Dark Matter Particle Explorer

The scientific objectives of the mission are: • the search and study of dark matter particles by conducting high-resolution observations of high-energy electrons and gamma rays. • the study of the origin of cosmic rays by observing high energy electrons and heavy nuclei in the TeV energy range. • the study of the propagation and acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays through the observation of high-energy gamma rays. ==Collaboration==

The project is the result of a collaboration among research institutions and universities in Italy, Switzerland and China under the leadership of the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The DAMPE mission is funded by the strategic priority science and technology projects in space science of CAS. The institutes that have been part of the collaboration are: IHEP (Institute of High Energy Physics), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Beijing, China; IMP (Institute of Modern Physics), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Lanzhou, China; NSSC (National Space Science Center), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Beijing, China; PMO (Purple Mountain Observatory), CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Nanjing, China; USTC (University of Science and Technology of China), Hefei, China; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and University of Perugia, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and University of Bari, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and University of Lecce, Italy; INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI), L'Aquila, Italy; DPNC (Département de physique nucléaire et corpusculaire), University of Geneva, Switzerland. ==Results==

The first scientific result of DAMPE came in November 2017 as the direct detection of a break in the cosmic electron plus positron energy spectrum at an energy of 0.9 TeV. In October 2019, DAMPE released its measurement of the proton component of cosmic rays, confirming previous results while also hinting towards new features in the energy spectrum. ==Naming==

The space observatory is named Wukong () after the Sun Wukong, who is the hero in the classic Chinese tale Journey to the West. Literally, "wu"(悟) means comprehension or understanding and "kong"（空）means void, so this name could also be understood as "understanding the void", relating to the undiscovered nature of dark matter. In the game, the player needs Dampé to find the treasure, which matches with the mission of DAMPE (not finding dark matter, but finding the evidence that dark matter exists). ==References==