Cosmic Ray Electrons

Instrument: Cosmic Ray Electrons
Mission Name: OGO 5
NSSDC ID: 68-014A-09
Principal Investigator: Meyer

Description

This instrument measured the flux and energy spectrum of electrons with energies between 15 and 45 MeV, and fluxes of protons with energies between 90 and 110 MeV and 143 and 169 MeV. The detector used was a particle telescope composed of a scintillation counter, a gas Cerenkov counter, a solid state detector, and a cesium iodide scintillation counter surrounded by two plastic scintillators.

OGO-5 was launched on March 4, 1968 in a highly excentric Earth orbit and the instrument was activated a few days after launch. The experiment was turned on only when the satellite's McIlwain parameter, L, was greater than 12. The experiment was fully operational when the spacecraft was put in a standby status on October 8, 1971. The experiment was reactivated from June 1 to July 13, 1972. NSSDC has all the data that exist from this investigation.

More details regarding experiment design may be found in L'Heureux, J., C. Y. Fan, and P. Meyer, "The quiet-time spectra of cosmic ray electrons of energies between 10 and 200 MeV observed on OGO-5", Ap. J., v. 171, n. 2, pt.1, pp. 363-376, January 15, 1972.

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