The Tiger Eye 1 detector is now officially on the manifest for the IM-2 mission, the first in a series of commercial flights that will be the first time the U.S. lands on the Moon since 1972 and the Apollo program and the very first instance of the radiation environment measured on the lunar surface by a U.S. Institute
Cosmic rays enters the aperture, is measured at the first detector, then travels through the material being tested in partnership with Geocent. The resulting field is then measured again at the second detector. This allows the SpaRTAN Lab to quantify the energy spectrum of cosmic rays striking the lunar surface and understand how effective the material is for shielding the cosmic ray environment.
The Tiger Eye flight program at LSU is fully managed by undergraduate engineering and physics students in the SpaRTAN Lab. They drive the detector interface software development and testing, assist with integration onto the launch platform, and serve as Flight Controllers in the TE Mission Control at LSU.
Tiger Eye 1 Project Lead & Flight Director
1st Tiger Eye 1 Project Lead, now off to Fulbright Research Fellowship and then Medical School