When I visited the European Spallation Source last week I was lucky enough to see some of the workings of the rotating segmented tungsten target, which will be hit by initially 3MW and eventually 5MW of proton beam.  The target 'wheel' hangs from the shaft in the video, which you can see rotating to align a different one of 32 sectors with each 14Hz proton pulse, taking just over two seconds per rotation.  Of course when the proton beam hits it will generate a lot of heat, which is removed by high speed helium gas (the hissing noise) as well as a lot of radioactivity, so it might not be possible to stand here after the target has been used.   #physics #accelerators<p><video src='posts/202606/post-20260602-144846-a.mp4' loading='lazy' preload='metadata' controls></video></p>