They broke the LHC, won’t be fixed until next year

Well, more specifically, the hydrogen used to cool the sensors leaked out into the machine. From NewScientist:

CERN director general, Robert Aymar, says the shutdown is a psychological blow after years of painstaking preparation and a successful start. “I have no doubt that we will overcome this setback with the same degree of rigour and application,” he adds.

To fully understand how the incident occurred, the affected sectors of the tunnel must be returned to room temperature, from their operating temperature of minus 271.3 °C. This will take 3 to 4 weeks, after which the magnets can be properly inspected.

The investigation and repairs will be followed by the LHC’s compulsory annual winter closed season – the accelerators draw too much power to operate in winter. That will push back the restart of the accelerator complex to early spring, CERN says.

Beams of protons can then once again be accelerated around the tunnel at near light speed as they did on 10 September. Soon after, the team hopes to collide two beams travelling in opposite directions.

Wait, what the hell? What kind of Doomsday machine can’t run in the winter?