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, et al.. - In: ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS. - ISSN 0927-6505. - STAMPA. - 27:(2007), pp. 296-315. [10.1016/j.astropartphys.2006.12.002]