Cosmic ray radiation was discovered by Victor Hess in 1912 who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1936 for this revolutionary work. Cosmic rays are high-energy particles, primarily protons and atomic nuclei, that travel through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from a variety of sources both within and beyond our galaxy, including the Sun, supernova explosions, neutron stars, black holes, and even distant galaxies.

Cosmic rays remain a fascinating subject of study, bridging multiple disciplines from astrophysics to climate science, and inspiring cutting-edge research and technological innovation.

Most of the cosmic ray particles, mainly muons, reaching to ground level are from cosmic ray showers generated by the energetic primary cosmic rays with galactic and extragalactic origin. The solar cosmic rays are emitted by the Sun during solar flares or coronal mass ejections.

Composition: Cosmic rays are composed mostly of protons (~90%), helium nuclei (~9%), and heavier nuclei (~1%). A small fraction includes electrons and antimatter particles like positrons.

Energy Range: Cosmic ray energy spans a wide range, from a few million electron volts (MeV) to as high as 102010^{20}1020 electron volts (eV), making them some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe.

The scientific importance of studying cosmic rays spans in multiple active fields ranging from astrophysics, atmospheric physics, to space weather studies.

The main focus of the gLOWCOST project is to use the cosmic ray as a proxy to monitoring the dynamic changes in the space weather and in the Earth’s atmosphere.