Fermi (formerly GLAST) is a next generation high-energy gamma-ray satellite observatory designed to make observations of celestial gamma-ray sources in the energy band extending from 10 keV to more than 300 GeV. The Fermi Mission, part of NASA's Office of Space and Science strategic plan, is an international collaboration of government agencies and academic institutions from the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Sweden.
The Mission objectives of the Fermi mission are:
Explore the most extreme environments in the Universe, where nature harnesses energies far beyond anything possible on Earth
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
Help crack the mysteries of extremely powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts
Answer long-standing questions across a broad range of topics, including solar flares, pulsars and the origin of cosmic rays
General Dynamics AIS (acquired by Orbital in April 2010) designed and manufactured the spacecraft, integrated the payload instruments, and conducted system EMI/EMC and environmental testing.
Performance:
Orbit: 565 km, 25.6° inclination
Launch mass: 4303 kg
Solar Arrays: 3122 W EOL, single axis articulated arrays
Stabilization: 3-axis, zero momentum, stellar target pointing
Mission Life: 5 Years (10 year goal)
Status:
Operational, launched June 11, 2008
Customer
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Mission
Gamma ray astronomy
Quick Facts
Fermi builds upon and complements Swift, another NASA gamma ray observatory, also built by GD/Spectrum Astro and launched in 2004
Fermi’s 3-ton large area telescope has almost a million channels of electronics, but uses less than half the power of an ordinary hair dryer
