Team Led by Waseda University Begins Observing High Energy Cosmic Rays Using Kibo's Module

The Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) has successfully begun collecting data aboard the International Space Station (ISS). CALET, developed by a team of experts led by Shoji Torii (pictured), professor at the Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, in collaboration with JAXA, was launched on an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on Aug. 19.

The CALET project, by visualizing atomic nuclei and elementary particles, aims to observe high-energy cosmic rays in space for the first time. Researchers are trying to unravel the mysteries of the universe by observing the cosmic rays accelerated at supernova explosions and generated by annihilation and/or decay of dark matter. CALET's observations may find historically important clues to clarifying how the universe has evolved. CALET will remain on the ISS to conduct observations for more than two years, continuing to investigate the mysteries of the universe.

"Since I was a child, I've been fascinated by whether there is an edge of the universe and how the universe was formed," Torii said. "I'm really looking forward to and excited at the project, thinking that it may unravel the big mysteries of the universe."

(Image provided with Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering news release)

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