Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

2007 News

Dec 21, 2007

Eventful Year for User Community

2008 will be an eventful year for the user community. The peer review for the science proposals for Cycle 1 of the GLAST Guest Investigator (GI) Program has been held. In mid-January proposers will be notified whether to submit budgets for the second phase, or whether their proposal has unfortunately been rejected. The results of the second phase will be announced by early May, and funds will be released when the GI cycle begins approximately two months after launch. The GLAST Fellows will be announced February 7. Finally, launch is currently scheduled for May 16!

Dec 19, 2007

NASA's GLAST Satellite Gets Unwrapped for the Holidays

Everyone likes getting high-tech presents for Christmas and Hanukkah, and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington received a wonderful present this year: NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST).
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Nov 30, 2007

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

NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has arrived at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington for its final round of testing.
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Nov 05, 2007

GLAST Will Have a Check-Up by the Light of the Moon

The gently glowing moon is more than just a pretty ball in the sky—for gamma-ray astronomers, the moon could become a unique target for calibrating instruments such as the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST).
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Oct 29, 2007

GLAST's Dance Card Begins to Fill

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is scheduled for launch early next year, and although it will observe a great variety of interesting high-energy sources, one type of object in particular is expected to dominate the gamma-ray sky: a special class of active galactic nuclei known as "blazars."
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Oct 22, 2007

NASA Presents Awards to LAT Team Members

On Friday, October 19, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) Project awarded certificates of appreciation to the 58 members of the LAT Environmental Test team, on behalf of the NASA Goddard Flight Center.
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Oct 16, 2007

GLAST Collaborators Rehearse Launch Activities

The operations center for the Large Area Telescope (LAT) at SLAC will be ready when the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) is launched into orbit next spring.
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Oct 1, 2007

2008 GLAST Fellowship Program

The NASA Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Program is initiating a Fellowship Program. NASA plans to award up to 3 GLAST fellowships in 2008. The goal of these fellowships is to stimulate an infusion of new ideas, techniques, and approaches that will enhance the scientific return of GLAST which will be launched in early 2008.
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Sep 20, 2007

NASA to Launch Gamma-Ray Telescope

AP article about GLAST: "A new NASA space telescope will give scientists a peek at some of the most energetic objects and events in the universe. The new Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope to be launched next spring doesn't see visible light like our eyes, but gamma rays, the most energetic photons in the electromagnetic spectrum."
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Sep 12, 2007

Deadline for Cycle 1 GI Proposals Passes

The deadline for the proposals for GLAST's Cycle 1 Guest Investigator Program passed on Friday, September 7, with the receipt of 167 proposals. The peer review panels will meet on December 17-19; scientists interested in participating in this review should send an e-mail to the HEASARC Peer Review mailbox.

Aug 21, 2007

NOAO-GLAST Cooperative Arrangement

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and the GLAST mission have formed a long-term cooperative arrangement in which NOAO commits observing time on its optical telescopes for coordinated observations with GLAST. This observing time will be available on a competitive basis during Cycle 1 of the GLAST Guest Investigator program.
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Jul 19, 2007

Media Invited for NASA 'GLAST' Media Day to Explore Extreme Universe

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. invites reporters to participate in a special media day that will highlight NASA's upcoming Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. GLAST Media Day will be held on Wed., Sept. 19, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT.
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Jul 13, 2007

GI Program Update

NOIs are still welcome after July 13. The GLASTspec spectrum simulation tool is now available.

June 26, 2007

NASA's New Gamma Ray Satellite Currently Lodging in a Comfortable 'Clean Room'

NASA's Gamma ray Large Area Telescope (GLAST) awaits its launch in December this year [no earlier than January 31, 2008] and is currently living in a "clean room" at General Dynamics in Gilbert, Ariz., while it's being checked and tested.
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Jun 21, 2007

Boston-area GLAST Workshop at CFA

A GLAST workshop will be held in the Boston-area hosted by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics on Thursday, the 21st of June. The objective of the workshop is to encourage participation in the GLAST Guest Investigator program and to facilitate discussion of the scientific potential of GLAST among scientists from different institutions in the New England area.
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Jun 14, 2007

New GLAST Launch Readiness Date

Preparations for the launch proceed with many successful tests. In the current mission schedule GLAST will be launched no earlier than January 31, 2008. The proposal deadline for the first cycle of the GI program remains September 7, 2007.
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Jun 7, 2007

Cycle 1 Proposal Materials Released

The proposal materials for the first cycle of the GLAST guest investigator program are now posted on the GSSC website. These materials included detailed proposal-submission instructions, a technical handbook and FAQs. In addition, phase 1 proposals can now be submitted.
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Jun 5, 2007

NRAO-GLAST Cooperative Arrangement

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the GLAST mission have formed a long-term cooperative arrangement in which NRAO commits observing time on its radio telescopes for coordinated observations with GLAST. This observing time will be available on a competitive basis during Cycle 1 of the GLAST Guest Investigator program.
» Learn more

Apr 11, 2007

NASA's GLAST Mission One Step Closer To Launch

NASA's next major space observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), is one step closer to unveiling the mysteries of the high-energy universe. Almost all the components have been assembled onto the spacecraft, which will undergo a review this week before environmental testing begins at the primary contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz.
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Apri 9, 2007

Chicago-area GLAST Workshop at ANL

A GLAST workshop will be held in the Chicago-area at Argonne National Laboratory on Friday, the 13th of April.
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Apr 2, 2007

New Cycle 1 GI Program Proposal Deadline of September 7, 2007

An amendment to ROSES 2007 modifies the GLAST GI program. The new Cycle 1 proposal deadline is September 7, 2007. The new Notice of Intent (NOI) due date is July 13, 2007; NOIs should be submitted at http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/ssc/proposals/cycle1/noi/. The page limit for Large proposals is increased to 6 pages, while for Regular proposals the page limit remains 4 pages.
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Feb 16, 2007

GLAST GI Program in ROSES 2007

The GLAST GI Program is announced in the 2007 Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES).
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Feb 6, 2007

Scientists Find High Energy Systems Hidden in 'Gas Cocoon'

Astronomers have found a new class of objects in space: a neutron star orbiting inside a cocoon of cold gas and/or dust that hides a bloated supergiant star. In a strange twist of fate, these objects may be tremendously luminous, but the enshrouding cocoon absorbs almost all their emission, making them nearly invisible to telescopes on Earth until now.
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Feb 6, 2007

High-Energy 'Relic' Wind Reveals Past Behavior of Dead Stars

A team of astronomers from France and South Africa announced the first catalog of a new type of gamma-ray source, a dozen clouds of "relic" radiation from dead stars that reveal information about the energetic past of these celestial objects.
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Feb 5-8, 2007

First GLAST Symposium

The First GLAST Symposium was held at Stanford University. Over 320 scientists presented studies related to the upcoming mission. The GSSC staff demonstrated the tools that will assist investigators prepare Guest Investigator proposals, and were available to answer questions.
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Feb 4, 2007

GLAST Users Committee Meeting

The GLAST Users Committee (GUC) met at Stanford, and reviewed plans for the GLAST Guest Investigator Program.
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Jan 17, 2007

Getting Involved With GLAST

A workshop on how to get involved with GLAST was held on January 17, 2007 at GSFC. The agenda and presentations are now online.
» See the presentations

Jan 8-10, 2007

American Astronomical Society Conference

The GLAST mission had special oral and poster sessions at the semi-annual American Astronomical Society conference that was held in Seattle, WA.