Speaker
Prof.
Stefan Schael
(RWTH Aachen University)
Description
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a high precision general-purpose particle
physics detector that has been constructed in the past twelve years by a group of
600 scientists and engineers from 16 countries for the operation on board of the
International Space Station (ISS). NASA and its international partners decided in
2010 that the ISS will be operated at least until 2020 with a possible extension till
2028. To use this new opportunity and to widen the scientific program of AMS, the
originally proposed superconductive magnet was replaced by a permanent magnet.
In order to guarantee the same detector resolution at a reduced magnetic field the
lever arm of the silicon tracker of AMS-02 was increased. The new detector
configuration was calibrated in a test beam at CERN in August 2010 and delivered to
Kennedy Space Center in September 2010. In May 2011 AMS-02 was launched with
the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and installed on the ISS. Since the
first day AMS-02 is fully operational and delivers high quality measurements of
cosmic rays with a precision and a statistical volume never reached before. The
status of the experiment and the perspectives for the coming years will be presented.
Primary author
Prof.
Stefan Schael
(RWTH Aachen University)
