Title: Echo of the big bang /
Authors: Lemonick, Michael D., 1953-
Publisher: Princeton University Press,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Goddard Space Flight Center Research.; Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Spacecraft); Princeton University Research.; Space probes Design and construction.; Big bang theory
Abstract: "A tight-knit, high-powered group of scientists and engineers spent eight years building a satellite designed, in effect, to read the genome of the universe. Launched in 2001, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has finally reported in - and it's found things nobody expected." "For more than a year, the WMAP satellite hovered in the cold of deep space, a million miles from Earth, in an effort to determine whether the science of cosmology - the study of the origin and evolution of the universe - has been on the right track for the past two decades.^
Contents: Is something amiss in the universe? -- The birth of cosmology -- A whisper of microwaves -- Bad Blood -- Now what? -- Forming a team -- How to design a satellite -- The build -- Horse race -- Launch -- Deepening mystery -- The answer.