British scientists have been selected as part of an international team of researchers to work on NASA's new Swift space mission that will study gamma ray bursts, they said Thursday.
Professor Martin Ward, of the University of Leicester, and Professor Keith Mason, of the Mullard Space Laboratory at University College London, will work on two specialist telescopes that will be used to study the unpredictable powerful explosions in space that sometimes last less than a second.
``Britain will have a key input to the instruments on Swift and the experience and expertise of British scientists plays a great part in the selection of this mission by NASA,'' said Professor
Ian Halliday, of the Particle and Astronomy Research Council, Britain's strategic science investment agency.
One telescope will measure ultraviolet and visible light from the gamma ray bursts and the other will be extremely sensitive to X-rays.
``Our contribution to Swift is like a small Hubble Space Telescope. It studies light from the gamma-ray burst and will be able to measure how far away it is,'' Mason said in a statement.
Swift, one of NASA's medium-class explorer missions, will be launched in 2003. Italian, British and U.S. scientists are collaborating on the project.
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