NASA Invites Media To Speak With 'Dark Matter' Detective

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May 07, 2013, 06:01 ET

HOUSTON, May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting, principal investigator for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and its search for "dark matter" in the universe, will visit NASA's Johnson Space Center at 2:15 p.m. Friday, May 17. Media are invited to take part in a special opportunity to hear about his recent findings and ask questions.

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Trent Martin, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) project manager for NASA, and astronaut Stan Love also will participate in the event, and answer questions about NASA's involvement and how the International Space Station enables AMS research.

The AMS experiment is a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector mounted on the International Space Station since 2011. Since then, it has measured more than 32 billion cosmic rays.

Ting and hundreds of AMS scientists from 16 different countries announced last month that the AMS has been able to provide the most precise measurement to date of the ratio of positrons to electrons in cosmic rays – data that may one day give the world its first glimpse into dark matter.

Media interested in attending the event should email Brandi Dean at [email protected]. International media must apply for credentials by 5 p.m., May 10. U.S. reporters should respond by 5 p.m., May 16.

For information about the AMS on the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/ams.html

SOURCE NASA