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Space engineering helps drill better holes in planet Earth

18 July 2003

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Trude, the world´s largest tunnel boring machines (TBMs) with a diameter of 14.2m, excavated the 4th pipe Elbe Tunnel in Hamburg, Germany. It took two years and five months to drill the 2,561 metres underground tunnel.

The German tunnelling company, Herrenknecht AG, responsible for this achievement is now applying a new technique with space origin in order to be able to drill tunnels even better. The German company Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH has produced a new transmitter for Herrenknecht AG based upon their know-how gained from their work for ESA on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

A number of these transmitters are now mounted on a TBM and provides a look into the ground in front of the TDB. Every second the transmitters send sound waves into the ground, microphones receive the reflecting signals which are data processed and visualizes important geologic changes up to 40 m in front of the rotary shear blade.

Credits: Herrenknecht AG

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Huygens will be the first spacecraft to land on a world in the outer Solar System. In January 2005, it will land on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and the only moon in the Solar System to possess a thick atmosphere. The Huygens data may offer clues about how life began on Earth. Huygens is currently in space, hitching a ride on NASA’s Cassini mission, which was launched by a Titan IVB/Centaur rocket on 15 October 1997. In an artist’s illustration, Huygens is here seen in the lower right corner while approaching the reddish/blue Titan moon below. Cassini is illustrated closer to Saturn.

Credits: ESA

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The German company Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH has produced new transmitters for Herrenknecht AG mounted on their tunnel boring machine seen above. Every second the transmitters send sound waves into the ground, microphones receive the reflecting signals which are data processed and can visualise important geological changes up to 40 m in front of the rotary shear blade. These innovative transmitters have been developed using the expertise Astro gained during their work for ESA on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

Credits: Herrenknecht AG

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An air view of the Pannerdensch Kanaal twin tunnel near Arnhem, the Netherlands. This tunnel was drilled by Herrenknecht AG using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) with new transmitters spun-off from European space programmes.

Credits: Herrenknecht AG

Space technology ready for use on Earth

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Here is seen the tunnel boring machine (TBM) break through at the Pannerdensch Kanaal twin tunnel near Arnhem, the Netherlands. This tunnel was drilled by Herrenknecht AG using a tunnel boring machine (TBM) with new transmitters spun-off from European space programmes.

Credits: Herrenknecht AG