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All of the acronyms mentioned in this site are defined in this glossary. The rest of the glossary is still in progress. If you would like to look up physics terms while you are navigating are site, we recommend . Place any unfamiliar term in the search engine and it will pull up a definition in seconds.

A AGASA      Akeno Giant Air Shower Array AGN      active galactic nuclei AM      atmosphere monitor ANSI      American National Standards Institute AO      Announcement of Opportunity AU      astronomical unit ASAP      Advanced Systems Analysis Program ASQC      American Society of Quality Control atom      An atom is an electrically neutral body consisting of a nucleus (consisting of protons and neutrons) and a cloud of electrons equal in number to the number of protons in the nucleus. The number of protons in an atom is called its atomic number, and uniquely identifies a chemical element. B BATSE      Burst and Transient Spectroscopy Experiment C CAO      Center for Applied Optics CEPF      Columbus External Payload Facility CERN      European Laboratory for Particle Physics CERS      cost-estimating relationship CES      control electronics subsystem CESR      Cornell Electron Storage Ring CETDP      Cross-Enterprise Technology Development Program CMB      cosmic microwave background CNB      cosmic neutrino background CR (cosmic ray)      A high-speed particle--either an atomic nucleus or an electron--that travels throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, including the solar system. Some of these particles originate from the Sun, but most come from sources outside the solar system. CXO      Chandra X-Ray Observatory CYTOP      amorphous soluble perfluoropolymer D DAQ      data acquisition E EPO      education and public outreach EAS      extended air showers ECT      emulsion chamber technology EECR      extreme-energy cosmic ray EIRS       EUSO Instrument Requirement Specification electron      A fundamental particle with negative electric charge that is found arranged in quantum mechanical orbits around neutral atoms. The electron is a lepton, and therefore has lepton number 1. The antiparticle of the electron is called the positron. ESA      European Space Agency ESRD       EUSO Science Requirements Document EUSO      Extreme-Universe Space Observatory F FEES      front-end electronic subsystem FIRE      fluorescence image readout electronics FOCUS      Frontier Optical Coherent Ultrafast Center FOV      field of view FS      filter subsystem FSDS      focal-surface detector subsystem G GEVS      General Environmental and Verification Specification GLAST      Gamma-Ray Large-Area Space Telescope GOES      Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GRB      gamma-ray burst GRO      Gamma-Ray Observatory GSE      ground suppport equipment GTU      gate timing unit GZK      Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin H HiRes      High-Resolution Fly’s Eye experiment HOU      Hands-On Universe HST      Hubble Space Telescope HV      high voltage I ICD      Interface Control Document ISS      International Space Station L LI      Lorentz invariance LIDAR      light detecting and ranging LSE      lead systems engineer M MAPMT      multianode photomultiplier tube MI      minority institution MIDEX      Medium-Class Explorer MO      Missions of Opportunity MOC      Mission Operations Center MOCCA      Monte Carlo cascade MPG      Marshall Procedures and Guidelines MSFC      Marshall Space Flight Center N N      nitrogen neutron      A spin-1/2 neutral fermion with mass mn = 1.6750 x 10-24 g = 1.6750 x 10-27 kg, commonly denoted n or 01n. Neturons are nucleons, but can also exist as free particles. NPG      NASA Procedures and Guidelines NSF      National Science Foundation NSSTC      National Space Science and Technology Center O OS      optical subsystem OSS      Office of Space Science OUST      onboard unit system trigger OWL      Orbiting Wide-Angle Light Collector P PI      Principal Investigator PM      project manager PMMA      polymethal methacrylate PMT      photomultiplier tube POC      Payload Operations Center ProSEDS      Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System proton      A charged elementary particle that can exist freely or in an atomic nucleus. It has charge +e, where e is the charge on the electron. Q QCD      quantum chromodynamics R RHIC      relativistic heavy-ion collider RIKEN      Institute for Chemical and Physical Research RVC      Requirements, Verification, and Compliance S SDB      small disadvantaged business SDC      Science Data Center SM      standard model SMP      supermassive particle SOC      Science Operations Center SOMTC      Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center SPAP      Safety and Product Assurance Plan SSL      Space Science Laboratory SSS      support structure subsystem STS      Space Transportation System SXI      solar x-ray imager T T&ODHS      trigger and onboard data handling subsystem TD      topological defects TIDE      Thermal-Ion Detector Experiment TIS      total integrated scatter TPX      polymethyl-pentene TREK      telescience resources kit U U.S.      United States UAH      University of Alabama in Huntsville UCB      University of California at Berkeley UCLA      University of California at Los Angeles UP      University of Palermo UT      University of Texas UV       ultraviolet UVI      ultraviolet imager V VLS      very large-scale integration VU      Vanderbilt University W WBS      work breakdown structure WIC      Wideband Imaging Camera Z ZEONEX      amorphous cyclo-olefin

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