Egypt plans to launch a pyramid scanning project

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    Indiana Jones would die of envy - this weekend, an international project is being prepared for launch, the goal of which is to find secret rooms in the Egyptian pyramids. As a result, 3D photographs and detailed information on the pyramidal architecture of Egypt will be obtained.

    For this, sensitive sensors will be installed on the pyramids, with which scientists will receive a map of their structure. The study will be conducted on the basis of the method of recording the flux of space muons . Previously, a similar technique was used to look inside the ancient pyramids in Mexico and Belize, as well as in the destroyed reactors of the Japanese Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant.

    “The flux of cosmic muons is particles with a mass 200 times greater than that of an electron, which therefore has great penetrating power (they spend energy only on ionization, without generating electromagnetic showers like electrons),” they use as a gift source for technical radiology . Using muons that occur in the upper atmosphere under the influence of cosmic rays (protons and nuclei coming from far space), it was possible to shine through large strata of matter and find defects in it, similar to how X-rays shine through body tissues, ” explains MEPhI Professor and doctor of physical and mathematical sciences Boris Luchkov.

    “The research will be carried out through an aggressive, but safe method - scanning the pyramids using cosmic rays. Scientists and experts from Japan, France and Canada are working on the project, ”said Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mamduh al-Damati to Ahram Online . The announcement of the official launch of the project is scheduled for Sunday.

    According to Ahram Online, the first to be scanned is the Bent Pyramid in Dahshur, which is located 40 kilometers south of Cairo. The pyramid, about 105 meters high, was built by Pharaoh Snofru about 4,600 years ago, and, as you already know, it has at least two rooms. However, the pyramid has not been thoroughly studied, and some experts suspect that there are still undetected rooms.

    “The more famous pyramids in Giza will also be scanned,” said El Damati. In 1960, Nobel laureate American physicist Luis Alvarez had already scanned the Chefren pyramid in Giza, trying to detect "voids" in its monolith. However, during the experiment, which lasted several years, nothing new was discovered. It is worth noting that the detector and readout electronics of that time were much less perfect than now.

    Via Forbes

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