Solar Flare Tritium in a Recovered Satellite

Abstract

Tritium and argon-37 were measured in samples of the Discoverer XVII satellite. The tritium content was unusually high, the maximum value being 163\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}2 tritium decays/kg min. The ratio of tritium to argon-37 atoms was 2500\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}300 in an iron sample and larger than 9000 in a lead sample. The tritium activity decreased rapidly with depth. The tritium content is too large by a factor of more than one hundred to be explained by nuclear interactions induced by incident protons or alpha particles. The tritium must result from a flux of incident tritons stopped in the material.