CERN LHC: Team announces beginning of restart

The team of scientists working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) facility has reported to the press that the process of restarting the massive experimental mechanism has begun—though it won't finish until sometime next year. 

The world's most complicated system of machines will have to be restarted in pieces to ensure that each is operating properly before the next can be brought online.

Though proving the existence of the Higgs boson was a major goal, and achieving it garnered a lot of headlines, the facility at CERN has made progress in other areas as well, the creation of quark, gluon plasma back in 2011, is but one example.

Now the facility is in the process of an upgrade, which has been in the planning stages for several years and will include upgrades to several pieces and parts of the facility that support the LHC as well as the main accelerator itself.

The team recognized that the facility had begun to suffer from diminishing returns and that many parts could be improved due to the development of new technology and improvements on old ways of doing things.

Thus, this past February the LHC, along with other parts and accelerators that feed it, was shut down.

The retooling has been forecast to total approximately $4.4 billion dollars.

Thus far, the team has successfully restarted the part they call the source—the piece of equipment responsible for stripping electrons off of hydrogen atoms for use in producing protons.

Next up the team plans to fire up Linac2, an accelerator whose job it is to give protons their initial push.

After that a booster will be started that will be used to push the protons even faster.

For the LHC to be used in its proper context, it must receive protons that are already moving exceedingly fast.

Team members have made much of the complete upgrade to the control system for the LHC, the part that integrates all of the systems and which of course will be central to a successful reboot.

They should know early on if there are any problems. In addition to swapping out parts for new and improved technology, technicians will also be replacing worn cables or other minor but necessary components.

If all goes well, the LHC should be ready and back in business sometime early next year. Projects in the pipeline include: ALICE, CMS, ATLAS and LHCb.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner ready for Restart

Boeing has said that it expects commercial flights of its Dreamliner 787 plane to restart within "weeks".

The comments come just days after the US airline regulator approved its plan to redesign the lithium-ion batteries used on the plane.

All 50 Dreamliners in operation were grounded earlier this year after batteries on some planes emitted smoke.

Boeing said it had found a fix for the problem and had been carrying out tests on the proposed solution.

Ray Connor, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the timing of the start of commercial flight would depend on how fast the firm can "move through the certification process".

"We don't anticipate that being months, we are thinking more along the line of weeks," he said.

'More confident' The Dreamliner 787 is the first plane in the world to use the lithium-ion batteries, which are lighter, hold more power and recharge more quickly.

It is also said to be one of the most advanced and fuel-efficient planes in the industry.

However, concerns have been raised over its safety after a string of incidents earlier this year.

In January, a fire started in a lithium-ion battery pack of a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston. Meanwhile, an All Nippon Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a battery malfunction.

The incidents led to the entire fleet of Dreamliners being grounded by the authorities.

However, Boeing has since submitted a plan to redesign the batteries to ensure their safety.

Its plan includes improving the battery design to stop faults from occurring, enhancing the production, operating and testing processes, and introducing a new battery enclosure system to prevent any overheating from affecting the plane.

"We may never get to the single root cause, but the process that we've applied to understanding what improvements can be made is the most robust process we have ever followed in improving a part in the history," said Mike Sinnett, the chief project engineer of the Dreamliner.