Five metal towers sit along the Duluth port on Tuesday as crews prepare to lower the Experimental Neutrino Detector project nearly 700 feet into Lake Superior.
The arrays of exercise-ball-sized photosensors will rest three miles offshore of Two Harbors to hunt for neutrinos, which are subatomic particles with no electric charge that pass through matter unnoticed, Wisconsin Public Radio reported. MPR News reported that researchers hope to distinguish a beam of neutrinos generated at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois from cosmic particles in the background.
The U.S. Department of Energy states that trillions of these ghost particles move through people every second without interacting with them.
"The more neutrinos get unlucky, the more stuff you have to trip over them, right?" Alec Habig, physics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, told Wisconsin Public Radio.
The research vessel Neil Armstrong arrived in Duluth on Monday, November 9, 2026, marking the first time the 238-foot ship has traversed the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes, according to the Duluth News Tribune. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will use the vessel to deploy the five sensor towers on the lakebed starting Thursday.
Research Vessel Deploys Towers
The Woods Hole vessel will lay more than three miles of fiber optic cable along the lakebed to connect the sensors to Two Harbors, the Duluth News Tribune reported. The cable will enter the city’s water intake facility through an unused pipe to process data on-site.
The sensors use underwater technology developed by the KM3NeT collaboration, which studies neutrinos deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. As charged particles travel through the water, they create bluish Cherenkov light that the photosensors can pick up.
"We can connect the dots and see it went from here to here, and tell that it’s coming from the direction of Fermilab and not other cosmic radiation coming down from above," Habig told Wisconsin Public Radio.
Project leaders estimate the cost is in the tens of millions of dollars, MPR News reported. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is sponsoring the project, alongside the U.S. Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and several universities.
“we don't have a specific application in mind,” DARPA project manager John Bruzzese told reporters Tuesday.
February Deadline Nears
Researchers face a strict timeline because the neutrino beam from Fermilab is scheduled to turn off in February 2027, according to Fox21Online.
"This is our last chance," Habig told the Duluth News Tribune. "The beam is turned off in February, so we’re trying to see what we can do."
A new, more powerful beam is planned for construction, but it will target a different research facility in South Dakota, ending neutrino studies in Minnesota lakes. When the current experiment concludes, the sensors will be retrieved and returned to Italy for use in the Mediterranean, while the cables remain on the Lake Superior bed, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
Rob Munier, vice president for marine facilities and operations at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said that their deep-water work in Lake Superior amounts to investigating the universe.
“They're both hard to get to; they're both extreme environments. It takes a lot of resources and skills to get there, specialized tools and a little bit of courage,” Rob Munier, vice president for marine facilities and operations at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are neutrinos?
Neutrinos are tiny cosmic particles with almost no mass and a neutral electric charge. They are called ghost particles because trillions pass through the Earth and human bodies every second without interacting with matter.
Why is Lake Superior being used for this experiment?
Researchers are placing sensors nearly 700 feet underwater to shield them from cosmic rays and background noise. Using a natural freshwater body allows scientists to act as a proof of concept for detecting beam neutrinos in water for the first time.
Who is funding the Experimental Neutrino Detector project?
The project is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, with participation from the U.S. Department of Energy, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Minnesota Duluth, and other academic institutions.
What happens to the equipment after the experiment?
The sensors will be retrieved and sent back to Italy for deployment in the Mediterranean Sea, while the fiber optic cables will remain on the Lake Superior lakebed.
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