Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
Dumb question I'm sure but why couldn't they have done this a month ago???
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It takes some time to build a very large, very complex, very expensive and complicated device that has never been built before. It is experimental on a grand scale.
Remember what they are doing is about as hard and complicated as if they were trying to do it on the moon.
BTW, in 48 hours they are going to open it up again.
They are worried about the stability of the ocean floor and the well casing. They are taking measurements and after a couple days they will decide if it's safe to close the valves again.
They don't want to have the casing blow out or the sea floor to crack open. if that happened they would not be able to control it.
They would not be so concerned about it if it wasn't a possibility.
Odds are this is not over.