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BOTSWANA Looking for diamonds usually involvesinspecting rock samples that have been taken from deepwithin the earth. But South Africa’s De Beers Groupwas taking to the air in its search for precious stones.
In 2005, an airship made by ZeppelinLuftschifftechnik in southern Germany hadbeen quietly sailing through the night sky aboveBotswana’s Kalahari Desert, carrying high-techsensors on board. The sensors can identify where thereare slight differences in the earth’s gravity. A changein gravity means that a section of land has a differentdensity from the area around it—which could be asign that diamonds are buried under the surface. Intheory, the sensors could be flown in a plane, but thespeed, noise and turbulence would probably result inless precise measurements. Indeed, the Zeppelin fliedat night, because the air was calmer then.
The project, reported to cost as much as $10 milliona year, is the only one of its kind in the world—perhapsbecause the idea behind it is so unusual. “One wouldhave to go far to combine a more romantic associationthan Zeppelin airships and diamonds,”NickyOppenheimer, chairman of De Beers, told Forbes.
But in September, 2007, the Zeppelin airship wassent crashing to earth by strong and severe windswhen it was held in the air by suspenders tied to theground. The accident happened at the explorationbase set up in the vicinity of the Jwaneng Mine. TheZeppelin was not flying at the time of the accident.
It is not known how long the Zeppelin airship, themost efficient diamond explorer in history, will still beout. The company commented that while this will, in theshort-term, impact on it, De Beers has other technologieswhich will enable the company to continue with themuch larger and longer term diamond explorationprogramme in Botswana. And the fully insured airship,which is on the ground, poses no danger to the localcommunity or to the environment.
博茨瓦纳说到寻找钻石，一般的做法是检测从很深的地下挖掘出来的岩石样品，但是南非的戴比尔斯集团却飞上天去找寻这种珍贵的石头。
2005年，一架由德国南部的齐柏林公司制造的飞船静静地飞翔在博茨瓦纳卡拉哈里沙漠的夜空中。飞船上安装了采用尖端技术的传感器，它能够探测出地球重力产生轻微变化的地方。重力的变化意味着一部分地层与其周围地层的密度不同，而这就有可能是地下藏有钻石的一个征兆。理论上来说，传感器可以安装在飞机上使用，但是飞机的速度、噪音以及湍流都会影响探测结果的精确性。实际上，这艘齐柏林飞船一直也都是夜间作业，因为夜间的空气更平稳些。
这项据称每年耗资达一千万美元的钻石探测项目在全世界是独一无二的，这可能是因为它背后的理念实在是太不寻常了。戴比尔斯的董事长尼基·奥本海默对《福布斯》杂志的记者说：“要想出一个比齐柏林飞船和钻石更为浪漫的组合，那还真不是一件容易的事。”
不过，2007年9月，齐柏林飞船被猛烈的强风刮落到地面上。这一事故发生在设于吉瓦嫩矿附近的探测基地。事故发生的时候飞船没有在飞行，它悬在空中，由系在地面上的多条吊索固定。
这架历史上效率最高的钻石探测器何时复出尚不清楚。戴比尔斯对此的说法是，尽管这一事故在短期内对公司会有些影响，但是公司还拥有其他的探测技术，可以将博茨瓦纳的大规模长期钻石探测项目继续进行下去。而呆在地面上、被保了全险的飞船也不会给当地居民和环境带来任何危险。
In 2005, an airship made by ZeppelinLuftschifftechnik in southern Germany hadbeen quietly sailing through the night sky aboveBotswana’s Kalahari Desert, carrying high-techsensors on board. The sensors can identify where thereare slight differences in the earth’s gravity. A changein gravity means that a section of land has a differentdensity from the area around it—which could be asign that diamonds are buried under the surface. Intheory, the sensors could be flown in a plane, but thespeed, noise and turbulence would probably result inless precise measurements. Indeed, the Zeppelin fliedat night, because the air was calmer then.
The project, reported to cost as much as $10 milliona year, is the only one of its kind in the world—perhapsbecause the idea behind it is so unusual. “One wouldhave to go far to combine a more romantic associationthan Zeppelin airships and diamonds,”NickyOppenheimer, chairman of De Beers, told Forbes.
But in September, 2007, the Zeppelin airship wassent crashing to earth by strong and severe windswhen it was held in the air by suspenders tied to theground. The accident happened at the explorationbase set up in the vicinity of the Jwaneng Mine. TheZeppelin was not flying at the time of the accident.
It is not known how long the Zeppelin airship, themost efficient diamond explorer in history, will still beout. The company commented that while this will, in theshort-term, impact on it, De Beers has other technologieswhich will enable the company to continue with themuch larger and longer term diamond explorationprogramme in Botswana. And the fully insured airship,which is on the ground, poses no danger to the localcommunity or to the environment.
博茨瓦纳说到寻找钻石，一般的做法是检测从很深的地下挖掘出来的岩石样品，但是南非的戴比尔斯集团却飞上天去找寻这种珍贵的石头。
2005年，一架由德国南部的齐柏林公司制造的飞船静静地飞翔在博茨瓦纳卡拉哈里沙漠的夜空中。飞船上安装了采用尖端技术的传感器，它能够探测出地球重力产生轻微变化的地方。重力的变化意味着一部分地层与其周围地层的密度不同，而这就有可能是地下藏有钻石的一个征兆。理论上来说，传感器可以安装在飞机上使用，但是飞机的速度、噪音以及湍流都会影响探测结果的精确性。实际上，这艘齐柏林飞船一直也都是夜间作业，因为夜间的空气更平稳些。
这项据称每年耗资达一千万美元的钻石探测项目在全世界是独一无二的，这可能是因为它背后的理念实在是太不寻常了。戴比尔斯的董事长尼基·奥本海默对《福布斯》杂志的记者说：“要想出一个比齐柏林飞船和钻石更为浪漫的组合，那还真不是一件容易的事。”
不过，2007年9月，齐柏林飞船被猛烈的强风刮落到地面上。这一事故发生在设于吉瓦嫩矿附近的探测基地。事故发生的时候飞船没有在飞行，它悬在空中，由系在地面上的多条吊索固定。
这架历史上效率最高的钻石探测器何时复出尚不清楚。戴比尔斯对此的说法是，尽管这一事故在短期内对公司会有些影响，但是公司还拥有其他的探测技术，可以将博茨瓦纳的大规模长期钻石探测项目继续进行下去。而呆在地面上、被保了全险的飞船也不会给当地居民和环境带来任何危险。