Onboard the International Space Station (ISS), there has been an ongoing study of something we still know very little about – cosmic rays. The possibilities of what we could learn from them are thrilling.
We could learn about the imbalance between matter and antimatter. We could learn about dark matter, the history of cosmic rays and what they go through on their way to Earth. Cosmic rays could even light up the dark history of the universe.
The experiment is attached to the ISS, the laboratory that orbits Earth at approximately 240 miles above the surface. It’s called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment, or AMS-02, and has been enabling NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy to study cosmic ray particles for the past 5 years.
Image Credit: NASA
The AMS experiment weighs almost 17,000 pounds and was attached to the orbiting laboratory in 2011. Since then, it’s gathered data from over 90 billion cosmic ray events!
Concerning the imbalance between matter and antimatter, the generally accepted theory is that the imbalance arose from processes in the early universe that favor matter over antimatter. A competing theory posits that a large quantity of antimatter exists, but hasn’t collided yet with our matter-filled universe.
It’s possible to learn about dark matter from cosmic rays, as one of the kind of particles that makes up cosmic rays can be positrons–antimatter counterparts to electrons. The experiment on the ISS has previously found an unexpected quantity of positrons on the higher end of its energy range, perhaps due to dark matter particles colliding.
What about the history of cosmic rays? As predicted by Albert Einstein, when the particles in cosmic rays travel near light speed, time slows for them. We’ve been able to see proof of time dilation for particles traveling near the speed of light in their elongated lifetimes.
Cosmic rays could let us know what they pass through on their way to Earth. Secondary cosmic rays are created when cosmic rays collide, and are made of different components. The AMS experiment has shown researchers that cosmic rays could experience turbulence on their way to Earth.
AMS could cause researchers to reexamine their assumptions about cosmic rays, and the scientists involved with the experiment want to help. Their plan is to collect data through 2024 that comes from hundreds of billions of primary cosmic rays!
Learn more about the International Space Station at NASA.gov.