ALTEINO LONG TERM COSMIC RAY MEASUREMENTS ON BOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE
STATION (ALTCRISS)
Research Area: Radiation Measurements and Shielding
Expedition(s): 12- 16
Principal Investigator(s): ● Marco Casolino, PhD, Universita of Roma Tor Vergata, Rome,
Italy
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Alteino Long Term Cosmic Ray Measurements on board the International Space Station
(ALTCRISS) is dedicated to performing a long-term measurement of the radiation environment
at different points inside the International Space Station (ISS). ALTCRISS will also continuously
measure the cosmic radiation flow and its changes over time, especially in relation to long- and
short-term solar activity, induced respectively by the solar cycle and solar eruptions.
RESULTS
Data collection began in December 2005 during Expedition 12. As part of the preliminary
results, data capture by the Sileye-3 experiment hardware in its unshielded configuration
during an eleven day period in the Pirs Docking
Compartment was used to create an all-particles
map that correlates particle flux, the rate of
transfer of particles through a unit area, with
latitude. The map showed that the highest flux
peak occurred in the South Atlantic Anomaly
(SAA), the region where the inner Van Allen
radiation belt comes nearest to Earth and where
the particle flux rate increases more than one
order of magnitude. Smaller peaks also occurred
at the poles, where geomagnetic shielding is
lower than nearer the equator, which also results
in higher particle flux rates.
Researchers also derived a spectrum of atomic
nuclei identifiers with atomic numbers up to and
above that of iron from the Pirs Docking Compartment data acquisition session. The spectrum
also showed that nuclei with even atomic numbers were more abundant than those with odd
atomic numbers, which is characteristic of cosmic rays. Analysis of data is currently ongoing.
The data gathered from the ALTCRISS project will be useful in not only determining the
radiation environment aboard ISS but will contribute to the determination of the effectiveness
of shielding materials in space (Casolino 2007).
ISS015E11115 – View of a Time Log Table (upper
right) and Materials Kits (blue and orange bags)
for the Alteino Long Term Cosmic Ray
Measurements on board the International Space
Station Experiment in the Zvezda Service Module.
Photo taken during Expedition 15