In 2019, the U.S. National Science Foundation, together with US institutional and international partners, approved funding of the IceCube Upgrade project, an improvement that would significantly push the scientific capabilities of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. Seven years later, the IceCube Upgrade has now been successfully deployed, marking the first significant expansion of IceCube since its […]
This is the final Upgrade Update as the last field work tasks have been completed and all the Upgrade personnel have left or are scheduled to leave the South Pole. Clear skies and sunshine show off the organized lineup of Upgrade drill towers and other structures that have been moved to the science berm at […]
Last week, the Upgrade season continued its wind-down, with people leaving and activities at the Pole focused on packing up cargo and winterizing the drill camp. For example, emptied water hoses were wrangled into tanks for long-term storage, and the drill tower and DOM handling facility had to be moved out to the storage berm. […]
The Upgrade team has begun to disperse—not all at once but in groups, like when they had arrived earlier in the season. But they’ve been taking nice group photos when and where they can, before too many people leave. Above is a small group gathered around the last D-Egg that was deployed—that’s a happy group. […]
Last week the Upgrade team finished drilling the fifth hole and started in on the sixth. But it’s not all drilling for the team—there’s also installation of modules and then commissioning all the deployed devices. But there was progress on all fronts. The fifth string was completely deployed, and the commissioning team has been making […]
Steady progress continues on the IceCube Upgrade construction effort. Drilling and installation operations have continued to stabilize, and four of the seven holes have been completed so far. It takes a lot of energy to accomplish tasks at each stage of the process, from heavy lifting by equipment to position the tower operations structures to […]
Three down, four to go. That’s IceCube Upgrade strings, in case you’ve missed the progress so far. Compared to the first hole, the second and third holes showed marked improvement in drilling time as well as somewhat improved overall installation times. The top photo shows a closeup of an mDOM as it is being lowered […]
Last week, the IceCube crew completed the drilling and installation for the first of the IceCube Upgrade strings. Above is a group of drillers on the day shift after deploying more than half of the modules into the hole. By the end of the week, they had begun drilling for the next hole. There are […]
Drilling has begun! Of course, it didn’t “just happen”—lots of hard work went into getting all the necessary pieces to come together. The previous week’s readiness review had identified a number of critical action items to address before actual drilling could begin. Once resolved, drill preparations began. The drill team routed hot pressurized water through […]
They’re getting close to drilling at the South Pole. Last week saw a continued influx of IceCube personnel, including some drillers and integration experts. The week’s primary focus was taking stock and working on final tasks in each work area. Crews tested the brakes on the large reel for the main drill cable, which is […]