The NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center press release is reproduced below:



Scientists and engineers have completed assembly of the primary instrument for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, a breakthrough orbiting observatory scheduled to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in fall 2007.

The main instrument, called the Large Area Telescope, arrived on May 14, 2006, at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington for environmental testing.

The mission, led by NASA with the Department of Energy and international partners, brings together the astrophysics and particle physics communities.

"With GLAST, physicists will gain valuable information about the evolution of the universe and physicists will search for signals that may even force revision of some of the basic laws of physics," said the telescope's principal investigator, Peter Michelson of Stanford University. "The completion of the Large Area Telescope assembly and its shipment from the accelerator center are major milestones in its development."

The observatory will detect light billions of times more energetic than what our eyes can see or what optical telescopes such as Hubble can detect. Key targets include powerful particle jets emanating from enormous black holes and possibly the theorized collisions of dark matter particles. The Large Area Telescope will be at least 30 times more sensitive than previous gamma-ray detectors and will have a far greater field of view.

"The relative range of light energies that the instrument can detect is thousands of times wider than that of an optical telescope, which captures only a thin slice of the electromagnetic spectrum," said Project Scientist Steven Ritz of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "The observatory provides a huge leap in capabilities in this important energy band, and it opens a wide window for exploration and discovery."

Unlike visible light, gamma rays are too energetic to be focused by traditional telescope mirrors onto a detector. The Large Area Telescope will employ detectors that convert incoming gamma rays into electrons and their antimatter partners, called positrons. This technique, a change of light into matter as described by Einstein's equation E=mc^2, is called pair conversion. It will enable scientists to track the direction of gamma rays and measure their energy.

The telescope will now undergo three grueling months of ‘shake and bake’ testing to ensure it will survive the intense vibration and noise during launch and operate properly in space. Electromagnetic interference tests also will be performed to ensure Large Area Telescope operations do not interfere with the spacecraft. When testing is finished at the Naval Research Laboratory, the instrument will be shipped to Arizona, where engineers at General Dynamics C4 Systems will integrate the Large Area Telescope and a second instrument, the Burst Monitor, onto the spacecraft.

Goddard manages the GLAST mission. The Large Area Telescope was built with significant contributions from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and foreign collaborating institutions. The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University manages the instrument with collaborators at Goddard, University of Calif., Santa Cruz, University of Washington, Ohio State University, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and institutions in France, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Burst Monitor with a collaborator in Germany. General Dynamics C4 Systems is building the spacecraft and is responsible for instrument integration. Education and Public Outreach efforts for the mission are coordinated by Sonoma State University. For more information about the mission, visit: + GLAST website

Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA/GSFC press release

The NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center press release is reproduced below:

The primary instrument for NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) arrived at General Dynamics, Scottsdale, Ariz., on September 18 for mounting onto the spacecraft.

The instrument, called the Large Area Telescope, successfully completed four months of vigorous testing last week at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, to ensure it can withstand the rigors of launch and operations in space.

"GLAST is a remarkable undertaking, a partnership between astronomers and physicists," said Peter Michelson, GLAST principal investigator at Stanford University, Calif. "We are eagerly anticipating a new understanding of the connections between the large and small, between the most energetic phenomena in the universe and the subatomic world."

The observatory will detect light billions of times more energetic than what our eyes can see or what optical telescopes can detect. Key targets include powerful particle jets emanating from enormous black holes and possibly the theorized collisions of dark matter particles. The Large Area Telescope will be at least 30 times more sensitive than previous gamma-ray detectors and will have a far greater field of view.

"The Large Area Telescope is a unique and beautiful new instrument for science, and it will provide a tremendous leap forward in our ability to study the most energetic objects and phenomena in space," said Steven Ritz, project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Unlike visible light, gamma rays are too energetic to be focused by traditional telescope mirrors onto a detector. The Large Area Telescope will employ detectors that convert incoming gamma rays into electrons and their antimatter partners, called positrons. This technique, a change of light into matter as described by Einstein's equation E=mc^2, is called pair conversion. It will enable scientists to track the direction of gamma rays and measure their energy.

The Large Area Telescope was assembled at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, Calif., from subsystems developed by an international team from Italy, Japan, France, Sweden and the United States.

The second main instrument, the GLAST Burst Monitor, arrived in Scottsdale, Ariz., in July and is currently being integrated onto the spacecraft. The GLAST Burst Monitor was built at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., in collaboration with scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany, working with NASA through an agreement with the German Aerospace Center.

GLAST is scheduled to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. in fall 2007.

NASA Goddard manages the GLAST mission. The Large Area Telescope was built with significant contributions from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and foreign collaborating institutions. The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University manages the instrument with collaborators at Goddard; University of California, Santa Cruz; University of Washington, Seattle; Ohio State University, Columbus; U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and institutions in France, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. NASA Marshall manages the GLAST Burst Monitor with collaborators in Germany. General Dynamics C4 Systems is building the spacecraft and is responsible for instrument integration. Education and Public Outreach efforts for the mission are coordinated by Sonoma State University.

Related Link:

+ GLAST website + GLAST website

Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA/GSFC press release

NASA's next major space observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is one step closer to unveiling the mysteries of the high-energy universe. Almost all the components have been assembled onto the spacecraft, which will undergo a review this week before environmental testing begins at the primary contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz.


Image above: This is a photo of the GLAST Observatory at General Dynamics, after
the integration of the GLAST Burst Monitor instrument.
Credit: NASA and General Dynamics

GLAST will study the universe's most extreme objects, observing physical processes far beyond the capabilities of earthbound laboratories. GLAST's main instrument, the Large Area Telescope (LAT), operates like a particle detector rather than a conventional telescope. It is 30 times more sensitive (and even more at higher energies) than the best previous missions, enabling it to detect thousands of new gamma-ray sources while extending our knowledge of previously unidentified sources. For example, it will study how some black holes accelerate matter to near light speed and perhaps even reveal the nature of dark matter. The other instrument, the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), will detect roughly 200 gamma-ray bursts per year. Together with the LAT, the GBM will enable GLAST to make gamma-ray burst observations spanning a factor of a million in energy.

"These two instruments and the spacecraft have now been integrated and are working together as a single observatory," says GLAST project manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

"The observatory is getting ready for the final testing in the simulated environment of space, so that any problems can be fixed to ensure that it will work when we launch it," adds Kathleen Turner, the LAT program manager at the United States Department of Energy, in Germantown, Md. The Department of Energy helped build the LAT in collaboration with other institutions in the United States, France, Italy, Japan, and Sweden. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., built the GBM in collaboration with institutes in Germany.


Image above: This is rendering of the GLAST spacecraft
in orbit above the Earth by General Dynamics.
Credit: General Dynamics

On April 11 and 12, 2007, an independent committee of scientists and engineers commissioned by NASA will conduct a Pre-Environmental Review (PER). This committee, chaired by Mark Goans of NASA Goddard, has been monitoring the development of the mission over the past four years. This review is expected to last two days, and will make sure that all technical problems and anomalies have been resolved, and that the 4.7-ton spacecraft is ready to be "shake and baked."

Following the PER, environmental testing will begin. Each individual subsystem has already passed its own round of environmental testing, but this new set of procedures will make sure that the integrated observatory can survive the rigors of launch and the harsh conditions of space.

In the first test, called the Electro-Magnetic Interference test, operators will bombard the spacecraft with electromagnetic radiation to ensure that certain systems do not produce signals that interfere with other systems. As project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard explains, "If electrical noise from your beating heart causes a problem with your brain, you'd want to know about it."

Next, GLAST will undergo mechanical tests, which involves exposure to vibrations, shocks, and acoustic waves. The vibration test will make certain the entire spacecraft can survive the shaking of a Delta II Heavy rocket launch. With the tall spacecraft being shaken from its base, some of the appendages will be exposed to accelerations up to 15 times the force of Earth's gravity. The shock test ensures it can survive separation from the booster. The acoustic test examines if the craft can survive the terrific roar of a Delta II launch. Engineers will bombard the spacecraft with up to about 144 decibels of noise, louder than being in close proximity to a jet aircraft.

Finally, the team will subject GLAST to the Thermal-Vacuum test, which checks the spacecraft's ability to withstand the vacuum of space and the extreme temperature swings it will experience as it goes in and out of sunlight during each orbit. This procedure will last about six weeks, the longest of all the environmental tests.

In mid-October, GLAST is scheduled to be flown to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on a C5 airplane. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launched into a low-Earth circular orbit no earlier than Dec. 14, 2007.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Related Link:
+ GLAST mission site

Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA/GSFC - News

NASA's Gamma ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) awaits its launch in December this year and is currently living in a "clean room" at General Dynamics in Gilbert, Ariz., while it's being checked and tested.

A clean room is an environment that is used in scientific research or for building things like computer chips and satellites. It is designed to have low levels of contaminants or environmental pollutants such as aerosols (tiny airborne particles), chemical vapors, dust, and airborne microscopic organisms.

Clean rooms basically have controlled levels of contaminants that are specified by the number of particles per cubic meter (3 feet, 3 inches) at a specified particle size. Continually running the room air through filters limits the contaminants.

Image above: Pictured here in the General Dynamics clean room, standing are: Chip Meegan, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Hunstville, Ala.; Peter Michelson, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.; Steve Ritz, from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Kneeling are: Bill Atwood, University of California at Santa Cruz, Calif.; Dan Blackwood, NASA Goddard; Rick Harnden, NASA Headquarters, Washington; and Neil Johnson, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington. In the right corner, a technician checks the satellite.
Image Credit: NASA and General Dynamics.

Inside the clean room, members of the GLAST team wear protective suits, known as "bunny suits," at all times. The special suits prevent dirt and dust from their clothing and other contaminants from entering the room. A clean room provides the controlled environment necessary to make sure GLAST is in the best condition at the time of launch.

"Working in these bunny suits is inconvenient, but necessary," said Steve Ritz, GLAST project scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "With a million channels of electronics and high-tech sensitive instrumentation, we must avoid contamination. Although the cleanliness requirements for GLAST are relatively modest, an unwanted piece of every-day junk in the wrong place could cause a big headache later in the mission. Dust never sleeps."

Satellites like GLAST are assembled and checked in clean rooms because the instruments on board are very sensitive to dust, and they can degrade when exposed to humidity. A clean room maintains a constant temperature and humidity, eliminates dust, and protects the satellite during its development, construction and testing. Even the floor of a clean room is specially constructed, so that static electricity cannot build up. Static electricity can also harm instruments on satellites.

Once GLAST is launched from Florida and working in orbit, it will detect X-rays and gamma rays in a range from thousands to hundreds of billions of times more energy than the light visible to the human eye. Radiation of such power can only be generated under the most extreme conditions, such as in disks of gas swirling around black holes and neutron stars at near light speed. GLAST will therefore observe the most energetic objects in the Universe!

Scientists want to study these high-energy objects and events because they could give us a totally new understanding of our Universe, and reveal things we've never seen before.

Some gamma rays travel as much as 10 billion light years through the universe to tell us their stories, but they scatter on the atmosphere and are lost. GLAST goes above the atmosphere to gather their information.

GLAST will be "moving out" of the clean room and on the launch pad in the winter of 2007.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

Related link:

+ GLAST Home Page


Robert Naeye
Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA/GSFC - News

The NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center press release is reproduced below:

Robert Naeye / Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.
301-286-4453/301-286-4044
Robert.P.Naeye@nasa.gov / Robert.J.Gutro@nasa.gov

Release: 07-73

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington for its final round of testing.


Image above: Artist's rendering of the GLAST spacecraft
in orbit above Earth.
Click image for enlargement.
Credit: General Dynamics

The GLAST spacecraft has successfully completed two of its three environmental tests at the prime contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz. These tests included exposure to extreme vibrations and electromagnetic fields. "We’ve completed two of the big three tests, and now we’re going to the NRL to perform the third," said GLAST project manager Kevin Grady of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

On November 26, the spacecraft began its drive across the country in a specially modified truck. GLAST arrived at NRL on November 28. At NRL, the spacecraft will undergo thermal and vacuum testing to ensure that it can survive the 90-degree F (50-degree C) temperature swings it will experience in Earth orbit.

"Although gamma rays can travel billions of light-years across the universe, they can’t penetrate Earth’s atmosphere, so we must launch our instruments into space. We need to ensure the observatory can function in the space environment, and that is the main goal of the testing about to take place," says GLAST project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard.


Image above: GLAST arrived at the Naval Research
Lab in an environmentally-controlled container.
Workers are handling purge gas lines intended
to protect GLAST from contamination or excessive
humidity.
Click image for enlargement.
Credit: NRL

After GLAST finishes the thermal-vac testing, it will be trucked or flown to Cape Canaveral, Fla. There, the solar arrays and flight battery will be added to the spacecraft, and it will be fueled with propellant. The launch, aboard a Delta II Heavy rocket, is scheduled for no earlier than May 29, 2008.

GLAST will carry two instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), to study the extreme universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything scientists can achieve in their most elaborate experiments on Earth. GLAST may answer the mystery of how black holes accelerate jets of particles to near-light speed, and it may fill in gaps in our knowledge of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).


Image above: The shipping container has been
transported to NRL's high bay where workers are
installing air pads used move the container around
in the clean environment.
Click image for enlargement.
Credit: NRL

The LAT, which works like a particle detector rather than a conventional telescope, greatly improves upon all previous gamma-ray instruments. It is more than 30 times as sensitive to faint sources, it covers a much broader range of gamma-ray wavelengths, it can locate sources much more precisely, and it can measure the arrival time of each gamma ray more accurately.

"With the LAT we will be able to pinpoint locations in the universe where matter is accelerated to extremely high-energies, shedding new light on the origin of cosmic rays," says LAT principal investigator Peter Michelson of Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. "We will also observe neutron stars and learn how they produce their lighthouse-like particle beams. The LAT will help astronomers determine the nature of hundreds of gamma-ray sources seen by previous missions, but whose nature remains shrouded in mystery. Most exciting of all, the LAT will find thousands of previously unknown gamma-ray sources."


Image above: The Observatory shipping container
is being transported into NRL's high bay via fork lift.
Click image for enlargement.
Credit: NRL

"We expect that the GBM will detect about 200 GRBs per year," said GBM principal investigator Charles "Chip" Meegan of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "With the LAT and GBM working together, and with other satellites, we hope to understand how the gamma rays are actually produced in GRBs, and whether GRBs create high-energy gamma rays that were beyond the range of previous satellites."

From its perch in low-Earth orbit, GLAST will also test key concepts in fundamental physics, such as whether all forms of light -- regardless of wavelength -- travel at the same speed. It might help physicists determine the nature of dark matter by catching the gamma-ray signature of dark-matter particles annihilating one another. It might even detect gamma rays from exploding black holes.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

Related link:

> NASA's GLAST Portal Web site

Source: NASA/GSFC - News

Everyone likes getting high-tech presents for Christmas and Hanukkah, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington received a wonderful present this year: NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST).


GLAST unwrapped at the Naval Research Laboratory!
The Large Area Space Telescope instrument is the
large silver "box" that sits atop the satellite.
Credit: NRL
> Larger image

GLAST arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) soon after Thanksgiving on November 28 in a large container. It was shipped by a tractor trailer truck that transported it from General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz.

Almost like children who can't wait to open their presents, the GLAST mission engineers and scientists opened the protective container that GLAST was shipped in, and are preparing the satellite for testing before Christmas. They'll be testing GLAST to make sure it can endure the extreme temperatures and vacuum of space.

"The best presents will come once GLAST is launched later in 2008," said GLAST project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard. Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "GLAST will bring gifts from afar, such as identifying some currently unknown sources of gamma rays, the most energetic light from the extreme environments in the universe."


GLAST is wrapped up in this shipping container in
NRL's high bay, where workers are installing air
pads to move the container around in the clean
environment.
Credit: NRL
> Larger image

GLAST will carry two instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), to study the extreme universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything scientists can achieve in their most elaborate experiments on Earth.

"We’ve anticipated this day for a long time and it’s taken a huge international team effort to get to open this wonderful gift this year," said Charles "Chip" Meegan, GLAST Burst Monitor Principal Investigator of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "This is an important milestone, but what will really make us all look like kids on Christmas morning, is when we see the first data from GLAST in orbit," said Peter Michelson, LAT Principal Investigator, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

"Many people around the world can't wait to unwrap the gifts of data that GLAST will send us once it’s in orbit," said Rick Harnden, GLAST Program Scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington. "The GLAST discoveries will help us better understand what makes up the Universe and provide answers to questions about solar flares, pulsars, and the origin of cosmic rays. GLAST's findings will be a great present for all of us."


Artist's concept of the GLAST satellite in orbit
around Earth.
Credit: NASA

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Related Link:

> NASA's GLAST mission Web site

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA - Universe - GLAST

Image above:The United Launch Alliance Delta II first stage in Kennedy Space
Center, FLA.
Image Credit: NASA/George Shelton

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Hangar M on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the United Launch Alliance Delta II first stage is revealed after the cover was removed from the truck that delivered it. The Delta rocket will be used to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, in May from Launch Pad 17-B on CCAFS. The GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the Universe's ultimate frontier, where nature harnesses forces and energies far beyond anything possible on Earth; probe some of science's deepest questions, such as what our Universe is made of, and search for new laws of physics; explain how black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed; and help crack the mystery of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

NASA announced Thursday that members of the general public from around the world will have a chance to suggest a new name for the cutting edge Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise known as GLAST, observatory before it launches in mid-2008. The satellite will observe some of the most powerful forces known in the universe.


Artist's rendering of the GLAST spacecraft in orbit
above Earth.
Credit: General Dynamics
> Click to view larger image.

"The idea is to give people a chance to come up with a name that will fully engage the public in the GLAST mission," said Steve Ritz, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The mission's scientific objectives are to:

• Explore the most extreme environments in the universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth
• Search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter
• Explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed
• Help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts
• Answer long-standing questions about a broad range of phenomena, including solar flares, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays

"We're looking for name suggestions that will capture the excitement of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy astronomy. We are looking for something memorable to commemorate this spectacular new astronomy mission," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "We hope someone will come up with a name that is catchy, easy to say and will help make the satellite and its mission a topic of dinner table and classroom discussion."


This is a simulated GLAST sky map (how GLAST
will see space).
Image credit: NASA/Sonoma State University/
Aurore Simonnet
> Click to view larger image.

Suggestions for the mission's new name can be an acronym, but it is not a requirement. Any suggestions for naming the telescope after a scientist may only include names of deceased scientists whose names are not already used for other NASA missions. All suggestions will be considered. The period for accepting names closes on March 31, 2008. Participants must include a statement of 25 words or less about why their suggestion would be a strong name for the mission. Multiple suggestions are encouraged.

To submit a suggestion for the mission name, visit:

>_http://glast.sonoma.edu/glastname

Anyone who drops a name into the "Name That Satellite!" suggestion box on the Web page can choose to receive a "Certificate of Participation" via return e-mail. Participants also may choose to receive the NASA press release announcing the new mission name. The announcement is expected approximately 60 days after launch of the telescope.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

Related Link:

> NASA's GLAST mission Web site

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

The first stage of the Delta II rocket that will be used to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) into space in May has arrived at Hangar M on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. It joins the second stage, which is already at CCAFS.


The United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket's first
stage was revealed after the cover was removed
from the truck that delivered it. It was delivered
during the week of Feb. 4.
Credit: NASA
> Click to view larger image.

"This first stage, along with the second stage and the solid rocket motors, will provide the ride that the GLAST observatory needs to reach its mission orbit," said Kevin Grady, the GLAST Project Manager at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "With the arrival of this launch vehicle hardware at the Cape, the beginning of this extraordinary high energy physics era in space is just a handful of months away."

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth. It will search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious Dark Matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

GLAST is scheduled to be launched on May 16 from Launch Pad 17-B on CCAFS. After on-orbit checkout, NASA is planning to rename the observatory. A suggestion box that is now open to the public has been established. To submit a suggestion, fill out the information at: _http://glast.sonoma.edu/glastname. The closing date for suggestions is March 31.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

For more information about GLAST, please visit: GLAST

Rob Gutro / Jeanne Ryba
Goddard Space Flight Center / Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Preparations for launching NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) satellite are underway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla. NASA KSC's "NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report" on Thursday, March 20, noted that GLAST's twin solar panels have been attached. The panels will provide electrical power for GLAST after its launch into earth orbit.

As part of the process for preparing GLAST for launch, the satellite's various components are tested and re-tested. During the week of March 24, solar panel deployment and solar panel lighting were tested. Comprehensive performance tests were also done, that included end-to-end communications testing through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system.


At the Astrotech payload processing facility,
General Dynamics technicians check GLAST
before the installation of the solar arrays, as an
overhead crane is lowered over it.
Credit: NASA/KSC
> High resolution image
At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, buildup of the Delta II rocket began Monday, March 24, with the hoisting of the first stage. Work to attach the nine strap-on solid rocket boosters followed. Stacking of the second stage is currently planned for April 3.

GLAST is slated for launch aboard a Delta II 7920-H rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Station on May 16. The window for launch runs between 11:45 a.m. – 1:40 p.m. EDT.

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth. It will search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious Dark Matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Related Link:

> Previous GLAST status reports

Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Deciphering the genetic code of the universe is no easy task. Yet that's just what the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope's Large Area Telescope (LAT) seeks to accomplish.

Integrated at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in Menlo Park, Calif., in 2005 and 2006 from hardware fabricated at laboratories all around the world, the LAT will use its 880,000 silicon strips to detect high-energy gamma rays with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, filling in gaps in understanding left by previous missions and pushing new boundaries in particle physics and astrophysics.


Earlier this month, GLAST arrived at the Astrotech
payload processing facility near the Kennedy Space
Center to begin final preparations for its May 2008
launch.
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> Click for larger image.

"The LAT will give us a broad representation of the evolution of objects that are the highest energy accelerators in the universe," said SLAC Professor Elliott Bloom.

As GLAST orbits the Earth, gamma rays—emanating from jets of plasma streaming from enormous black holes, pulsars and other astronomical sources—will strike the LAT. By determining the time of each gamma ray's arrival, the direction from where it came and energy it carries—the fundamental quantities of astronomy—the LAT will yield a wealth of new data that will offer a glimpse into the fundamental nature of high-energy processes in the universe.

Gamma rays that encounter the LAT will first meet several layers of tungsten metal. Tungsten's massive atomic nuclei interact with the high-energy gamma ray in a way that creates a charged pair of particles: one electron and one positron. These particles travel in V-shaped trajectories, with the electron going one way and the positron going another, which are detected by the silicon-strip sensors positioned just below each tungsten layer. Later, these signals are reconstructed by algorithms to obtain the direction and time of the original gamma ray photon.

After traversing through tracking layers, the particles pass into a cesium iodide imaging calorimeter and generate tiny amounts of light—flashes with brightness proportional to the particles' energies.

Through this multi-step process, the LAT will detect gamma rays with unprecedented sensitivity, which will allow detection of thousands of new sources and possibly even new classes of sources.

In the mid-1990s, the instrument's predecessor, the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET), made the first sky survey in high-energy gamma rays with a sensitivity up to a few giga-electron-volts (GeV) of energy.

The LAT must be launched into space because the gamma rays that it is designed to detect are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere. The problem of detecting relatively rare gamma rays in the midst of a continual cacophony of cosmic rays is reduced by an additional detector surrounding the LAT’s 16 tracker towers and calorimeters, and then left to sophisticated data analysis, similar to that found in high-energy physics accelerator experiments. The first round of analysis will be performed by flight software on the LAT, which filters out about 80 percent of background signals. This will ensure that fainter sources will stand out more cleanly against the thousands of signals expected every second and will reduce the volume of data sent back to earth. Further, more detailed, analysis will then be performed in ground processing of the LAT data, which will be delivered to SLAC several times per day during the mission.

"When you create an instrument that goes a factor of 100 beyond what you've done previously," said University of California-Santa Cruz Professor Bill Atwood, "the space for discovery becomes enormous."

GLAST is a collaborative mission between NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, international partners from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden, and numerous academic institutions from the U.S. and abroad.

Matt Cunningham
SLAC Today

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Jennifer Morcone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
Jennifer.J.Morcone@nasa.gov

Marshall Release No. 08-039


The GLAST Burst Monitor team. From left: John
Horack, Steve Elrod, Narayana Bhat, Fred Kroeger, Gerry Fishman, Lisa Gibby, Chip Meegan and Bill Paciesas.
Credit: NASA/MSFC
> Larger image.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Today, NASA opens the Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) Burst Monitor Instrument Operations Center, the focal point for observing gamma ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.

The GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), a space-based instrument for studying gamma ray bursts, is one of two instruments on NASA's GLAST spacecraft. Together, the Large Area Telescope and the GBM will observe gamma rays ranging in energy from a few thousand electron volts to many hundreds of billions of electron volts or higher, the widest range of coverage ever available on a single spacecraft for gamma ray studies.

More energetic than X-rays, gamma rays are the highest-energy form of electromagnetic radiation. When a burst occurs, the GBM will detect gamma rays from the explosion and within seconds identify the location of the burst and transmit this information to scientists on the ground.

Located at the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC) in Huntsville, Ala., operations personnel and scientists working in the GBM Instrument Operations Center will scrutinize the health of the monitor and enjoy a first-hand peek at ground-breaking new gamma ray science. The NSSTC is a partnership between NASA, the state of Alabama and several universities.

"While seeing the operations center come to life is a high point, the real triumph will come when we see the first data from GLAST in orbit," said the project's principal investigator, Charles “Chip” Meegan, an astrophysicist at Marshall. "Gamma ray bursts remain one of the greatest mysteries of astrophysics and we’re anxious to begin answering puzzling questions about how these fantastically powerful explosions are produced."

GBM Instrument Operations Center staff will continuously verify that the instrument is performing properly and prepare commands to fine-tune performance, as needed. GBM commands will be sent to the spacecraft through GLAST mission operations at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Goddard manages the GLAST mission for NASA.

"When GBM begins scanning the sky, we will be monitoring the instrument," said Lisa Gibby, Marshall’s operations center manager. "Many of us worked on a previous gamma ray instrument, BATSE which was on NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. We remember how exciting it was when new discoveries were made. We can’t wait to see what the data from GBM will tell us about the gamma ray universe."

Operations center scientists will examine data from gamma ray bursts and disseminate this information to the wider scientific community swiftly, allowing ground-based instruments to observe these bursts as soon as possible.

A complementary operations center is located at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany, allowing scientists to look at real-time data during their normal work day, offset seven hours from Huntsville. Huntsville-based operations center staff will host regular meetings via teleconference to Germany to discuss data analysis and German colleagues will assist in operations and monitoring instrument performance.

Marshall has a long-standing relationship with scientists at the Max Planck Institute. NASA collaborated with the Institute through an agreement with the German Aerospace Center to design the GBM and the institute built the monitor's power supply and crystal detectors – the main component for intercepting gamma rays.

GLAST is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the U.S.

GLAST is anticipated to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on May 16 at 11:45 a.m. EDT.

Source: NASA - GLAST - News and Media

The Delta II 7920-H, or "Heavy," rocket that will launch NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) satellite is in the process of being assembled on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.


On Pad 17-B, the mobile service tower (left)
approaches the Delta II rocket (right). The solid
rocket boosters in the tower will be mated with
the rocket.
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
> High resolution image

Solid rocket boosters were recently attached to the rocket. A series of nine strap-on solid rocket motors will next be mated with the rocket to help power the first stage. Because the Delta rocket is configured as a Delta II 7920 Heavy, the boosters are larger than those used on the standard configuration.

"The Delta II is one of our most reliable launch vehicles," said Rick Harnden, GLAST Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "However, we'll be breathing a lot easier once GLAST has been lofted successfully into orbit."

NASA's Launch Services Program office at the Kennedy Space Center is responsible for the integration of GLAST with the Delta II. In addition, Kennedy is responsible for countdown management, and provides ground support necessary for final GLAST spacecraft preparations. The Delta II is provided to NASA as a launch service by the United Launch Alliance.
> View Launch Date and Time

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth. It will search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.


Artist rendering of the GLAST satellite.
Credit: NASA/Sonoma State University/Aurore
Simonnet
> High resolution image

The GLAST spacecraft is 9.2 feet high by 8.2 feet in diameter when stowed in the rocket, where it is just under the 9-foot diameter allowed in the fairing. GLAST becomes a little bit taller and much wider after it is launched into space, when the Ku-band antenna deploys and the solar arrays are extended.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Related Links:

> Status reports on GLAST

Rob Gutro/George Diller
Goddard Space Flight Center/Kennedy Space Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

The powerful antenna system that will enable NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) to communicate with stations on Earth has been successfully connected to the spacecraft in the Astrotech payload processing facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.


General Dynamics technicians, sitting under the
GLAST spacecraft install a high-gain antenna on
the spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> High resolution image

The Ku Band system is used to downlink science and engineering telemetry. The Ku band system includes a Ku antenna, an antenna pointing mechanism that steers the antenna, and two Ku band transmitters. The Ku band (K-under band) is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies that is used to transmit data.

"The Ku Band system on GLAST enables the transmittal of recorded science and engineering data at a high rate to the ground through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS)," said Al Vernacchio, GLAST Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "It provides the link that enables the transmission of the large quantity of information gathered by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM) instruments."

Ku band satellites are also used in satellite communications from remote locations back to a television network's studio for editing and broadcasting.

The S-band antennas have already been connected to GLAST. S-band antennas are used for command uplink, that is, to send commands to the GLAST spacecraft from Earth and to gather real-time engineering telemetry.

Currently, the GLAST satellite is being prepared for launch and is in its final stages of preparation, as the Delta II launch vehicle that will carry it spaceward is also being prepared on Launch-pad 17B.


In the Astrotech payload processing facility near
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, General Dynamics
technicians prepare a high-gain antenna for installation
on GLAST.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> High resolution image

In the drawings of GLAST, this antenna is the little square panel sticking out below the bottom of the spacecraft. Like the solar panels, the Ku band antenna is stowed at launch and will be deployed once GLAST is in orbit.

The installation of the Ku band antenna completes the integration of the Ku system and of the observatory. The only things that remain are the closeout of the thermal blankets, installation of the star tracker shade and fueling of the propulsion system before the observatory goes to the launch pad. GLAST will launch from the Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla.

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth. It will search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is receiving finishing touches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, near the beaches of eastern central Florida for its launch. The spacecraft is set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket no earlier than June 3. The launch window runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.


At the Astrotech payload processing facility near
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a worker looks
over the star tracker sun shades just installed on
the GLAST spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> Larger image

Housed at the Astrotech Facility located near the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., GLAST is getting a lot of attention from engineers and scientists, from sun shades to thermal blankets, to final inspection.

Recently, sun shades were installed on GLAST. "These are light shades on the star tracker optics (optics that measure where the observatory is pointing) that keep light outside of the field of view from obscuring the star field," said Al Vernacchio, GLAST Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "Sun shades are like a visor you flip down in your car on a sunny day to block the Sun's glare so you can see the road," said Steve Ritz, GLAST Project Scientist at Goddard. They "shade" the star tracker field-of-view from stray light coming from the Sun, the Earth and the Moon, so GLAST's star trackers can see the needed reference stars. GLAST uses reference stars to check its orientation. Basically, GLAST is navigated using both GPS and the stars.


At the Astrotech payload processing facility near
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a worker
carefully cleans the solar panel sun tracker on NASA's
Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope spacecraft.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> Larger image

Once the shades are installed, temporary covers are placed on the open part of the shades to protect the optics from debris. These covers are removed after the rocket fairing (shell of the rocket where GLAST will sit) is installed on the launch vehicle prior to flight.

Thermal blanket "closeouts" were also recently done at Astrotech. Basically, thermal blankets are to spacecraft as clothes are to people. They'll protect GLAST from the harsh environment of space. A "closeout" means taping up all the loose seams on the insulation. The seams are always left open as long as access to the spacecraft is needed.

Engineers also made sure that GLAST had a thorough cleaning and a "blacklight inspection." The cleaning/blacklight inspection is just what it implies - going over everything carefully. "The blacklight can help with the cleanliness inspection, especially in finding organic materials like fingerprints which fluoresce (and become visible) under the ultraviolet from the blacklight," said David Thompson, a GLAST Deputy Project Scientist from NASA Goddard.

On May 4, workers moved the GLAST spacecraft to the Hazardous Processing Facility near Kennedy Space Center, Fla. for fueling.

Currently, the Delta II launch vehicle that will carry GLAST spaceward is also being prepared on Launch-pad 17B.

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth. It will search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.


At the Astrotech payload processing facility near
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians
conduct black light inspection of the Gamma-ray
Large Area Space Telescope spacecraft a final
cleaning.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
> Larger image

NASA’s GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Related Link:

GLAST site

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Spacecraft Ready for Fueling, Rocket Testing Conducted


Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, workers move the GLAST spacecraft toward the Hazardous Processing Facility where it will be fueled. The spacecraft is set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket no earlier than June 3. The launch window runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT .

At Launch Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, workers conducted a cryogenic test of the Delta II first stage with a countdown and loading of liquid oxygen as a leak check of the first stage. The following day, the team conducted a simulated flight test to exercise the onboard vehicle systems of the Delta II from liftoff through spacecraft separation

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Spacecraft and Rocket Meet at the Launch Pad


On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the GLAST spacecraft
hangs suspended, enclosed in its protective transportation canister.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

After rollout of the GLAST spacecraft from Astrotech to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Pad 17-B on May 17, the spacecraft was hoisted atop the Delta II rocket. Technicians then successfully completed the state-of-health checks for the spacecraft.

On May 22, the Flight Program Verification was conducted. This is an electrical and mechanical test of the rocket and spacecraft working together as a single, integrated system during countdown and launch milestones. With this test completed, spacecraft closeouts began. GLAST will be encapsulated in the Delta II fairing on May 27.

Liftoff is set for no earlier than June 3 during a window that runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Launch Countdown Rehearsal Completed

The GLAST launch team assembled Wednesday in the Mission Director's Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to conduct a dress rehearsal of the countdown. On Tuesday, technicians at the launch pad enclosed the GLAST spacecraft inside the fairing atop the Delta II rocket. The fairing serves to protect the spacecraft during its ride to space.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Last week, the Flight Program Verification was conducted. This is an electrical and mechanical test of the rocket and spacecraft working together as a single, integrated system during countdown and launch milestones. With this test completed, spacecraft closeouts began. Technicians successfully completed the state-of-health checks for the spacecraft after its rollout from Astrotech to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Pad 17-B on May 17.

Liftoff is set for no earlier than June 3 during a window that runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Excitement Builds as GLAST Readies Its Gamma-ray Vision!

Scientists around the world are excited about all the things that the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is going to uncover after it launches on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

There are many reasons for worldwide excitement about GLAST. Not only is the equipment state-of-the-art, but it will allow us to see objects in space differentlys.


On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station in Florida, the GLAST spacecraft hangs
suspended, enclosed in its protective transportation
canister.
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
> Print size image

"The Universe looks remarkably different outside the narrow range of colors in the spectrum that we can see with our eyes," said David Thompson, GLAST Deputy Project Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "GLAST will give us a spectacular high-energy 'gamma-ray vision,'" said Thompson. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light in the electromagnetic spectrum and cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Thompson noted "If you're in space with gamma-ray vision, there are gamma-rays coming from all directions. The Milky Way would be a brilliant swath of light, and you'd see a sky constantly changing with objects dimming and brightening on different time scales. If you see a blinding flash, that would be a gamma-ray burst!"

GLAST's "Gamma-ray vision" will help scientists answer a lot of questions like: How do black holes accelerate jets of material to nearly light speed? What is the mysterious dark matter? What mechanism produces the stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts? How do solar flares generate high-energy particles? How do pulsars work? What is the origin of cosmic rays? and What else out there is shining gamma rays?


Under a waning moon at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station in Florida, the Delta II rocket set to launch
NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope is
poised to receive the first of nine strap-on solid
rocket boosters.
Photo credit: NASA//Dimitri Gerondidakis
> Print size image

"One thing that's exciting is the cutting-edge instrumentation of the Large Area Space Telescope or LAT,” said Peter Michelson, LAT Principal Investigator, Stanford University, Calif. "That's where gamma-rays convert to matter and anti-matter within the telescope designed to detect them. By the direction of the particles, we can detect which direction the gamma-ray came from and find its origin in space. The LAT makes breakthrough improvements in all the key capabilities.”

"Another exciting thing is that the GLAST LAT is the first imaging gamma-ray observatory to survey the entire sky every three hours over a huge energy range," said Steve Ritz, GLAST Project Scientist at Goddard. This is important because the gamma-ray sky is constantly changing in stunning ways. The GLAST observatory, which also includes the GLAST Burst Monitor, spans a factor of 10 million in energy from the highest to the lowest energy gamma rays it will detect.”

Anticipation and excitement are near peak for the GLAST launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station CCAFS, Fla. Liftoff is set for June 5 during a window that runs from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.

The preparations leading up to the launch are almost complete. During the weekend of May 17, GLAST was rolled out to CCAFS' Launch Pad 17-B and hoisted atop the Delta II rocket. After the spacecraft was placed in the Delta II rocket, technicians then successfully completed the state-of-health checks for the spacecraft.

The GLAST spacecraft is 9.2 feet high by 8.2 feet in diameter when stowed, where it is just under the 9-foot diameter allowed in the fairing. The fairing is basically just the outside shells of the rocket. Once GLAST is launched into space, it becomes a little bit taller and much wider when the Ku-band antenna deploys and the solar arrays are extended.

Five days later, on May 22, the Flight Program Verification was conducted. This is an electrical and mechanical test of the rocket and spacecraft working together as a single, integrated system during countdown and launch milestones. With this test completed, spacecraft closeouts began. On May 27, the Delta II Rocket fairings were closed around the GLAST satellite.

Because there were 18 institutions in six countries involved in the creation of GLAST, everyone is now eagerly awaiting the launch. NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

Everyone is excited about GLAST's blast-off!

Related Link:
> GLAST web site


Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

Source: NASA/GSFC - News

NASA Targets June 7 Launch

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, June 7, during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. Additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure that open engineering issues, which have been under review, are satisfactorily resolved.

Workers at the launch pad will load the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage several days prior to launch. On launch day, they will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start
at 10 a.m.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

The GLAST launch team assembled May 28 in the Mission Director's Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to conduct a dress rehearsal of the countdown. The previous day, technicians at the launch pad enclosed the GLAST spacecraft inside the fairing atop the Delta II rocket. The fairing serves to protect the spacecraft during its ride to space.

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

NASA Targets June 8 Launch

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is now scheduled for no earlier than Sunday, June 8, during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. Additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure that open engineering issues, which have been under review, are satisfactorily resolved.

Workers at the launch pad will load the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage several days prior to launch. On launch day, they will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start
at 10 a.m.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

GLAST Has New Target Launch Date: June 11

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket has a new targeted launch date of earlier than Wednesday, June 11, during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. The change was necessary to allow additional time to replace the rocket's flight termination system battery, which indicated a problem Wednesday.

Workers at the launch pad will load the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage several days prior to launch. On launch day, they will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start
at 10 a.m.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Cape Canaveral (June 9, 2008) NASA's Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is scheduled to launch aboard a Delta II Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., June 11 with a launch window from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT. The GLAST observatory will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, and answer questions about supermassive black hole systems, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays. It also will study the mystery of powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.



Source: United Launch Alliance

GLAST Set for Liftoff Tomorrow

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket is slated for Wednesday, June 11, during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.

Workers at the launch pad loaded the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage over the weekend. On launch day, they will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start at 10:15 a.m.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

Delta II Rocket and GLAST Spacecraft Stand Poised for Liftoff

The launch of NASA’s GLAST spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance
Delta II rocket is slated for Wednesday during a window that extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT.

Technicians will retract the mobile service tower from around the rocket at 2 a.m. EDT. Loading of the liquid oxygen, beginning the final phase of the launch countdown, is set to start at 10:15 a.m. Workers at the launch pad loaded the hypergolic propellants into the Delta II rocket's second stage over the weekend.


mage above: The first half of the payload fairing is moved into place around NASA's Gamma-
Ray Large Area Space Telescope within the mobile service tower on Launch Pad 17-B at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside
surface of the Delta II upper stage booster and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone,
protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent.
Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmannt
› View larger image
› View GLAST Image Gallery

Source: NASA - Missions - GLAST

GLAST is Ready to Go!

In a final meeting of scientists, engineers, technicians and officials, NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) received the final “Ready to Go!” from all teams. GLAST is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance’s Delta II Heavy rocket with a launch window from 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 11.

During the “Launch Readiness Review,” a two hour meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla., held on June 9, the U.S. Air Force, NASA and United Launch Alliance reported on various aspects of the GLAST spacecraft, the Delta II Heavy rocket that will carry it, clearances, weather and the final remaining issues, which are now all closed.


On Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
the mobile service tower (left) approaches the
Delta II rocket that will carry the GLAST spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann.
> Larger image
The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) ended with an all-around approval for GLAST to launch on Wednesday, June 11, pending the weather. Joel Tumbiolo, U.S. Air Force Delta II Launch Weather Officer, 45th Weather Squadron, of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station noted that there is a 40% chance that weather issues will delay the launch. “The clouds are the concern,” he told the LRR group. Typically, the sea breeze on Florida’s east coast develops around noontime from June through September, and that can create clouds over land. There’s a “Cumulus Cloud Rule” which states that if a cumulus cloud is a certain height, it must be a certain distance from the launch vehicle. There are no issues with winds, which are expected to be light.

Tumbiolo repeated his forecast during the GLAST pre-launch press conference held at 1 p.m. on June 9 at Kennedy Space Center, carried live on NASA-TV. He was part of a panel of six that included Dr. Jon Morse, Director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters; Omar Baez, NASA Launch Director/Launch Manager, Kennedy Space Center; Kris Walsh, Director of Delta NASA and Commercial Programs, United Launch Alliance; Kevin Grady, GLAST Project Manager, Goddard Space Flight Center; and Dr. Steven Ritz, GLAST Project Scientist/Astrophysicist, Goddard Space Flight Center. The Large Area Telescope (LAT) Principal Investigator, Peter Michelson, and others also attended the briefing and answered questions.

At the press briefing, Omar Baez explained that the tower rollback will occur just after midnight on Wed. June 11, on Launch pad 17-B, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Kris Walsh talked about the launch and what happens during and after ignition. She said that by about 10 minutes after launch, the Delta II carrying GLAST will be over the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. By around 75 minutes after launch, GLAST will be put into orbit approximately 300 nautical miles high over the Earth’s surface. GLAST’s orbit will be at an inclination of approximately 25.6 degrees to the equator.

Steve Ritz spoke about the exciting science that GLAST will reveal. He said that the GLAST LAT will survey the Universe over an energy range from 20 million electron volts to over 300 billion electron volts, the upper end of which is a relatively unexplored area of the electromagnetic spectrum. “GLAST enables scientists to look under the hood and see how the universe works,” Ritz said.

Kevin Grady, GLAST Program Manager, explained how the Large Area Telescope, or LAT, doesn’t have a lens like a regular telescope. In fact, it converts gamma rays to electrons and positrons to infer the direction from which the gamma-ray came.

“It took a lot of people in many countries to make this 16-year journey come to fruition,” said Michelson. NASA partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy, and many institutions and agencies in the U.S, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden.

Right now, however, before all eyes turn to the gamma-ray sky that GLAST will show scientists around the world, all eyes at the launch site in Florida are on the weather.

NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the U.S.

For more information about the GLAST mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/glast


Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Source: NASA/GSFC - News

GLAST in Orbit!


Image above: The GLAST spacecraft and Delta II rocket leap off the launch pad.
Photo credit: NASA TV

June 11, 2008 - 1:30 p.m. EDT
At 12:05 p.m. EDT, the Delta II rocket easily lifted the GLAST spacecraft off the launch pad, out of smoke and clouds and into a beautiful Florida sky headed for space.

The second firing of the second-stage engine was confirmed as was successful spacecraft separation. Applause rippled through the launch control center as separation confirmation was received.

GLAST is now on its own with its solar arrays deployed and placed into a circular orbit 350 miles above the Earth, prepared to monitor the universe and the mysterious gamma-ray bursts.

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, and search for signs of new laws of physics and what composes the mysterious dark matter, explain how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to nearly light speed, and help crack the mysteries of the staggeringly powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

With high sensitivity GLAST is the first imaging gamma-ray observatory to survey the entire sky every day. It will give scientists a unique opportunity to learn about the ever-changing universe at extreme energies. GLAST will detect thousands of gamma-ray sources, most of which will be supermassive black holes in the cores of distant galaxies.

› View GLAST Image Gallery

Source: