Gamma Ray Telescope Launch Set for June 3

NASA has scheduled the launch of a new space-based observatory for June 3, 2008 from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta II rocket, contingent upon the successful liftoff of the Discovery Space Shuttle May 31.

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is designed to detect high-energy cosmic radiation bursts, or GRB's, whose origins are still poorly understood. Explanations for GRB's range from the results of sudden stellar collapses into black holes within the Milky Way to even more powerful points of origin completely outside our galaxy. The scale of GRB's is such that if one were to occur anywhere near our Solar System, scientists believe that it could mean the extinction of all life on Earth.

GLAST consists of two main scientific instruments, including a Large Area Telescope and a complementary GLAST Burst Monitor, supported by an array of auxiliary sensors. The satellite has a useful lifetime of up to ten years.

Led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the mission represents an international collaboration of scientific and exploratory agencies and universities in the United States, Europe, and Japan.

For more information, see: http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/