23 September 2026 – The KM3NeT Collaboration is happy to report about a very successful sea campaign which was conducted at the KM3NeT ARCA site in the past two weeks. The campaign led to a significant step forward in the construction of the apparatus, including an enlargement of the submarine infrastructure and of the detector and an upgrade of its acoustic positioning system.
The operation was carried out in two hitches, sailing from Malta. The total duration was from September 4 to September 20. The Ievoli Amber ship, equipped with a work-class deep-sea Remotely Operated Vehicle, was used. This ship, which is operated by NGS – Next Geo Solutions, was at its first service for KM3NeT.
The operation started with the deployment of two submarine junction boxes and the connection of them to the submarine network, in preparation to the further expansion of the apparatus. Then a dozen detection units were precisely installed, comprising for each of them: deployment on the sea bottom, connection to the junction box and unfurling, with detailed inspections and functional tests carried out before and after unfurling. All Digital Optical Modules of all detection units were found operational after installation. The operation also allowed for an inspection of the submarine infrastructure and an upgrade of the acoustic positioning system with the installation of two additional emitters and precise measurements of their positions.
The weather was far from ideal for a part of the time, requiring careful adjustments of the planning of the various actions throughout the operation.
Overall this operation has set a new record of efficiency for KM3NeT, leading to a detector which now includes 62 detection units, which are connected to shore through a network comprising two long-distance electro-optical cables and 7 submarine junction boxes.
The whole Collaboration is grateful to the offshore and onshore teams for the marvelous way in which they managed this campaign, and to all teams involved in the construction of the apparatus for their dedication and careful work which led to such big success.
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