Post by allie on May 28, 2023 20:17:47 GMT
The opening of Port Horizon meant that more powerful space telescopes could be built and maintained more easily than ever before. Astronomical research has shifted into space ever since, except for the niche field of neutrino astronomy.
What keeps neutrino astronomy Earthbound is the fact that neutrino detectors must not only be large but heavily shielded from every possible background signal. A simple and economical solution to this problem, however, has been known since 1960: build neutrino telescopes deep underwater.
In itself, the design proposal for the Aphotic Neutrino Telescope (ANT) is simply a progression from the pre-Blight oceanic designs: huge strands of precisely placed photomultipliers at least a kilometer below the sea level, along with a means to transmit information to a terminal station for monitoring and analysis. (Most of the photomultipliers are also covered with opaque foil to block out photons coming from within the aphotic zone - but not all: the odds of accidentally discovering bioluminescent life are high enough to be worth the occasional false positive.) What makes it special is, through many acronym changes, called "the ANT Hive": the possibility of deployment at scale. A single ANT would allow for the first formal neutrino studies in the history of the Lambda Serpentis system; a network would lay the foundation for research that has never been possible in human history, including the possibility of space surveys.
The next great breakthrough in astronomy could be found on Poseidon. And if it is, it will be be found in a lightless, airless environment more deadly than anywhere astronomy has dared to tread.
What keeps neutrino astronomy Earthbound is the fact that neutrino detectors must not only be large but heavily shielded from every possible background signal. A simple and economical solution to this problem, however, has been known since 1960: build neutrino telescopes deep underwater.
In itself, the design proposal for the Aphotic Neutrino Telescope (ANT) is simply a progression from the pre-Blight oceanic designs: huge strands of precisely placed photomultipliers at least a kilometer below the sea level, along with a means to transmit information to a terminal station for monitoring and analysis. (Most of the photomultipliers are also covered with opaque foil to block out photons coming from within the aphotic zone - but not all: the odds of accidentally discovering bioluminescent life are high enough to be worth the occasional false positive.) What makes it special is, through many acronym changes, called "the ANT Hive": the possibility of deployment at scale. A single ANT would allow for the first formal neutrino studies in the history of the Lambda Serpentis system; a network would lay the foundation for research that has never been possible in human history, including the possibility of space surveys.
The next great breakthrough in astronomy could be found on Poseidon. And if it is, it will be be found in a lightless, airless environment more deadly than anywhere astronomy has dared to tread.