
Dear NASA please put a particle collider on the moon - andrewfromx
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2020/06/10/dear-nasa-please-put-a-particle-collider-on-the-moon/
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yummypaint
To make a source like they're talking about would probably involve either
spallation of a heavy metal target with protons (see the oak ridge SNS), or
in-flight decay of muons (fermilab). The main (far) detectors would presumably
be on earth where background isn't an issue, but neutrino experiments
typically also have a detector near the source also. That would probably have
to be underground.

Some numbers for reference: the SNS delivers MW levels of thermal power to a
20 ton mercury target, which is circulated as it's own coolant. Just the
target itself would be a monumental undertaking, and we havent even mentioned
the massive proton accelerator needed at the input end. Accelerators also tend
to be very heavy because of all the magnets, and they are very sensitive to
misalignment, so the surrounding building will have to be well made assuming
the seismic situation is workable.

It would be great to focus our resources toward being able to do this sort of
thing more feasibly. However, this project is well beyond the scope and budget
of NASA. It would take concerted political will and military levels of funding
sustained over decades to build up the underlying tech. I would love to see
this reprioritization, but i have no expectation of it happening in my
lifetime.

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avmich
> But what if, instead of spending trillions hurtling mammals towards distant
> rocks just to prove it’s possible, we actually did something so
> technologically innovative it fundamentally changes how we approach science?

The author doesn't seem to understand or value the human spaceflight,
including its uses for science. I'm pausing to imagine a robot which would
build - or run - a highly specialized equipment of a particle accelerator and
sensor kind on the Moon. Ain't it easier just to send humans to the Moon to do
that?

And regarding Mars - let's not go there, it's a whole another topic which alas
was so casually dismissed.

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gus_massa
Note that the idea is not to put a very big accelerator like the LHC, but
something smaller.

Does someone have an estimated weight of a neutrino source? The price to GEO
is $30000/kg. It't a very low bound to carry some equipment to the Moon.

It is strange that the article has only one author. (The other preprint looks
interesting and relevant to this proposal, anyway.)

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satya71
I'm not a quantum physicist by any means, but won't the background radiation
be a big problem? LHC is deep underground to keep out even the residual
radiation of the earth's surface (after filtering by the ionosphere, and
atmosphere). What chance does a collider on the moon have?

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positr0n
I'm not convinced that taking two of the hardest technical problems humanity
has ever attempted (space flight and particle colliders) and trying to do them
both at the same time will go well.

