3 weeks 5 days
A carefully calculated process is underway
Submitted by jcollins on Fri, 05/24/2013 - 15:30
The SCIMPI tool has nine different sensors staged to record temperature (three will also record pressure) at different depths that straddle what is called the BSR (a topic for a separate post, but think gas hydrates). The sensors are joined by a cable and separated by a string of floats, aimed to keep the tool neutrally buoyant so the entire instrument does not sink to the bottom of the hole, or float out of it. Just imagine the scope of calculations and problem solving that got the team to this design! They have to slooowly feed it into the drill pipe, then lift the drill pipe slooowly out so that the surrounding sediments collapse against it and hold it in place. There are lots of unknowns about how long this process will take.
It looks like the action will begin in an hour or so...