Going for a spacewalk —
Among the Stars chronicles daring space mission to repair physics experiment
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer studies cosmic rays from its perch on-board the ISS.
Jennifer Ouellette - Oct 6, 2021 8:38 pm UTC
Experience the mission to repair the Advanced Mass Spectrometer (AMS) aboard the International Space Station in Among the Stars, an original documentary series now streaming on Disney+.
It's problematic enough when something goes wrong with a complicated, $2 billion physics experiment on Earth. Those challenges are considerably greater when said physics experiment is on the International Space Station, orbiting 250 miles above the surface of the Earth. Thanks to the efforts of the intrepid ISS crew, who conducted a series of spacewalks to make repairs, a damaged particle detector has a new lease on life.
Among the Stars, a new six-part documentary series on Disney+, chronicles the challenges the crew faced on that mission over the course of two years. The series also chronicles the final spaceflight of veteran NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, which occurred right as the COVID-19 pandemic put the world in lockdown. "I joke that, three years ago, I knew I was going into quarantine in March 2020, according to plan," Cassidy told Ars. "I just didn't know that the whole world would join me there."
As we've previously reported, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a particle detector that launched to the International Space Station in 2011 on the penultimate flight of the space shuttle. The machine has steadily been collecting data during the last six years as it looks at a variety of particles from many sources, among them dark matter collisions.
Invented by Nobel laureate (and AMS principal investigator) Samuel C.C. Ting, the AMS consists of layers of smaller detectors and is designed to measure the energy and trajectory of cosmic ray particles, including high-energy photons, electrons, and positrons (electrons' antimatter partners). The instrument also contains a bank of high-grade magnets that steer the path of electrically charged particles and help to separate the contributions from different particle types. The detectors allow researchers to distinguish between positrons and protons (which have equal positive charge but different mass), electrons (which are negatively charged), and other particles.
Particle detector in space has mixed news on dark matter
In 2014, the AMS team announced the results of its first 18 months of data collection. They turned out to be frustratingly ambiguous. As Matthew Francis wrote for Ars at the time, "While AMS-02 found an excess of a certain type of particle expected from some models of dark matter annihilation, this excess didn't bear the hallmarks predicted for a dark matter signature. So something interesting is going on in the AMS-02 data, but the chances of dark matter being the cause seem a bit low." Still, physicists were hopeful that additional data collected at even higher energies might yield more conclusive results.
But then the experiment hit a potential snag. In 2017, scientists monitoring the $2 billion AMS instrument noticed an increase in the "degradation" of several of the pumps that operate the thermal cooling system on its silicon tracker. Three of the four pumps had essentially failed. Only one is required, but the cooling system had lost all of its redundancy. Eventually, the fourth pump showed signs of failing, too.
Enlarge / Nobel laureate Samuel Ting is the physicist behind the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) experiment on-board the International Space Station.
YouTube/Disney+
So physicists associated with the experiment began working with a team at NASA to devise a long-range strategy that would extend the life of the AMS. They knew that the installation of a new set of pumps would require fairly intensive work, including the removal of insulation. All of that called for multiple spacewalks. ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan were the designated spacewalkers for the mission, with assistance from NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who were in charge of operating the robotic arm from inside the ISS.
Although he was on Earth, filmmaker Ben Turner was on hand to capture it all on camera for posterity, including video diaries and livestream footage. The executive producer and director of Among the Stars admits to a lifelong obsession with space flight, and among the highlights of his filmmaking career was shooting a music video for One Direction at NASA. The experience whetted his appetite for more. "As a documentary filmmaker, I have the ability to get into cool places and tell the story of cool people and try to see the world through their eyes," he said. "It long was my ambition to do that with NASA."
He got his chance when one of his company's partners, James Corden (aka the voice of Peter Rabbit), happened to be chatting with Peter Rabbit director Will Gluck on set. Gluck mentioned he had met Cassidy. Knowing Turner was a big space fan, Corden put Gluck in touch with Turner for an introduction to the astronaut. Cassidy was soon involved in the project.
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Jennifer Ouellette Jennifer Ouellette is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Los Angeles.
Email jennifer.ouellette@arstechnica.com // Twitter @JenLucPiquant
20 Reader Comments
Person_Man Ars Scholae Palatinae et Subscriptor
reply Wed Oct 06, 2021 4:08 pm
This sounds great, hopefully it becomes available beyond Disney+
I'm surprised Eric didn't write this, but Jennifer did great.
755 posts | registered Mar 31, 2017
DistinctivelyCanuck Ars Centurion
The photo of Luca in the Soyuz really drives home what a tight fit that ride is. Really explains the tweet of "economy" vs "first class" comparing Soyuz to Dragon.
419 posts | registered Jun 20, 2020
Starholme Wise, Aged Ars Veteran et Subscriptor
I guess one bonus is that you don't have to worry about air contaminating the vacuum system when you cut it open!
177 posts | registered Dec 12, 2012
Mandella Ars Praefectus et Subscriptor
Six parts? Whew, even to a space enthusiast that seems a lot for one repair, but what the heck, I'm in.
I'll give this one a try tomorrow.
Skeaptical Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
reply Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:30 pm
Person_Man wrote:
I think Eric is at saturation on the amount of space content he publishes
157 posts | registered Dec 3, 2016
thetentman Smack-Fu Master, in training
reply Thu Oct 07, 2021 8:20 am
I just fixed a restraining bracket in my 20 + year old refrigerator with Duct tape. Glad I am using the same High Tech repair items that NASA uses.
29 posts | registered Sep 4, 2018
cstalt Ars Praetorian et Subscriptor
I went down the rabbit hole a little bit on AMS and I don't understand how its cost went from $30M to $2B, just because the shuttle program was shuttered? Surely the additional launch costs didn't make it go up that much?
419 posts | registered Sep 22, 2015
Oak Ars Tribunus Militum et Subscriptor
reply Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:20 am
In article, author wrote:
In caption for second image gallery's last image, author wrote:
Cassidy participates in the fifth and final spacewalk to repair the AMS.
I'm a little confused. Did he fill in, during at least one of the spacewalks, for the previously designated astronauts?
rhgedaly Ars Praetorian
reply Thu Oct 07, 2021 2:00 pm
Haven't watched yet, but I hope the series mentions how close the AMS instrument came to not being launched into space.
Following the Columbia Accident and decision to retire the shuttles, the AMS mission was scrubbed from the remaining launch manifest. It took special authorization signed by the president to place it back on the schedule.
Perhaps also of interest, commander of that shuttle mission was Mark Kelly, who is now a US senator from Arizona (and the husband of gun violence survivor Gabby Gifford).
Last edited by rhgedaly on Thu Oct 07, 2021 2:03 pm
vachead Smack-Fu Master, in training
It is disappointing that this will not be available to young kids who aspire to the stars and are not privileged enough for the subscription streaming service to be within the reach of their parents' budget.
It's obvious that some taxpayer money was involved in this production; shouldn't there be a requirement by NASA that after a certain interval this series be freely available to all?
3 posts | registered Oct 7, 2021
vachead wrote:
Disney+ offers a 1-week free trial.
Disgruntled User Ars Praetorian
thetentman wrote:
That and some good ole percussive maintenance.
Two examples:
Hitting a generator with a hammer on the moon.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/19/world/nasa-mars-lander-mission-scli-intl-scn/index.html
442 posts | registered Nov 4, 2011
cstalt wrote:
I'm curious about this exponential cost increase as well, but I speculate it includes the launch costs. At this point in the program, the cost of retiring the shuttles was already budgeted by Congress. Adding (back) an extra shuttle mission and extending the program end date, which included maintaining infrastructure and paying worker salaries, could easily account for the $2B. That's why the flight required a special spending authorization bill signed by the president.
BTW, the subsequent final shuttle flight was also an add-on, delivering supplies, spare parts, and a shuttle pallet converted into an ISS storage compartment.
sunman42 Seniorius Lurkius
Dr. Ting, a Nobel laureate and an awfully bright guy, made a completely informal proposal for the AMS that went pretty much nowhere until he met with Dan Goldin, then NASA Administrator. The deal with signed with a handshake, never with any peer review or sensible cost estimation, which led to resentment within some parts of the space science community and a massive cost overrun.
On the other hand, any statistically significant results from the years of measurements will at the very least make physicists scratch their heads (read: propose new measurements if the results aren't in accord with expected models).
I guess the moral is that if you have a Nobel prize in physics on your resumé, you can get a meeting with the administrator and a chance to pitch your pet project, even if it's an end run around all the normal processes of technology readiness, peer review of scientific payoffs, and technical/management/cost reviews.
2 posts | registered Jul 26, 2012
fcrary Ars Scholae Palatinae
sunman42 wrote:
I think that was a classic example of an elevator speech. Dr. Ting had the chance to ride in an elevator with the NASA Administrator, and managed to convey the basics and value of his project in the time it took them to ride up a few floors.
9944 posts | registered May 18, 2018
Hispalensis Ars Scholae Palatinae et Subscriptor
Another unusual thing is that this is taking place many years after his Nobel prize, that's many years being really smart and not having many people pushing back against your ideas.
MHStrawn Ars Scholae Palatinae
reply Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:59 pm
Interesting that NASA IS good at this kind of stuff. Immediate challenge with naturally imposed deadlines forcing immediate action. The repair of the Hubble Space Telescope is, in my opinion. the greatest accomplishment in space.
Might not be as dramatic or historical as landing on the moon. But in terms of meeting a technical challenge and return on investment...nothing comes close IMO.
Compare to SLS and such where no immediate need requires urgent action.
738 posts | registered Feb 7, 2013
reply Fri Oct 08, 2021 12:02 am
Unfortunately this is how it often works.
TheFLP Ars Centurion et Subscriptor
reply Fri Oct 08, 2021 9:45 pm
I enjoyed it. My favorite kind of documentary — a good long look at highly skilled people doing their thing, whether it's making music, doing science, climbing mountains, fixing something that wasn't designed to be fixed … it never gets old.
In the last episode, Cassidy is on the ISS welcoming the first Crew Dragon astronauts aboard, so you get a nice historic moment as a bonus.
Took me halfway through the third episode to realize Colin Stetson did the music — I'm a big fan. Another reason to be predisposed to like it.
Oak wrote:
No, the caption is wrong. Cassidy made four spacewalks to install new Li-ion batteries for the station, along with Bob Behnken from the Crew Dragon.
Disgruntled User wrote:
[url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/19/world/nasa-mars-lander-mission-scli-intl-
scn/index.html]https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/19/world/nasa-mars-lander-mission-scli-intl-scn/index.html[/url]
The Duct tape failed after 3 days. I am now using Gorilla Tape. 2 days and so far so good.