A list of projects around the world that mark a technological achievement for civilization. These projects are long, expensive, and highly complex, usually made possible by multiple institutions or countries working together.
We live in the Information Era, and as we transition to the next era of civilization (hey there singularity), it's important to be able to put a spotlight on those milestones that brought us to the future. The leaps in infrastructure, scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, etc.
That's why I decided to make this list and keep tracking the progress of these over time. I also wanted to highlight that this is all happening right now, but you might not hear about these projects due to their length or obscurity. If the news was released once every 50 years, the headlines would sure be different. Plus I love the abstract-ness and meta nature of this stuff. Maybe I'll make a Kanban board for it...anyway let's get started.
- Construction megaprojects
- Important scientific experiments
- Government programmes
- Mass technology / connectivity initiatives
(In no particular order)
cern particle physics standard model lhc upgrade
HL-HLC (or "HiLumi") is CERN's massive performance upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, planned to increase the luminosity by a factor of 10. More collisions = more observations = more experiments = more discoveries in particle physics.
☞ Top priority of the European Strategy for Particle Physics.
☞ Collaboration between 29 institutions in 13 countries
☞ Will produce ~15 million Higgs bosons per year (5x more than LHC)
Field: Physics • Type: Particle accelerator • Org: CERN • Project lead: Lucio Rossi • Estimated completion: end of 2027 • Total cost: $153 million
nuclear fusion reactor energy ignition power
Being built in the south of France, ITER is the biggest fusion reactor ever built, designed to prove the scientific and commercial viability of fusion as an energy source. The machine is expected to reach multiple milestones at once. With a gain factor of Q=10, it will achieve breakeven (where gain factor Q=1, more power released than supplied), as well as ignition, where the machine can supply it's own power from self-heating (occurs at Q=5). Unlimited, safe and clean energy? Yes please.
☞ ITER is a collaboration between China, the EU, Switzerland, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States
☞ It's designed to produce 500 MW of fusion power (Q≥10) from 50 MW of heating input power
☞ The current record for Q is 0.67, set by the JET facility in the UK in 1997.
☞ First Plasma scheduled for 2025, and Deuterium-Tritium Plasma in 2035.
Field: Energy • Type: Fusion reactor • Org: ITER • Project lead: Bernard Bigot • Estimated completion: December 2025 • Total cost: ~$20 billion