GLAST rocket arrives at Cape Canaveral

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

The first stage of the Delta II rocket to be used to launch the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, has arrived at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

GLAST will explore the most extreme environments in the universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth, said Kevin Grady, the GLAST project manager. He said the telescope will be used to 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 solve the mysteries of the enormously powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.

GLAST is to be launched May 16 from the Kennedy Space Center.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to rename the observatory and has invited the public to submit name suggestions that can be an acronym but it isn't a requirement. The suggestions can be submitted through March 31 at
http://glast.sonoma.edu/glastname.

NASA said the GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed with the U.S. Department of Energy and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

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