Particle Detector Blasts off to Seek Hints of Universe Mystery

May 18, 2011     Email"> PrintText Size

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) particle detector, mankind's most ambitious effort to date to explore the universe' origin, kicked off its long-awaited mission Monday, with Chinese scientists playing a crucial role in designing and manufacturing some core parts of the device.

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavor, on its final voyage, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the 7,000-kg AMS worth 2 billion U.S. dollars.

The shuttle is set to dock at the International Space Station (ISS) early Wednesday, and will unload the AMS there to scour the universe for hints of dark matter and antimatter.

The detector will be a lasting legacy left by Endeavor, a 20-year-old space exploration veteran.

Samuel Ting, the principal scientist for the glistening AMS project, told Xinhua after the launch, "I feel good, but calm. Every thing is normal. We can get data from the AMS on Thursday."

Ting, a prestigious Chinese-American scientist, said, "The launch of the AMS is a very important step. The next step is to analyze data. We will walk forward step by step."

The AMS is the first major international space project in which China has been a key member.

An international team of more than 600 scientists, including many from China's mainland and Taiwan, have joined Ting's exhausting but respected AMS program.

The scientists include those from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Zhongshan University, Southeast University, Shanghai Jiaotong University in the mainland and the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology and Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

Ting, after Monday's blastoff, said, "China has many excellent scientists. I hope they would like to join the following stage of the AMS program."

Chinese scientists had "quite a lot of contributions" to the project, said Gordado Gargiolo, chief engineer of the AMS. "My experience with Chinese scientists is very good. I share the very good time and they are very good engineers."

Richard Milner, director of Laboratory for Nuclear Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), also thought China's contribution to the project was "crucial."

"Different countries can make unique contribution. Then you get together, you can make something no one country can make. That's the best part of that thing," he said.

Up to now, the study of cosmic rays has been limited to measuring light using telescopes and instruments like those on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The AMS is to be the first to study charged particles in space.

"I think that the AMS will change the way we think about high energy physics," NASA's AMS Project Manager Trent Martin told Xinhua. "It has the potential to completely rewrite the science textbooks because it's the first time we've ever done charged particle science in space."

Researchers at the Beijing-based CAS found ways to design and make the AMS' permanent magnet system that can be sent into space without causing any disturbances to the shuttle flight. The breakthrough cracked a decades-old technical hard nut that had kept physicists from realizing the idea of particle detection in outer space.

Their peers at the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taipei, after being convinced by Ting, also accomplished a "mission impossible" with the invention of an electronic control system for the AMS that can run 10 times faster than the one currently used by NASA.

Ting's work on the AMS started in 1994 after a meeting with then NASA administrator Dan Goldin. The project grew from there to incorporate more than 600 scientists in 15 nations around the world.

International collaboration is the only way to do such a big project, said Johannes Van Es, research and development manager of the National Aerospace Lab in the Netherlands. "Otherwise, there is not enough money in one country. Nobody can do such a big project alone."

The state-of-the-art AMS is the largest scientific instrument ever to be installed on the orbiting ISS.

It will remain in orbit for about 20 years, as long as the station continues to function normally. Scientists hope it could help solve some of the most profound mysteries of the universe by searching antimatter, dark matter and measuring cosmic rays.

The visible matter in the universe makes up only a fraction of the total mass that is known to exist. By recording the traces cosmic rays make as they pass through, the AMS might uncover a universe that is now invisible.

The Big Bang theory says the universe was formed from large quantities of matter and a substance called antimatter. Though matter's existence is obvious -- everything from stars to starfish -- proof of antimatter is limited to infinitesimal, flash-quick observances in laboratory experiments. It cannot survive on the earth because it is destroyed as soon as it comes into contact with matter.

Physicists theorize antimatter might survive in space.

Ting is hoping "primordial antimatter," stuff left over from the Big Bang, will float through the AMS tunnel.

"We know anti-particles exist. I think they are flying around cosmos," Milner of the MIT said. "I think the detector will certainly see them if they are there."

Following the liftoff of the AMS, Ting and his team would move to Houston for follow-up research, such as analysis of data from the AMS.

However, Ting set a surprisingly "low" standard for its success.

"I would call it a success if the device doesn't break down and operates normally in space," said the professor.

"As for the findings of the project, any expectation for one kind of possibility could lead to bias in research," he said. "But anything we find will be new, because it's the first such experiment in space."

(Source: Xinhua)