[HN Gopher] World's deepest, largest underground lab operational
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       World's deepest, largest underground lab operational
        
       Author : 1970-01-01
       Score  : 72 points
       Date   : 2023-12-08 21:09 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.chinadaily.com.cn)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.chinadaily.com.cn)
        
       | 0xEF wrote:
       | Surely there's a better acronym.
        
         | prpl wrote:
         | like DAMPE?
         | 
         | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Matter_Particle_Explore...
        
         | lostlogin wrote:
         | They have tidied it up too. The Deep Underground and Ultra-low
         | Radiation Background Facility for Frontier Physics Experiments
         | - DUaUlRBFfFPE.
        
         | adhesive_wombat wrote:
         | Sound good to me. Where is it? Deep in "DURF".
        
         | jadbox wrote:
         | Looking at the images, I can't help to think of Umbrella
         | corporation with deep underground safe testing labs with
         | presently problematic lighting.
        
         | jcrawfordor wrote:
         | DURF is useful to distinguish it from a Deep Underground
         | Military Base, or DUMB.
        
       | ano-ther wrote:
       | Here is a video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i77k2H5gJwI
        
         | FileSorter wrote:
         | https://youtu.be/i77k2H5gJwI?t=34
         | 
         | Quite amazing how prevalent Windows XP is 22 years later
        
           | tutfbhuf wrote:
           | I hope it's either a completely offline computer or a Linux
           | system with an XP theme to make it look more familiar to the
           | users.
        
             | exmadscientist wrote:
             | I worked in a very similar place a decade ago, and probably
             | know a few of the major people involved here. Not that I've
             | kept up with them.
             | 
             | The machines 10 years ago were on a LAN with limited access
             | to the global (well, Chinese) Internet. It wasn't great but
             | it wasn't terrible.
             | 
             | More troublingly, I would bet a large sum of money that
             | there are Windows XP installs in this lab, and even pirate
             | installs of LabView. I distinctly remember being onsite
             | watching the guy next to me open up a NFO file to get the
             | instructions for the LabView crack. At my station in one of
             | the boxes I had a fully licensed multi-seat institutional
             | LabView DVD set, paid for at staggering cost somewhere in
             | the University hierarchy. I debated speaking up, but
             | decided to just let him keep going on doing what he was
             | doing. That was probably the right choice.
        
           | mianos wrote:
           | Hey oai what OS? Based on the appearance of the window border
           | and the general graphical style of the interface, it is
           | plausible that the operating system could be Windows XP. This
           | version of Windows is known for its distinct blue taskbar and
           | window borders, which seem to match the style shown in the
           | image. However, without a clearer view, this cannot be stated
           | with certainty.
        
             | notaurus wrote:
             | Low effort AI answer
        
       | consumer451 wrote:
       | https://archive.is/1xhYm
        
       | jensenbox wrote:
       | Missed opportunity in naming it.
       | 
       | I wish it was DA-URF. Then you could say we have a lab, it is
       | deep in DA-URF.
        
       | pphysch wrote:
       | The lede suggests that it is mainly for dark matter detection,
       | but later on they say it is for interdisciplinary research
       | including life sciences. Is this just due to the "ultra clean"
       | capabilities, or are there other reasons why you would want to do
       | life sciences research 7K feet underground?
        
         | gemstones wrote:
         | (This is not China-bashing, as I assume lots of other nations
         | do this for the same reasons.)
         | 
         | It's a lot harder to have unwanted intruders, and satellite
         | surveillance is less likely. This lab will 100% have a military
         | research purpose.
        
           | orbital-decay wrote:
           | I don't think you need a mountain for that. A properly
           | guarded surface complex with enclosed corridors between
           | facilities would be far cheaper and enough to protect
           | something from intruders or satellite surveillance. IIRC
           | similar facilities (Cheyenne Complex, Zheleznogorsk MCC,
           | Yamantaw) were built as nuclear strike resistant bunkers
           | first. There are also nuclear waste storage facilities all
           | over the world.
        
             | gemstones wrote:
             | But a mountain would work, yes? And if you already need the
             | mountain lab for physics, what is the extra cost to staff
             | military personnel there?
        
               | jmnicolas wrote:
               | Digging holes 2400 meters deep isn't exactly cheap, even
               | for a country like China.
        
         | trevyn wrote:
         | I see you have not read/watched The Andromeda Strain.
        
       | andyjohnson0 wrote:
       | A fantastic achievement.
       | 
       | To give this some scale: according to Wolfram Alpha, 2400m is
       | 0.038% of the average distance from the earth's surface to its
       | centre.
       | 
       | Its a deep planet as well as a big one.
        
       | tutfbhuf wrote:
       | I have a somewhat off-topic question: I know there are very few
       | sites that are actually doomsday-proof, but could this lab, being
       | 2400 meters deep in the ground, survive a direct hit from a ICBM
       | (e.g. LGM-30 Minuteman) with a megaton yield?
        
         | p1mrx wrote:
         | Nice try, Chinese military.
        
         | lstodd wrote:
         | About a hundred feet plus shock absorbers will suffice.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-12-10 23:01 UTC)