The recovery of cosmic‐ray emulsions from rocket and space probes

OCT 01, 1960

Herman Yagoda

The atmosphere presents a barrier between the cosmic‐ray physicist and the object of his study. In its absorptive capacity for cosmic radiation the tenuous mantel of air adds up at sea level to 1040 grams per ${cm}^{2}$ equivalent to a shielding of about one meter of lead. To identify and to measure the relative proportions of the diverse components present in the primary cosmic‐ray beam arriving from space the instrumentation must be sent above the atmosphere. Unlike the astronomer who can wait patiently for a night of “good seeing” in order to resolve planetary detail no such natural opportunity awaits those who are curious about the charge spectrum of the heavy primary component. Owing to the large collision cross sections of these massive charged particles an appreciable alteration of the beam takes place even at elevations readily accessible to high‐altitude balloons, particularly for particles which arrive at large zenith angles.

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References

1. For technical details of mountings see H. Yagoda, “Cassettes d’emulsions pour l’étude des rayons cosmiques dans les fusées a haute altitude”, Proc. 1st Inter. Cong. Corpuscular Photography, Centre National de la Recherche Scientific, France, 1958.
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More about the Authors

Herman Yagoda. Ionospheric Physics Laboratory, Geophyiscs Research Directorate Bedford, Massachusetts.