Spaceship Earth is a network of

neutron monitor A neutron monitor is a ground-based detector designed to measure the number of high-energy charged particles striking the Earth's atmosphere from outer space. For historical reasons the incoming particles are called "cosmic rays", but in fact they ...

s designed to measure the flux of

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s arriving at Earth from different directions. All the 12 member neutron monitor stations are located at high (Northern or Southern) latitude, which makes their detecting directions more precise, and their energy responses uniform. Their combined signals provide a real-time measurement of the three-dimensional distribution of cosmic rays, mainly

galactic cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s as well as solar energetic particles during the most intense solar events. Analyses of these data have applications in

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the time varying conditions within the Solar System, including the solar wind, emphasizing the space surrounding the Earth, including conditions in the ...

studies.

Locations

Spaceship Earth is a multinational collaboration, with participating institutions from the United States of America, Russia, Canada, and Australia. * The

Bartol Research Institute The Bartol Research Institute (formerly the ''Bartol Research Foundation'') is a scientific research institution at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Delaware. Its members belong to the faculty of the University of Delaw ...

at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

, U.S.A., operates the stations at

McMurdo Vice-Admiral Archibald McMurdo (24 September 1812 – 11 December 1875) was a Scottish naval officer and polar explorer after whom Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, McMurdo Station, McMurdo Ice Shelf, McMurdo Dry Valleys and McMurdo–South Pole ...

(Antarctica),

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, northern Scotland, the island of Saar ...

(Greenland), Inuvik (Northwest Territories, Canada), Fort Smith (Northwest Territories, Canada),

Peawanuck Peawanuck is an isolated Cree community in the Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the confluence of the Winisk and Shamattawa rivers, about 35 km from the Winisk River's end in Hudson Bay. Its population is 237. Its popu ...

(Ontario, Canada), and Nain (Labrador, Canada).
IZMIRAN
and th
Polar Geophysical Institute
Russia, operate the Russian stations of

Apatity Apatity ( rus, Апатиты, p=əpɐˈtʲitɨ, lit. apatites) is a town in Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located along the Murman Railway, west of Kirovsk and south of Murmansk, the administrative center of the oblast. The town is named after one ...

Barentsburg Barentsburg (russian: Баренцбург) is the second-largest settlement in Svalbard, Norway, with about 455 inhabitants (). A coal mining town, the settlement is almost entirely made up of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. History Rijpsburg, ...

, Cape Schmidt,

Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk, ''Norílʹsk'') is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk ...

, and Tixie Bay. * The

Australian Antarctic Division The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) is a division of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The Division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the ...

, Australia, operates the station at

Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader durin ...

(Antarctica).

External links

Bartol Research Institute neutron monitor program

References

{{reflist Cosmic-ray experiments