Will NASA launch Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer?

William Atkins
Sunday, 02 December 2007 03:24

Opinion and Analysis

So, will the AMS project be stored away or will NASA and the space exploration community find some way for it to complete its mission?

With many countries extending their space programs, with many private companies making their first steps out into space, and with the many programs within the NASA manned and unmanned space programs, maybe someone could come up with an idea to get AMS into space!

Unfortunately, the large size of AMS limits the launch vehicle that can take it into space.

Another very interesting article is from the New York Times. The article “Long-Awaited Cosmic-Ray Detector May Be Shelved” by Dennis Overbye also goes into the controversy over the cancellation of the AMS mission.

As of April 2007, NASA is still conducting meetings on the AMS project. The following webpage shows a CCB (Configuration Control Board) meeting for AMS-02: http://ams-02project.jsc.nasa.gov/ccb_files/minutes/2007/Project%20Tag-up%20Minutes%2004-02-07.pdf.

Other NASA information shows up at: http://ams-02project.jsc.nasa.gov/html/Projectpage.htm.

It is difficult to cancel any important project, especially one that is so costly. No doubt, it is difficult to cancel any mission. But, difficult decisions had to be made after Columbia was destroyed and its crew killed.

On the other hand, some very important mysteries about the universe could be studied with the AMS project. However, it’s not of much use when left in storage here on Earth.