The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS)

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a large acceptance (0.65 sr m2) detector designed to operate in the International Space Station (ISS) for three years. The purposes of the experiment are to search for cosmic antimatter and dark matter and to study the composition and energy spectrum of the primary cosmic rays. A "scaled-down" version has been flown on the Space Shuttle Discovery for 10 days in June 1998. The complete AMS is programmed for installation on the ISS in October 2003 for an operational period of 3 yr. This contribution reports on the experimental configuration that will be installed on the ISS.