Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of profiles of the Wisconsin Idea in action. See past profiles we have published.
Antarctica’s IceCube telescope is Wisconsin-made
When it’s completed in 2011, the South Pole neutrino observatory, Ice Cube, promises to open a new window on otherworldly events happening across the universe, such as colliding galaxies and black holes. In the meantime, though, it’s producing some decidedly down-to-earth results for Wisconsin.
Since construction began in 2002, $77 million has been spent in the state to design, engineer and build IceCube components, including a special hot-water drill for boring deep into the Antarctic ice, and more than 5,000 optical sensors, whose job is to detect cosmic particles, called neutrinos, with origins in deep space.
Ice Cube Impact: County By County
Click on a shaded county to view economic impact.
Dollars spent in each county (2002-08) to build IceCube components:
- Brown: $6,000 to $10,000
- Columbia: $51,000 to $100,000
- Dane: $72 million
- Iowa: $11,000 to $20,000
- Jefferson: Less than $5,000
- Manitowoc: $6,000 to $10,000
- Marathon: Less than $5,000
- Milwaukee: $101,000 to $200,000
- Monroe: Less than $5,000
- Oneida: $101,000 to $200,000
- Outagamie: More than $1 million
- Ozaukee: $21,000 to $50,000
- Portage: $21,000 to $50,000
- Racine: $101,000 to $200,00
- Rock: $11,000 to $20,000
- Sauk: $21,000 to $50,000
- Sheboygan: Less than $5,000
- Vilas: Less than $5,000
- Walworth: $21,000 to $50,000
- Washington: $21,000 to $50,000
- Waukesha: More than $1 million
- Winnebago: $501,000 to $1 million
IceCube update
As the 2008-2009 Antarctic drilling season concludes, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is on track to be finished as planned in 2011.
Read more »
Antartic diary
UW-Madison physicist Mark Krasberg spent the Antarctic work season — his fifth at the pole — chronicling his experiences as part of the “Ice Stories” project run by the San Francisco-based science museum Exploratorium. Check out his photos, videos and blog postings.
Of that amount, about $72 million has stayed in Dane County, where IceCube and its major technical and engineering partner, the UW-Madison Physical Sciences Laboratory, are based. But another $4.5 million has gone to more than 90 businesses in 21 counties, including some 65 companies with headquarters in the state.
What connects Wisconsin to the far-away, ice-bound telescope? It’s UW-Madison, which the National Science Foundation selected to serve both as the scientific leader of the international project and its overall manager. This means that the university not only sets IceCube’s grand scientific vision, but also coordinates a daunting array of logistics and support services, including human resources, transportation, data collection and manufacturing.
The manufacturing arena is where Wisconsin industry has put its stamp on IceCube, supplying everything from engineering expertise and sophisticated electronics to fabricated metals, pumps and other miscellaneous parts. That’s not to say, however, that companies here have received special treatment, says IceCube associate director Bob Paulos. Instead, each contract has been awarded through a competitive bidding process following state and federal guidelines. Wisconsin industry, it seems, just stacks up well.
“People should be proud that state industries compete and win contracts to do this kind of work,” says Paulos. “Once it’s completed, this instrument will be frozen in place forever. So there’s not a lot of room for error.”
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