Intl Space Station repairs expected later this year: NASA

Astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) will conduct five spacewalks before the end of this year in order to repair an antimatter detector, a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spokesperson told Sputnik.

The spacewalks will be carried out by NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano in November and December, the spokesperson said.

The astronauts will need to fix the cooling system of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02). The module, installed on the ISS in May 2011, measures antimatter in cosmic rays.

According to NASA, the spectrometer can also detect high-energy radiation coming from distant stars.