FLIGHT-TYPE FARADAY CUP DETECTOR
Abstract
The design, development, and flight of a Faraday cup detector to measure the flux and energy spectrum of the low energy protons and electrons in the near earth environment are described. The near earth region of space contains high fluxes of electrons and protons having energies of between a few hundred and several hundred million electron volts. The lower energy portion contains the largest flux of particles with typical energies of 1 to 50 or 100 kilovolts. These fluxes can produce heavy damage to surface or exposed internal components in a satellite system. In addition, although of considerable scientific interest, little is known about the source of these particles in the Van Allen radiation belts and the auroral zones or the decay processes that lead to the loss of these particles. For these scientific and military reasons, the Faraday cup detector work was conducted. The detector consists of two Faraday cups, a scintillation crystal, photomultiplier, amplifier, high voltage supply, and collector electronics. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 30, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0277156
Entities
People
- A. Lawrence
- F.s. Mozer
- G.s. Gayron
Organizations
- The Aerospace Corporation