What if we built a super-collider around the Moon? Somewhat surprisingly, scientists and engineers have indeed considered putting a super-collider on the Moon.
Such a machine would operate just like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN, near Geneva, the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. These ‘atom-smashers’ create two particle beams travelling in opposite directions through ultra-high-vacuum rings.
Strong superconducting electromagnets accelerate the beams to almost the speed of light. The beams are then allowed to collide in one of the detector instruments, creating a cascade of other particles which are then measured and analysed.
The more energy your collider particles have, the higher the mass of the collision ‘products’.
Many of the questions in modern particle physics (and there are many) require exploration of this high-mass parameter space. So, physicists are keen to build bigger and more powerful colliders. And as it turns out, the Moon is an ideal spot.
One study, in 2022, considered an atom-smasher around the circumference of the Moon – almost 11,000 km (6,835 miles) in length. The collider would operate at energies 1,000 times greater than the LHC, allowing physicists to search for new particles and phenomena.
It’s difficult to predict the discoveries that could be made with such a colossal accelerator, but scientists hope it could shed light on the evolution and large-scale structure of the Universe.
But why build the machine on the Moon, and not on Earth? It’s essentially a problem of real estate. A collider of more than 10,000 km (6,214 miles) in diameter presents many geological, technological and political challenges here.
The Moon, on the other hand, would only offer advantages. It would be easier (and cheaper) to build a circular tunnel beneath the lunar surface, and to maintain the high-vacuum rings essential for the collider.
The Moon is also more geologically stable than Earth, and has a plentiful supply of solar power.
Engineers think it would take more than two decades to build a super-collider on the Moon (once a continuous human presence has been established), so a lunar ‘mega-collider’ is unlikely to happen in this century.
This article is an answer to the question (asked by Faye Holmes, via email) 'What if we built a super-collider around the Moon?'
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