Explained: Europe’s plans for an even bigger particle collider

Europe's physics lab CERN is planning to to build a particle-smasher even bigger than its Large Hadron Collider, to continue searching for answers to some of the universe's tiniest, yet most profound, mysteries.

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The Future Circular Collider (FCC) has not yet received a political green light or funding. Even if approved, the vast project would not start operations until the 2040s or be completed until the end of the century.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is currently the world's powerful particle accelerator, is expected to have run its course by the 2040s.

These massive machines smash particles such as protons which are inside every atom, or lead ions into each other. To do so, they use superconducting magnets to beam the particles at incredible speeds around giant underground rings, using detectors to capture the collisions.