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Radioactive nuclides produced by cosmic rays in Sputnik 4

1963; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 68; Issue: 17 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/jz068i017p05069

2156-2202

J. P. Shedlovsky, J. H. Kaye,

Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

The Sputnik 4 satellite re-entered the earth's atmosphere on September 5, 1962, after 843 days in orbit. From a portion of the recovered iron mass we have measured a number of radioactive nuclides after wet chemical separations. These activities are compared with those found in the Aroos iron meteorite. The ratio of saturation activities Sputnik 4/Aroos increases, with increasing A, from 0.20 for Ar37 to 0.68 for Fe55. It appears that this increase is caused by low-energy solar-flare particles. The Co56+57+58 ratio is 0.098, which reflects the different nickel contents of the two objects. The sample contains 40 dpm/kg Co60, which is of non-cosmogenic origin.