September 16, 2002. Copyright 2002. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Robot to explore mysteries of Great Pyramid

LONDON, September 16, Graphic News: A robotic tomb-raider will attempt to peek behind a mysterious stone door, shut for 4,500 years, deep inside EgyptÕs Great Pyramid -- and you will be able to watch it live on TV.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu (or Cheops), one of the Seven Wonders of the World, contains both the burial chamber of the pharaoh Khufu as well as a queenÕs chamber which was never used.

Now, on September 17, in a National Geographic Channel special, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and his team will use the same technology that was used to search for survivors in the ruins of the World Trade Centre to peer into one of two narrow shafts that open into the north and south walls of the queenÕs chamber.

There are many theories about the shafts. Most Egyptologists refer to them as air shafts to the queenÕs chamber. Others argue that the shafts are passageways intended to allow the soul of the pharaoh or his queen to travel to and from the stars in the afterlife. The southern shaft, which is blocked by a stone ÒdoorÓ, appears to be aligned with the star Sirius and the constellation Orion.

The shafts were discovered in 1872 by British engineer Waynman Dixon. More than 120 years later, in 1993, German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink explored the 20cm by 20cm shafts with a robot fitted with a video camera, but was unable to navigate past a sharp turn in the northern shaft.

The southern shaft, which ascends at an angle of about 40 degrees from the chamber, is blocked 65 metres from its entrance. Hawass will also use a robot to unveil the mystery behind the door.

The Pyramid Rover, designed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is like a small tank, 12cm wide and 30cm long, with its height varying from 11cm to 28cm. It moves by gripping both the floor and the ceiling of the shaft with rubber treads. It carries lights and five miniature cameras.

Supervising producer Chris Sondreal says that before the TV broadcast, the robot will travel up the shaft to the door and complete drilling a one-centimetre-diameter hole through it. Then it will be brought back down for the drill to be replaced by a miniature camera. During the broadcast, the robot will travel back up the shaft and the camera lens will be poked through the hole to reveal what lies on the other side.

The archaeologists speculate that the shaft might contain valuable artifacts such as papyrus, builders tools, or perhaps even a statue of Pharaoh Khufu, the pyramidÕs builder. Or it may contain nothing at all. 

For Hawass, director of EgyptÕs antiquities programme and a National Geographic explorer-in-residence, solving the mystery is important no matter what the investigation uncovers. ÒI would just like to reveal whatÕs behind it,Ó he said. ÒIf nothing, itÕs fine with me.Ó

ÒSince this stone was found,Ó said Hawass, Òpeople have talked about the mystery and whatÕs behind it, what the pyramid has hidden, what kind of treasures are there. This is the first time actually that something will be solved.Ó

During the live broadcast Hawass and his team will also go outside the pyramid to open a sarcophagus thought to belong to Ny Swt Wsrt, an overseer who may have been responsible for organising labour for the pyramid.
/ENDS

Source: National Geographic