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The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) on the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft has been operating successfully in a halo orbit about the L1 Lagrange point since late 1997. We report here the isotopic composition of the Galactic cosmic ray (GCR) elements with 29 ≤ Z ≤ 38 derived from more than 20 years of CRIS data. Using a model of cosmic-ray transport in the Galaxy and the solar system (SS), we have derived from these observations the isotopic composition of the accelerated material at the GCR source (GCRS). Comparison of the isotopic fractions of these elements in the GCRS with corresponding fractions in the solar system gives no indication of GCRS enrichment in r -process isotopes. Since a large fraction of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) occur in OB associations, the fact that GCRs do not contain enhanced abundances of r -process nuclides indicates that CCSNe are not the principal source of lighter (Z ≤ 38) r -process nuclides in the solar system. This conclusion supports recent work that points to binary neutron-star mergers, rather than supernovae, as the principal source of galactic r -process isotopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report new measurements of the elemental energy spectra and composition of galactic cosmic rays during the 2009-2010 solar minimum period using observations from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer. This period of time exhibited record-setting cosmic-ray intensities and very low levels of solar activity. Results are given for particles with nuclear charge 5 ≲ Z ≲ 28 in the energy range ~50-550 MeV nucleon-1. Several recent improvements have been made to the earlier CRIS data analysis, and therefore updates of our previous observations for the 1997-1998 solar minimum and 2001-2003 solar maximum are also given here. Formost species, the reported intensities changed by less than ~7%, and the relative abundances changed by less than ~4%. Compared with the 1997-1998 solar minimum relative abundances, the 2009-2010 abundances differ by less than 2σ, with a trend of fewer secondary species observed in the more recent time period. The new 2009-2010 data are also compared with results of a simple "leaky-box" galactic transport model combined with a spherically symmetric solar modulation model. We demonstrate that this model is able to give reasonable fits to the energy spectra and the secondary-to-primary ratios B/C and (Sc+Ti+V)/Fe. These results are also shown to be comparable to a GALPROP numerical model that includes the effects of diffusive reacceleration in the interstellar medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument was developed to measure the abundances of galactic cosmic-ray elements from 10Ne to 40Zr with individual element resolution and the high statistics needed to test models of cosmic-ray origins. SuperTIGER also makes exploratory measurements of the abundances of elements with 40 < Z ⩽ 60 and measures the energy spectra of the more abundant elements for Z ⩽ 30 from about 0.8 to 10 GeV/nucleon. This instrument is an enlarged and higher resolution version of the earlier TIGER instrument. It was designed to provide the largest geometric acceptance possible and to reach as high an altitude as possible, flying on a standard long-duration 1.11 million m3 balloon. SuperTIGER was launched from Williams Field, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on 2012 December 8, and made about 2.7 revolutions around the South Pole in 55 days of flight, returning data on over 50 × 106 cosmic-ray nuclei with Z ⩾ 10, including ∼1300 with Z > 29 and ∼60 with Z > 49. Here, we describe the instrument, the methods of charge identification employed, the SuperTIGER balloon flight, and the instrument performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]