Thursday, April 1, 2021, 16:00
online only
(for the zoom link contact michael.spira@psi.ch, emanuele.bagnaschi@psi.ch or
pulak.banerjee@psi.ch)
TBA, PSI
Abstract:
In 2022 there will be the Winter Olympic games in Villigen valley. The
organizers (see web page) have contacted PSI for special support and
collaboration in the organization of this extraordinary event. PSI will
be involved in the cooling of the ski-tracks that will be covered by a roof.
Next by, there will be another loipe for the summer games. This, however,
requires a dedicated stabilization of the temperature difference to keep
low temperature on one side for the snow (may be muon cooling can be of
some help here) and higher one on the other side for the summer games
(see picture on the web site). There are even thoughts to add a real
track outside for those who are willing to compete with the skiers
(could be organized together with the Sola Staffette in Zurich).
Another major effort will be devoted to increase the width of the seats of the chairlift to keep sufficient distance to your neighbor, since we cannot expect the pandemic situation to be solved until next year. PSI will also construct some shielding of plexiglass in between the seats (with the option to easily lift it if you are sitting next to your wife or husband - or anyone else you would like to be close to...).
There will be helicopters for the case of emergency. If the pandemic will not be over in 2022, this will be mainly due to a much more aggressive mutation of the present virus, i.e. the mutation into a killer. This means that immediate and fast help is needed. PSI is planning to get involved in the construction of faster motors for the helicopter and much more efficiuent rotors so that the travel to and arival at the next hospital will be immediate in order to get intubated...
Finally, the organizers have negotiated with the nearby airport in Niederhard to allow for landing of big airplanes for all the participants and accompanying fans of this big event. Since the local airport is quite small they are on the one hand planning to build a longer track for the landing. However, since this won't be sufficient, PSI is starting to investigate and construct systems that allow also big airplanes to land on a shortened landing track (without exceeding the maximal g-factor for humans). There are already very good ideas and ansaetze to achieve the necessary goals.
22 participants... :-)