(PLATAN), Five Investigations Searching for Low-Energy Heavy Nuclei of Solar and Galactic Origin using the PLAstic Track ANalyzer
PLASTIC TRACK ANALYZER (PLATAN), FIVE INVESTIGATIONS
Research Area: Astrophysics
Expedition(s): 4-9
Principal Investigator(s): ● Yuriy F. Gagarin, The Ioffe Institute for Research in Physics and
Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
St. Petersburg, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Searching for Low-Energy Heavy Nuclei of Solar
and Galactic Origin using the PLAstic Track
ANalyzer (PLATAN) measures streams of the
heavy nuclei of cosmic rays in the Earth’s
magnetosphere. PLATAN consisted of 5 distinct
investigations.PLATAN-IRON
Study of the energy spectra of galactic cosmic ray
iron nuclei in the energy range 30-160
MeV/nucleon at various phases of the solar
activity cycle.PLATAN-ARGON
Study of the anomalous component of cosmic
rays (energy spectra of argon ions in the magnetosphere and assessing their charged state with
increasing energy).
PLATAN-SUN
Study of the energy spectra of the iron ions of solar cosmic rays from the most powerful flares
in the energy range 30-160 MeV/nucleon.
PLATAN-COSMIC RAYS
Determining the transmission function of particles from Earth’s orbit into the magnetosphere
and comparing it with simulation calculations.
PLATAN-ISS
Measuring microparticle streams in the environment surrounding the International Space
Station (ISS) according to damage, in the form of through-and-through holes in heat shielding
placed above a nuclei detector.
PLATAN-M chamber#1 during exposure on the
surface of the International Space Station. The
chamber is in its open, operating position.
Roscosmos image.