Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Description

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, or Fermi, (formerly the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST) mission is designed to survey gamma rays from astronomical sources in the energy range from 10 keV to over 300 GeV.

The scientific objectives are to: (1) explore the most extreme environments in the universe; (2) search for signs of new laws of physics and understand the composition of dark matter; (3) study the acceleration of relativistic velocity jets of material by black holes; (4) detect and collect data on gamma-ray bursts; and, (5) help gain a better understanding of other cosmic phenomena, such as solar flares, pulsars, and the origin of cosmic rays.

Fermi carries two primary instruments, the Large Area Telescope (LAT) designed to observe gamma-ray sources over the energy range from 20 MeV to over 300 GeV, and the GLAST Burst Monitor (GBM), which will view the entire sky not occulted by Earth and detect gamma-ray bursts with an energy coverage from about 10 keV to 30 MeV.