Two hundred
scientists from around the world will gather in Lead later this
month to plan experiments for the world's deepest underground
laboratory.
The National
Science Foundation chose the former Homestake gold mine in Lead as
the site for a proposed Deep Underground Science and Engineering
Laboratory. DUSEL experiments will range from astrophysics to the
study of life at extreme depths - 8,000 feet underground or
deeper.
The DUSEL Initial
Suite of Experiments Workshop is Monday, April 21 through Saturday,
April 26. Geoscientists, geomicrobiologists and engineers will meet
Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday scientists will plan education and
outreach programs. Physics planning workshops will be Thursday
though Saturday.
There will be
public lectures in Lead, Spearfish and Rapid City.
During the
workshop, researchers will learn more about the former gold mine,
which the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority re-entered
last year.
"This gives South
Dakota a chance to show scientists how much progress we've already
made at Homestake," Gov. Mike Rounds said.
Rounds will address
the conference at a banquet Wednesday in Deadwood. The governor
will open Monday's workshops. Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard will open
workshop sessions Wednesday and Thursday, and he will be master of
ceremonies at the banquet.
DUSEL construction
won't begin until 2012, at the earliest, but South Dakota has a
faster plan. The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority is
re-opening the gold mine for the Sanford Underground Laboratory - a
sort of "interim DUSEL" - at a depth of 4,850 feet.
The governor went
1,250 feet underground during the last week of March to inspect the
pumping system that will remove water from the mine's lowest
levels.
"Engineers and
technicians, many of them former Homestake employees, are
re-entering the mine safely and quickly," Rounds said.
Physicist Jose
Alonso, director of the Sanford Lab, said crews have descended
3,050 feet into the mine's Ross Shaft. "We expect the first physics
experiment to be installed later this year," Alonso
said.
The Sanford Lab
will help demonstrate the feasibility of the NSF's DUSEL, which is
a much bigger project. Physicist Kevin Lesko of the University of
California at Berkeley is leading the team of scientists developing
the NSF lab.
"DUSEL is not just
deeper, it is more comprehensive in every sense of the word:
deeper, larger, more science, more support, more collaborations,"
Lesko said. "DUSEL will operate facilities on the surface, at the
4850 and all the way down to the 8000 - and perhaps deeper."
Lesko helped
organize this month's workshop.
"Collaborations are
vital to research projects," he said.
Deep labs shield
physics experiments from cosmic rays, but other scientists also
need depth. Geologist Bill Roggenthen of the South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology, another organizer of the DUSEL workshop,
already is installing one of the Sanford Lab's first experiments.
Roggenthen's "geo-seismic array" could lead to more accurate
measurement of earthquakes.
"The Sanford Lab
and this workshop are crucial steps toward creating the Homestake
DUSEL," Roggenthen said.
Underground
science for everyone
Leading scientists
will present three public lectures during April's underground
science workshop in Lead.
All three lectures
will be at 7 p.m. The talks are free and intended for general
audiences and students, according to a news release from the
Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake.
They
include:
- Princeton
geoscientist T.C. Onstott (named to Time magazine's "100 people who
shape our world") will talk about "Finding life where you don't
expect it" in the auditorium at Lead High School on Tuesday, April
22.
- Physicist Bob
Svoboda of the University of California at Davis will talk about
"Searching for 'dark matter' at the Sanford Underground Laboratory
at Homestake." Svoboda will speak at the Student Union at Black
Hills State University in Spearfish on Thursday, April
24.
- Physicist Hitoshi
Murayama of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, well known
for his general-audience lectures, will present "Cosmology for
everyone" in the Classroom Building at the South Dakota School of
Mines & Technology in Rapid City on Friday, April
25.
The Sanford
Underground Laboratory at Homestake is sponsoring the lecture
series, along with Black Hills State University, the South Dakota
School of Mines & Technology, Lead High School, the Homestake
DUSEL Collaboration and the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural
Center.
