No subject

(inner radius less than an antenna pad radius i.e under 6m)
of the mining truck is a crucial advantage over other 
concepts. Also the target loaded speed of 20km/hr is
a big advantage for reconfiguration to the larger 
arrays. The target gradients that it can make when loaded of 
10% (5.7 degrees) typical  and absolute maximum 15%
(6.8 degrees) seem sufficient. There are of course all 
the practical advantages of maintainence and procurement
and running costs.

One  remaining worry however is the weight 
of the transporter (which depends on which antenna concept is
chosen, but a loaded transporter could weigh >200 tonnes??).
This I would imagine would have implications for pad foundation 
construction, because of nearby motion of the transporter, especially
in the compact array. It seems essential that a foundation expert 
be consulted as soon as  possible before we can decide 
that the mining truck concept is the way to go. 

In addition the high weight of transporter clearly  makes 
driving  over a  pads a possible problem, at present such
over-pad-driving is a spec. Again we need the view of a foundation 
engineer to  answer this one and to decide the cost implications 
for meeting this spec. Meanwhile (see 2) I have been looking 
into the implications of configuration designs without 
over-pad-motion to see how important this is viz-a-viz
scientific performance.


2) Driving over pads.