Crystal activation experiment MA-151

The crystal activation experiment consisted of two sample packages that were flown in the command module and returned to earth for analysis of the radioactivity induced in them during the flight. The objective of the experiment was to define the background caused by detector activation that interferes when gamma radiation is measured in the 0.02- to 10-megaelectronvolt range from earth orbit. Preliminary results show that the activation of the NaI(Tl) crystal was a factor of 3 below that from a similar measurement on Apollo 17. The identification of certain species and the level of activation observed show an important contribution from the interactions of thermal and energetic neutrons produced as secondaries in the spacecraft. That the activation was reduced by only a factor of 3 compared with the Apollo 17 experiment, despite the geomagnetically shielded orbit, possibly indicates more efficient secondary neutron production by the more energetic cosmic rays.