Physicists at the University of Southampton are developing an experiment to detect dark matter using levitating sheets of graphite in microgravity. The experiment, set to launch aboard the Jovian-1 satellite in 2026, aims to detect a 'dark wind' pushing on the levitated particles if dark matter exists at a high enough density.
At the University of Southampton in the UK, physicists are testing an apparatus that involves levitating sheets of graphite in microgravity to look for tiny anomalies that could point to the nature of this elusive substance.
"There are lots of theories as to what dark matter might be but no experiment on Earth has ever come close to detecting it." We can tell this by looking at things like the rotation of the outer parts of galaxies, which is way higher than it should be based on their mass, orBut we don't know what dark matter is. We can't detect it directly. It doesn't give off any light, or interact with the Universe that we can tell, other than its gravitational impact. We may never know what it is, but scientists are not going to let it go without exhausting every possible avenue of inquiry.
"Our experiment is unlike anything attempted before: we'll be levitating graphite between magnets which, in zero gravity, are incredibly sensitive to small forces,"
DARK MATTER SPACE EXPERIMENT GRAVITY MICROGRAVITY GRAPHITE
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