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Technology Stocks : Trimble Navigation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SKIP PAUL who wrote (2477)	5/12/1998 9:02:00 AM
From: arun gera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3506

Trimble is on the Top of The World - New meaning to Trimble's "Everest" Technology? High tech used in conquest of Everest By Matthew Broersma, ZDNN May 8, 1998 4:53 PM PDT The atmospheric conditions above 20,000 feet have been known to make a challenge out of tasks as simple as answering a call of nature. So imagine the difficulty the American climbers now readying to ascend the summit of Mount Everest will face in performing a host of scientific experiments, some complex and labor intensive, during their upcoming trek to the 29,028-foot summit. 'You're staring death in the face up there, and you're asking them to do some crazy science' -- Greg Prosl, The Mountain Zone <Picture> Besides the experimental equipment, the 1998 American Mount Everest Expedition will be pervaded by high-tech gadgetry, some of which is designed to make it easier for the climbers to carry out their tasks. The expedition's raison d'etre is to put in place a Global Positioning System receiver that will reveal the effect on Everest, if any, caused by the shifting of the Earth's tectonic plates; and to discover where the mountain's snow ends and where bedrock begins. In addition, gear on the climbers themselves will transmit information about high-altitude physiology and the mountaintop environment. "Most people just get there, and then they go back down," Prosl said. But he said the satellite phones the crew will be carrying should make it easier for the climbers to carry out their tasks. "They're really light-weight, like a regular cell phone, and they have incredible battery life now. Historically they had battery failure, and they haven't been able to carry large, heavy batteries." Measure of a mountain Just below the summit, the climbers will install the Trimble 4800 GPS receiver, attached to a stainless steel plate that they must affix to a large rock. When the receiver is switched on, it can establish the location of that rock within a few millimeters, according to The Mountain Zone. The challenge there will be drilling the holes to fasten down the plate. On the summit itself, the climbers will use coring equipment to penetrate the snow layers, hoping they can reach bedrock. This process will expose the climbers to the dangerous conditions at the peak for an extended period of time. But the climbers should be helped by the presence of Charles Corfield, the science officer for the trip, who claims to hold records for the use of Latin and quantum field theory at high altitude. Ego mountain But the biggest aid to carrying out these difficult processes might be something entirely less tangible than high-tech equipment. "These guys have just been ... really excited to attempt all this stuff," said Prosl. "Part of it is, they've got egos as big as a mountain." (This was the second in a ZDNN series of articles on the 1998 American Mount Everest Expedition. The next planned story will deal with the Webcast of the summit ascent.)