Research
Funded Research
Cosmic ray research receives continuing funding
Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Steven Stochaj has been awarded continuing funding from NASA for a project entitled “Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer in Space” (OASIS). The new funding of $44,555 brings the total award for this project to $800,000.
The unifying goal of OASIS is to identify local site(s) where galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) originate and are accelerated, in order to investigate how elements are made and distributed in the galaxy and to improve our understanding of supernovae, particle acceleration and the nucleosynthesis of the heavy elements needed for life. The objective of this concept study is to determine the feasibility and cost of this mission. OASIS will answer the following questions:
- Do galactic cosmic rays come from OB associations?
- Is the galactic cosmic ray electron spectrum dominated by a local source at the highest energies?