PAMELA measurements of solar energetic particle spectra

The charged particle acceleration and transport during solar events have been widely studied in the past decades. The satellite-borne PAMELA experiment has been continuously collecting data since 2006. The apparatus is designed to study charged particles in the cosmic radiation. The combination of permanent magnet, silicon micro-strip spectrometer and silicon-tungsten imaging calorimeter, with the redundancy of instrumentation allows very precise studies on the physics of cosmic rays in a wide energy range and with high statistics. This makes PAMELA a well suited instrument for Solar Energetic Particles (SEP) observations. Not only it spans the energy range between the ground-based neutron monitor data and the observations of SEPs from space, but also PAMELA carries out the first direct measurements of SEP energy spectra, composition and angular distribution. PAMELA has observed many SEP events in solar cycle 24, offering unique opportunity to address several questions on high-energy SEP origin. A preliminary analysis on proton spectra during several events of the 24th solar cycle is presented.