GAMMA-RAY MEASUREMENTS IN AND ABOVE THE ATMOSPHERE

Technical Report · Thu Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1960

OSTI ID:4061994

Northrop, J A

Two stage sounding rockets were used to carry phoswich gamma -ray spectrometers to an altitude of 75 miles. The instrument head weighed 12.1 lb and the attached rocket 7.5 lb. About 1.3 gm cm/sup -//sup 2/ aluminum surrounded the detector over most of the effective 4 pi solid angle. The 1 3/4 in. x 1 3/4 in. CsI(Tl) crystal encased in a 1/8 in. plastic scintillator jacket was used to detect the amplitude of individual gamma -ray scintillations (0.3 to 3.0 Mev) in the CsI and the rejection of charged particles in the plastic. The information was transmitted to the ground by standard FM-FM telemetry. The maximum flux occurs at 53,000 ft with representative integral counting rates: E gamma > 0.3 Mev, 185 sec/sup -//sup 1/;>0.6 Mev, 105 sec/sup -//sup 1/; and>1.O Mev, 45 sec/sup -//sup 1/. The counting rate is constant at all altitudes above 120,000 ft: 64, 32, and 11 sec/sup -//sup 1/ at the three biases, respectively. The chargedparticle counting rates (energy in the plastic >O.3 Mev) are 82 sec/ sup -//sup 1/ at the atmospheric maximum and 38 sec/sup -//sup 1/ above the atmosphere. The differential spectrum above the atmosphere was examined for the presence of a 2.23 Mev peak. An upper limit for this flux from the sun is 0.5 photon cm/sup -//sup 2/ sec/sup -//sup 2/. (auth)

• Research Organization: Los Alamos Scientific Lab., N. Mex.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• NSA Number: NSA-15-022874
• OSTI ID: 4061994
• Report Number(s): LA-2507
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALUMINUM
ATMOSPHERE
CESIUM IODIDES
CHARGED PARTICLES
COMMUNICATIONS
CONFIGURATION
COSMIC RADIATION
CRYSTALS
ENERGY RANGE
GAMMA SPECTROMETERS
INSTRUMENTS
LEVELS
MEASURED VALUES
PHOTONS
PHYSICS
PLANNING
POLYMERS
PULSES
REMOTE CONTROL
ROCKETS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SHIELDING
SPACE
THALLIUM
WEIGHT