Whymariachi

From MariachiWiki

People often ask me why MARIACHI? It has nothing to do with Cosmic Rays.

So lets look at some other experiment's names -

• CROP - Cosmic Ray Observatory Project
• ALTA - Alberta Large Telescope Array
• CHICOS - California HIgh school Cosmic ray ObServatory

and

Of course NALTA the North American Large Time coincidence Arrays, that includes all of the north american cosmic ray detectors that involves high school classrooms.

We needed a name for our project. A name that would tell more than the fact that we are only a cosmic ray experiment. In fact the reach of MARIACHI is beyond the study of high energy cosmic rays. We would like to demonstrate that radar can be used in the detection of cosmic rays. In order to do that we need a Mixed Apparatus - shower detectors and radar - to confirm that a blip in the radar is indeed from cosmic rays. The cool thing is that all sites need to be connected to the computer network. So this experiment is as real as it gets. Now because we are implementing this vast data collection system, other information can become part of this global system allowing for other type of studies.

But I have not answered why MARIACHI? It was actually a friend of mine who suggested. We like the movie El Mariachi and the sequels, Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. So... we said what's wrong about naming the experiment MARIACHI? The only thing we needed was to come up with a meaning for it....