By Kelly Taylor
kelly@wktv.org

This Friday, Nov. 22, WKTV will be featuring the second of four spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer attached to the International Space Station. The walk will be aired on WKTV Government 26 and AT&T U-verse 99 Channel 99.

Coverage starts at 5:30 a.m. with the spacewalk scheduled to begin at 6:50 a.m. The spacewalk is expected to last at least six and half hours.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, known as the AMS, is a state-of the-art particle physics detector. The module is designed to measure antimatter in cosmic rays. the information is needed to understand the formation of the universe and search for evidence of dark matter. 

Unlike regular matter, which emits or interacts with electromagnetic radiation, dark matter has never been observed directly. The existence of dark matter is inferred through its gravitational effects on visible matter. The AMS has measured more than 100 billion particles and according to lead scientist Samuel Ting, a Nobel laureate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AMS has measured an excess of positrons, the antimatter counterpart to an electron but more data is needed to make sure these positrons are from dark matter.

Expedition 61 Commander Luca Parmitano from the European Space Agency and NASA Flight Engineer Andrew Morgan have spent many hours training for the complex spacewalks to repair the AMS.

For more information on NASA TV or the International Space Station, visit NASA’s website, www.nasa.gov.

NASA TV can be seen on the WKTV 26 Government Channel on Comcast and AT&T U-verse 99 Government Channel 99.