June 25th radio show online - GLAST

Available here is the June 25th radio show, not surprisingly devoted to the launch of the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) which I've been talking about and expected for the past 6 months. On this program, I covered:

• Calendar of upcoming events in the greater New York City / Poughkeepsie area
• GLAST: History of gamma-ray astronomy; many if not most of known gamma-ray sources are unidentified; GLAST significantly more sensitive and has much better angular and energy resolution than previous satellites. Has two main instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) and GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM). The LAT will be used to constantly survey the gamma-ray sky (link), while the GBM is designed to detect transient events. Succesfully launched of June 11 (link), the first science observations are not expected to occur until 2 months after launch. To check out a music video summarizing the development and science of GLAST, go here.
• Interview with Dr. Charles Meegan of Marshall Space Flight Center, primary investigator of the GBM, discussing the science and technology of this instrument.
• Phoenix Mars Lander: Lots of daily updates
  • 5 June - two practice digs uncovered bright material in the soil just below the surface (link).
  • 6 June - Optical Microscope on Phoenix Mars Lander returns highest resolution images ever of Martian surface, seeing particles <1/10 the diameter of a human hair (link), first scoop of soil delivered to one of the on-board laboratories (link).
  • 7 June - soil was too clump to pass through the screen protecting the instrument, mission controllers will attempt to shake the material through(link).
  • 9 June - shaking continues, new soil sample acquired for a different instrument on the Phoenix Mars Lander (link).
  • 10 June - Mission controller tests a sprinkling technique to deliver soil to Phoenix Mars Lander which will hopefully break up the clumpy soil (link).
  • 11 June - Phoenix Mars Lander has oven full of soil, why it passed through the screen all of sudden not completely understood (link).
  • 13 June - Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkles some soil into another instrument (link).
  • 14 June - Two instruments on Phoenix Mars Lander now analyzing chemical composition, other properties of Martian soil (link).
  • 17 June - Baking of martian soil continues while robotic arm digs deeper to study the bright material uncovered on 3 June (link).
  • 18 June - Robotic arm keeps on digger, hoping to uncover more of the bright, white material first seen on 3 June (link); overload in mission housekeeping data causes some information in flash memory to be lost, not of it critical science data (link).
  • 19 June - Bright material uncovered on 3 June disappears, likely meaning that is was ice (as opposed to a bright salt-like compound) that sublimated (evaporated) after being exposed, confirming that ice below the surface on Mars is not confined to the polar regions (link, link).
  • 22 June - Phoenix Mars Lander sprinkles soil onto the Optical Microscope for a close-in image (link).

Thank you very much for listening, and hope you enjoyed this program. Please email or leave below any questions, comments or concerns you might have - any and all feedback is appreciated!