skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Science requirements for Heavy Nuclei Collection (HNC) experiment on NASA Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) Mission 2. Final Report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5394141

The Heavy Nuclei Collection (HNC) is a passive array of stacks of a special glass, 14 sheets thick, that record tracks of ultraheavy cosmic rays for later readout by automated systems on Earth. The primary goal is to determine the relative abundances of both the odd- and even-Z cosmic rays with Z equal to or greater than 50 with statistics a factor at least 60 greater than obtained in HEAO{sup -3} and to obtain charge resolution at least as good as 0.25 charge unit. The secondary goal is to search for hypothetical particles such as superheavy elements. The HNC detector array will have a cumulative collection power equivalent to flying 32 sq m of detectors in space for 4 years. The array will be flown as a free-flight spacecraft and/or attached to Space Station Freedom.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
5394141
Report Number(s):
N-91-23887; NASA-CR-187527; NAS-1.26:187527; CNN: NAS1-17806
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English