Destroying LOFAR — Load #8

I don't know why I started this web log series with the title 'Destroying LOFAR'. By this stage we're seriously wondering if LOFAR is actually indestructible and if the 'monoliths' from the Arthur C Clarke book '2001 — A Space Oddessy' were actually in fact some sort of LOFAR HBA tile?

Thinking that the last load was a bit light, we've gone back to one-tonne loads of snow from the digger bucket.



The mound grows ever higher.

However, we also had our first avalanche. It wasn't much, but a few chunks of ice fell away from the back of the tile (opposite the side that the digger was approaching from). We did a check and estimated that the mass of lost material was probably somewhere in the range of 50 to 100 kg. Even so, we're still over six-and-a -half tonnes of snow and ice on our HBA tile.

Load   Mass    Total
#1   400kg    400kg
#2   550kg    950kg
#3   950kg   1900kg
#4  1050kg   2950kg
#5   850kg   3800kg
#6  1400kg   5200kg
#7   500kg   5700kg
#8  1050kg   6750kg
    -100kg   6650kg

Still need more snow.