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Undersea Neutrino Observatory To Be Second-Largest Human Structure
cylonlover writes "An audacious project to construct a vast infrastructure housing a neutrino observatory at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea is being undertaken by a consortium of 40 institutes and universities from ten European countries. The consortium claims that KM3NeT, as it is known, will 'open a new window on the Universe,' as its 'several' cubic kilometer observatory detects high-energy neutrinos from violent sources in outer space such as gamma-ray bursts, colliding stars and supernovae. On the scale of human constructions, it will be second only to the Great Wall of China."
Why build one from scratch? Let's just upgrade the Great Wall of China to be a Great Neutrino Wall of China.
Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
I think it's a bit disingenuous to say that this is the second-largest human created structure. While this is an impressive experiment which I think is very clever and great for physics, calling this a structure is a bit of a joke. If you were to call an array of phototubes a structure you could easily compare it to, say, the street lights of Los Angeles -- which I'm sure would be counted as a larger "structure".
On the scale of human constructions, it will be second only to the Great Wall of China.
...and the largest one not visible from space...except if you're a neutrino, presumably.
*this space intentionally left blank
"One of the four pointers saying 'come and see', and I saw, and beheld a white
An audacious project to construct a vast infrastructure housing a neutrino observatory at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea is being undertaken by a consortium of 40 institutes and universities from ten European countries.
This sounds like a front for SPECTRE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk0Is8-gGSQ
Klaatu, Little Neutrino
You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
Why not call it Atlantis?
No, it's not the biggest. The Deep Space Network has satellites (antennae and data storage servers) around Earth and around Mars. And neither it nor the KM3NeT are solid structures.
The Great Wall is not strictly connected either but at least it consists of large solid fragments that are big on their own. This observatory is merely an array of sensors suspended in the sea. If you want the biggest structure, I'd look at a road system of a country.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I'll bet this is how Rapture began. Watch out for anyone who proposes breaking off from the outside world.
At last, it was high time we build something interesting under the seas.
[SHOW SOME LENIENCY TOWARDS
"In addition to the neutrino observatory, KM3NeT will house equipment for monitoring the deep-sea environment, including (according to Popsci) the recording of whale song and the observation of bioluminescent organisms."
I guess they thought of that.
It will never get fully funded.
Will this observatory become a military eavesdropping device? Could this device be sensitive enough to detect and pinpoint the nuclear reactions of hidden nuclear ballistic missile submarines? Could it also pinpoint/detect nuclear tests by rogue states?
Alone perhaps it may not be sensitive enough but what if it was coupled with existing neutrino detectors to increase its detection method like how very large baseline arrays work in the radio telescope field.
I personally think that putting such instrument in open water is risky. It may invite attacks by non associate nations or by terrorist attack. It may be more practical to drill and burry such a device deep in solid earth or beneath a deep inland lake.
the great wall of china commit suicide, because he felt he had offended nature by attempting to impose human folly on it?
"recording of whale song" I hope the RIAA doesn't find out.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
So how many people are going to be buried in it?
SeaLab underneath the water. SeaLab at the bottom of the sea.
amazing -- Sealab 2012!
1. The European Union (which is smaller than Europe btw) is the largest economy in the world with the highest GDP by lead of 12% so I guess not. 2. I'd be pretty surprised if a single guy built the Great Wall of China.
In Capitalist US, the commerce controls the Government.
Every time a story like this about a massive particle physics project surfaces, my stomach turns. I am by no means anti-science; I did my undergrad in physics, and am a graduate student in engineering. It all just seems like a massive misappropriation of resources. One can blow the horn of scientific inquiry all day, but there are incredibly daunting and very real challenges facing the world today (e.g., energy, toxicology) that need the attention of intelligent people. We live in such a unique time in human existence, when we have this massive supply of cheap energy with which to make massive strides forward in developing a sustainable future, and yet we place trillions of dollars into understanding physical effects which will bear no consequence on the extreme challenges we will face in the very, very near future.
Will this "ocean palace", which is built to "detect" these mysterious "neutrino" emminations inadvertantly rouse the mighty lavos before he's good and ready?
You know how it is with those quantum mechanical things- all kinds of consequences happen as a result of obervation! /joke
Ok, jokes aside, this is very awesome. The engineering lessons learned could be applied in a wide range of ocean construction projects.
I know it is not your fault or the fault of /. in general. It should read tallest human structure. And it is probably that way only because it is underwater. The article says second largest considering the scale of construction for a singular project. Nothing about actual size.
These are the Europeans, right? The same group of countries currently scrambling to tighten their belts and prevent a financial calamity?
Let's not hold our collective breaths. Funding might be a little scarce, for a while.
It's supposed to be completely automatic, but actually you have to press this button.
This is a retreat bunker for the rich once they release the super virus that will destroy everyone else.
j/k ... or am I...
is higher than your GDP.
2. oh yeah. i know it was easy to mis-understand what i meant. there was actually one guy, who told other people what to do, and thats how the great wall of china got built. but then he committed suicide. because he had disturbed the Chi of the earth.
No worries, just set Greenpeace onto the RIAA for getting in-between them and their whale song.
Kill two cuckoos with one stone.
I would hate to live in your world of us versus them. Does your brain really filter every piece of information into what will those people I disagree with do about that? I mean damn, second post and you're bringing up environmentalist and sabotage.
Present your own viewpoints instead of painting others.
Turn Great Wall into a neutrino detector
Table-ized A.I.
woops...meant "+1 interesting"...
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
Tube KM6NeT is jerks.
So, what is that? 1.5, 15 150 Library of Congresses?
Since the medeterranian is full of turds how will they see a neutrino?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
...waiting for submarine taxis! :-)
PS Seriously, it could be a nice big place for powerful officials & rich folks to "survive" in, eg, if someone explodes a nuclear bomb up on land. Its availabilitiy could even increase the risk that someone does that awful deed, since some would be saved, ie, if "your" team could be sure of being among the ones to be saved... :-/
So, the plan is to immerse a huge number of optical detectors into the deep sea for an extended period of time. Talk to any biologist or oceanographer and they'll tell you what happens to things like that - they become completely encrusted with plant and animal material. It's called "bio-fouling" and it's one of the biggest problems with putting anything in the ocean (aside from extreme pressure). I just don't see how they'd keep a system like that a) operational and b) calibrated.
RobotBox - Robot projects from around the world
I think ASCAP or a similar organization would be the one to collect royalties "on behalf of" the whales.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
This will be great, until a ship forgets to pull up the anchor or drops it in the wrong place.
I was doing great reading the article linked to, until I got to the part where the optical goodies are built to withstand 6 atmospheres or 20,000 feet of pressure.
'Scuse me, but according to my calculator, and knowing that 34 feet of water is one atmosphere, then 6 is a measly 204 feet. 20,000 feet would be, in slightly rounded figures, 600 atmospheres. And since the Med. Sea is salty, its safe to reduce that to 200 feet.
Its amazing that in all the posts to this story ahead of mine, no one has mentioned the missing word after the 6 "hundred".
Shame on you all, blathering away on stuff that if this is true, will have zip effect because it will fail spectacularly, both in terms of results per unit of money, and the scientific disappointment.
In terms of knowledge gained vs money spent, it certainly seems like its worthwhile to do. Doing it in the Med. also spans a much wider bit of the universe due to the planets rotation in comparison to ICECUBE, which is aimed more along the polar axis.
My unasked till now question though is: Is there enough daytime sunlight penetration at that depth in the Med. to represent a background noise level that will have to be subtracted, and how will this limit its ultimate sensitivity? Secondarily, what is the clarity of the water from the top of those 800 meter towers on down? Given that its sea water, with the detrious of life falling through it from the oxygenated surface layer 1000 feet above, there is zero chance in hell its not somewhat absorbtive of the emitted photons from a neutrino event.
My $0.02 (in 1934 dollars, adjust for inflation of 77 years)
Cheers, Gene
Don't give PETA any ideas. That's not actually half as crazy as some of the stuff they do.
Anyone else think of Sealab 2021?
e title and half in the comment.