Workers
lower NASA’s latest space observatory into an opening above the Delta II rocket’s
second stage at pad 17-B of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The Gamma-ray
Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) will allow scientists to examine how black
holes accelerate jets of material to near light speed, as well as better study
gamma-ray bursts from black holes, neutron stars, supernovae, and other
interstellar sources. GLAST will also peer at dark matter — atomic particles remnants
from the Big Bang that don’t give off light or heat.
The GLAST mission
is slated for a launch date of no earlier than June 3.
— NASA/Kim Shiflett and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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