7/28/2019 Super-TIGER Letter

1/1

Dear Mayor Slay and citizens of St. Louis:

Over the last four years a collaboration led by Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) built a NASA-funded balloon-borne cosmic ray detector called Super-TIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder). The

missions goal was to learn more about the origin and history of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are atomic nuclei that

travel through space at almost the speed of light. All the electrons have been stripped away so they are just the

bare nuclei. Most cosmic rays, like the universe, are the lightest elements, hydrogen and helium. Super-TIGER was

designed to detect the very rare heavy elements, those heavier than iron. Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912.

Super-TIGER culminates a century of research, with significant contributions by physicists at WUSTL for nearly 70

years.

During the summer season in Antarctica of 2012-2013, team members from WUSTL and NASAs Goddard

Space Flight Center (GSFC) travelled to the continent to finish assembly and prepare for flight. The team stayed at

the US Antarctic Programs main facility, McMurdo Station. Led by Research Professor Robert Binns, the team

toiled away at Williams Field on the Ross Ice Shelf from October 29th into December. At 2 AM on December 9th

the team headed to the balloon facility for their first launch attempt. The winds were merciful, and NASAsColumbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) team launched Super-TIGER just before 10 AM. The instrument

gracefully ascended to nearly 130,000 ft within a few hours. The balloon expanded to 40 million cubic feet at float

altitude.

With scientists monitoring and CSBF personnel providing support, the Super-TIGER mission lasted over 55

days. The balloon performed very well, maintaining altitudes between 120,000 and 130,000 feet. Super-TIGER

detected over 50 million cosmic rays, though only a few thousand heavier than Iron. The flight set a NASA record

for the longest heavy-lift balloon flight.

Electrical Engineer Richard Bose brought a St. Louis flag with him to the Ice. It hung in the payload

building. On a bright, windy day it flew outside with Mt. Erebus, a volcano on Ross Island, in the background. The

WUSTL ice team members signed the flag. They were Robert Binns, Richard Bose, Post-Doctoral Research

Associate John E Ward, Electrical Technician Garry Simburger, Mechanical Technician Dana Braun, and Graduate

Student Ryan Murphy. Additional WUSTL team members included Professor Martin Israel, Electrical Engineer Paul

Dowkontt, Software Engineer Martin Olevitch, Electrical Engineer Phil Moore, and Post-Doctoral Research

Associate Brian Rauch.

Super-TIGER is a collaboration comprised of Washington University in St. Louis, Goddard Space Flight

Center, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Minnesota. Launch

operations and flight support was provided by NASAs Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. To find out more about

Super-TIGER visit supertiger.wustl.edu and facebook.com/thesupertiger

On behalf of the Super-TIGER team I present to the citizens of St. Louis the flag that flew in Antarctica.

Sincerely,

Richard G Bose