BLAST High Altitude Telescope Launched

Xandu writes "BLAST, the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope, was launched on the 11th at 11:09 UTC from Esrange in northern Sweden, and is currently floating over Greenland. BLAST is a 2700kg telescope with a 2 meter primary mirror that hangs from a 1.1 million m^3 balloon floating at an altitude of 38km that will study the star formation history of the universe. It will float west at nearly constant latitude for about 5 days before the flight is terminated over northwest Canada or northern Alaska. Real time position and flight track is available from the NSBF. Two of the graduate students working on the project have photo blogs of the entire (8 week) prep period, including several launch photos. The press has more traditional coverage as well. And if that isn't geeky enough to make it on Slashdot, the flight computers run Slack."

But of course...

[TripMaster Monkey]

And if that isn't geeky enough to make it on Slashdot, the flight computers run Slack.

This shouldn't come as any surprise...after all, it's difficult to recover from a BSOD when your reset button is in the stratosphere...

^_^

Basis for a plot?

[Diakoneo]

OK, we have a team of geeky scientists and engineers (including a cute blonde) launching a vehicle that will deliver a huge payload higher and longer than anything short of a satellite.

Electronics mysteriously stopped working for a while, then resumed.

Does anyone else see the makings of a "B" Sci-Fi/Horror movie here?