Friday / 24 March 2006 | ||
IceCube South
Pole Neutrino Telescope Sees Huge Expansion, But Pace Must Quicken
for 2011 Deadline.
The cubic-kilometer-sized observatory
had 480 optical modules (one pictured) added over the recent Antarctic
summer, adding to the 150 or so sensors installed last summer and
the 677 taken
from
the precursor AMANDA mission. The
equipment put in the ice last year has functioned for over one year
without failures. This year, the crew worked from October through
February, whereas last season they didn't begin until January. In
a very drawn out and delicate process, eight 60-module strings were
lowered
into
a
strategic
array of 2.4-km-deep holes in the ice made by a special
drilI. In order for
all
4,200
modules
and 300 sensors to be emplaced by the 2011 deadline,
the IceCube
team will have to slightly pick up the pace over the coming years.
The US$272M project, although over 88% paid for by the US National
Science
Foundation,
includes a consortium of over 30 organizations and participation
by Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Japan, New Zealand, and the Netherlands
-- making it by far the largest astrophysics mission in Antarctica.
The project has received significant support from the Wisconsin
Alumni Research
Foundation. The University of Wisconsin directs the project and
runs the IceCube website.
Info www.news.wisc.edu.
|
||