Washington – On Tuesday, December 16, the international GAPS (General AntiParticle Spectrometer) experiment was successfully launched from NASA’s McMurdo base in Antarctica. Using a high-altitude balloon, the detector will fly over the Antarctic ice at roughly 30 km, searching for rare antimatter particles such as antiprotons, antideuterium, and antihelium.

Detecting these particles could provide crucial insights into the nature of dark matter, one of the major unsolved problems in modern physics.

The University of Bergamo plays a key role in the project through its Microelectronics Group, which, together with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), designed and built the detector’s readout integrated circuit. This component is central to the instrument’s sensitivity, allowing it to identify extremely rare events within a high flux of particles.

GAPS is an international collaboration involving universities and research centers in the United States, Japan, and Italy, including Columbia University, MIT, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and multiple INFN sections. The project is supported by NASA, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), INFN, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

This mission marks the experiment’s second flight campaign; a planned launch in 2024 was postponed due to adverse weather. The international team is currently active at McMurdo Base, conducting flight operations that will continue into January.