Abstract
The High Energy Cosmic Ray Observatory (HERO) is an experimental design for the direct study of cosmic rays based on the use of an ultraheavy ionization calorimeter. The effective geometric factor of the facility will be at least 12 m \({}^{2}\) sr for cosmic-ray protons and at least 16–20 m \({}^{2}\) sr for nuclei and electrons. During 5–7 years of exposure, this mission will allow measuring the energy spectra of all common and rare cosmic-ray nuclei in the energy range of \(10^{12}{-}10^{16}\) eV/particle with element-by-element resolution of the charge of nuclei and with sufficiently high energy resolution. It is planned to study not only the cosmic ray nuclei with charges \(Z=1{-}26\) , but also the superheavy nuclei beyond the iron peak, as well as high-energy electrons, positrons, and gamma rays. The main objectives, design appearance, and characteristics of the space mission are discussed.
