PAMELA Satellite May Be Detecting Relativistic-Proton Dark Matter Stragglers

By Jerome Drexler On August 13, 2008, the journal "Nature" reported that the particle-detecting PAMELA satellite (of Italy, Russia, Germany, and Sweden, launched June 2006) had detected an unexpected surplus of high-energy positively-charged particles whizzing through space. The article points out that these particles are either high-energy protons or high-energy positrons and that PAMELA's single detector is not capable of determining which one it is. PAMELA is an acronym for, "Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics." The PAMELA researchers believe the detected positively-charged particles may be high-energy positrons created by theoretical collision-annihilation of theoretical proton-free cold dark matter WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). Alternatively, based upon the large... [read full story]