The alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS) is a multi-purpose particle detector designed for operation in space [The AMS collaboration, Alcaraz, J., et al., (2002) “The alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS)”, Nucl. Instr. Meth., A 478, 119–122; The AMS collaboration, Alpat, B. (2001) “The alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS) experiment on the international space station”, Nucl. Instr. Meth., A 461, 272–274; Battiston, R. (1998) “The alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS)”, Nucl. Instr. Meth., A 409, 458–463; Buenerd M (2001) AMS, a particle spectrometer in space. Talk given at the XXIV Symposium on Nuclear Physics in Taxco, Mexico].† It will be mounted on the International Space Station‡ by the end of 2005 as shown in Fig. 1. There it will investigate the primary cosmic particle spectrum undistorted by the earth's atmosphere. About 1011 particles in the energy range up to a few TeV will be analysed for mass, electrical charge and energy. The unpreceded precision and statistics of the data will allow new insights in the p...