Use of tissue equivalent proportional counters to characterize radiation quality on the space shuttle

Conference · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:5567916

Braby, L A; Conroy, T J; Elegy, D C; Brackenbush, L W

Tissue equivalent proportional counters (TEPC) are essentially cavity ionization chambers operating at low pressure and with gas gain. A small, battery powered, TEPC spectrometer, which records lineal energy spectra at one minute intervals, has been used on several space shuttle missions. The data it has collected clearly show the South Atlantic anomaly and indicate a mean quality factor somewhat higher than expected. An improved type of instrument has been developed with sufficient memory to record spectra at 10 second intervals, and with increased resolution for low LET events. This type of instrument will be used on most future space shuttle flights and in some international experiments.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: NASA; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5567916
• Report Number(s): PNL-SA-19981; CONF-920431--24; ON: DE92012347
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440103* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AIRCRAFT
COMPUTERS
DESIGN
DOSES
DOSIMETRY
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ENERGY SPECTRA
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
MICROPROCESSORS
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
QUALITY FACTOR
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION DOSES
SPACE SHUTTLES
SPACE VEHICLES
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
VEHICLES