24/7 Space News
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
The colossal caverns for Fermilab's DUNE experiment have been fully excavated
A bird's-eye view of one of the large caverns, about the height of a seven-story building. Detectors will be placed here to study the behavior of the mysterious particles known as neutrinos. Photo by Matthew Kapust, Sanford Underground Research Facility.
The colossal caverns for Fermilab's DUNE experiment have been fully excavated
by Staff Writers for DUNE News
Chicago IL (SPX) Feb 06, 2024

Excavation workers have finished carving out the future home of the gigantic particle detectors for the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Located a mile below the surface of Lead, South Dakota, the three colossal caverns are at the core of a new research facility that spans an underground area about the size of eight soccer fields.

Final outfitting of the colossal caverns will begin soon and make way for the start of the installation of the DUNE detectors later this year.

Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, which is affiliated with the University of Chicago, DUNE scientists will study the behavior of mysterious particles known as neutrinos to solve some of the biggest questions about our universe. Why is our universe composed of matter? How does an exploding star create a black hole? Are neutrinos connected to dark matter or other undiscovered particles?

The caverns provide space for four large neutrino detectors-each one about the size of a seven-story building (see 2-minute animation). The detectors will be filled with liquid argon and record the rare interaction of neutrinos with the transparent liquid.

Trillions of neutrinos travel through our bodies each second without us even knowing it. With DUNE, scientists will look for neutrinos from exploding stars and examine the behavior of a beam of neutrinos produced at Fermilab, located near Chicago, about 800 miles east of the underground caverns. The beam, produced by the world's most intense neutrino source, will travel straight through earth and rock from Fermilab to the DUNE detectors in South Dakota. No tunnel is necessary for the neutrinos' path.

"The completion of the excavation of these enormous caverns is a significant achievement for this project," said U.S. Project Director Chris Mossey. "Completing this step prepares the project for installation of the detectors starting later this year and brings us a step closer towards fulfilling the vision of making this world-class underground facility a reality."

Engineering, construction and excavation teams have been working 4,850 feet below the surface since 2021 at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, home of the South Dakota portion of DUNE. Construction crews dismantled heavy mining equipment and, piece by piece, transported it underground using an existing shaft. Underground, workers reassembled the equipment, and workers spent almost two years blasting and removing rock. Close to 800,000 tons of rock were excavated and transported from underground into an expansive former mining area above ground known as the Open Cut.

Workers will soon begin to outfit the caverns with the systems needed for the installation of the DUNE detectors and the daily operations of the research facility. Later this year, the project team plans to begin the installation of the insulated steel structure that will hold the first neutrino detector. The goal is to have the first detector operational before the end of 2028.

"The completion of the three large caverns and all of the interconnecting drifts marks the end of a really big dig. The excavation contractor maintained an exemplary safety record working over a million hours without a lost-time accident. That's a major achievement in this heavy construction industry," said Fermilab's Michael Gemelli, who managed the excavation of the caverns by Thyssen Mining. "The success of this phase of the project can be attributed to the safe, dedicated work of the excavation workers, the multi-disciplined backgrounds of the project engineers and support personnel. What a remarkable achievement and milestone for this international project."

DUNE scientists are eager to start the installation of the particle detectors. The DUNE collaboration, which includes more than 1,400 scientists and engineers from over 200 institutions in 36 countries, has successfully tested the technology and assembly process for the first detector. Mass production of its components has begun. Testing of the technologies underlying both detectors is underway using particle beams at the European laboratory CERN.

Related Links
Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Deep underground laboratory will be a first for Africa
Stellenbosch, South Africa (SPX) Jan 24, 2024
Africa's first deep underground science laboratory may become a reality in the next five to ten years with the establishment of the Paarl Africa Underground Laboratory (PAUL) in the Du Toits Kloof mountains in the Western Cape in South Africa, accessed via the existing Huguenot tunnel. The PAUL project was officially launched in the aftermath of a week-long international symposium at Du Kloof Lodge last week, during which current and future research projects and collaborations with other deep unde ... read more

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
China warns US tech curbs will 'come back to bite them'

Virgin Galactic Marks 11th Spaceflight with Full Passenger Manifest

NASA's latest experiments aboard ISS aim to boost life in space

Northrop Grumman marks 20th ISS resupply mission with Cygnus launch

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
MITRE and MDC team up to advance at Midland Spaceport

Starlab Partners with SpaceX to Launch Private Space Laboratory into Orbit

Sidus Space's 3D Hybrid satellite 'LizzieSat' ready for launch

Rocket Lab starts busy year with successful booster recovery

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
As Ingenuity's mission ends a news era in flight on other planets and moons begins

After Three Years on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends

Confirmation of ancient lake on Mars builds excitement for Perseverance rover's samples

NASA helicopter's mission ends after three years on Mars

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
BIT advances microbiological research on Chinese Space Station

Shenzhou 18 and 19 crews undertake intensive training for next missions

Tianzhou 6 burns up safely reentering Earth

Yan Hongsen's future dreams as 'Rocket Boy'

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Into the Starfield

Sidus ships LizzieSat to Vandenberg for upcoming SpaceX launch

Rocket Lab Launches $275 Million Convertible Note Offering for 2029 Maturity

SpaceFund Welcomes Business Veteran Leo Rodriguez to Board

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
SmallCAT Laser Terminal Demonstrates Effective Space-Earth Communication in LEO

New rule for catalysts' design is as easy as counting to ten

The ShAPE of buildings to come: Scrap aluminum transforms recycling life cycle

Turning Cooking Oil By-Products and CO2 into Valuable Industrial Additives

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
UC Irvine-led team unravels mysteries of planet formation and evolution in distant solar system

NASA's Hubble Finds Water Vapor in Small Exoplanet's Atmosphere

TESS finds Super-Earth in habitable zone around nearby red dwarf

New Insights into Earth's Earliest Life Forms Discovered in Palaeoarchaean Rock Samples

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
New images reveal what Neptune and Uranus really look like

Researchers reveal true colors of Neptune, Uranus

The PI's Perspective: The Long Game

Webb rings in the holidays with the ringed planet Uranus

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.