According to the BBC and the IBEX website, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer was launched into orbit on Sunday, October 19, 2008. As part of my Ph.D. thesis, I developed a method to hydrogen terminate the conversion surface facets in the IBEX-Lo detector without significantly roughening the material. These facets were based on a material called tetrahedral amorphous carbon, and the hydrogen termination improved the conversion efficiency.
Granted, I had a very small role in the overall project, but I'm excited to see that this phase of the mission was a success. Hopefully the instrument will begin taking useful data soon.
2008-10-09
Finally some good news for Amtrak
It looks like congress and the president have finally decided to increase the funding. Both Wired and the New York Times reported on this story a few days ago.
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