Liang-Dortmund mining rig

The Liang-Dortmund mining rig is a large mobile ground-based mining rig manufactured by the Liang-Dortmund Corporation to be used for surface mining and processing on Meridian.

Design details
The mining rig is an incredibly large vehicle employed by humans, akin to a landship and dwarfing even the Mammoth in scale. The rig itself has several levels. There is a large bridge located at the top-front of the vehicle where the drivers and crewmen oversee the operation of the rig. The centre of the vehicle bears a large boring laser that can penetrate the petrified soil of the glassed surface of Meridian. Materials can then be either extracted or lifted on the top deck via two cranes at each end of the vehicle. The deck levels are big enough to house an elevated landing platform that can fit a Brahman light hauler for surface-to-space resource extraction to any nearby orbiting spaceships for interstellar trade. The ship itself is powered and moved with four large threads and six wheels over the glassy surface of the planet.

Usage
As of 2558, at least two such platforms were present on the surface of Meridian during de-glassing operations. One such vehicle became the subject of a War Games map simulation known as "The Rig".

Trivia

 * The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer map, The Rig, is based on the open decks of one of the many rigs on Meridian.
 * There is an Easter egg where one of the rigs would be swallowed up by a Sandworm. This is a clear reference to the franchise, Dune. To trigger the easter egg, the protruding platform in the center pit of the map must be broken (such as by a ground pound). This will raise two explosive cores from their cowlings on the perimeter of the map. Destroy both of these cores and watch the mining platform by the sunset.

List of appearances

 * Halo 5: Guardians