ISS Astronauts Successfully Repair Cosmic Ray Detector During Spacewalk Written 27 January 2020
Astronaut Luca Parmitano during the final spacewalk to repair a cosmic ray detector. | NASA
The AP reported that on Saturday, NASA’s Andrew Morgan and Italy’s Luca Parmitano conducted a spacewalk and “plugged a leak in a cosmic ray detector outside the” ISS. As a result, “the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer could resume its hunt for elusive antimatter and dark matter by midweek.” The spacewalk was the “fourth and final” effort “since November to revive the instrument’s crippled cooling system.” The two astronauts had previously installed the new coolant pumps, and Saturday’s spacewalk was to ensure that there was no leaks. Ultimately, “Parmitano quickly discovered a leak in one of the eight coolant lines – the first one he tested – and tightened the fitting.”
Full Story (Associated Press)