Simulation and modelling of the interaction of galactic protons with stony meteoroids

Stable and radioactive products of cosmic ray interactions with extraterrestrial matter provide a record of the history of small bodies in the solar system and of the cosmic radiation itself. A basis for an improved understanding of these cosmogenic nuclides was laid out in a recent experiment at Laboratoire National Saturne, by which an artificial stony meteoroid was irradiated with 1.6 GeV protons in order to simulate the exposure of meteoroids to galactic cosmic ray particles. Results for the production of 10Be, 22Na and 26Al are given. The modelling of the experimental data by a thin-target approach is described. The impact of results and analysis of the simulation experiment on model calculations of cosmogenic nuclide production rates in stony meteoroids is discussed in detail, taking 10Be production rates and their relations to those of other cosmogenic nuclides as an example.