Professor Park Il-Heung’s research team has produced a Silicon Charged Detector (SCD) which was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on August 15. The SCD will be installed in the outer-module of the ISS and conduct the space mission for at least three years.
The SCD is equipment used for making a precise measurement of the component of the cosmic rays, particles falling to Earth from space. Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912 for the first time, but their origin and the process of diffusion have not been set for more than 100 years. Produced only by genuine domestic technology, especially the semiconductor sensor, the SCD is going to play a key role in Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass for the International Space Station (ISSCREAM), a mass space project conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), aiming to measure high energy cosmic rays. It has a one square meter surface and weighs 150 kilograms, being the biggest size among the detectors used in space. The four-layered silicon sensors have an accuracy of 99%, showing the best efficiency in the world so far.
The SCD was produced by professor Park Il-Heung’s research team with the cooperation of Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), small and medium-sized businesses, and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH). It has a huge significance in that the whole process, from designing to testing, was developed domestically. “This is the first time to install domestic equipment for a mass space experiment conducted by ISS, and it will become a case where domestic researchers participate in actual, essential, and collaborative positions by taking charge of the major instruments used in primary space projects of NASA,” professor Park said.