fully autonomous sailboat, all while collecting data on a Baltic Sea porpoise.
Scientists from the Austrian Society of Innovative Computer Sciences hope their craft, named the ASV Roboat, will cover 150 nautical miles (172 miles) and work for 100 hours without human intervention once it is put into the water July 9. The current record is 78.9 nautical miles (91 miles), set in March by a robot sailboat made by the French engineering institute ENSTA Brest.
Robotic sailboats need human handlers only to enter final destination coordinates. The boats decide routes, perform sailing maneuvers and respond to changing winds on their own. They also generally make all the power they need, through solar panels. They need relatively little energy to move the sail and rudder while the wind provides the propulsion.
(via Robot Sailboat Out to Break World Record : Discovery News)
