ISS-CREAM

Details: Published: 14 January 2014

The ISS-CREAM experiment successfully collected data on the ISS from August 22, 2017 to February 12, 2019.

Building on the success of the Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) balloon flights, the instrument has been transformed for accommodation on the International Space Station (ISS), specifically, NASA’s share of the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). The CREAM on the ISS, ISS-CREAM, mission completed its system level qualification tests at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in August 2015. It was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on August 14, 2017. The instrument was successfully installed and activated on the ISS Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility as an attached payload on August 22, 2017. The goal is to extend the energy reach of direct measurements of cosmic rays to the highest energy possible to probe their origin, acceleration and propagation. Its long exposure above the atmosphere offers orders of magnitude greater statistics without the secondary particle background inherent in balloon experiments investigating the origin of cosmic rays. The ISS-CREAM instrument consists of complementary and redundant particle detectors to measure elemental spectra of Z = 1–26 nuclei over the energy range 10¹² to >10¹⁵ eV. An ionization calorimeter determines the energy of cosmic ray particles, provides tracking, and the event trigger. The four-layer Silicon charge detectors provide precise charge measurements. Top/bottom counting detectors provide shower profiles for electron/hadron separation. The boronated scintillator detector provides additional electron/hadron discrimination using thermal neutrons produced by particles that interact within the calorimeter. ISS-CREAM will (1) determine how the observed spectral differences of protons and heavier nuclei evolve at higher energies approaching the knee; (2) be capable of measuring potential changes in the spectra of secondary nuclei resulting from interactions of primary cosmic rays with the interstellar medium; (3) conduct a sensitive search for spectral features, such as a bend in proton and helium spectra; and (4) measure electrons with sufficient accuracy and statistics to determine whether or not a nearby cosmic-ray source exists. It will also contribute indirectly to the dark matter search by measuring electrons in addition to nuclei at energies beyond where current direct measurements exist.

The ISS-CREAM investigation is conducted by an international collaboration of researchers from the US, S. Korea, France and Mexico. The University of Maryland (UMD) is the PI institution responsible for the overall project. SungKyunKwan University (SKKU) is responsible for the SCD, a primary science instrument, and Kyungpook National University (KNU) is responsible for the TCD/BCD. The Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Grenoble, France and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico play critical roles in the CAL system, a primary science instrument, and with the Science Flight Computer. Penn State University (PSU) in collaboration with NASA GSFC and Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is responsible for the BSD, a secondary science instrument.

Resources

Investigators and Collaborators

ISS-CREAM Logo

Member Login

ISS-CREAM

ISS-CREAM launched

Headlines

Partners

Support Logos

Latest News