The Birth Of Loch Eck

Finally the breakthrough!

I can now confirm that there is already a tiny hole at the very corner of Santa Catarina Plane, which is indeed the exit of Highway 1.

That means loch number 5 - the first naturally created loch - is now reality. (The other 4 have been bonked by myself.)

Many thanks to each member of Expedition I for all the hard work and excellent team play.

The new hole shall be called Loch Eck.

Note how amazingly fitting this name is: According to official naming policy, it had to be a loch from Scotland starting with the 5th letter of the alphabet (which is "E"). Now "Eck" in German translates to "corner" and - here we go!

By the way, if you are interested in the "real" Loch Eck, go here.

From East To West

Stupid title I know.

Meanwhile, D1 seems to go the extra mile, completely ignoring the murky Loch Coruisk and its Vietcong, and pushing to the west instead. There, most of the crowd is hanging out in Anatolia Den.

Approaching Santa Catarina

Meanwhile, on the other side, C2, which is now part of the channel informally and uncreatively called Highway 1, bumped into the habitat's western edge. From there it turned north towards the Highlands, where it almost created a new loch in an area called the Santa Catarina Plane.

No Bonk

As some of the readers already expected: the tunnel missed the opportunity to become a channel. D1 has no inclination to connect with Loch Coruisk.

Well, there is still hope for a Nice Looping. It wouldn't be there first time.

On the terminology front, I decided to give C1 a proper name: Vietcong. This is to honour - well - nothing. I just like the name.

Please see this as an exception: In general I will not name every single daffy tunnel.

To Bonk Or Not To Bonk

D1 is heading slowley but surley towards Loch Coruisk. Will it bonk the loch this time? You may argue this time it should be easier, since there is no need to "synchronise" with another fast moving tunnel like it was the case with A1 and B1.

Stay tuned!

Espirito Santo

Espirto Santo is the name of the knoll at the very east of the habitat. It was artificially created by myself, when I bonked a hole which would become Loch Dungeon.
Espirito Santo means "Holy Ghost" in Portuguese, and is one of the 27 states of Brazil. I always thought such naming for an administrative region is a little bit out of place; the Holy Ghost truly deserves something better, more mythical, so I happily named a hole mountain after this guy.

It was at Espirito Santo when a unhappy member was crunched after a major rockfall which was triggered by myself when I bonked the magnifier glass too hard against the habitat wall. The whole habitat subsequently toppled down causing major panicking among the Expedition I crew.

I was seriously thinking of naming a landscape feature after this ant - but unfortunately, I do not know its name.

Where No Action is

Most of the action takes place in Loch Ard and Bernie Loch, which are already connected by Highway 1. Loch Coruisk seems to be abandoned most of the time. This may change soon as D1 from Loch Dungeon is steadily tubing towards its direction.

The Peaceful East

While all the glory is in the west, construction is more tranquil on the other side of the habitat. C2 seems to be on hold, and snatchy is the work on C1. Decent progress is reported from Loch Dungeon, where D1 may become the Expedition I's second channel.

Giving the Highlands a Wide Berth

In another surprising twist, the west flank of the recently created Highway 1 (this is a temporary working name) changed slightly its direction, and will most likely not reach the surface anytime soon. It seems like the birth of the first naturally created loch is postponed. But at least, we will touch the left wall for the first time.

Nice Looping

Due to a surprising u-turn, A1 and B1 finally found each other, connecting two lochs for the first time.

Another Loch soon?

Whilst busy to head east from Loch Ard, the ants opened another front by tunneling into the opposite direction. Looks like the new A2 will soon break through the surface of the gel (the Highlands) and establish another loch.

Failed Connection

The crew finally embarked on digging channels. First, of course, from Anatolia, where most of the members pulled together during the very first hours. They started out to the west, and at the same time, some pioneers started to munch their way from Loch Ard towards the east.
The booklet which came with the space habitat from Antworks(R), speaks about the ant's capability for teamwork, which allows them to connect tunnels as if they would follow the instructions of a senior architect ant.
So the tunnel from Loch Ard (A1) was indeed heading towards the the tunnel from Birnie's (B1) and me and a bottle of red wine were eagerly awaiting the historic moment when they would finally meet each other, to celebrate the first tunnel connection of this habitat.
It did not work out as expected, as you can see in the picture above. They missed each other a little bit. OK this was a first try, this can happen sometimes and they missed each other by about 1 centimeter only.

Anatolia

Ants don't like the cold. They get des-animated if it is too cool.
This is why I had to put the crew members of Expedition I into the fridge for 15 minutes before I could put them into the space habitat. Otherwise they would just run away. (And then I would have to kill them in order to prevent security issues in my room!)
When they feel too cold they do not work and they "huddle" instead. They then hardly move and you wonder if they are dead already.
My small room here in Berkshire can get very cold, so I really feared this project would end quite prematurely. The ants would refuse to construct great tunnels for my viewing pleasure. Instead, they dug a small "cave" below Birnie Loch, where nearly all of them stuck together waiting for some... I don't know what they waited for. I name this cave Anatolia, after a region in Turkey, which is supposed to be the cradle of - not mankind - but at least Europe.
"Anatolia" sounds good, and I am looking forward to the moment when the ants create something which I will name "Patagonia", which also sounds quite good.

The arrival of Expediton I

The ants arrived on Thursday in a small tube via mail. I call them the "Expedition I" in honour of the first crew which moved into the International Space Station (ISS) on the 31st of October 2000, the "Expedition 1". With existing NASA procedures, an expedition lasts about 4 months, until the current astronauts get replaced by another expedition. This time span is similar to the life expectancy of an individual ant, which is between 1 and 4 months. I hope to see a great "Expedition I" followed by a bunch of further expeditions. (The current crew on the ISS is Expedition 14).
In accordance with the instructions, I bonked 4 holes into the blue gel.
I named them after Scottish lochs: Loch Ard, Birnie Loch, Loch Coruisk and Loch Dungeon. With this naming, I try to score a joke, because "loch" in Gaelic means "lake" which is not really what I dug today, but in German the work "loch" word means "hole" - so only in German, the naming makes sense.

Introduction

This blog will give frequent updates on my ant colony.