Using the NUCLON experiment, Russian scientists discovered phenomena that do not fit into modern ideas about the motion of cosmic particles, Alexander Panov, a leading researcher at the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, told reporters.
The scientific equipment complex NUKLON - an observatory of cosmic rays of high and ultrahigh energy, is located on the satellite of remote sensing of the Earth "Resurs-P" No. 2, which was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on December 26, 2014.
"The results of the experiment are important for astrophysics of cosmic rays, since some of the discovered phenomena do not fit into modern ideas about the mechanisms of acceleration and propagation of cosmic particles, therefore, they can lead to a refinement of these ideas," the press service of Moscow State University quoted Panov as saying.
Scientists have measured the element-by-element energy spectra of several major nuclei of cosmic rays, including those up to previously unattainable energies. Analysis of these spectra indicated the existence of a number of new phenomena that are important for understanding the mechanisms of acceleration of cosmic rays to their gigantic energies and for understanding the mechanisms of propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy.
According to Panov, the technical solutions developed for the NUKLON experiment and tested during its course will be used in planning future space missions.
Cosmic rays, discovered in 1912 by the Austrian physicist Viktor Hess, actually have nothing to do with radiation. These are streams of particles of different energies and different natures emanating from astrophysical objects.
Most of the particles that reach the Earth are born here, in the atmosphere - these are the so-called "broad air showers" that occur when cosmic particles of extremely high energies collide with atoms in the atmosphere. The study of these "showers" showed that they are provoked by particles of very high energies that could not appear in the solar system - galactic cosmic rays, which can be directly investigated only with the help of spacecraft.
As previously reported by the scientific leader of the project, head of the laboratory of galactic cosmic rays of the Scientific Research Institute of Nuclear Physics Dmitry Podorozhny, a feature of the NUKLON experiment is the miniature size of the equipment. The payload mass is only 400 kilograms, while the previously used complexes weighed several tons.
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