Composition of heavy cosmic rays from 25 to 180 MeV per atomic mass unit

Relative abundances of elements from neon through zinc in the energy range from 25 to 180 MeV per amu have been determined from particle tracks in polycarbonate detectors exposed on the Apollo 16 mission. The ratios of elemental abundances of Ne + Si and 17 less than Z less than 25 to Fe + Co + Ni are found to be 5.8 plus or minus 1.9 and 2.1 plus or minus 0.7, respectively, in agreement with the results from cellulose triacetate detectors by O'Sullivan et al. (1973). These results imply that the heavy particles observed are predominantly galactic in origin. The availability to investigators of unetched plastic detectors exposed to solar-flare particles on the Apollo 16 mission is noted.