Giant Space Magnet Reveals a 'Startling Possibility' | BBC Earth Science — Transcript

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1. 0:0130 years ago, Sam's expertise was in
2. 0:04fundamental particles found on Earth.
3. 0:08>> I have a group who collaborate with me.
4. 0:12None of us has done anything about
5. 0:14space.
6. 0:15We start with a totally clear head.
7. 0:18>> [laughter]
8. 0:18>> Namely zero. We we didn't know anything.
9. 0:24>> The novice group's bold idea was to
10. 0:27build a detector equipped with a highly
11. 0:29specialized magnet designed to discover
12. 0:32antimatter in space.
13. 0:35>> I was quite worried how we're going to
14. 0:36do this. Nobody has ever put a magnet in
15. 0:39space.
16. 0:42>> Known as Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer or
17. 0:45AMS,
18. 0:46it was built over 15 years by hundreds
19. 0:49of scientists from 16 different
20. 0:51countries.
21. 0:55>> Took us a long months of one that we
22. 0:57have on.
23. 1:02>> Endeavour will deliver the Alpha
24. 1:04Magnetic Spectrometer, a particle
25. 1:06physics detector designed to search for
26. 1:08various types of unusual matter by
27. 1:09measuring cosmic rays.
28. 1:12>> In May 2011,
29. 1:14the $2 billion 7.5 ton antimatter
30. 1:18detector was ready to launch.
31. 1:21>> Now I bring back all the memories.
32. 1:27>> The detector was loaded aboard the
33. 1:29Endeavour space shuttle.
34. 1:32It's destination,
35. 1:33the International Space Station.
36. 1:37>> I was quite nervous.
37. 1:43So many people
38. 1:45uh
39. 1:46spent so much time
40. 1:48and then we have done something nobody
41. 1:50thought was possible.
42. 1:53>> Okay, Mark, looks like a great day to uh
43. 1:55Endeavour. Good luck, [music] guys, be
44. 1:57safe, and we'll see you back here June
45. 1:581st.
46. 1:59>> 3
47. 2:002
48. 2:020 and liftoff for the final launch of
49. 2:05Endeavour, expanding our knowledge,
50. 2:08expanding our lives in space.
51. 2:12>> [music]
52. 2:23>> 250 mi above Earth, in a feat of
53. 2:27precision engineering,
54. 2:29the detector was attached to the space
55. 2:31station.
56. 2:39>> [music]
57. 2:41>> Within a short time, we can see signals
58. 2:43coming back,
59. 2:45and we know everything's working.
60. 2:50I was really
61. 2:52>> [music]
62. 2:57>> Since that moment,
63. 2:59the detector has been hunting for
64. 3:01antimatter in space.
65. 3:05>> This is a space station.
66. 3:08It goes every 93 minutes around the
67. 3:11Earth once.
68. 3:15>> As the antimatter detector orbits the
69. 3:17Earth,
70. 3:18billions of cosmic rays pass through it.
71. 3:23>> The red line
72. 3:24is the
73. 3:25cosmic rays.
74. 3:27Since May 19th, 2011,
75. 3:30so it's 191 billion.
76. 3:34So, day and night, you have to collect
77. 3:36it. There's no such a thing as
78. 3:38Christmas, no such a thing as
79. 3:41Halloween.
80. 3:44>> The cosmic rays path through the [music]
81. 3:46magnetic detector determines their
82. 3:48charge,
83. 3:49and therefore, whether or not they are
84. 3:51antimatter.
85. 3:53>> [music]
86. 3:56>> Searching for traces of antimatter in
87. 3:58the enormity of the cosmos is
88. 4:00unimaginably difficult.
89. 4:05But a little over 7 years into the
90. 4:07experiment an intriguing signal was
91. 4:10picked up.
92. 4:12An anti-atom.
93. 4:14>> We found one
94. 4:16very clean
95. 4:18antihelium.
96. 4:21The mass is exactly like helium
97. 4:24except the charge is just the opposite.
98. 4:29>> Discovering antihelium amongst billions
99. 4:32of other particles could have been an
100. 4:34error.
101. 4:35>> And then after a few months second one
102. 4:38occur.
103. 4:39There's no other signals nearby. Looks
104. 4:42perfect.
105. 4:45>> Finding an anti-atom in space is
106. 4:48baffling.
107. 4:49>> It cannot be produced from ordinary
108. 4:52cosmic ray collisions. It has to be from
109. 4:56something
110. 4:57unexpected.
111. 5:03>> More evidence is needed.
112. 5:07But finding antihelium in space suggests
113. 5:10a startling possibility.
114. 5:15There could be other complex antimatter
115. 5:17structures in our universe.
116. 5:22There could even be antimatter stars
117. 5:24waiting to be discovered.
118. 5:28And if they are out there
119. 5:30there should also be other types of
120. 5:32anti-atoms.
121. 5:34>> Anticarbon, antioxygen, and then we have
122. 5:38more we will have more confidence indeed
123. 5:42that something
124. 5:44totally different out there.