The Virgo gravity-wave interferometer, an E∪D80-million (US$114-million) experiment located near Pisa, Italy, has been incapacitated by a vacuum failure for most of the summer and is expected to stay out of commission for another few months. During a test on 9 May a glass viewport in the L-shaped detector shattered, sending shards of glass into one of the laser-reflecting mirrors and its ancillary instrumentation. The mirror was damaged beyond repair and is being replaced.
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