KM3NeT - sea campaign

First day of activity at the ORCA site

19 November 2021 – The first day of activity has gone at the ORCA site. Most efforts today were aimed at getting everything well prepared for the action. The first detection unit was then deployed to the sea bottom, precisely placed on the sea floor and connected to the submarine infrastructure. The tests performed from shore confirm that the dection unit is nicely working, and it now awaits to be “unfurled” to its work configuration. Deployment of the second detection unit has been started in the evening.

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Time to resume data taking in ARCA

15 September 2021 – after the recovery of two old detection units, already left disconnected after previous sea campaigns – the so-called PPM-DU (Pre-Production Model of Detection Unit), a 3-digital optical module unit used for qualification of the project in the sea as early as in 2014, and one of the first prototype full-size detection units deployed in spring 2016, the sea campaign of ARCA has been completed today.

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Liveblog about the ongoing sea operation for ARCA

10 September 2021 – In the evening of September 10, five new detection units of KM3NeT, onboard the Handin Tide, will sail from Malta headed to the KM3NeT/ARCA detection site. This site is located 80 km off the coast of Capo Passero, Sicily (Italy). During a 1-week operation, the detection units will be deployed and connected to the ARCA neutrino telescope at 3,500 m depth, adding up to the six already in operation.

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Handin Tide left the harbour of Malta

10 September 2021 – the Handin Tide left the port of Malta around 5 p.m. CEST.

The navigation to the KM3NeT site is estimated to take about 10 hours.

The weather forecast is good. The activity on site will start early morning tomorrow.

Keep following the  ARCA-blog.


Liveblog about the sea ARCA campaign of September 2021

09 September 2021 – KM3NeT is getting ready for a new sea operation at the ARCA site near Sicily, Italy.

Five new detection units for ARCA are ready to board the ship in the harbour of Malta.
The ship is scheduled to set sail in the evening of 10 September 2021.

We will report on this operation with posts in the social media and in this liveblog.