Radiation environment measurements on Shuttle missions using the CREAM experiment

Abstract

The Cosmic Radiation Environment and Activation Monitor (CREAM) was successfully deployed in the middeck area on Shuttle missions STS-48 and STS-44 during September and November 1991 with the aim of monitoring those aspects of the primary and secondary radiation environment responsible for single event upsets in microelectronics and background noise in sensors. Results are compared with the outputs of standard radiation environment models. For the accurate location of trapped protons the choice of geomagnetic field model is shown to be critical, while results at high latitudes show the low-altitude manifestation of the new trapped proton belt observed to follow the March 1991 solar flare event. From deployment at a number of locations there is clear evidence for a significant build-up with shielding of secondary charged particles and neutrons.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>