The NUCLEON space experiment

Abstract

Abstract. The NUCLEON satellite experiment is designed to investigate directly, above the atmosphere, the energy spectra of cosmic-ray nuclei and the chemical composition (Z= 1 − 30) at energy range 100 GeV-1000 TeV. The effective geometric factor is more than 0.2 m 2 sr for nuclei and 0.06 m 2 sr for electrons. The planned exposition time is more than 5 years. The aims of the NUCLEON experimentThe NUCLEON satellite experiment is designed to investigate directly, above the atmosphere, the energy spectra of cosmic-ray nuclei and the chemical composition from 100 GeV to 1000 TeV (before the "knee"). The additional aim is the cosmic-ray electron spectrum measurement (from 20 GeV to 3 TeV).The "knee" energy range, 10 14 − 10 16 eV, is a crucial region for the understanding of the cosmic-ray acceleration and propagation in the interstellar medium. It is important to obtain more data with elemental resolution since the "knee" region is interesting for astrophysics.New experiments over a wide charge and energy range are needed, as they would help to test existing theoretical conceptions. Balloon experiments like ATIC [1-3], TRACER [4], CREAM [5] have begun to solve the abovementioned problems. But a real solution to the problems would be possible only with a long-term large aperture satellite experiment. Some important results has been obtained in the past years by the PAMELA satellite [6,7], and recently by AMS02 [8,9] and Fermi-LAT [10], currently taking data.The NUCLEON experiment on board of the RESURS-P satellite was launched in 26 December 2014. The mission aims to clarify, in the above mentioned energy interval, the essential details of the origin of cosmic-rays, such as the number and types of sources, identification of actual nearby sources, and the investigation of the mechanisms responsible for the knee. Specific features of the NUCLEON instrument are a relatively small thickness (15.2 radiation lengths) and a small weight (375 kg). The satellite restrictions did not allow the creation of a fullaperture calorimeter thus its transversal size was limited to a Corresponding author: turun1966@yandex.ru 250 × 250 mm and a weight of ∼26 kg. In this contribution we present the design of the instrument, and some results of accelerator beam tests in terms of charge and energy resolution. The potential of the instrument to achieve the declared goals are also presented. The NUCLEON deviceThe NUCLEON device was designed and produced by a collaboration of SINP MSU (main investigator), JINR (Dubna) and some other Russian scientific and industrial centers. It is placed now on board of the RESURS-P N • 2 satellite (Fig. 1). The spacecraft has a Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.276 • and a middle altitude of 475 km. The effective geometric factor is more than 0.2 m 2 sr for the KLEM (Kinematic Lightweight Energy Meter) system and near 0.06 m 2 sr for the calorimeter. The primary energy is reconstructed by registration of spatial density of the secondary particles. The particles are generated by the first hadro...

Accretion Processes in Astrophysics: The State of Art

“…the physical condition of early universe beyond the redshift z > 7 (Yonetoku et al, 2014). Small space missions, complementary to those Earth-based, even larger, are also devoted to investigate cosmic rays at very high energies, like for instance the NUCLEON space experiment designed to investigate directly, above the atmosphere, the energy spectra of cosmic-ray nuclei and the chemical composition (Z = 1-30) at energy range 100 GeV -1000 TeV, including the "knee" energy range (Atkin et al, 2015). NUCLEON experiment on board of the RESURS-P satellite was launched on December 26, 2014.…”

The NUCLEON Space Experiment - Preliminary Results

“…The NUCLEON device [1,2] was designed and produced by a collaboration of SINP MSU (main investigator), JINR (Dubna) and some other Russian scientific and industrial centers. It is placed now on board of the RESURS-P №2 satellite.…”