No pictures for this update, but this video was filmed at EMRTC, subject of today’s post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKS3VkPfD4&feature=channel
Yes, it’s the Myth Busters.
So, back in the month of June (The 21st, to be exact), the summer students, a handful of NRAO employees, and about 30 other people took a trip to EMRTC. EMRTC (Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center) is located a stone’s throw away from where I work, and across the street from the HR people in Socorro for NRAO. It’s run by NMT, and it is used to test explosives, train people to deal with explosives, and to perform research around things blowing up (to clarify, that is their research concerns things blowing up; they do not, I fear, put scientists out in a field with lab coats and beakers and begin throwing grenades around). The government does a lot of work with them, as do people like Mythbusters. While much of what they do is obviously at least semi-secret, rumors still exist about what people have heard they do. One such example was a contract from the Navy. The Navy, it seems, wanted to know what one of their shells looked like after it was fired but before it exploded. So, EMRTC got a naval gun, loaded the shell, and fired it into a large stack of hay. The problem with that was the hay had been around for too long, and various poisonous critters had taken residence underneath. Oops!
So, we ducked out of work in the middle of the afternoon and drove the half mile or so to EMRTC’s offices. There, we had to turn in our cell phones and cameras (people who brought either, that is; the summer students and NRAO employees were told ahead of time about this, and most didn’t bring either cameras or phones with them). Then, they had to verify the citizenship of everyone. Americans loitered around for a bit while the foreigners were taken into another room and given a special briefing. Eventually, we all loaded into some Suburbans and a school bus and went on our way.
The testing facilities of EMRTC are located around M Mountain, the prominent geographical landmark of Socorro. So, we rode through a security checkpoint and out on a road heading off to the mountain. The convoy we had, with two suburbans leading the way along a desert road, reminded me of a scene from a movie, although I couldn’t quite figure out the genre (in related news, I saw two Inmate Work trucks today. After they passed by me, four trucks pulled out from side roads — one in front, two in the middle, and one behind. I was waiting for an explosion or gun shots, because, had it been a movie, that’s when the prison break would have commenced.) Soon we started snaking up the mountain — and snake we did. The bus driver was good at what she did, because she was taking the curves with some speed like a champ.
One of the most interesting things about the trip was everything to see on the way up. Blown out tanks, mobile artillery, missiles, plane fuselages, bunkers, sandbag walls, more bunkers, buildings… it looked like the set of a war movie (one set in a desert, mind you). We would round a corner, see two tanks on a hill, crest a hill, see a bunker looking toward a plane, then pass up against the walls of the road… Despite the heat, it was a fun trip.
Eventually, we got to the blast zone. There were some smaller explosives some people were playing with in front of us. They called it an “art shot.” Basically, you shape the explosives so they make a design in metal. As they prepared that, the leader of the event also mentioned the truck off in the distance. It had 300 pounds of ANFO, the same stuff used in the Oklahoma City Bombing (although that was around 5,000 pounds). We then got back in the buses and drove up a hill to a bunker. This bunker was half a mile away from the explosions, sunk into the hill, with a solid roof overhang and no direct view of the bomb site. Instead, we looked out a three-inch thick window out to a mirror slanted at 45 degrees. This showed us another mirror at 45 degrees, so that we had a periscope to observe the explosion with.
After another long wait, including a check to make sure everyone was accounted for and under the bunker, they let off the first explosion (the art shots). It was kinda loud, but not too much, and only kinda explode-y. I was worried that we were too far away, and that safety was going to ruin everything (as it is wont to do). I should point out that during this time I was standing next to possibly the most annoying people I have ever encountered in my life. They were punching each other, making fun of other people at the site, and generally being the sort of people I don’t like spending time with. I really should have moved, but was told the height of the periscope was slanted, and I didn’t want to go to someplace too high. (It turns out I could see out the entire periscope…)
Finally, they blew up the truck.
It started out as a flash, shooting out of the truck and quickly disappearing. Black smoke shot out almost immediately, and continued to do so for quite some time. One tire went flying in our direction before rolling around on the ground about 100 feet from the original truck. There was a shockwave that shot out from the truck, clearly disturbing the dirt down on the blast site. Maybe a second or two later, there was a loud snap, and sometime around then (I forget if it was sooner or later, and don’t feel like looking up wave propagation tables to check…it was all more or less at the same time though) there was a concussive blast that shook through the bunker. It actually knocked me back a little, and I was over half a mile away!
They made us wait around (safety…again) in case any fallout had yet to fall. Finally, we got back in the bus and SUVs, and rode back to the blast site. The people who were doing the art shot showed us the results (apparently explosives can actually be controlled to make a picture of Iron Man’s helmet…). Then, we drove to the pickup. Well, more accurately, we drove to where the pickup was. Aside from a tire and a half, there wasn’t much to show that a pickup had once been there. It was utterly destroyed.
The drive back was like the ride up. Used military equipment, bunkers, and the ever-present sight of desert. Once again, the bus driver showed some skill swerving down the mountain, and once again it felt kinda like a movie. We eventually got back, and I returned to work.
Another thing to point out about EMRTC is that they blow up a lot of stuff. So, often times, during the middle of the day, I will hear something that sounds like thunder. Looking outside, however, the sky is clear. Sometimes, the windows will even rattle. That’s EMRTC, blowing stuff up several miles away and in the muffling embrace of a mountain. Also, they were in charge of the July Fourth fireworks.
That’s the story of my trip to EMRTC. Up next, the Magdalena Ridge Observatory!
