Launch of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)

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richalex

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Washington Post has an interesting article on a major ISS scientific instrument that took 500 scientists 12 years to build, but may never see the light of day. <br /><br />"'We are very excited about the launch of Columbus and believe this will be a major step forward for the international space station,' said Martin Zell, who is involved with the European space laboratory as head of research operations for the European Space Agency, and is also a coordinator for development of the cosmic ray project. <br /><br />"But if the [AMS] does not make it to the station, it will be a very great setback for the space community and the ISS," Zell said. "It would be the most visible, perhaps the most exciting, experiment on the station." <br /><br />IMO, the best line in the Post article is from Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg, a theoretical physicist at the University of Texas: <br /><br />"If the instrument were ferried to the station, he said, its study of cosmic rays 'would be the only significant science ever done on the space station.'"<br /><br />Washington Post: Lab for Space Station Puts NASA Priorities in Question<br /><br />
 
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qso1

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RichAlex:<br />"If the instrument were ferried to the station, he said, its study of cosmic rays 'would be the only significant science ever done on the space station."<br /><br />Me:<br />Its all relative, I'm sure Barack Obama does not consider the study of cosmic rays to have much value. And for this scientist to say that something he is involved in, being a theoretical physicist...is a bit like slamming the other work of his collegues.<br /><br />Right now, aside from the obvious data gathered on human endurance. Its hard to know what science on ISS is valuable since so little of it is publicized. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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