Space experiment instrument developed by Sungkyunkwan university research team will be bound for the International Space Station.



Sungkyunkwan university announced a silicon charge detector(SCD) developed by research team of Prof. Ilheung PARK of department of physics will be delivered to the International Space Station on 15th, at 1:31 pm(Korea time) at the Kennedy Space Center in the United States.



The space experiment instrument will be delivered to space by a SpaceX rocket ‘Dragon’. It will be installed on an outside module of the International Space Station and be expected to perform space mission for at least three years.



The silicon charge detector is instrument to measure component of cosmic rays which is particles falling to Earth from space.



It is made by using Semiconductor sensor technology. Cosmic rays is first detected in 1912, but its origins or spread processes have not been identified for more than 100 years. So, The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass mission destined for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM) is designed to measure the highest-energy cosmic rays by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Republic of Korea, the United States, Mexico and France are participating in the experiment.



According to Sungkyunkwan University, the silicon charge detector will play a key role in the ISS-CREAM. It is made of pure domestic technology and has an area of 1 ㎡ and a weight of 150 ㎏, which is the maximum size of a detector used in space. Four layers of silicon sensors measure component of cosmic rays. (Accuracy 99%)



This detector was developed by Sungkyunkwan University in cooperation with Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute and small and medium enterprises, and Korea Institute of Industrial Technology did space environment experiment. The whole process was conducted in Korea.



Prof. PARK said “This is the first time that domestic high-tech instrument is used in large space experiment of the International Space Station.”, and “This is a case we make the core instrument for main space project of NASA, and participate as main partner.”