Spice harvester



A spice harvester is a large, heavy, mobile factory designed to harvest the Spice Melange. It is dropped by carrier ships (known as Carryalls) onto spice fields. These machines would then harvest and process the spice off the top of the desert floor.

This immense farming mechanism is used solely on Arrakis, as it was the only known source of spice before the Tleilaxu developed a substitute.

Because of the rhythmic sound they make, they are regularly eaten by sandworms. That's why 2 or 3 ornithopters (called spotters) flew in the sky above the spice harvester, watching for wormsign (an obvious sign that a sandworm is approaching). Upon detecting wormsign, the harvester would be picked up immediately to clear it out of the way. A sandworm can be large enough to swallow the harvesters.

When Muad' Dib asked Liet Kynes if they would see a sandworm while viewing the spice harvesting, Kynes replied that they always come when they hear a spice harvester.

A good example of this process is seen in Dune (novel) when Duke Leto Atreides travels into the desert to inspect the process.

In Other Media
In the 1984 Dune film, the Harvester Operator who speaks with Leto over the radio is played by director David Lynch.

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