Bioastronautical Meassurements of Ionizing Radiations in Space: Nuclear Emulsion Monitoring Report
Report Number: AFCRL 62-244
Author(s): Yagoda, Herman
Corporate Author(s): Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories
Laboratory: Ionospheric Physics Laboratory
Date of Publication: 1962-02
Pages: 28
DoD Task:
Identifier: AD0274001
Abstract:
Four instrumented balloons were launched from Bemidji, Minnesota to secure cosmic ray data at high elevations and to study the effects of the radiations on biological systems. Each of the flights carried small units of nuclear emulsion to provide standardization data for other electronic instrumentation and to serve as directional monitors for heavy primary radiation penetrating the brains of the animals. Measurements were made of star production frequencies, proton enders, and heavy primary thindown hits. As a measure of solar proton enhancement, counts were made of the frequency of proton track enders in the emulsion. The ender production was essentially constant on all four flights, in agreement with earlier measurements in Minnesota, indicating the absence of any flare phenomena. It is suggested that the ratio of proton enders to stars may prove a useful parameter for indicating exposure to solar protons at balloon elevations, and small doses of trapped particles in animals flown in space probes and satellites which approach or graze the lower Van Allen belt.
Provenance: IIT
Author(s): Yagoda, Herman
Corporate Author(s): Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories
Laboratory: Ionospheric Physics Laboratory
Date of Publication: 1962-02
Pages: 28
DoD Task:
Identifier: AD0274001
Abstract:
Four instrumented balloons were launched from Bemidji, Minnesota to secure cosmic ray data at high elevations and to study the effects of the radiations on biological systems. Each of the flights carried small units of nuclear emulsion to provide standardization data for other electronic instrumentation and to serve as directional monitors for heavy primary radiation penetrating the brains of the animals. Measurements were made of star production frequencies, proton enders, and heavy primary thindown hits. As a measure of solar proton enhancement, counts were made of the frequency of proton track enders in the emulsion. The ender production was essentially constant on all four flights, in agreement with earlier measurements in Minnesota, indicating the absence of any flare phenomena. It is suggested that the ratio of proton enders to stars may prove a useful parameter for indicating exposure to solar protons at balloon elevations, and small doses of trapped particles in animals flown in space probes and satellites which approach or graze the lower Van Allen belt.
Provenance: IIT