A new experiment with a Bulgarian instrument from the Liulin series on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane
Portable dosimeter-spectrometer
Virgin Galactic company has conducted its first commercial mission into suborbital space with the SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. (Virgin Galactic launches first commercial spaceflight (spacedaily.com))
The flight began on June 29, 2023 at 11 a.m. EDT (16:00 GMT) from Spaceport America in New Mexico, USA. (Home | Virgin Galactic)
The mission involved two pilots and four passengers: Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer at the National Research Council of Italy, Colin Bennett, an astronaut instructor at Virgin Galactic, Colonel Walter Villadei of the Italian Air Force, and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a doctor from the Italian Air Force.
Virgin Galactic calls this mission Galactic 01. It is a joint research study of the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy called “Virtute 1”. The mission lasted about 45 minutes reaching an altitude of 85.1 kilometres. It included 13 experiments, mostly for medical applications (Galactic 01 Research Payloads Fact Sheet | Virgin Galactic).
The first experiment is with the Bulgarian portable dosimeter-spectrometer Liulin-CNR-VG. It was developed under a cooperation agreement between the Space Research and Technology Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (SRTI-BAS) and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Department of Engineering, ICT and Technology for Energy and Transport.
The dosimeter is situated in a 66x56x26 mm extruded aluminium housing. Its weight, including the batteries, is 98 g.
The instrument was developed by a team consisting of Prof. Tsvetan Dachev, DSc, Seniour Assistant Professors Borislav Tomov and Yuriy Matviychuk and engineers Plamen Dimitrov and Assoc. Prof. Mitio Mitev.
The Liulin-CNR-VG instrument is expected to measure the space radiation flux and dose profiles from zero to 85.1 kilometers. These will be compared with profiles measured on balloons up to 35 km above New Mexico, USA with Liulin-type instruments in NASA experiments in 2005 and 2015. Profile of the ionizing radiation exposure between… – Google Scholar