The results of the EMC and TV tests for the AMS were reviewed during the Technical Interchange Meeting last Friday. Throughout the various phases of the TV test, all detector subsystems demonstrated excellent performance. An important finding from the TV test was that the endurance of the Superconducting Magnet was estimated to be approximately 20 months. With the extension of ISS operations until 2020, it is anticipated that the Superconducting Magnet may only function for a fraction of the extended data-taking period of AMS-02 on the ISS.

Extensive evaluation of the Permanent Magnet option was also conducted. It was demonstrated that by repositioning part of the existing silicon tracker, the detector’s performance at high energies remains unchanged, albeit with a slight loss in acceptance. However, this loss can be quickly compensated by extending the experiment’s duration. The gain in physics sensitivity for the Permanent Magnet solution, operating over a 10-year period, was estimated to range from a factor of 3.5 below 500 GeV to a factor of 2 between 500 GeV and 1 TeV.

At the conclusion of the meeting, there was a consensus in favor of supporting the Permanent Magnet configuration. The implementation and integration of the Permanent Magnet solution will be conducted at CERN, with plans for shipment to KSC by early September 2010.