From: wylie@sscvx1.ssc.gov (Russ Wylie)
Newsgroups: sci.physics
Subject: SSC: contracts let for accelerator spool pieces
Date: 5 Oct 92 20:05:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: sunova.1992Oct5.200556.3052
Distribution: all
Organization: External Affairs, Super Collider Lab








Contact:	Russ Wylie
		(214) 708 1045

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

	DALLAS, TX. -- (Friday, October 2, 1992) -- Two parallel contracts for 
competitive development of "spool pieces," key components of the 
Superconducting Super Collider subatomic particle accelerator, have been 
awarded to Martin Marietta Corporation of Littleton, CO, and to 
Westinghouse Electric Corporation of Sunnyvale, CA.  Each contract is 
valued at slightly less than $3 million.
	The contracts were awarded by the Superconducting Super Collider 
Laboratory,
	Dr. Theodore Kozman, an associate director of the Laboratory and head of 
the accelerator systems division, said that the two contracts will run in 
parallel.  They are designed to establish two suppliers to compete for an 
eventual fixed-price "winner-take-all" procurement for high-volume 
production of more than 1400 units.  Each unit will weigh about 2,000 
kilograms (about 4,400 pounds)  and measure 0.6 meters (about 24 inches) 
in diameter and 4.6 meters (about 15 feet) in length.
	Kozman described the contracts as having two phases.  
	"In the first phase, the two companies will fabricate two prototype 
models each and deliver them in May 1993, along with designs for 
subsequent preproduction units," he said.  "Both the prototype models and 
the designs will be reviewed by the Laboratory before directing the firms 
to proceed to the second phase of the contract."
	In phase two, each company will build 20 preproduction units with 
deliveries scheduled for the summer of 1994.
	While the final preproduction units are being delivered and tested, the 
firms will be asked to submit competitive bids for a separate production 
contract that will call for delivery of the remaining approximately 1400 
spool pieces.
	Particle accelerators are used in basic research to study the fundamental 
forces and building blocks of nature.  In colliding beam accelerators like 
the Super Collider, two beams of particles are accelerated in opposite 
directions so that the particles can be brought into collisions inside 
detectors that will record and track the resulting debris.  By studying 
the results of collisions, scientists are able to advance humankind's 
understanding of the universe: how it works, and what it is made of.
	The Super Collider's main accelerators will  consist of two parallel 
rings of magnets that will guide and focus two separate, counter-rotating 
particle beams, as their energies are accelerated by carefully timed 
pulses of microwave energy.  Each particle beam will be contained in a 
sealed stainless steel beam tube that will run through the center of the 
string of magnets.  Spool pieces will be installed at intervals among the 
magnets, typically following a "half cell," which consists of a series of 
five bending magnets and one focusing magnet.  The spool pieces will 
connect the accelerators to exterior controls, instrumentation, power, and 
liquid helium and nitrogen cryogenics.  The cooling fluids are circulated 
through the spool pieces and accelerator magnets to keep their temperature 
at near absolute zero.  At such low temperature, the accelerator magnets 
superconduct, i.e., electricity flows through the magnet coils without 
resistive loss.  Superconductivity makes possible powerful and highly 
efficient magnets for controlling the accelerator particle beams.  The 
spool pieces also provide vacuum pressure that will keep extraneous 
molecules out of the beam pipe where they would interfere with the 
particles and knock them off their paths.
	In the Super Collider, the two main colliding beam accelerators will be 
installed, one on top of the other, in a race-track-shaped course 87 
kilometers (54 miles) in circumference.  The beams will be contained deep 
underground in a tunnel measuring a little more than 4 meters (14 ft.) in 
diameter.
	Each colliding beam accelerator will consist of 430 "cells" and their 
spool pieces.  The total for the two accelerators will be about 8600 
bending magnets, 1600 focusing magnets, and 1400 spool pieces.
	The work under the contracts will be performed by the Civil Space and 
Communications Company, Astronautics Group, of Martin Marietta; and the 
Electronics Systems Group, Marine Division, of Westinghouse.
	The Super Collider Laboratory is operated for the U.S. Department of 
Energy by the Universities Research Association, Inc., a not-for-profit 
corporation of 79 leading research universities in the United States and 
Canada.

##

Russ Wylie, Director, External Affairs,
Super Collider Laboratory
Dallas, TX 75237
214 708 1045; FAX 214 708 0000
Newsgroups: sci.physics,sci.astro,sci.math,sci.philosophy.tech