Antimatter Device Loses Ride to Space

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March 23, 2007 — When Nobel prize winner Samuel Ting envisioned flying a device to hunt for antimatter and dark energy to the space station, he never anticipated finding a logistical black hole right here on Earth.

Budget woes and the firm deadline to retire the space shuttle fleet in three years have left Ting's treasure without a ride to space. The remaining shuttle missions are fully booked with trusses, energy modules and laboratories for the station.

Nevertheless, the 16-nation team Ting oversees is proceeding with plans to ship the $1.5 billion device, which is designed to search for previously undetected forms of antimatter, dark matter and dark energy, to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in December 2008.

NASA has considered other options for flying the device, known as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. The most practical scenario would have AMS launched on an expendable booster, such as an Atlas 5 or Delta 4, a few days before a selected shuttle mission.

AMS would linger in orbit, kept alive by a small attached spacecraft to supply power, heating and communications, until the shuttle could dock at the station, unload gear and leave the station to retrieve the device. The shuttle would then come back to the station to attach the AMS.

The main problem with the plan was its cost, which was estimated at about $380 million. A team of NASA engineers, managers and consultants also determined that work needed to begin immediately in order to launch AMS before September 2010 when the shuttle program ends. The team's recommendation was made in February 2006.

"We'd be catching the last year's shuttle ride, even if we got started when we were supposed to get started," AMS program manager Mark Sistilli said in an interview.

"There is no money for any alternatives," he added.

Still, NASA is continuing to pay for AMS integration work, in the hopes that an opportunity to fly on the shuttle will open.

"I have to follow direction of the administrator and he told me keep going ahead. You can't predict what's going to happen with the shuttle manifest," Sistilli said.

The agency has spent about $55 million on the program so far.

The Department of Energy is sponsoring the science experiment at another $30 million. The bulk of the $1.5 billion expense falls to France, Italy and other international partners, which include the unlikely pairing of China and Taiwan.

"As far as what's going to happen to AMS, it's a developing story," Sistilli said. "We're going to finish integration and see what happens."