High-tech ensures Olympic torch alight on Mt. Qomolangma

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Source: CCTV.com | 05-02-2008 12:42

The designers of the Beijing Olympic torch have handed a specially built torch and lantern to torchbearers at the Qomolangma base camp. The designers say their new technology ensures the Olympic torch will stay lit as it climbs Mount Qomolangma.

The torch's journey to the top of Mt. Qomolangma will be one of the highlights of the torch relay for the Summer Games.

An expert with a torch design lab under the China Aerospace  Science and Industry Corp. said at the Qomolangma Base Camp  on Wednesday that the Olympic torch can scale the summit  without sputtering out.(Xinhua Photo)

To ensure the Olympic flame stays alight at the world's highest peak, the torch and the lantern used for the Qomolangma expedition are high-tech. They're capable of withstanding gale-force winds, low temperatures and even the oxygen-thin air atop the Mountain and they're also easy to handle.

Shao Wenqing, torch engineer China Aerospace Sci. & Industry, said, "We've trained torchbearers to use the torch and lantern two times in Beijing, and three times at the Qomolangma Base Camp. They'll handle it."

Designers have tested several times to ensure the torch stays alight in the oxygen-sparse conditions, that leave even experienced climbers struggling.

Torch fuel has traditionally been a mix of butane and propane that gives off a bright yellow flame without releasing toxins or thick smoke. But the flame inside the lantern for the Qomolangma relay is burning a solid substance, one portion of which can stay alight for eight hours.

On the world's highest peak, ferocious winds and temperatures of minus 30 degrees Celsius are the major obstacles to light the torch. But Chinese scientists have expressed full confidence that the torch will stay alight.

Editor:Du Xiaodan