Cosmic ray experiments in the era of the large hadron collider

Many uncertainties in cosmic ray experiments will be eliminated with more measurements on the interaction between hadrons in the Large Hadron Collider experiment. Cosmic ray experiments will step into a new era marked by the high precision of measurements carried out by combined multipurpose instruments on very large scales. This will put stricter constraints on models of the source of cosmic rays and their propagation through the universe. Measurements of electrons, all kinds of nuclei, and even gamma rays and neutrinos will enhance the possibility of a breakthrough in solving the mystery of the origin of cosmic rays, or in finding the source of dark matter. A fundamental problem in ultra-high energy cosmic ray experiments is the energy scale of ground based experiments. A unique and straightforward approach is to calibrate the energy spectra of nuclei measured by space or balloon borne experiments using ground based detectors at high altitudes, and extrapolate the scale to the whole ultra-high energy range to the spectral cut-off limits, so that complete, consistent, unique and reliable measurements can be performed on their energy spectrum, composition and anisotropy.