Superconducting Magnet Technology

The potential for performing cosmic-ray research using superconducting magnet spectrometers on the Space Shuttle and the Space Station is reviewed. An assessment of the current technologies in magnets and cryostats is also given. Improvements in magnet construction have eliminated concerns about magnet transitions, leaving stray fields and normal cryogenics handling as the principal concerns with regard to utilizing magnets in space. Both of these problems can apparently be dealt with in a routine fashion. Improvements in spatial-detector technology which are now being employed in particle physics should allow use of ordinary NbTi superconductor to achieve measurements of antiprotons to 100 GV/c, studies of Be isotopes to 30 GV/c, and studies of iron to 6 GV/c (provided the requisite Cerenkov detector technology is available) on the Space Shuttle. On the Space Station, where observing times can be longer and stray-field problems are not so severe, an extremely wide range of experiments is possible, including antiproton observations to 1 TeV and isotopic observations to 100 GV/c using an instrument of reasonable proportions and cost.