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Jun 16, 2020 at 18:35 comment added Joshua @EdwinBuck: You can't get an instrument more sensitive than the background radiation that it itself emits. Noise reduction has its limits.
Jun 16, 2020 at 18:25 comment added Edwin Buck @Joshua The Plasma Wave Subsystem detects electrons. That would limit radiation detection to Beta-minus decay, and it's unlikely that the PWS really was meant to detect radioactive decay, as space isn't full of radioactive stuff (or any stuff for that matter). Still, one might induce that a nearby object was experiencing beta decay, if an object was nearby. Really though, Scapa Flow steel isn't needed for this kind of thing, as any sensible engineer would simply adjust for background radiation instead of requiring a radioactive silence.
Feb 24, 2020 at 21:39 comment added Joshua The plasma wave subsystem performs the function of a Geiger counter (among other things).
Nov 2, 2017 at 17:25 history edited Edwin Buck CC BY-SA 3.0
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Oct 31, 2017 at 16:18 vote accept Andrew Leach
Sep 30, 2017 at 21:04 comment added DJohnM I believe (without a reference) that the first use of battleship steel was for cosmic ray shielding a room in which radiation based medical tests were carried out.
Mar 29, 2017 at 15:13 history answered Edwin Buck CC BY-SA 3.0