Cosmic Ray System

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This shows cosmic ray hits as recorded by Voyager 1 from 2011-2012, a time when it is thought to have finally exited the Heliosphere
CRS highlighted in red

Cosmic Ray System (CRS, or Cosmic Ray Subsystem)[1] is a instrument aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft of the NASA Voyager program, and it is an experiment to detect cosmic rays.[2][3] The CRS includes a High-Energy Telescope System (HETS), Low-Energy Telescope System (LETS), and The Electron Telescope (TET).[4] It is designed to detect energetic particles and some the requirements were for the instrument to be reliable and to have enough charge resolution.[5] It can also detect the energetic particles like protons from the Galaxy or Earth's Sun.[1] As of 2016, CRS is one of the active remaining instruments on both Voyager spacecraft, and it is described by as being able to detect electrons from 3-110 MeV and cosmic ray nuclei 1-500 MeV/n.[6] All three systems used solid-state detectors.[7] CRS is one of the five fields and particle experiments on each spacecraft, and one of the goals is to gain a deeper understanding of the solar wind.[8]

Areas of original study for this investigation:[9]

  • origin and acceleration process, life history, and dynamic contribution of interstellar cosmic rays,
  • nucleosynthesis of elements in cosmic-ray sources
  • behavior of cosmic rays in the interplanetary medium
  • trapped planetary energetic particle environment.

High-Energy Telescope System:[4]

Low-Energy Telescope System:[4]

  • 0.15 and 30 MeV/nucleon for atomic numbers from 1 to 30.
  • Measures anisotropies of electrons and nuclei.

The TET is consists of eight solid state detectors with varying amounts of tungsten over each detector.[10] The tungsten layers ranges from 0.56 mm to 2.34 mm, and functions as an absorber.[7] Measures Electrons 3 and 100 MeV.[4]

The P.I. is Prof. Edward C. Stone, Jr.[11]

Results[edit]

In the early 1980s, the CRS detected charged particles around Saturn.[12] It detected a 0.43 million volt flux of protons as it reach Saturn's magnetosphere.[13] In the 1980s the CRS data from both Voyagers was used to determine the abundances of energetic particles from the Sun and additional information.[14] Another area studied in the 80s using CRS data is variation in Galactic cosmic rays in the outer Heliosphere[15]

CRS helped predict that Voyager 1 and 2 would cross the Solar system's termination shock in 2003.[16]

In 2013 CRS data lead some to propose that Voyager 1 had entered a transitions zone of departure from the Heliosphere in 2013.[17]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Team, Voyager Cosmic Ray Subsystem. "OBJECTIVES". voyager.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  2. ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Experiment - Details for Voyager 2". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  3. ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Experiment - Details for Voyager 1". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  4. ^ a b c d "NASA - NSSDCA - Experiment - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ JPL.NASA.GOV. "Voyager - The Interstellar Mission". voyager.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  7. ^ a b [2]
  8. ^ Evans, Ben; Harland, David M. (2008-02-26). NASA's Voyager Missions: Exploring the Outer Solar System and Beyond. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9781852337452.  (Page 67)
  9. ^ "NASA - NSSDCA - Experiment - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-01-13. 
  10. ^ [3]
  11. ^ [4]
  12. ^ Böhme, S.; Fricke, W.; Hefele, H.; Heinrich, I.; Hofmann, W.; Krahn, D.; Matas, V. R.; Schmadel, L. D.; Zech, G. (2013-12-14). Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts: Literature 1982. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783662123348. 
  13. ^ Böhme, S.; Fricke, W.; Hefele, H.; Heinrich, I.; Hofmann, W.; Krahn, D.; Matas, V. R.; Schmadel, L. D.; Zech, G. (2013-12-14). Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts: Literature 1982. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783662123348. 
  14. ^ Böhme, S.; Esser, U.; Fricke, W.; Hefele, H.; Heinrich, I.; Hofmann, W.; Krahn, D.; Matas, V. R.; Schmadel, L. D. (2013-12-14). Literature 1985. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783662111789. 
  15. ^ [5]
  16. ^ "Cosmic-ray subsystem - Oxford Reference". doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095641369. 
  17. ^ Cowen, Ron. "So, has Voyager 1 left the Solar System? Scientists face off". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2013.12662. 

External links[edit]

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