The cosmic ray particle physics detector was carried to the International Space Station on the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour and installed under NASA direction.

CNN: Space station detector gives first clues to 'dark matter'

Since May 2011, the detector -- which is mounted outside the space station -- has been sifting through matter, antimatter and other particles as it circles the Earth, with the data sent to hundreds of scientists on the ground for analysis.

CNN: Space station detector gives first clues to 'dark matter'

It had a radiation detector, an X-ray crystallographer, and a complete weather station.

NEWYORKER: The Martian Chroniclers