WSDOT
In the disposable culture we live in, even some of our most massive machines come with just a one-use expectation. With these expiration dates built right into the design—custom-created for tricky locations, high-value jobs, or specialty situations—these are some of the largest one-use built for one very specific task.
Large Hadron Collider
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Buried 328 feet below ground at the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider sends protons or ions to near the speed of light via a 16.7-mile-long ring of superconducting magnets. Moving these particles requires 9,593 magnets cooled at -271.3 degrees Celsius—even chillier than outer space. Using liquid helium for the cooling process, the collider consumers 600 GWh of power each year.
Hughes Glomar Explorer
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The 619-foot-long Hughes Glomar Explorer built in the 1970s was said to be for the purpose of Howard Hughes mission to extract magnesium nodules from the ocean floor. The truth was the CIA commissioned the creation of the massive ship in an effort to pick the sunken Soviet K-129 nuclear submarine—and the info it contained—off the Pacific Ocean floor.
The explorer contained width to balance during the waves while internal hydraulic systems dropped a claw to grab the 14-million-pound submarine. During recovery, the lifting apparatus snapped at 9,000 feet below the surface, limiting the CIA’s recovery. The ship was eventually decommissioned and used in the oil business before eventually turning to scrap.
Antonov An-225
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Largest. Heaviest. Those words describe the Antonov An-225 aircraft, designed specifically to carry the Buran space shuttle and Energia rocket boosters for the Soviets. With two orders placed, only one was made, finished up in 1988 at just over 275 feet in length and 628,000 pounds.
The wingspan of 290 feet was also the largest ever for an aircraft. The plane successfully did its duty for Soviet space efforts, leading to the mothballing of the plane. But with anything this monstrous, others found a purpose for it, leading to a complete refurbishing as a carrier of oversized payloads.