Project Cold Flare

Description and results of a project designed to measure solar proton and galactic background radiations at SST cruising altiludes, using RB-57F aircraft flying over routes at high geomagnetic latitudes are given. A radiation measuring device called the High Altitude Radiation Instrument System (HARIS) was designed, built, and flown in these aircraft during alert/scramble missions. The HARIS included a linear energy transfer spectrometer, a tissue equivalent ionization chamber, and a Geiger-- Muller tube, with data recorded on a digital magnetic tape recorder. A Concorde in-flight radiation warning device was also used in some of the flights. Solar proton radiation measurements showed maximum readings on absorbed dose rate of 1.0 mrad/hr and a dose equivalent rate of 2.0 mrem/hr. Cosmic background radiation data averaged 0.45 mrad/hr and 0.9 mrem/hr, respectively. (IAA)