Project GRAND 2017

Project GRAND uses proportional wire chamber stations to measure muons as they hit the ground.  Keeping the stations operational by troubleshooting various hardware and software issues was a major part of the summer work.  20 station huts were brought back online.  Upgrades to the project included updating parts of the monitoring software, updating the wiki, re-writing directions for the gas changeover procedures, and building a better understanding of the system’s data storage and retrieval process.  New investigations included compiling data to search for solar flares, checking and adjusting the reference voltages on the chambers, and projecting the chamber failure per year data to estimate the future viability of the project.  Our investigations showed the recent solar flares were not strong enough to produce an easily identifiable Forbush Decrease, an effect of a solar flare.  This part of the project will continue into the future as we have more data and perhaps some larger flares directed towards this part of the earth.  Reference voltages for all stations were checked and adjusted, increasing the accuracy of the data.  Creating a projection of station failure over time has given us a framework to begin to make decisions about the future viability of Project GRAND.