n this paper we describe the main characteristics of the JEM-EUSO instrument. The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EUSO) of the International Space Station (ISS) will observe Ultra High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) from space. It will detect UV-light of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) produced by UHECRs traversing the Earth's atmosphere. For each event, the detector will determine the energy, arrival direction and the type of the primary particle. The advantage of a space-borne detector resides in the large field of view, using a target volume of about 10(12) tons of atmosphere, far greater than what is achievable from ground. Another advantage is a nearly uniform sampling of the whole celestial sphere. The corresponding increase in statistics will help to clarify the origin and sources of UHECRs and characterize the environment traversed during their production and propagation. JEM-EUSO is a 1.1 ton refractor telescope using an optics of 2.5 m diameter Fresnel lenses to focus the UV-light from EAS on a focal surface composed of about 5,000 multi-anode photomultipliers, for a total of a parts per thousand integral 3a <...10(5) channels. A multi-layer parallel architecture handles front-end acquisition, selecting and storing valid triggers. Each processing level filters the events with increasingly complex algorithms using FPGAs and DSPs to reject spurious events and reduce the data rate to a value compatible with downlink constraints

Meteor and fireball observations are important to derive the inventory and physical characterization of the population of small solar system bodies orbiting in the vicinity of the Earth. After decades of ground-based activities, the proposed JEM-EUSO mission has some chances to become the first operational space-based platform having among its scientific objectives the observation of fireball and meteor events. The observing strategy developed to detect these phenomena, which are eminently "slow" events with respect to the extremely energetic cosmic ray events which are the primary objective of the mission, can prove to be very suitable also for the possible detection of nuclearites, an exciting possibility which enhances the overall scientific rationale of JEM-EUSO, and suggests that the planned observation of slow events may be very interesting in many respects.

In this paper we describe the observational principle and the expected performances of JEM-EUSO. Designed as the first mission to explore the ultra-high energy universe from space, JEM-EUSO monitors the Earth's atmosphere at night to record the UV (300-430 nm) tracks generated by the Extensive Air Showers. We present the expected geometrical aperture and annual exposure in nadir and tilt modes for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays as a function of the ISS altitude.

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory on board the Japanese Experiment\ud Module of the International Space Station, JEM-EUSO, is being designed\ud to search from space ultra-high energy cosmic rays. These are charged\ud particles with energies from a few 10(19) eV to beyond 10(20) eV, at the\ud very end of the known cosmic ray energy spectrum. JEM-EUSO will also\ud search for extreme energy neutrinos, photons, and exotic particles,\ud providing a unique opportunity to explore largely unknown phenomena in\ud our Universe. The mission, principally based on a wide field of view (60\ud degrees) near-UV telescope with a diameter of similar to 2.5 m, will\ud monitor the earth's atmosphere at night, pioneering the observation from\ud space of the ultraviolet tracks (290-430 nm) associated with giant\ud extensive air showers produced by ultra-high energy primaries\ud propagating in the earth's atmosphere. Observing from an orbital\ud altitude of similar to 400 km, the mission is expected to reach an\ud instantaneous geometrical aperture of A (g e o) a parts per thousand yen\ud 2 x 10(5) km(2) sr with an estimated duty cycle of similar to 20 \%.\ud Such a geometrical aperture allows unprecedented exposures,\ud significantly larger than can be obtained with ground-based experiments.\ud In this paper we briefly review the history of space-based search for\ud ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We then introduce the special issue of\ud Experimental Astronomy devoted to the various aspects of such a\ud challenging enterprise. We also summarise the activities of the on-going\ud JEM-EUSO program

JEM-EUSO is a space mission designed to investigate Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos (E > 5 · 10 19 eV) from the International Space Station (ISS). Looking down from above its wide angle telescope is able to observe their air showers and collect such data from a very wide area. Highly specific trigger algorithms are needed to drastically reduce the data load in the presence of both atmospheric and human activity related background light, yet retain the rare cosmic ray events recorded in the telescope. We report the performance in offline testing of the first level trigger algorithm on data from JEM-EUSO prototypes and laboratory measurements observing different light sources: data taken during a high altitude balloon flight over Canada, laser pulses observed from the ground traversing the real atmosphere, and model landscapes reproducing realistic aspect ratios and light 5 conditions as would be seen from the ISS itself. The first level trigger logic successfully kept the trigger rate within the permissible bounds when challenged with artificially produced as well as naturally encountered night sky background fluctuations and while retaining events with general air-shower characteristics.