Underground Space Lab Located in South Dakota
Finally, the Homestake Gold Mine and the US National Science Foundation has come together in an agreeable and mutual decision for the development of a new underground laboratory for physics and related science fields. The mine operated as a gold mine from 1876 to 2001, but in 1965 it was home to the world’s first solar neutrino detector. An experimental site was set-up and developed by the late Raymond Davis of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, sharing his 2002 Nobel Prized in physics for his work at the mine regarding neutrinos.
The purpose for this new joint decision is for providing experiments in order to study cosmic rays and other background radiation situations. These experiments will be located beneath more than 600km of tunnels and shielded with more than 2000m of rock. NASA and other space programs have continuously studied the effects of cosmic rays and radiation on astronauts and other space travelers. With ventures in space and human colonization becoming more prevalent, necessary studies of radiation and cosmic rays and their effects on humans are becoming almost mandatory for our future in space.
Radiation in the early 1900s was found to be more plentiful than it was naturally supposed to be on Earth. Since then we have discovered that cosmic rays’ rates of bombarding Earth varied with their energy—with cosmic rays consisting of energetic protons, alpha particles, and heavier nuclei. Studies have found that low energy cosmic rays were plentiful, and the higher/highest cosmic rays were rare, making them extremely difficult to find.
Several names of candidates were originally in the running for the project, which was put together a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, a disagreement between the Barrick Gold Corporation, a Toronto-based company which owned the Homestake Gold Mine, the South Dakota government, and the NSF, discouraged any immediate plans from being made at that time. But now, the proposal that has been formed involving the Homestake consists of two levels of experiments being made—the first one is at 1500m below the surface, and the second one is at 220m below the surface. The first level is where the Nobel Price pioneer, Raymond Davis, set up his experiment, involves the modification of his existing scientific site with opening up new experimental chamber. The deeper level involves a new conversion of caverns and boreholes, along with other structures that had been used by the gold miners.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Space Agency News, Technical Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
