{"id":357131,"date":"2025-12-19T00:11:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357131\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T00:11:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:11:16","slug":"a-quest-for-dark-matter-answers-football-field-sized-balloon-takes-flight-in-antarctica-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/357131\/","title":{"rendered":"A quest for dark matter answers: football-field-sized balloon takes flight in Antarctica : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\"\"The GAPS experiment prepares to launch from Antarctica. (Photo credit: NASA\/Andy Hamilton)<\/p>\n

A groundbreaking scientific experiment aimed at detecting dark matter in space launched from Antarctica on Dec. 15, with significant contributions from University of\u00a0Hawai\u02bbi\u00a0at M\u0101noa.<\/p>\n

The General AntiParticle Spectrometer experiment is suspended from a football-field-sized balloon approximately 24 miles above Antarctica to search for rare cosmic antimatter that could help unlock the mysteries of dark matter, one of physics\u2019 most perplexing phenomena.<\/p>\n

\"\"A snapshot of the GAPS experiment launch on Dec. 15. Courtesy University of Hawai\u02bbi<\/p>\n

Dark matter makes up about 85% of all the mass in our universe, yet we can\u2019t see it or directly detect it\u2014we only know it exists because of how it affects things around it through gravity. Understanding dark matter would help us grasp what most of the universe is actually made of and potentially reveal fundamental new physics that could revolutionize our understanding of how everything works, according to researchers. <\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

UH\u00a0M\u0101noa received $1.4 million, part of a larger\u00a0NASA\u00a0grant, in support of the project, and has been playing a leading role in developing the experiment, which is executed in collaboration with researchers from Columbia University,\u00a0UCLA\u00a0and Northeastern University, alongside international partners from Japan, Italy and China.<\/p>\n

\"\"Achim Stoessl and Philip von Doetinchem for the 2024 GAPS campaign in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis experiment puts\u00a0Hawai\u02bbi\u00a0at the forefront of one of the biggest mysteries in modern physics,\u201d said Philip von Doetinchem, project lead and\u00a0UH\u00a0M\u0101noa Department of Physics and Astronomy<\/a>\u00a0professor. \u201cOur students and researchers at\u00a0UH\u00a0M\u0101noa are helping lead a quest to understand what makes up a large fraction of our universe, showing that groundbreaking science is happening right here in our islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0UH\u00a0GAPS\u00a0flight operations team is composed of Research Corporation of\u00a0UH\u00a0researcher Achim Stoessl, graduate student Grace Tytus and Doetinchem. In addition, Cory Gerrity was instrumental for on-campus detector development tasks during the pandemic, which was also supported by undergraduate student Hershel Weiner.<\/p>\n

\"\"Achim Stoessl, Grace Tytus and Philip von Doetinchem at NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

The experiment seeks to detect antiprotons and antideuterons (antimatter particles that are used in research to study dark matter and other phenomena), which scientists believe could provide crucial evidence about the nature of dark matter. While researchers have observed dark matter\u2019s gravitational effects, its fundamental properties remain unknown.<\/p>\n

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW AD<\/p>\n

GAPS\u00a0utilizes\u00a0NASA\u00a0balloon facilities similar to previous Antarctic experiments, including one that recently challenged standard physics models. The project builds on years of preparation, including extensive detector calibration work at\u00a0UH\u00a0M\u0101noa and integration testing at multiple\u00a0NASA\u00a0facilities.<\/p>\n

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is housed in\u00a0UH\u00a0M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Natural Sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The GAPS experiment prepares to launch from Antarctica. (Photo credit: NASA\/Andy Hamilton) A groundbreaking scientific experiment aimed at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[195501,195502,195503,1983,64,63,195504,20470,15758,195505,195506,596,89790,195507,195508,195509,195510,195511,195512,85,109879],"class_list":["post-357131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-achim-stoessl","tag-antarctica-balloon","tag-antideuterons","tag-antimatter","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-dark-matter","tag-darkmatter","tag-department-of-physics-and-astronomy","tag-detecting-dark-matter","tag-football","tag-gaps","tag-general-antiparticle-spectrometer","tag-grace-tytus","tag-hershel-weiner","tag-nasa-balloon","tag-nasa-grant","tag-philip-von-doetinchem","tag-sports","tag-university-of-hawaii-at-manoa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}