By Quantum and Flash Modin
In the 1980s the Department of Energy started to design what would have been the biggest science experiment in the world, the Superconducting Super Collider. Waxahachie, Texas was all set to host a particle accelerator that would have dwarfed Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, today's reigning champ. Construction began in 1991, then was abruptly canceled in 1993.
During a lull in this year’s March Meeting in Dallas, we set off to explore the dilapidated facility. Here’s what we found…
Driving up to the facility we could see the remains of the complex from the road. The site we explored was mostly where technicians would manufacture the magnets and assemble beamlines.
Photo from its heyday.
And today.
The first building we looked at was once used to house gigantic dewars holding liquid nitrogen to keep the superconducting magnets cold.
Today all of the equipment has been removed, leaving only deep pits behind.
At one end of the building was a long room that was once used to test the long beam lines.
Today, not much is left.
Outside we were able to climb and get a higher vantage point.
Derelict equipment was all over the place.
The old interior of the Magnet Development Laboratory where technicians coiled superconducting niobium wires to make powerful magnets.
Once again, very little remains.
Huge augers and drilling machines bore miles of tunnels underground.
These old access points have long been filled in.
Here is where our journey to the depths of the lab came to an end. Inside the last building we explored, giantold fans generators now lay idle that once would have been used to circulate air along the tunnels provide backup power in the event of a blackout.
We weren't able to make our way into the tunnels, but they're largely filled in now. Six inches of water lay at the bottom of one staircase leading down to what looks like an old circuit breaker room. The underground sections of the complex are beneath the water table. If water level was this high this close to the surface, the tunnels that were far deeper underground are almost certainly filled with water.
In the 1980s the Department of Energy started to design what would have been the biggest science experiment in the world, the Superconducting Super Collider. Waxahachie, Texas was all set to host a particle accelerator that would have dwarfed Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider, today's reigning champ. Construction began in 1991, then was abruptly canceled in 1993.The SSC was designed to collide protons and anti-protons at energies of 40 TeV, today the LHC can only ever hope to reach 14 TeV. The LHC has tunnels 17 miles in circumference; the SSC would have been more than 54 miles.
Congress pulled the plug in 1993 for a couple reasons. The projected budget swelled from about $4.4 billion to $12 billion. Political support for the project had always been shaky, and it essentially came down to whether Congress wanted to fund the International Space Station, or the SSC. The ISS won out.
Today the old SSC site sits rusting away. No one wants to buy the derelict buildings, so they are slowly rotting into the Texas prairie. Workers had drilled over 14 miles of tunnels underground.
Congress pulled the plug in 1993 for a couple reasons. The projected budget swelled from about $4.4 billion to $12 billion. Political support for the project had always been shaky, and it essentially came down to whether Congress wanted to fund the International Space Station, or the SSC. The ISS won out.
Today the old SSC site sits rusting away. No one wants to buy the derelict buildings, so they are slowly rotting into the Texas prairie. Workers had drilled over 14 miles of tunnels underground.
During a lull in this year’s March Meeting in Dallas, we set off to explore the dilapidated facility. Here’s what we found…
Driving up to the facility we could see the remains of the complex from the road. The site we explored was mostly where technicians would manufacture the magnets and assemble beamlines.
Photo from its heyday.
And today.
The first building we looked at was once used to house gigantic dewars holding liquid nitrogen to keep the superconducting magnets cold.
Today all of the equipment has been removed, leaving only deep pits behind.
At one end of the building was a long room that was once used to test the long beam lines.
Today, not much is left.
Outside we were able to climb and get a higher vantage point.
Derelict equipment was all over the place.
The old interior of the Magnet Development Laboratory where technicians coiled superconducting niobium wires to make powerful magnets.
Once again, very little remains.
Huge augers and drilling machines bore miles of tunnels underground.
These old access points have long been filled in.
Here is where our journey to the depths of the lab came to an end. Inside the last building we explored, giant
We weren't able to make our way into the tunnels, but they're largely filled in now. Six inches of water lay at the bottom of one staircase leading down to what looks like an old circuit breaker room. The underground sections of the complex are beneath the water table. If water level was this high this close to the surface, the tunnels that were far deeper underground are almost certainly filled with water.
Cool post! I visited the SSC a couple of years ago, but didn't have time to do the exploring that you did.
ReplyDeleteFYI, we were told that the tunnels were filled with water intentionally to help preserve their integrity. It's hard to say for sure, but it seems like you're right that the water is pretty close to the surface - whenever we'd drop little pebbles into holes, they'd make a little "plunk."
Anyway, thanks for the update. Hopefully someone finds some use for the facility one day, though since it's been almost twenty years it's starting to look unlikely...
WOW! fantastic story. i love the way you told it in pictures.
ReplyDelete...and it gets better: the captcha text that was presented to me to post the previous comment was "way in".
ReplyDelete@summerofscience, your blog post was the first place I looked to try and find the exact location of the SSC. Thanks for helping us get in!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys. The site is creepy and post-apocalyptic in an awesome way, but when you're standing there it's hard not to feel like a major opportunity for American science was missed. After all the hard work and high hopes poured into this place, what's left is just a crumbling complex of old warehouses and office buildings.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it can be used as a site for filming parts of the next Terminator movie.. Or better yet, to build what they set out to build in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAnd the USA continues its slide into being nothing more than a backwater 3rd world country, while other, more advanced nations like Switzerland and China, take over the science and engineering projects that will push humanity forward.
ReplyDeleteAlot of noise for nothing that really matters nowdays. LHC is operating, those ruins just show how a Project is scrapped if scientists cant confirm there is a god with it.
ReplyDelete@Summerofscience - We were also told that they flooded the tunnels on purpose. But we spoke to a physicist who worked at the SSC and they said the tunnels were beneath the water table to begin with. As you point out, there's so much water everywhere it's hard not to believe the latter.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad more of my taxpayer dollars didn't get wasted on this, let a consortium of tech billionaires foot the bill.
ReplyDeleteAnd while those tech billionaires are at it, they should find some sort of way to distribute all of the money they have made over the years to the rest of society. After all, since they have more than others its only right they should have to give it away. Of course, if it ever did happen that way, and they made money off of that investment, I would be entitled to that too.
ReplyDeleteI bet you're real popular at parties.
Delete@Doc
ReplyDeleteUsing the site to film the next Terminator movie I think would be great. Appearantly it was used for the sequel to Universal Soldier, but I don't know what part of the complex. Finding someone who's seen the sequel to Universal Soldier is much harder than finding the SSC itself.
Weren't there three Universal Soldier movies? The second didn't have Van Dam in it but the 3rd did. I actually didn't think it was so bad...
ReplyDeleteSounds like something some cave divers would be interested in poking around...
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one that thought, "Gee, I hope they're wearing HEV suits!" with these photos? Seriously looks like a HL2 level, modulo the zombies. :)
ReplyDeleteCongress has the attention span of a gnat and the scientific prowess of a wolverine. How do you generate excitement about a supercollider among your constituents during an attack ad leveled at your latest opponent?
ReplyDeletehttp://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ssc+Waxahachie,+TX&aq=&sll=32.687931,-97.066956&sspn=1.061011,2.113495&ie=UTF8&hq=ssc&hnear=Waxahachie,+Ellis,+Texas&ll=32.364611,-96.944271&spn=0.008319,0.016512&t=h&z=17
ReplyDeleteJust in case anyone cares...
Back in the late '80s there was an attempt to have the LHC built in Nevada. It was an attempt at "compensation" for being stuck with the Yucca Mountain Project (high level nuclear waste repository). In the end Texas got it reportedly because of water (LHC needed more than was readily available at prospective Nevada sites); I remember at the time hearing about water table problems in Texas (not enough H2O in NV, too much in TX) but I suspect the real difference was the number of Congresscritters; back then Nevada had 1, Texas had a lot more.
ReplyDeleteI certainly would have rather had the LHC near my Nevada hometown than the nuclear waste dump; having to take in all the nasty radioactive crap from states that received the benefit of the reactors and other services generating the waste was offensive, when Nevada really didn't partake of those benefits (yeah, I know, the Test Site, lots of fedbucks, but it was far diminished at that time compared to earlier years).
But at the same time I wish it had been built, even in Texas, and was doing amazing things right now
Apologies on above; I meant the SSC, not the LHC in Nevada.
ReplyDeleteI wish we would have invested in this instead of the space station. What a waste!
ReplyDeleteUnderground server farm anyone? Just needs a good water pump or two to keep the water out. Perhaps even use some of the water for cooling.
ReplyDeleteI had heard that a local concern that raised mushrooms had obtained at least part of the tunnels. At least there would have been a lot of Bull**** for the mushrooms left. But mostly Congressional.
ReplyDeleteThey should drain the tunnels halfway and let people kayak the 50 mile ring underground.
ReplyDeleteThe server farms a good idea though I don't think you'd need to put it underground. That way you wouldn't have to worry about flooding during a blackout.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I wonder how cheap that land actually is since no one wants it. With the utilities already in place this might be an ideal place for a tech startup....or the worlds largest hackerspace :)
Kinda makes you wonder if the ISS was worth it.
ReplyDeleteAmerica you really missed an opportunity here. While I support the ISS, I think the SSC would have yielded much more interesting discoveries.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the LHC is a good start but imagine if the world effecively had pooled its resources into the SSC. Lets stop these stupid wars and get some much more exciting science done!
To those who've talked about other possible uses for the building, they've actually tried to use it as a tech center and I believe a mushroom farm. This site is cursed for whatever reason, no one's had any success using it since 1993.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the wiki article, or this Wired piece from a few years ago.
"For Sale: $20 Million Particle Accelerator, Never Used"
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/super-collider-gallery/
My recollection is that Texas got it because the president and speaker at the time were from Texas.
ReplyDeleteAnother site considered was at Fermi National Accelerator Lab near Chicago. There was local talent for digging the required tunnel (after building Chicago's Deep Tunnel) and they estimated that billions could be saved by piggybacking off of Fermi's accelerator - then the most powerful in the world. But the savings didn't stack up against clout and eventual cost overruns led to the entire project being cancelled.
Has DHS paid you a visit yet?
ReplyDeleteWhy would they? There's no national security interest in a few empty buildings and 17 miles of flooded tunnels. Until the cave fish zombies emerge that is.
ReplyDeleteI started working there after they had killed the project. I worked in the Outplacement Center. They tried to help people find jobs after they were laid off. Most of the physicist had to find jobs in different fields of work. Some became financial analyst because they were good at seeing trends in data...sad.
ReplyDeleteSo instead of both the SSC and the ISS we have war? Tools of learning are far more important that tools of destruction! I work at at a high energy lab now and have worked at Cern(LHC) and was offer at position at SSC back in 92. I had a feeling then the Republican't would destroy our knowledge base and return us to the land of serfs. With our only lab be de-funded now, it appears I was right about the right.
ReplyDeletebeautiful pix. didn't fireants play a role in the super collider demise
ReplyDelete"I had a feeling then the Republican't would destroy our knowledge base and return us to the land of serfs."
ReplyDeleteDon't worry. So long as we have large numbers of obese people munching on junk food and chanting "USA! USA!" everthang'll be just fine!
Just like your brother above... Kill your ignorance with a little knowledge... try reading. It was the Damno-crats that killed the project.
DeleteSo get billg to chip in some of his low-tax blood money and get the construction going again. Looks like a nice and big black hole to responsibly pour in excess lucre you don't know what to do with anyway.
ReplyDeleteI worked there as an engineer. Yes, Fermi outside of Chicago would have been a better site, but it is closing now also.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that LHC is now doing this research. They are having such difficulty with the easy parts (like magnet training) that I find it hard to believe they will be able to do the hard parts. If there aren't any interesting discoveries there it will be all but impossible to build another large accelerator, ever.
Could somebody comment for the layperson what kinds of discoveries and possible applications may have come out of this ? Also, which industries may have been affected by these discoveries ? Are there possible implications for energy generation that may have disrupted existing industries ? (example: integral fast reactor, shelved in 1994).
ReplyDeleteNice work.
ReplyDeleteThe "giant old fans now lay idle that once would have been used to circulate air along the tunnels" are not for ventilation though...
They are Caterpillar diesel Generators for making backup power.
"ISS or SSC" and a trillion dollar war or two.
ReplyDeleteYeah so suppose we did figure out how to travel to the stars, and that we found some place to go out there. The public discourse and debate and decision basis would be subject to the same maelstrom of stupid noise that anything else is these days. Save more, live better!
I was a scientist at the SSC. The day Congress voted to shut it down, Oct 23, 1993, I took one of the pictures in this blog and created a T-Shirt (and bumper sticker) https://files.me.com/jpmarno/v7314f I sold 700 T-Shirts which helped fund my first company (with Joe Bush from the SSC) - OnRamp Technologies. If you want one - let me know if I get enough interest I will make another batch. - Jeffrey Smith, PhD jeff@jefflisa.com
ReplyDeleteI remember when it came down to deciding the final site. It was between Dallas and Ann Arbor. There was a lot of coverage in the local newspapers. I was very disappointed when Ann Arbor lost. I completely forgot about the project altogether shortly after AA lost. It is interesting to see what became of it.
ReplyDeleteThey way well be diesel generators. We're physicists, not engineers. :)
ReplyDeleteSome said they were surprised that the whole place hasn't been stripped for copper wiring. It has been. Every room is gutted and every electronics panel is open and torn apart. There's also a Sheriff's station across the street, that hasn't seemed to deter anyone over the years.
Literally 0.12% of the cost of the Iraq war. So far. Of course, a lot of that money has gone to US corporations and paid US salaries anyhow but depressing nonetheless. By the way, the LHC isn't really Swiss, it's funded mainly by France, UK and Germany with Switzerland and many others.
ReplyDeleteI thank Anderson in helping to shut this boondoggle down. High water mark of American science? This is high water mark of government sponsored waste. I am thankful that the government saw the light and channeled the money into decoding human genome rather than letting some arrogant physicists waste research money on their pet projects.
ReplyDeleteAll science is worth doing. This was hardly a boondoggle.
DeleteI was there in 1991. Everybody still optimistic. Only farmers above ring pissed of. It is sad to see the left buildings, but also there is beauty in this monument of political stupidity.
ReplyDeleteThe money pit isn't bottomless, and jobs were hard to come by back in those days -- as they are today. We could pay for the International Space Station, or the physicists could search for particles -- the remote possibility that something in this universe is made up of more than pure energy. It was more important to explore in space than to determine if we're more than just God's dream or some kind of simulation. Oh, wait! My toilet is backed up. This is real!
ReplyDelete@NotoriousRoscoe
ReplyDelete"Explore in space"? The ISS just sits in Low Earth Orbit.
The SSC would have been a far better use of money.
Cool location for a rave
ReplyDeleteOk, I visited the Linear accelerator portion the 13th of this month. My wife and I also went to the mag lab but there was a silver FJ Cruiser parked next to the facility so we didn't go in. I wanted to, the wife said she had a bad feeling. This was at least my 6th drive to Maypearl to explore the facilty (well also to see the Toadies in Dallas)
ReplyDeleteThe Govt can KEEP spending on the ISS thats the whole point. Anyhow we have to support the $200 a day NASA
ReplyDeleteper diems' its scientists for junk food and soda pop.
I always saw shutting this down as a magnificent comeuppance for Texas Senator Phil Graham, who opposed every non military spending bill no matter how important except for this project. Of course his humiliating performance in the Republican presidential race was his ultimate comeuppance. I'm a Texan and this was also an example of how my state feeds at the teat of Federal spending while cursing our primary benefactor.
ReplyDeleteCue the inquiries from Valve game-level designers in 3...2...1...
ReplyDeleteAwesome bones for a condo complex!
ReplyDelete@Max (and anyone else for that matter) - There's some places you can get yourself into trouble inside if you're exploring alone. If you got trapped in any of them, don't expect anyone to come by soon. There were some footprints in the dust, but I don't think that many people make this pilgrimage. Of the few who do, I'd imagine many are after the scant remaining scraps of copper. So you may not have wanted to come in contact with them.
ReplyDelete@Flash Modin Thanks, dad.
ReplyDeleteThose aren't "giant old fans" in that one picture. Those are power generators. The fan is the radiator, connected to the engine, connected to the generator. And they look like they're in pretty good shape. I used to build those, they go for like a million a piece.
ReplyDeleteBeat me to it, these are most definitely generators. Can't believe they left those behind.
ReplyDelete@trkdirect:
ReplyDelete"what kinds of discoveries and possible applications may have come out of this?"
This was basic research, The two primary questions were:
* What is the origin of mass? This is part of the goal to unify the description of all the forces and particles.
* What is dark matter (not worded that way at the time)? It is one of the major components of the universe (six times as much as ordinary matter).
I currently work at Fermilab and we are not closing down. We're shutting down the Tevatron this year, but we have a lot of experiments that will keep the lab open and productive for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteUh. Those are generators. I work for a CAT dealer. You should strip them for parts and call up the used parts dept at your local CAT dealer.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten all about this project. Amazing how much work was done and then just abandoned.
ReplyDelete@Flash Modin & @quantum
ReplyDeleteDo you mind if I asked who you contacted to tour the place?
I'm working on an Independent Film and I would LOVE to shoot in some of these buildings.
Thanks!
good thing we spent so much money on the star wars system instead.. atom smasher vs space station was always a false choice. fuck reagan.
ReplyDeleteGenerators look too new... this facility is not mothballed, only gone black, beyond the pale. Those tunnels must connect to a secure entry site that is the real project.
ReplyDeleteAnd since Rushpublicans don't believe in science, nothing like this will ever be built in Texas again, unless it's for building a huge weapon to kill, maim and destroy. Those ignorant, hypocritical bible thumpers do love their endless wars of death and destruction. It's good business for their corporate masters.
ReplyDeleteThese anti-Republican comments make absolutely no sense, considering the project began during a Republican administration and was canceled during Clinton's first term, when the Senate and the House were controlled by Democrats by a wide margin.
ReplyDelete9th picture down: "It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
ReplyDeleteThe anti-Republican comments do make sense when you consider that Reagan and Bush #1 were not supportive of the project to begin with and it was the same Democratic lead Congress you mentioned that pushed the idea thru Congress. This was before everything the other party suggested was just ignored outright. Back when things got done.
ReplyDeleteAs a scientist, I urged my [Democratic] senator in person to vote to kill it. This was a phenomenal waste of money so a handful of high energy physicists could get another Nobel Prize. We could map every large object in the solar system, conduct a complete global species inventory or create a complete three dimensional geologic map of the U.S. for a fraction of what this would have cost. For that matter, we could give every physics Ph.D. in the country $100,000 a year in research funds to generate alternative ways of attacking these problems.
ReplyDeleteThat is too bad that you did. Potentially understanding how mass comes into the standard model is a worthy question.
Delete$100K per physics PhD is a ridiculous idea, though, unless you are suggesting that lasers be strapped to the heads of sharks. That way, they can look for the Higgs boson in a large tank of purified water underground. Now that would be a reasonable way to find the Higgs - NOT!
As others have said, those "fans" are Caterpillar diesel gensets. Look to be in the 300 to 500 kW size range. That's a buttload of money sitting there. How many of those things were there?
ReplyDeleteSomeone really ought to part them out, or drag them out and sell them (legitimately, I'd hope) before the engines seize up from neglect.
That shit is amazing. I wish we had our own black hole maker and didn't have to use a European one. http://southiecab.com
ReplyDeleteDear Google, Microsoft or Apple. Buy this and turn it into a datacenter. I'll bet fiber was run to the property long before the buildings ever went up. :)
ReplyDeleteIf the U.S. spent money on research, social justice and culture it would still be reaching its zenith instead of like this building,, rotting from within, sadly sinking into the water table of inequities, right wing defensiveness and about to be surpassed by others in the one area that the US has been preeminent for decades..research. Tis a pity but it seems that the loss of education in the public schools has come home to roost in a primitive voting public who believe in some Bible and not in Physics and Cultural or Social values. Having no collective conscience..working towards a larger goal for society but rather, the I'm all right Jack individualism has cost America its empire of knowledge. So it goes..
ReplyDeleteLiberalism had its chance and all it accomplished was to further destroy this country. Just look at African American culture for an example. Affirmative Action robbed them of their sense of accomplishment, welfare programs made them dependant, and Social Justice made them turn on each other and everyone else.
ReplyDeleteLiberal Ideology strips an individual of their personal responsibility and fosters and environment of blame where everyone is a victim. You've had control of the schools in this country for 30+ years and not only are they failing, but we are the lowest ranked amongst other industrialized nations. Your culture has increased in power and influence while the US plummets into despair and financial ruin. It's not just a correlation.
Liberalism claims to guarantee equality but the only thing it ever accomplished is equality of misery and self destruction.
This facility failed thanks to the Gov system which, by most measures, fails due to the same ills that plague Corporations in this country. Gov and big Corp are one and the same. Neither side of our politics will save us.
I find the irony of people carping about the lack of worth of government sponsored science on a government-created system using software derived from a government-created platform rather amusing.
ReplyDeleteInternet: DARPA. WWW: CERN. IC Chips: declassified for Project Apollo. Etc.
Flash, no worries. Some of those footprints were mine that you saw in the upper floors I am sure. I've been in all the buildings except one, towards the middle of the facility. Never did find a way into that one.
ReplyDeleteTo people like Dutch001:
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the government is they don't do all of those other things you say they could have done with the money for this facility. Well, you've gotten your wish this facilty is closed.
Some other things that probably float your boat, Bell Labs is gone, NASA is gutted, companies are building their new research facilites overseas.
Please vote teabagging conservative repuglican so we can finish off what's left of the middle class. Rich and poor only, so people can see much clearer their place in life.
ReplyDeleteMiddle class is unsustainable if we are to implement god's plan to make the rich even richer.
It's in the constitution.
The sad end to this story. How unfortunate: http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2011_04_01_archive.html
ReplyDeleteThink of what we could save if we abolished DHS and TSA...Dept of Insecurity and Transportation Sneaking *ss-pinchers...maybe enuf to build a modern SSC!
ReplyDeleteSo many comments about government and how it should be or who did what.. Governments are made of the people they rule: in this case, THAT'S YOU!! Not Republican, or Democrat, YOU. You don't have to be one or the other, you can wear the skin of either and speak whatever you will - you CAN think for yourselves! This facility was sh*t-canned because it was friggin expensive, with the ultimate promise of a ~maybe~ as concerning the overall good. Space station = political unity with INTELLIGENT and POTENTIALLY HOSTILE enemies such as Russia. Good idea. (Kinda like making your daughter marry someone in an opposing tribe to keep the peace). There's all kinds of these places all over the world, from EVERY government. We're not screw-ups educationally because we TRY to be, either. But step back and see yourselves so tied to the red or blue party, with your black-and-white solutions or criticisms, and then you may begin to understand why education and culture have sagged; it's where discrimination and self-direction got forgotten by most Americans when they taught their children what was important and noble.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these picture. What a cool place to explore. My son is working on his proposal to convert the site into a skate park.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at the people who are opposed to basic science research. Flashback to 1897: "What a waste of money! They're studying electrons and atoms. Atoms are the tiniest pieces of matter, or so these eggheads say. What good are they? Electrons, so they say, are even tinier. Absolutely rubbish that our government is spending money on this type of research. What are the applications? We should be spending that money on..."
ReplyDeleteSad. Would have been so much more useful than the piece of crap prestige piece that the ISS is.
ReplyDeleteI used to work there.. the buildings didn't lead to the tunnels.. It didn't look like you found the Western LINAC facility. It was about 3-4 miles away from the western complex to the south. That DID lead to the tunnels. I think it was the coolest part of the existing site back in 1990-1993 when I was there. Another sad part of this story is how many families that were kicked off their land that had been in their families for generations.. They even moved historial houses off the land just to do this. I haven't seen the place since I left for the military in 95. I was blow away at it's condition.
ReplyDeleteHi friends,
ReplyDeleteI am an independent filmmaker making a documentary about end-of-the-world theories and pre-2012 hype. I am looking for someone loosely-connected to this facility to be a subject and show me around the space, even if its just the exterior, while I film it. Whoever posted about their son developing it into a skate-park is the perfect candidate. If you are somehow connected - janitor, used to work there, live nearby - please contact me! Thanks so much!
Hanly Banks
hanlybanks@gmail.com
To the individuals who built this blogsite and visited the Collider site. We are the owners of the property and based on the photos I see you have taken, you have caused considerable damage that we will aggressively come after you for including the damage to the bay door you caused. Also, we will be looking to file criminal charges against each of you for breaking and entering since this is private property you were tresspassing on.
ReplyDeleteTo anyone who thinks they want to visit this property. It is PRIVATE PROPERTY and if you are caught YOU WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. There is a sheriff's station across the street so you are highly likely to get caught if you are tresspassing. My advice to you is STAY AWAY from the property unless you have written permission from the owner to be there.
Sincerely,
The Owner
To the guy threatening criminal charges for trespassing, are you part of the magnablend company that bought the facility?
DeleteWould you allow a tour of the place?
Also, did you buy the facility about 3 miles to the south of this main campus, which has the tunnel access?
to anonymous nov 1, 2011 10:18am
Deleteyou need to get a life dude! you should see how silly your comment is?
Yes I remember Michigan was in the running for the site also.
DeleteTexas was chosen for it's vastly superior ground qualities- Ha
HA! The tunnels are under water! Should have picked Mich.
That's interesting. Why are you in Kansas?
ReplyDeleteDear The Owner --
ReplyDeleteWe, the Electric Mole People of Modar (AKA: Your Soon-To-Be Alien Masters. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!) want you to know that we have been secretly using what you mistakenly think is YOUR property for our own nefarious deeds (see: "bwa-ha-ha-ha!" above) for quite a long while . . . longer than you have, you absentee owners. In fact, long enough to claim the place as our own. Manifest destiny, Earthling 1%-wanna-bes! Kings X! No taps back! Ours-eze! Woot!
By the way, would it really be that big of a deal to cut the freaking lawn around the Collider Site (AKA: Epicenter of Earthly DOOM!) once in a while. True, we aren't able to come out into the foetid atmosphere of Texas . . . YET, but it just looks so wrong to the FedEx and pizza delivery guys who bring us our vital supplies.
"Earthlings! You are DOOMED! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" ("Earthlings! You are Doomed! Bwa-ha-ha-ha" is copyright 2012, Electric Mole People From Modar Earth Invasion Committee, LLP. All right reserved)
Funny The Generators look New ?? Can you say SECRET FEMA BASE .... The Tunnels are NOT Filled In and the Sheriff's Office across the Street from the site seems Odd. FEMA and CIA what are you doing underground with all those Fancy Generators and OH BY THE WAY your transformers are all hot ..... must be using lots of Power huh Folks ... SECRET BASES well use to be.
ReplyDeleteUsed to work with a guy who surveyed and mapped those tunnels out. He was telling me when the funding was pulled, and work came to a halt, all the contractors were paid in full for all equipment (generators, rigs, machines, tools, everthing new and old)and it all still remains in the tunnels. There were 3 or 4 contractors working from different points along the path in the same direction. Once equipment was lowered in by crane and down into the depths, it never saw the light of day again.
ReplyDeleteIts really kind of sad. This project could have been significant aide in the production of positrons for future fuel sources. Those little guys pack enough punch to take humans to Mars in as litte as 45 days. At least thats what the research shows. Just sayin.
It was a great place to work. Lots of wonderful people worked there in the PRD, CCD and FD. It was a sad day when we learnd it was to be closed.
ReplyDeleteAloha
Tom Lynch
So ill have you know the tunnells do exist, i took a team of 6 divers through the LNAC AKA the Low Energy Booster.
ReplyDeleteInitially thought the elevator, then down the elevator shaft.
so much equipment, and abandoned vechiles machnery and heavy equipment.
We stumbled into a large what seemed like a warehouse 3 stories down, with 58 fleet vehicles with "DOE" Department of energy logo's, mostly rusted and damaged with time.
We have a total of 96 hrs of video and pictures that has been confiscated by the Ellis County Sheriffs Department.
We were apprehended by the Ellis county sheriffs department, all of our equipment and evidence was collected expect about 9 hrs of video that we had on a small sd card i managed to put in my phone.
The tunnels are intact, with only 10 miles explored we spent over 6 months diving the complex.
which far surpassed our initial expectation, this facility has a total of 16 floors labeled on the elevator shaft, we dove down 9 stories but with the amount of time it would take to decompress we could never go any further as we had limited supply of air tanks.
and the amount of pressure takes a toll on the human body.
i have shown about 6 people our photos and video, they have all made the same observation, there is still live power down there which leads me to believes that someone knows why... I have spendt the last 4 years trying to figure out what this facility really is.
contact me anytime
thetruthofscc@gmail.com
Been there and explored parts including remote access points. No mystery here; just typical government spending and surplus. There's no secret base or other use goin on. I didn't see any instances of live power, but if there is it would not surprise me. the county may want to retain a connection for many reasons including potential buyers.
ReplyDeleteANYBODY REPLY!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ray Bailey and I am doing research for a novel I am writing. I am looking for actual locations of the remains of the SSC. It took me nearly two hours to hunt down the actual location of the Headquarters Building on Hoyt Rd. Anybody have any details on teh location fo the existing remaining tunnels and access shafts? Ellis county permits and stuff?
Any help would be appreciated. RLBTechServ@Outlook.com
That commenter is right. In 1897 we couldn't have imagined the applications that would come out of basic research into atoms and electrons. We wouldn't have the Internet, not to mention television and radio, and satellites and everything else that makes up modern technology, without that sort of research. What applications would this SSC lead to? I suspect we can't even imagine it.
ReplyDelete*That's what we mean when we say "basic" science research* -- the science is so fundamental that the applications can't yet even be imagined.
Corporations can do research that has an obvious near-term upside. The only way to do really fundamental science, tends to be with government spending.
Did corporations invent the Internet? Hell no. They never would; no obvious upside,at the time (i.e., the 1960s, into the 1970s).
Without government sponsored research, we wouldn't have many of the technologies of today.
I believe we need to spend *more* not less money, on basic research.
I'm sad that my country (USA) is slowly but surely losing its leadership position in science. Our fatal flaw is arrogance; we habitually think other countries are backward; meanwhile, they're starting to take leadership in basic science.
I do blame Republicans more than Democrats. I'm not partisan; I've just looked at the voting records, and the platforms, and the priorities of both parties. Disagree with me if you like; but I've done my research and I'm satisfied that I'm correct: the Dems are *better*, on science. However -- it's not a partisan issue. I'm open to any Republican with the right agenda on this issue; I'll give that candidate my support.
$.02,
Rocko