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Name the New Gamma-Ray Space Telescope

Posted by kdawson on Sun Feb 10, 2008 05:13 AM
from the your-name-in-high-frquency-lights dept.
NASA Space Science
Ponca City, We Love You writes "NASA announced last week that members of the general public will have a chance to suggest a new name for the cutting edge Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise known as GLAST, before it launches in mid-2008. NASA wants a name that will capture the excitement of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy astronomy. 'We are looking for something memorable to commemorate this spectacular new astronomy mission,' said Alan Stern, associate administrator for Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'We hope someone will come up with a name that is catchy, easy to say and will help make the satellite and its mission a topic of dinner table and classroom discussion.' The period for submitting names closes on March 31, 2008. Participants must include a statement of 25 words or less about why their suggestion would be a strong name for the mission."
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Submission: Name the New Gamma-Ray Space Telescope by pickens (49171)
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  • Ushering in a new era for our ...no, can't say it...

  • Why, GLADOS... (Score:5, Funny)

    by croddy (659025) on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:14AM (#22368254)

    GLADOS: the Gamma-ray Large Area Deep-sky Object Surveyor.

    Just don't equip her with any neurotoxin emitters.

    • You would have to ensure that it remains operational at temperatures up to 4000 kelvins.
    • Man, I spent too much time trying to come up with a nifty acronym... but really, who didn't think of GLADOS the moment they saw GLAST?

      Well, I guess there's no sense crying over every mistake.
      • Er...I didn't. Does not knowing what the fuck "GLADOS" is now make me a grumpy old man that's out of touch with geek pop culture? In that case, take your GLADOS and get off my lawn!!!
        • From the Wiki

          GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, voiced by Ellen McLain), a computer artificial intelligence that monitors and directs the player.

          She's from the video game Portal, the reason people say "The cake is a lie!" She is an unreliable narrator throughout the game, who promises cake when you pass all the tests (but she actually means death)

          GLaDOS is the one singing in Still Alive [youtube.com] - the song playing during the ending credits. It's written by Jonathan Coulton [thesixtyone.com] - known for his song Code Monkey, among other things (like the acoustic version of Baby Got Back)

  • Some ideas (Score:5, Funny)

    by AlphaDrake (1104357) * on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:15AM (#22368256) Homepage
    Far
    Astronomical Usefull
    Reaching
    Telescope

    Very
    Useful
    Lens
    Viewing
    Apparatus

    Super
    Long
    Apparatus
    So
    Humans
    Dont just
    Ogle
    Themselves

  • Something cutting edge (Score:3, Funny)

    by ryants (310088) on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:24AM (#22368284)
    How about... Compuglobalhypermegatelescope?

  • NASA wants a name that will capture the excitement of GLAST's mission and call attention to gamma-ray and high-energy astronomy

    I don't think that this topic will ever be exciting. NASA is doing PR work to get more public support and as a result, more funding. If they do want support, show the public some amazing images of what this thing can capture, then the public will be interested. It's sad that NASA has to do this instead of focusing on the science.

    • If they do want support, show the public some amazing images of what this thing can capture, then the public will be interested.

      Let me just point out one thing, real quick.

      before it launches in mid-2008

      If they do manage to show us those images, I'd love to throw money at them - for their new time-travel technology, not some lame conventional science experiment!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by mefein (664330)
      If pretty pictures are what drive your boat, then I agree, high energy astronomy will not be exciting to you.

      If you care about science breakthroughs, then high energy experiments are the place to look. This is a branch of astronomy that is decades old, rather then centuries old for optical astronomy. The relative improvement of each high energy instrument over its predecessors is huge and the science leap is correspondingly large.

      Seeing the Universe for the first time in a new energy range is at least

      • Ever wondered why the "beautiful" horse nebula is not colour consistant from image to image? Many of those striking images of space are "transformed" into a colour space for aesthetic and pedagogical purposes. There's nothing stopping them from transforming the information collected in any medium into something interesting to look at.

  • The Hulk (Score:5, Funny)

    by CrazyJim1 (809850) on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:37AM (#22368336) Journal
    See if Marvel lets you have the rights.

  • Of course (Score:5, Funny)

    by elronxenu (117773) on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:39AM (#22368344) Homepage
    Gamma-ray
    Observatory
    Astronomical
    Telescope
    Special
    Edition

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by nleaf (953206)
      Which would make it uniquely suited to search for black holes.
    • Nah ... there are already too many assholes putting junk in orbit nowadays.

      I'd go for Gamma Sensing Permanent Orbital Telescope. Or maybe Comprehensive Orbital Weapons Platform And Telescopic Targeting Interface.

  • Death Star (Score:5, Funny)

    by kitsunewarlock (971818) on Sunday February 10 2008, @05:59AM (#22368422) Journal
    I say we call it the "Death Star". Not so much for its abilities as we know it, but simply to scare off alien species who have used films to study our culture and will assume we have perfected the art of super-lasers.

    We should be ok. Everyone knows aliens read slashdot at the default settings, and if my other posts are any indication, I shouldn't get over a 2 (funny), tops.

  • eee (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Everybody Loves Gamma-Rays
  • Mister Splashy Pants [wikipedia.org]... [Happosai]

  • Some suggestions (Score:5, Funny)

    by ElMiguel (117685) on Sunday February 10 2008, @06:17AM (#22368496)
    NASA is in need of capturing the imagination of the American public and showing congressmen that they're a worthy investment. With that in mind, here are my suggestions:
    • The We Need More Funding Telescope.
    • The Sexier Than Natalie Portman Telescope.
    • The Protection For America's Children Telescope.
    • The We're Still Better Than China Telescope.
    By the way, I am available as a telescope naming consultant for the low low price of $200/hour. Hire me now and beat the other telescope making countries!
  • I'd call it "Mammagamma", after the instrumental song by the Alan Parson Project... from the album "Eye in the Sky" ;-D
  • Stephen Hawking Telescope? he is the most recognizable figure in astrophysics for a long time

  • Simple really (Score:3, Funny)

    by eclectro (227083) on Sunday February 10 2008, @06:23AM (#22368532)

    'We hope someone will come up with a name that is catchy, easy to say and will help make the satellite and its mission a topic of dinner table and classroom discussion.'
    Just remove some letters! Gamma Ray becomes GA-Ray, short for Gamma Advanced Ray. Everybody not only will be talking about it, but they would continually be looking up.

  • How about... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Grimbleton (1034446) on Sunday February 10 2008, @06:28AM (#22368540)
    Frank?
  • Curious Yellow. Or maybe 'Universal Big Brother'
  • ....how about "Tinfoil one" ?

  • Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, otherwise known as GLAST
    If it were the Beta-ray Large Area Space Telescope it would already have a cool name.

  • Obvious really (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Gandalf_Greyhame (44144) on Sunday February 10 2008, @06:42AM (#22368600) Journal
    "Cowboy Neal"
  • The BANNER

    Big Ass Named Nasa Extra Receiver

  • If they ever open the name to public vote, it may end up being the Chuck Norris Telescope ;-)

  • Carl Sagan (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Ganty (1223066) on Sunday February 10 2008, @08:20AM (#22369028)
    As Dr Hawking is still alive I suggested the Carl Sagan telescope. Now all we need are 'billions and billions' more suggestions.

    Ganty

  • Honestly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Z00L00K (682162) on Sunday February 10 2008, @08:43AM (#22369122) Homepage
    Don't forget that it was Paul Villard [wikipedia.org] that discovered the gamma rays.

    In my opinion he should be honored by giving the name to the telescope. And considering that he actually isn't a well-known person outside the realms of the scientists working with gamma rays it's even better.

    Everybody knows about Einstein, Bohr and Curie, but there are many other.

    Of course - the site specifies that it isn't necessary that it's a scientist - it can be just about anybody. Just go ahead and suggest some names. I would not recommend names like "Iosif Vissarionovitj Dzjugasjvili", "Ilich Ramírez Sánchez" or "Saloth Sar", but your opinion may be different.

  • The last time they pulled this PR stunt, they ended up ending naming the scope after a NASA bureaucrat, James Webb. Granted, he played a major role in NASA but unlike all the previous scopes, it was the first science instrument named after a political operative.

    They really didn't care what the public suggested - they just wanted cover for what they were going to do. I guess, in a way, they were just being honest in admitting that NASA has devolved to primarily being about justifying its own existence.
  • was named Gracie. Why not?

  • My name (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lally Singh (3427) on Sunday February 10 2008, @10:16AM (#22369742) Journal
    GIANT SPACE PENETRATOR.

    I don't have an acronym for it. I think it'll get the attention necessary.

  • It's a Hulking telescope, so... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by E-Lad (1262) on Sunday February 10 2008, @10:47AM (#22370000) Homepage
    The "Robert Bruce Banner Gamma Telescope" would make sense.
    • NASA has a history [nasa.gov] of letting [nasa.gov] people [nasa.gov] name [lego.com] things. It's a fun and easy way to get people interested in space travel, science, exploration, and whatever else it is that NASA is doing. The more people excited about NASA, the better.
    • GLAST is already a catchier name than Hubble.

      Yes, and Hubble did have the unfortunate quality of rhyming with "trouble".

      GLAST does have rather a Russian flavor to it, though.
    • i don't know , but we could use unix style naming :

      like that BLAST :

      BLAST Large Area Space Telescope

      But then we miss a part about Gamma rays

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