Sam Ting tries to expose dark matter's mysteries
Physics Nobel laureate's space-based detector is analyzing billions of cosmic rays
EYES ON THE INVISIBLE PRIZE Designed to detect cosmic rays, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer cruises above Earth on the International Space Station.
NASA
In the near vacuum of outer space, each rare morsel of matter tells a story. A speedy proton may have been propelled by the shock wave of an exploding star. A stray electron may have teetered on the precipice of a black hole, only to be flung away in a powerful jet of searing gas.
Since 2011, the International Space Station has housed an experiment that aims to decipher those origin stories. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer has already cataloged more than 60 billion protons, electrons and other spaceborne subatomic particles, known as cosmic rays, as they zip by.
Other experiments sample the shower of particles produced when cosmic rays strike atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. But the spectrometer scrutinizes pristine cosmic rays — some of which have traveled undisturbed over millions of light-years — from its perch some 400 kilometers above Earth. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is by far the most sensitive
