HORTA is an underground
geographic positioning technology utilized in the
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
industry and being considered for extraterrestrial space mining applications. The technology utilizes a
gyroscope
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
and an
accelerometer
An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change of velocity) of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is accele ...
, together called an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
or INS, to aid in
3D-position determination.
It was developed by
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
mining company
Inco
Vale Canada Limited (formerly Vale Inco, CVRD Inco and Inco Limited; for corporate branding purposes simply known as "Vale" and pronounced in English) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brazilian mining company Vale. Vale's nickel mining and ...
in the late 1990s based on an earlier technology that had been originally developed for the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
. It provides an automated solution to the problem of positioning and location in
underground mines.
''Canadian Mining Journal'', April 2000, accessed 2019-03-09. ''"HORTA unit for determining the geographic position underground. HORTA-Honeywell Ore Retrieval and Tunneling Aid-is a box containing a gyro and an accelerometer, originally developed for the U.S. military, that solves the problem of positioning and location underground."
The term is a
backronym
A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...
for the Horta from ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'', a new species introduced in the ''
Original Series
Original programming (also called originals or original programs, and subcategorized as "original series", "original movies", "original documentaries" and "original specials") is a term used for in-house television, film or web series productions ...
'' episode "
The Devil in the Dark
"The Devil in the Dark" is the twenty-fifth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series '' Star Trek''. Written by Gene L. Coon and directed by Joseph Pevney, the episode first aired on March 9, 1967.
In thi ...
."
[
[http://www.frequency.com/video/terrestrial-telerobotic-mining/34304316 Terrestrial telerobotic mining technology: an enabler for extraterrestrial habitation, mining, and construction] Prof. Greg Baiden, Laurentian University, Talk given at the ''Space Manufacturing 14'' conference, 29-31 October 2010, Space Studies Institute, at 6:10-9:05, accessed 2010-12-02. ''"on the tremendous progress that has been made in automation of deep mining over the past couple of decades."'']
As Inco uses the term, HORTA stands for Honeywell Ore Retrieval and Tunneling Aid.
[
A mining vehicle "with a HORTA mounted, can survey much faster and more accurately than manual surveys. It takes the truck 120 minutes to survey a 1.6-km-long drift, recording 1,500 points every 60 cm. This compares with a manual survey of the same distance that takes 180 hours, and records only five points every 6 m. Added benefits from such a detailed survey would be to allow engineers to design more effective ventilation systems, or to regularly check ground stability."][
HORTA units may be fitted onto all mobile underground equipment, including drills,][ so their position may be determined with acceptable engineering accuracy.
]
See also
* Space mining
Asteroid mining is the hypothetical exploitation of materials from asteroids and other minor planets, including near-Earth objects.
Notable asteroid mining challenges include the high cost of spaceflight, unreliable identification of asteroids ...
* Teleoperation
Teleoperation (or remote operation) indicates operation of a system or machine at a distance. It is similar in meaning to the phrase "remote control" but is usually encountered in research, academia and technology. It is most commonly associat ...
References
External links
Telerobotic and automated lunar mining: interview with Dr. Greg Baiden
''The Space Show
''The Space Show'' is a biweekly Internet radio talk show, presented by David Livingston (born June 4, 1946), about space commerce and exploration that is also available archived online as a podcast. According to Livingston, the show started i ...
'', 2 Jan 2011.
Mining equipment
Geopositioning
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