CALET

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) is an international mission funded by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA. Research partnerships include Louisana State University, Washington University (St. Louis), the University of Denver, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The instruments were calibrated at CERN.

The main objectives of CALET are to measure the intensity and spectral characteristics of cosmic rays and high energy gamma-ray photons. These will address science goals related to

• cosmic ray origin and acceleration
• galactic cosmic ray propogation
• nearby cosmic ray sources
• dark matter signatures
• solar physics
• gamma-ray transients and burst sources

One item of particular interest is the electron spectrum above 1 TeV: electrons at this extraordinary high energy are almost certainly “local’ (no further than a few thousand light years) as they lose energy as they travel. Their detection and their spectral shape will provide insight into nearby electron acceleration sources.

CALET was carried to orbit on August 19, 2015 by a Japanese carrier, H2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV), and robotically installed on the Japanese Experiment Module-Exposed Facility (JEM-E or Kibo-EF) on the International Space Station (ISS). First events were recorded in October 2015. Routine observations have continued since as part of its initial five year planned operations: the instrument may well be kept operating well past this original operating time frame.

The CALET archive is hosted at DART/ISAS, while copies of the the data and associated calibration files are being currently migrated to the HEASARC.