Project DUMAND (Deep Underwater Muon And Neutrino Detector) was a proposed underwater neutrinotelescope to be built in the Pacific Ocean, off the shore of Hawaii, a kilometer beneath the surface. It would have included thousands of strings of instruments occupying a cubic kilometer of the ocean. The proposal called for two types of detectors: optical detectors to find the Cherenkov radiation emitted by protons traveling at more than 75% of the speed of light as a result of collision by neutrinos, and hydrophones to listen for the acoustic signals generated by the fast-moving protons. Sophisticated signal processing would have combined the signals from many optical and acoustic sensors, allowing scientists to determine the direction from which the neutrino arrived, and to rule out false signals arising from other particles or acoustic sources. Because of the nature of the interaction between the neutrino and the proton, Project DUMAND would have been most sensitive to ultra-high energy neutrinos, and completely insensitive to solar neutrinos.
The purpose of this project was to drill a shaft, starting on shore, toward the ocean passing beneath the shoreline and then curving upward to penetrate the seafloor at an offshore depth where the cables would be free from the destruction of storm-driven waves and currents.
Because this project was impacting Class AA offshore waters, conventional drilling fluids or seaward discharge of cuttings were not allowed.
Directional drilling with the Accu-Dril® Motor greatly reduced the impact to the sensitive coral reef as opposed to conventional blasting and trenching techniques which are devastating to the pristine marine environment.
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