The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth within the inner radiation belt, where high-energy protons are produced by collisions of cosmic rays to the upper atmosphere. About 6 astronauts stay in the ISS for a long period, and it should be important to monitor and assess the radiation environment in the ISS. The tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) is an instrument to measure the impact of radiation on the human tissue. KASI is developing a TEPC as a candidate payload of the ISS. Before the detailed design of the TEPC, we performed simulations to test whether our conceptual design of the TEPC will work propertly in the ISS and to predict its performance. The simulations estimated that the TEPC will measure the dose equivalent of about 1:1 mSv during a day in the ISS, which is consistent with previous measurements.

We have developed a control electronics system for an infrared detector array of KASINICS (KASI Near Infrared Camera System), which is a new ground-based instrument of the Korea Astronomy and Space science Institute (KASI). Equipped with a 512×512 InSb array (ALADDIN III Quadrant, manufactured by Raytheon) sensitive from 1 to 5μm, KASINICS will be used at J, H, Ks, and L-bands. The controller consists of DSP(Digital Signal Processor), Bias, Clock, and Video boards which are installed on a single VME-bus backplane. TMS320C6713DSP, FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array), and 384-MB SDRAM(Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) are included in the DSP board. DSP board manages entire electronics system, generates digital clock patterns and communicates with a PC using USB 2.0 interface. The clock patterns are downloaded from a PC and stored on the FPGA. UART is used for the communication with peripherals. Video board has 4 channel ADC which converts video signal into 16-bit digital numbers. Two video boards are installed on the controller for ALADDIN array. The Bias board provides 16 dc bias voltages and the Clock board has 15 clock channels. We have also coded a DSP firmware and a test version of control software in C-language. The controller is flexible enough to operate a wide range of IR array and CCD. Operational tests of the controller have been successfully finished using a test ROIC (Read-Out Integrated Circuit).

The FIMS (Far-ultraviolet IMaging Spectrograph; also known as SPEAR, Spectroscopy of Plasma Evolution from Astrophysical Radiation) is the primary payload of the STSAT-1, the first Korean science satellite, which was launched in September, 2003. The FIMS performs spectral imaging of diffuse far-ultraviolet emission with the unprecedented wide field of view and the relatively good spectral resolution. We present far-ultraviolet spectral observations of highly ionized interstellar medium including supernova remnants, superbubbles, soft X-ray shadows, and the molecular hydrogen fluorescent emission lines. The FIMS has detected He II, C III, 0 III, O IV, Si IV, O VI, and H2 fluorescent emission lines. The emission lines arise in shocked or thermally heated and in photo-ionized gases. We present an overview of the FIMS instrument and its initial observational results.