PAMELA - A payload for antimatter matter exploration and light-nuclei astrophysics

Picozza, P.; Galper, A. M.; Castellini, G.; Adriani, Oscar; Altamura, F.; Ambriola, M.; Barbarino, G. C.; Basili, A.; Bazilevskaja, G. A.; Bencardino, R.; Boezio, M.; Bogomolov, E. A.; Bonechi, Lorenzo; Bongi, Massimo; Bongiorno, L.; Bonvicini, V.; Cafagna, F.; Campana, D.; Carlson, P.; Casolino, M.; Marzo, C. D.; De Pascale, M. P.; Rosa, G. D.; Fedele, D.; Hofverberg, P.; Koldashov, S. V.; Krutkov, S. Y.; Kvashnin, A. N.; Lund, J.; Lundquist, J.; Maksumov, O.; Malvezzi, V.; Marcelli, L.; Menn, W.; Mikhailov, V. V.; Minori, M.; Misin, S.; Mocchiutti, E.; Morselli, A.; Nikonov, N. N.; Orsi, S.; Osteria, G.; Papini, P.; Pearce, M.; Ricci, M.; Ricciarini, S. B.; Runtso, M. F.; Russo, S.; Simon, M.; Sparvoli, R.; Spillantini, Piero; Stozhkov, Y. I.; Taddei, E.; Vacchi, A.; Vannuccini, E.; Voronov, S. A.; Yurkin, Y. T.; Zampa, G.; Zampa, N.; Zverev, V. G.

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2006.12.002

The PAMELA experiment is a satellite-borne apparatus designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation with a particular focus on antiparticles. PAMELA is mounted on the Resurs DK1 satellite that was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on June 15th 2006. The PAMELA apparatus comprises a time-of-flight system, a magnetic spectrometer, a silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter, an anticoincidence system, a shower tail catcher scintillator and a neutron detector. The combination of these devices allows antiparticles to be reliably identified from a large background of other charged particles. This paper reviewsthe design, space qualification and on-ground performance of PAMELA. The in-orbit performance will be discussed in future publications.

PAMELA - A payload for antimatter matter exploration and light-nuclei astrophysics / P. Picozza;A. M. Galper;G. Castellini;O. Adriani;F. Altamura;M. Ambriola;G. C. Barbarino;A. Basili;G. A. Bazilevskaja;R. Bencardino;M. Boezio;E. A. Bogomolov;L. Bonechi;M. Bongi;L. Bongiorno;V. Bonvicini;F. Cafagna;D. Campana;P. Carlson;M. Casolino;C. D. Marzo;M. P. De Pascale;G. D. Rosa;D. Fedele;P. Hofverberg;S. V. Koldashov;S. Y. Krutkov;A. N. Kvashnin;J. Lund;J. Lundquist;O. Maksumov;V. Malvezzi;L. Marcelli;W. Menn;V. V. Mikhailov;M. Minori;S. Misin;E. Mocchiutti;A. Morselli;N. N. Nikonov;S. Orsi;G. Osteria;P. Papini;M. Pearce;M. Ricci;S. B. Ricciarini;M. F. Runtso;S. Russo;M. Simon;R. Sparvoli;P. Spillantini;Y. I. Stozhkov;E. Taddei;A. Vacchi;E. Vannuccini;S. A. Voronov;Y. T. Yurkin;G. Zampa;N. Zampa;V. G. Zverev. - In: ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS. - ISSN 0927-6505. - STAMPA. - 27:(2007), pp. 296-315. [10.1016/j.astropartphys.2006.12.002]