33RD INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE, RIO DE JANEIRO 2013 THE ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS CONFERENCE Status of the JEM-EUSO Mission

Abstract: The Extreme Universe Space Observatory, on-board the Japanese Experimental Module of the ISS (JEM-EUSO), mainly aims at unveiling the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), beyond the suppression due to the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz’min effect. JEM-EUSO will also explore fundamental physics at these extreme energies. Designed to measure the arrival directions, the energies, and possibly, the nature of these particles, JEM-EUSO consists of a wide-field of view (60 degrees) telescope, with a diameter of about 2.5m, which points to Nadir from space to detect, during night-time, the UV (290-430 nm) tracks generated by extensive air showers propagating in the earth’s atmosphere. The high statistics arrival direction map will allow anisotropy studies and, most likely, the identification of individual sources of UHECRs and their association with known nearby astronomical objects. This will shine new light on the understanding of the acceleration mechanisms and, perhaps, will produce new discoveries in astrophysics and/or fundamental physics. The comparison of the energy spectra among the spatially resolved individual sources will eventually confirm the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz’min process, validating Lorentz invariance up to γ ∼ 1011. In this paper, we will present the current status of the mission, reporting on the most recent technical developments, mission, and programmatic aspects of this challenging space-based observatory