The research vessel Neil Armstrong is expected to arrive in Duluth on Monday, Nov. 9, after leaving its home port of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on Oct. 28 and passing through the Welland Canal on Thursday.
The University of Minnesota Duluth is working with the vessel to detect and observe neutrino interactions in Lake Superior. Neutrinos are abundant particles with mass that pass through almost everything and are difficult to detect without special instruments.
The ship will deploy sensor frames on the lakebed several miles offshore near Two Harbors. The frames stand about 30 feet tall and weigh about 8,000 pounds each, and researchers expect them to detect several neutrinos per day from a beam positioned by Fermilab that runs through Lake Vermilion and Lake Superior.
The detectors are planned to be removed in spring or early summer 2027, as lake conditions allow.
The 238-foot Neil Armstrong is described as the newest and most technologically advanced ship in the U.S. academic research fleet, operated for the U.S. Navy's Ocean Class program.
