Today we visited the Titan Missile Museum. The Titan II missile is the largest missile ever built by the United States. During the Cold War, 54 Titan II missiles were on alert in underground silos all across the country protecting the United States. In 1987, the last Titan II site was deactivated. Only one Titan II site remains.
LINK:
http://www.titanmissilemuseum.org/
Before we began our tour we were brought into a classroom for instruction on gravity and combustion. It was very educational and entertaining. I was picked to help demonstrate combustion. Ron was able to answer several questions so we were rewarded with Titan II Missile graphite pencils that we were told have all the answers in them, all we have to do is write them down. LOL
Next we watched a video on the development of the Titan I & II missiles. Then it was on to the tour. We were told there were 55 stairs on the tour. Never thought much about stairs before but they have now become a challenge.
Interesting Sign
Lights on the control panel indicate that the key has been turned for ignition of the missile. At this point there is no turning back – it is done. Thankfully this never had to happen.
Titan II in its chamber.
It was a very interesting tour with a wealth of info provided. We had a 12:30 pm tour of the mine at the Mineral Discovery Center scheduled so we didn’t get to spend too much time on the grounds.
We arrived at the ASARCO Mine , a modern, open-pit copper mine, just in time for our tour. We boarded the bus for the excursion and our tour guide was quite the comedian making the tour even more interesting.
“Beneath Arizona's surface lies so much copper ore that the state provides almost two-thirds of all copper mined in the United States. At the ASARCO facility south of Tucson, you can get a peek at the workings of one of its active, open-pit copper mines, the only such tour in the state.
Guided bus tours, hosted by drivers who once worked at the mine describe its workings and relate the company's efforts at rehabilitating the old mine tailings.
While watching people dig rocks out of the ground doesn't sound very interesting, the mine pit's sheer size fascinates visitors. The tour makes its first stop at an observation area where 1,500 feet below, giant mechanical shovels load trucks with hundreds of tons of rock and ore in just three scoops. Near the observation area, a single truck tire stands twelve feet tall. Removed from use because of irreparable damage, the tire illustrates the size of the vehicles used in the pit below.
The tour's second stop visits a mill, where copper-bearing rock is crushed to less than two-inch diameter and processed to produce a dark gray powder that is 90% copper”
If interested here is a LINK:
http://www.azmining.com/mining-in-az/az-mine-tours-
Big Tire – Big Truck
Inside the factory we were shown how the copper is separated from the rocks.
Below shows the copper being separated from the rocks with pine sol. Yes, regular pine sol helps to bring the copper to the surface while the dirt sinks to the bottom. This is only one of multiple steps to extract the copper from the ore. The processes are long and tedious for the extraction. Out of a five foot rock they will sometimes only get one once of copper and that is before it goes though the processes to get to pure copper. No wonder copper is so expensive. Once again we were treated to a great tour – learning never ends.
As an aside we noticed that the signs posted along the road are in Kilometers. I looked it up and back in the 80’s when there was talk about changing over to the metric system in the USA, Arizona began posting their signs in Kilometers and have yet to change them back. However, the kilometer signs are only posted between the Mexican border and Tucson on I-19. Everywhere else in Arizona it’s in miles.
Arizona does seem to live by its own rules and even has its own time-zone! Again, we learn something new every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment