LDEF (Flight), AO178 : A High-Resolution Study of Ultra-heavy Cosmic-Ray Nuclei, Tray E10 The flight photograph of the Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment (UHCRE) was taken while the LDEF was attached to the Orbiter's RMS arm prior to berthing in the Orbiter's cargo bay. The white paint dots on the center clamp blocks of the experiment trays left flange and lower flange appear to be slightly discolored. The UHCRE detectors were contained in 16 peripheral LDEF trays with at least one UHCRE tray located on each row of the LDEF except row 3, row 9 and row 12. Each tray contains three cylindrical aluminum pressure vessels with an integral aluminum support structure. Each cylinder is filled with an Eccofoam insert that houses 4 UHCRE detector stacks. Each stack consist of layers of Lexan polycarbonate sheets (approximately 70) interleaved with several thin sheets of lead. Forty-seven of the 48 pressure vessels were pressurized to 1.0 bar of a dry gas mixture (oxygen, nitrogen and helium) and sealed. One of the units was left unsealed in order to investigate the effects of the vacuum environment on the detector materials. Thermal control was accomplished by attaching an aluminized Kapton thermal cover on the tray bottom (the Kapton facing the LDEF interior), placing the aluminum cylinder support structure on thermal isolators and covering the experiment with a thin (5 mil) silvered TEFLON® thermal cover. The silvered TEFLON® cover was supported by an aluminum frame, an integral part of the experiment structure, and held in place by Velcro pads selectively located on the frame and on the back of the cover. The copper colored strip extending over the trays lower flange is a copper coated pressure sensitive tape used to provide an electrical ground between the experiments thermal cover and the LDEF structure. The UHCRE thermal covers surface appears to have changed from specular to opaque with numerous black dots of various sizes that appear to be impact craters. Many of the craters appear to have a black center encircled by a brown halo. Other circular discolorations also appear on the cover surface. The darker discolorations probably result from an impact that penetrates the 5 mil TEFLON® film and allows atomic oxygen to oxidize and/or erode the vapor deposited silver layer beneath. The cover is taut and the locations of Velcro attach pads are prominent. The ground strap appears to be intact with no visible damage but appears to be a deeper copper color.
The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain.
The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2]
== Description == {{Information |Description=LDEF (Flight), AO178 : A High-Resolution Study of Ultra-heavy Cosmic-Ray Nuclei, Tray E10 The flight photograph of the Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment (UHCRE) was taken while the LDEF was attached to the Orbi