All,
May I take the opportunity of congratulating the team for their outstanding
achievement.I hope the research efforts of all our dedicated research teams
worldwide will be encouraged by your achievement.
Regards
Barry de Wet
Chief Geophysicist
Billiton Development BV
The Hague
The Netherlands
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Asten
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, 08 December, 2000 07:23
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SEGMIN]: CSIRO Medal for "Falcon" airborne gravity gradiometer
The CSIRO (=Australian government R&D organisation) recently handed out
its annual medals for R&D in Australia. The "Falcon" AGG developed by
BHP got the gong for
"The annual External Medal, for Australian research outside CSIRO, was
awarded to the BHP Team Falcon, who developed operational airborne
gravity (AGG) systems, to allow rapid low-cost mineral surveying of
large areas. "
The full citation appears below; the team of 18 includes BHP staff and
former staff from Australia, US, and Canada, plus Lockheed-Martin
(formerly
Bell Aerospace Textron) staff from Buffalo NY.
Nice to know that R&D in resource development can still get a mention in
amongst bio-tech, computer-tech and green-tech projects!
Regards,
Michael Asten
============================================================================
================
2000 CSIRO Medal Citation
Team Falcon
Mr Clive Affleck, Dr. Mike Asten, Dr Maurice Craig, Mr Peter Diorio, Dr
Mark Dransfield, Mr Nick Fitton, Mr Giles Hofmeyer, Mr Gary Hooper, Dr
Jim Lee, Dr Edwin van Leeuwen, Dr Xiong Li, Dr Ken McCracken, Dr Tim
Monks (deceased), Dr Graeme O'Keefe, Mrs Marion Rose, Mr Peter Stone,
Mr Bob Turner and Mr Ken Witherley.
BHP's Project Falcon has succeeded in turning the exploration
geophysicists' vision of airborne gravity into reality with two fully
operational airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) systems. These AGG
systems provide sensitive, high-resolution detection of small variations
in the earth's gravity at the level required in exploration for mineral
and hydrocarbon resources. Airborne geophysics allows rapid, low cost
surveying of large areas without the variety of access problems that can
make ground surveys slow, difficult and expensive.
The project was the result of a strategic vision of a small group of
research and exploration staff in the period 1991-3. The goal of the
team was to determine whether BHP could achieve an international
competitive advantage in mineral exploration and also address
hydrocarbon opportunities. Starting in 1991, BHP surveyed all the known
gravitational technologies in the world to assess the practicability of
development of an operational airborne system with the sensitivity,
reliability, and operating costs required by the mineral's industry. It
was decided that a sensor technology originally developed by the US Navy
in the 1970s, at a cost of USD$400m, and installed in their Trident
submarines held the greatest promise.
As tests of the instrument in an aeroplane would have been too expensive
and technically unreliable, BHP conducted a detailed feasibility study
to determine whether the technology could meet the requirements of
airborne mineral exploration. It became evident that the gravity sensor,
although based upon the Navy's concepts, was going to be an entirely new
instrument and had to be designed from scratch using modern components.
In addition to the development of the instrument itself, even greater
effort was required to develop the software that would allow the flight
data to be fully processed, corrected for topography and displayed as
a gravity map all within 12 hours. This required applied mathematics,
statistics and signal and image processing of the highest order.
To achieve the strategic vision, BHP assembled a small group of high
calibre technology-development people from its corporate technology
laboratories. This team operated under intense pressure, in a manner
similar to the " Skunk Works" operation used by several companies to
achieve exceptional breakthroughs in technology. The relentless pace of
the work continued for four years until, in October 1999, the Einstein
system was declared operational following exhaustive tests over regions
of well-known gravitational properties.
The Falcon instrument represents a major contribution to Australia's
industrial development. By reducing exploration costs and providing a
competitive edge worldwide, it contributes strongly to the continuance
of the Australian mining and downstream processing industries. It is an
excellent example of technology transfer and demonstrates a new paradigm
for industrial research wherein key elements are sourced outside the
company while being managed internally.
============================================================================
================
_______________________________________________________
List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
****************Internet Email Confidentiality Footer****************
Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message.
If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible
for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy or
deliver this message to anyone. In such case, you should destroy this
message and kindly notify the sender by reply email.
_______________________________________________________
List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
