Sitting shift

While AMS is in space for three years, our team of scientists will be on the ground. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, several of us will be watching! This is a longstanding tradition for particle physicsists; everyone on the experiment, from the new graduate students right up to Nobel laureate Prof. Samuel Ting, will probably have to spend a few eight-hour shifts at the control center. The shifter's job is to watch the incoming data - maybe make a little plot of the proton spectrum occasionally, for example - and see if anything looks unusual. He or she will also watch various temperatures, pressures, and voltages - if anything serious goes wrong, there is an established procedure for what to do. If something not-so-serious goes wrong, the shifter will be able to page the experts directly. Control room

Anyway, everyone on the collaboration can look forward to some long (hopefully boring) nights and weekends and early mornings, watching AMS work!
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