Big machine

Many, many moons ago, I was a geologist. I still have a soft spot for mining equipment - some of which is - there is no other word - humongous!

New Scientist Technology Review posts this picture of a machine "so big it could swallow a bulldozer". It's the world's biggest digging machine, built by German firm Krupp. This mechanical beast measures 300 metres long and weighs 42,000 tonnes - it's used for open cast mining.

According to this blog post, in 2001 it was moved 22 kilometres across the German countryside. When in place, they fired it up again before checking every last bulldozer was safe. For more pictures of the result, check out this close up.

Finally, take a look at this even scarier re-imagining of this mega-machine. Thank goodness it doesn't have legs in reality.