MASS-SAT - MATTER-ANTIMATTER SPACE SPECTROMETER ON SATELLITE

The MASS-SAT Experiment (Matter-Antimatter Space Spectrometer on SATellite) presented here is conceived to search for an experimental answer to many open problems related to both Astrophysics and Physics, through the detection of positrons, antiprotons, nuclei and, overall, antinuclei if they exist. Among these problems there are the hypothesized presence of antigalaxies in the Universe (the matter-antimatter symmetry problem), the existence of black holes as possible antiproton sources (the Hawking effect), the existence of photinos as antiproton sources (related to the dark-matter problem), the understanding of the mechanism of cosmic-ray acceleration in the interstellar medium, the determination of the relative abundancies of isotopes in cosmic rays and many others. The choice of an orbit expecially appropriate for that (geostationary or polar orbit) as well as the choice of an apparatus composed only of solid-state detectors and permanent magnets (no gas and no liquid helium on board, avoiding complexity and the necessity of refilling) make it possible to conceive a long (4-5 years) period of data taking with unprecedented sensitivity in the low-energy region of the cosmic-ray spectrum. The MASS-SAT experiment shows itself as the prosecution of the MASS balloon-borne experiment and as the logical complement of the Astromag program on the Space Station Freedom. © 1990 Società Italiana di Fisica.