The alpha magnetic spectrometer AMS-02: Soon in space

AMS-02 is a magnetic spectrometer designed to perform accurate and long duration measurements of cosmic radiation on the International Space Station. With its large acceptance (0.45 m(2) sr), the long duration (three years) and the state of the art of the particle identification techniques. AMS will accurately measure charged cosmic rays spectra and high energy photons in the hundreds MeV to few TeV energy range. It will provide the most sensitive search for the existence of primordial anti-matter and multi-channel indirect search for dark matter. AMS-02 integration has been started at CERN in September 2007 and after a final space qualification test at ESTEC (ESA) and a beam test (CERN) the whole apparatus will be moved to KSC (NASA) in December 2009. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.