the drill pipe 112 which makes up the majority of the length of the drill string in order to operate efficiently the cuttings created by the drill bit are removed from the borehole by forcing highly pressurized water u201c mud flow u201d through openings in the drill bit thereby forcing the cuttings to the surface in an annular mud return flow that is outside the drill string but within the borehole the return mud flow may then be filtered in order to separate the cuttings and the resulting mud re used for circulation in order to drive the mud flow and bring the cuttings to the surface the mud flow pressure inside the drill string is greater than the mud pressure outside the drill string steering is accomplished by generating a force between a selected section of the bha and the formation typically the bha is rotated during drilling in one embodiment where multiple circumferential steering components 108 are included only one component 108 is activated at any given time in order to steer while drilling in the case where a single steering component 108 is included that single component is periodically activated as the bha rotates the result in either case is.