A team composed of members from NTHU, the National Space Organization (NSPO), National Central University (NCU), and National United University (NUU) have worked together on a gamma-ray space telescope—the Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) project of the Space Science Laboratory at California, U.C. Berkeley. The instrument and technology developed in this project will lead the way for the next generation NCT gamma ray astronomy, benefiting high energy astrophysics development and enhancing our understanding of the universe.

The Taiwan NCT team was headed by Department of Physics and Institute of Astronomy Professor Hsiang-Kuang Chang, who was responsible for gamma ray astrophysics research and the overall project management and implementation. The project's co-chair NCU Department of Physics Professor Yuan-Hann Chang worked with NSPO on the electronic circuit board design and manufacture for the electronic readout system used on the detectors. NUU Department of Energy and Resources Professor Ming-Huey Huang was responsible for the design and manufacture of the solar power system used on the balloon in flight.

The electronic readout system on the new NCT detector developed by NCU and NSPO has led to major reductions in weight, size and power consumption. The two pure germanium crystal detectors used for the initial test flight in 2005 had a power consumption of 500W. For this flight, ten high-purity germanium crystal detectors were on board but their overall power consumption was significantly reduced to 300W.

The solar power system made by the NUU team included six solar-cell modules, two lithium ion battery packs and a power control unit. The power control unit included a maximum-power tracker for the solar panels, lithium battery charge/discharge controller and a system status telecommunication interface for two independent solar cell panels. Each major component has a duplicate to prevent failure due to damage to one set of components.

At 7:30 A.M. local time on May 17^th, the balloon was successfully launched from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, carrying the NCT instruments to an elevation of 36-39km to test the function of NCT instruments and detect gamma rays. After flying for 38 hours, the balloon landed south of Highway 40 near the Grand Canyon in Arizona State, about 865km from the launching site. This flight set a record for the longest inland flight of a conventional high altitude scientific balloon.

Two NTHU and NCU doctoral students participated in the manufacture and calibration of hardware, simulation and analysis of the detectors, system integration and testing, as well as in-flight mission execution and control. Following the successful mission, the NCT team plans to conduct another long-duration balloon flights in the years to come.

In addition to testing NCT instruments, in-frigate gamma rays emitted from the Crab Nebula, Cygnus X-1, and several active galactic nuclei were also detected. Having accomplished its mission, NTC is ready for long-duration balloon flights of over 20 days planned for the next stage of the program and future satellite missions.