One of the biggest questions in nuclear astrophysics is understanding where the elements come from and how they are made. Everything around us, from our pets to our food to our computers, was made from material originally created in a star. There are so many aspects to consider when trying to answer these questions: "What astrophysical events make what elements?", "How many elements are made?", "How much of each element is made?" and more. The first step in answering these questions is running simulations of these astrophysical events. However, in order to get the correct final abundances of the elements from these events huge amounts of nuclear data is required that has never been measured. This work focuses on the p process and the elements created in this process known as the p nuclei. The p process is responsible for making the stable isotopes on the proton rich side of stability and is thought to occur in core collapse or Type Ia supernova. Currently scientists rely heavily on theory to define parameters in astrophysical and nuclear reaction codes. In addition, experiments are being performed to slowly measure more nuclear data to add constraints to theory for the p process reaction networks.The focus of this thesis was an experiment that was performed with the Summing Sodium Iodide (NaI) (SuN) detector at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Facility (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU) using the ReAccelerator (ReA) facility. A new reaction gas target was designed and fabricated as well as a new analysis technique for background subtraction and efficiency calculations of the detector. The 84Kr(p,γ)85Rb cross section was measured, which is on a stable isotope important for the astrophysical p process and the production of the p-nucleus, 78Kr. Running with a stable beam was also important for developing the techniques for radioactive beams. In the future, this experimental setup will be used for radioactive beam experiments which are of interest for astrophysics applications. The cross section measurement of the 84Kr(p,γ)85Rb reaction and more details will be discussed.
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