NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, Virginia

Ionizing Radiation Researchers

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• (1963) A.A., Lee McRae College
• (1966) B.S., N.C. State University
• (1968) M.S., N.C. State University
• (1972) Ph.D., N.C. State University

Dr. Adams is the Head of the Cosmic Ray Physics Section at the Naval Research Laboratory. Dr. Adams did his doctoral dissertation research at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It was there that he first became interested in space radiation. After completing his Ph.D. in 1972, he accepted an NRC Associateship at Naval Research Laboratory. He continued research on cosmic radiation at NRL until January, 1976. Dr. Adams spent the next 2 1/2 years working on classified research.

In September, 1978 he returned to cosmic ray research and became the principal investigator of the NRL's Heavy Ions In Space (HIIS) Experiment. HIIS was deployed onboard NASA's Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) in April 7, 1984 and was brought back to Earth by the Space Shuttle on January 12, 1990.

In 1980 Dr. Adams began to develop a model of the radiation environment near Earth that could be used to estimate the rate of single event upsets (SEU's) in space-borne microelectronic components. This work has lead to the development of a widely used method for estimating SEU rates.

In the fall of 1978 Dr. Adams began definition of the Trapped Ions in Space (TRIS) experiment. TRIS flew on the Space Shuttle in October, 1984. Results from this experiment on the charge state of the annomalous component and trapped heavy ions have been reported in the Astrophysical Journal.

Dr. Adams has lead the US side of one of the first implementation teams of a US/USSR-Russia scientific data exhcange. By comparing an extensive set of flux measurements from Cosmos satellites flown inside the magnetosphere with contemporaneous observations on US spacecraft outside the magnetosphere, this collaboration has measured the charge state of anomalous component oxygen. This collaboration also discovered a belt of trapped energetic anomalous component oxygen ions.

Dr. Adams is a co-investigator of the BINARD experiment that was launched on August 19, 1992 to investigate cosmogenic 7Be in the upper atmosphere.

Dr. Adams is a co-investigator on the cosmic ray detector on the Clementine mission. This mission was launched in January, 1994.

Dr. Adams is the PI on the Thin Ionization Calorimeter experiment which is being flown on long-duration balloon flights in the northern hemisphere.

Dr. Adams has served on various NASA and DOD committees and advisory panels on cosmic ray research and the space radiation environment.

Professional Society Memberships: American Physical Society, American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union, Sigma Xi

• Member of The Natural Environment Subpanel of NASA's ENVIRONET Service
• Leader of the Implementation Team for the Joint Study of the Charge State of the Anomalous Component of Cosmic Rays (implementing a bilaterial agreement between the US and Russia)
• Member of The Defense Nuclear Agency Single Event Upset Rate Working Group
• Member of The Space Environments and Effects Technical Committee of the Space Technology Interdependency Group
• Member of the Program Committee for Space Physics Seminars

• The first direct measurements of the cosmic ray magnetic rigidity spectrum using a superconducting magnet.
• The first measurement of the interaction mean free path of Ne in nuclear emulsion.
• Developed the general formula for the energy deposition distribution of fast ions, of any charge and energy, passing through matter.
• Extended cosmic ray propagation calculations to the elements beyond Fe.
• Designed and built NRL's HIIS experiment that was on the LDEF I mission.
• Developed the manufacturing process that is in general use in industry for the manufacture of detector-quality CR-39.
• Measured the long-term annealing and the registration temperature effect in SSNTD's.
• Developed a numerical model of the near-earth particle environment and used it to develop a method for estimating single event upsets in microelectronics that is now in general use in the aerospace industry.
• Designed and built NRL's TRIS experiment that was flown on Space Shuttle mission STS-41G.
• Investigated the affects of electron pickup and removal on the arriving composition of galactic cosmic rays.
• Discovered that Trapped Heavy Ions are a transient phenomenon in low-Earth orbit.
• Definitive measurement of the Ionic Charge State of Anomalous Oxygen Ions.
• The Discovery of Anomalous Oxygen Ions Trapped in the Earth's Magnetosphere.
• Measurement of the mean ionic charge state of solar energetic particles at high energies.

LDEF Related Papers:

Heavy Ions in Space Experiment (with M.M. Shapiro, R. Silberberg and C.H. Tsao), Nuclear Tracks, Suppl. 2, p. 1011, 1980.

The Heavy Ions in Space Experiment: Preliminary Calibration and Analysis (with L.P. Beahm and A.J. Tylka), 22nd Intl. Cosmic Ray Conference (Dublin), 1991.

Observations from LDEF of Heavy Ions Below the Geomagnetic Cutoff (with L.P. Beahm and A.J. Tylka), 22nd Intl. Cosmic Ray Conference (Dublin), 1991.

Preliminary Results from the Heavy Ions in Space Experiment (with L.P. Beahm and A.J. Tylka), First LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium, NASA CP-3134, 1991.

Progress Report on the Heavy Ions in Space (HIIS) Experiment (with L.P. Beahm, P.R. Boberg and A.J. Tylka) Second LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium, NASA CP-3194, 1992.

Characteristics of Low Energy Ions in the Heavy Ions in Space (HIIS) Experiment (with A.J. Tylka, P.R. Bober, L.P. Beahm and T. Kleis), Third LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium, NASA CP-3275,1993.

HIIS Observations During the Large Solar Energetic Particle Events of October, 1989 (with L.P. Beahm, P.R. Boberg, T. Kleis, and A.J. Tylka), Proceedings of the 23rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Calgary, Canada, 1993.

Results from the Heavy Ions in Space (HIIS) Experiment on the Ionic Charge State of Solar Energetic Particles (with A.J. Tylka, P.R. Boberg, L.P. Beahm and T. Kleis), Third LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium, NASA CP-3275,1993.

The Heavy Ions in Space Experiment (with L.P. Beahm and B. Stiller), Proc. of the 19th Intl. Cosmic Ray Conf., La Jolla, CA Vol. 3, pp. 282-285.

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