NASA's GLAST Satellite Arrives At Naval Research Lab for Testing

GREENBELT, Md., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Gamma-ray Large AreaSpace Telescope (GLAST) has arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) inWashington, for its final round of testing.The GLAST spacecraft has successfully completed two of its three environmentaltests at the prime contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systemsin Gilbert, Ariz. These tests included exposure to extreme vibrations andelectromagnetic fields. "We've completed two of the big three tests, and nowwe're going to the NRL to perform the third," said GLAST project manager KevinGrady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.On November 26, the spacecraft began its drive across the country in aspecially modified truck. GLAST arrived at NRL on November 28. At NRL, thespacecraft will undergo thermal and vacuum testing to ensure that it cansurvive the 90-degree F (50-degree C) temperature swings it will experience inEarth 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 instrumentsinto space. We need to ensure the observatory can function in the spaceenvironment, and that is the main goal of the testing about to take place,"says GLAST project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard.After GLAST finishes the thermal-vac testing, it will be trucked or flown toCape Canaveral, Fla. There, the solar arrays and flight battery will be addedto the spacecraft, and it will be fueled with propellant. The launch, aboard aDelta II Heavy rocket, is scheduled for no earlier than May 29, 2008.GLAST will carry two instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and the GLASTBurst Monitor (GBM), to study the extreme universe, where nature harnessesenergies far beyond anything scientists can achieve in their most elaborateexperiments on Earth. GLAST may answer the mystery of how black holesaccelerate jets of particles to near-light speed, and it may fill in gaps inour knowledge of stupendously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts

(GRBs).The LAT, which works like a particle detector rather than a conventionaltelescope, greatly improves upon all previous gamma-ray instruments. It ismore than 30 times as sensitive to faint sources, it covers a much broaderrange of gamma-ray wavelengths, it can locate sources much more precisely, andit can measure the arrival time of each gamma ray more accurately."With the LAT we will be able to pinpoint locations in the universe wherematter is accelerated to extremely high-energies, shedding new light on theorigin of cosmic rays," says LAT principal investigator Peter Michelson ofStanford University in Palo Alto, Calif. "We will also observe neutron starsand learn how they produce their lighthouse-like particle beams. The LAT willhelp astronomers determine the nature of hundreds of gamma-ray sources seen byprevious missions, but whose nature remains shrouded in mystery. Most excitingof all, the LAT will find thousands of previously unknown gamma-ray sources.""We expect that the GBM will detect about 200 GRBs per year," said GBMprincipal investigator Charles "Chip" Meegan of NASA's Marshall Space FlightCenter in Huntsville, Ala. "With the LAT and GBM working together, and withother satellites, we hope to understand how the gamma rays are actuallyproduced in GRBs, and whether GRBs create high-energy gamma rays that werebeyond the range of previous satellites."From its perch in low-Earth orbit, GLAST will also test key concepts infundamental physics, such as whether all forms of light -- regardless ofwavelength -- travel at the same speed. It might help physicists determine thenature of dark matter by catching the gamma-ray signature of dark-matterparticles annihilating one another. It might even detect gamma rays fromexploding black holes.NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership,developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along withimportant 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/GLASTSOURCE NASARobert Naeye, +1-301-286-4453, Robert.P.Naeye@nasa.gov, or Rob Gutro,+1-301-286-4044, Robert.J.Gutro@nasa.gov, both of NASA's Goddard Space FlightCenter, Md.