[en] The Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD), the outermost detector layer in the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT), is designed to detect and veto incident cosmic ray charged particles, which outnumber cosmic gamma rays by 3-4 orders of magnitude. The challenge in ACD design is that it must have high (0.9997) detection efficiency for singly-charged relativistic particles, but must also have a low probability for self-veto of high-energy gammas by backsplash radiation from interactions in the LAT calorimeter. Simulations and tests demonstrate that the ACD meets its design requirements. The performance of the ACD has remained stable through stand-alone environmental testing, shipment across the U.S., installation onto the LAT, shipment back across the U.S., LAT environmental testing, and shipment to Arizona. As part of the fully-assembled GLAST observatory, the ACD is being readied for final testing before launch

[en] Large area gas micro-structure detectors are being developed for the next generation high-energy gamma-ray telescope as part of NASA's SR and T program to support new technologies. These low-cost detectors are produced by laser micromachining of metalized polyimide films layered on carbon fiber composite substrates. This integrated detector and support design reduces the detector complexity and associated assembly costs. Accomplishments to date include testing of a 32 channel ASIC for the front-end electronics and integration of functional hardware into prototype detectors for tests of the FPGA readout system and event display software

[en] The Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) discovered gamma-ray emission from more than 67 blazars during its nine-year lifetime. We conducted an exhaustive search of the EGRET archives and selected all the blazars that have been observed multiple times and were bright enough to enable a spectral analysis using standard power-law models. The sample consists of 18 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), 6 low-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (LBLs) and 2 high-frequency-peaked BL Lacs (HBL). We do not detect any clear pattern in the variation of spectral index with flux. Some of the blazars do not show any statistical evidence for variability. The spectrum hardens with increasing flux in a few cases. There is also evidence for a flux-hardness anticorrelation at low fluxes in five blazars. The well observed blazars (3C 279, 3C 273, PKS 0528+134, PKS 1622-297, PKS 0208-512) do not show any overall trend in the spectral dependence on flux but the sample shows a mixture of hard and soft states. Our analysis uses the EGRET skymaps that were regenerated to include changes in performance during the mission