The $1.5 Billion Space Station Experiment Begging For A Ride

Later this week, the Atlantis space shuttle will carry the European Columbus science module to the International Space Station, a key element for scientific missions that will be conducted there over the next half-decade.

But the Washington Post today shines a light on a $1.5 billion experimental module that could have far more scientific impact – and which may never make it up to the station.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a device that would detect the passage of antimatter particles, which has been in the works for 12 years and is now nearly finished in Geneva. Scientists from around the world have worked on it, with sponsorship from the U.S. Dept. of Energy, all contingent on NASA's promises that it would be lifted to the ISS eventually.

But now its future looks bleak, the Post reports. Shuttle crashes, and resources diverted to the manned lunar and Martian exploration plan announced by President Bush in 2004, have cut down the number of shuttle launches planned. Only 10 launches remain before the fleet is retired.

That means the AMS, which could help scientists understand dark matter and much about the apparent imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe, could wind up stuck on Earth, the Post reports.

Here's Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg, pulling no punches in the article:

"This device could make discoveries that are Earth-shattering," he said. "We have an opportunity now to do some worthwhile fundamental science on the ISS, and they're resolutely turning their back on it."

The Device NASA Is Leaving Behind [Washington Post]

(Image: The AMS device, in a support structure. Credit: CERN)