PAMELA mission: preliminary results about nuclei analysis

The PAMELA (Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light nuclei Astrophysics) experiment is a satellite-borne apparatus that will make long duration measurements of the cosmic radiation over an extended energy range with a particular focus on antiparticles and light nuclei. Specifically, PAMELA will measure the cosmic-ray antiproton and positron spectra over the largest energy range ever achieved and will search for antinuclei with unprecedented sensitivity. Furthermore, it will measure the light nuclear component of cosmic rays and test cosmic-ray propagation models. PAMELA is housed on-board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite, which was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on June 15th 2006 in an elliptical (350-610 km of altitude) orbit with an inclination of 70 degrees. PAMELA consists of: a permanent magnet spectrometer which provide rigidity and charge sign information; a Time-of-Flight and trigger system for velocity and charge determination; an electromagnetic imaging calorimeter for lepton/hadron discrimination; a shower tail catcher scintillator and a neutron detector. An anticoincidence system is used offline to reject false triggers. This paper reviews the capability of the PAMELA sub-detectors to identify light nuclei; preliminary results about nuclear abundance ratios will be presented. (authors)