The KASCADE Experiment

A new extensive air shower (EAS) experiment has been installed at the laboratory site of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. The main aim of the KASCADE [1] project is the determination of the chemical composition in the energy range around and above the knee of the primary cosmic ray spectrum. The main advantage of the new installation is the simultaneous measurement of a large number of observables for each individual event. This is achieved by the combination of various advanced detection techniques for the electromagnetic, the muonic, and the hadronic component of the extensive air showers. Data taking with a large part of the experiment has started at the end of 1995. The estimated accuracy of air shower data is discussed for the various detector components of KASCADE and first very preliminary results are presented.