NASA Gamma Ray Observatory Recycled as a Nuke Detector

High-tech hardware intended for satellite surveillance of the stars has been improvised into a nuclear-bomb detector. But this isn't a result of the A-Team being locked in a shed at Cape Canaveral by careless terrorists - it's an official effort at the University of New Hampshire.

The original satellite, NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, certainly doesn't need the parts. Since it kind of exploded in 2000, concluded a successful nine-year stint as one of NASA's flagship observatories with a glorious, fiery swansong - a controlled dive into the atmosphere, burning up rather than fading away. Definitely better than the obscurity and bit-parts in "I remember the 90s" that most big shots from that decade now endure.. Since then the sophisticated spares built for it have been gathering dust in a warehouse where people are very, very careful with the boxes.

Until now. Professor James Ryan has MacGuyvered the parts into handy-dandy nuclear device detector. It might seem like a demotion - instead of probing the mysteries of the heavens, the device now watches out for crimes on the Earth - but it's extremely innovative work. It shows a great understanding of the technology, adaptability, and perhaps most importantly (for the fabled 'funding' of which faculty speak), the art hot topics like "defense" and "terrorism". Professor Ryan certainly knows where his audience is, presenting the work at a conference sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security this week.

The advantage of the astro-detector is its directionality. Instead of just telling you "There's a nuclear device around here somewhere", which is a very exciting plot device if you're Jack Bauer but not much actual use in finding it, it can locate said source. Saving lots of running around panicking. This kind of work is one the highlights of modern science - the cross-pollination that happens all too rarely as experts raise their heads from their own super-specialised fields, look around, and go "Wait a minute, I could solve that other problem in like two seconds".

How can we increase the rate of such radical ideas? Increase the general level of science education, so more people are looking at the problems. Take an interest in what's going on at the cutting edge (by reading sites like, say, the Daily Galaxy, you smart person you!). And remind the über-intellectual experts to kick back once in a while, look around, and smell the roses/nukes/whatever.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

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Recycled satellite parts http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080509/full/news.2008.814.html?s=news_rss