The largest machine capable of moving on land under its own power is the RB293 bucket wheel excavator, an earth-moving machine manufactured by TAKRAF Gmbh of Leipzig, Germany. It is currently employed in an open-cast mine owned by RWE Rheinbraun in Hambach, Germany.
The vehicle's 18 bucket scoops are fitted to the outside of a massive wheel at the front of the machine. as the wheel revolves, the buckets scoop up earth and then dump it on to a conveyor belt to be carried away.
- WEIGHT: 14,196 tonnes (31.3 million lb) - three times heavier than the Space Shuttle
- LENGTH: 220 m (722 ft) - roughly as long as two football pitches
- HEIGHT: 94.5 m (310 ft) - just taller than the Statue of Liberty and her pedestal
- BUCKET-WHEEL HEIGHT: 21.6 m (71 ft) - as tall as a four-storey building!
- BUCKET VOLUME: 6,600 litres (1,452 gal) - each bucket can hold the same as 80 bathtubs
- EARTH MOVED PER DAY: 240,000 m3 (8.475 million ft3) - enough to fill the hindenburg, the largest ever airship!
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