Astronomers spend week looking for lost 2,729 kg telescope

[Wanderlust]

Astronomers and students from the University of Minnesota hoping to search for radiation left over from the Big Bang instead spent the past few days looking for their lost telescope – a 6,000 lb (2729 kg) behemoth of a science experiment.

Last Friday, a Minnesota trucking company sent off one of their trucks with telescope inside. But by Monday there was no word from the trucker and the scientists started to panic when the truck didn’t show up at the NASA facility. Calls to the trucker went unanswered. The owner of the trucking company sent his son to Dallas to search for the truck and the driver. Their only clue was a credit card charge at a Dallas truck stop.

http://www.universetoday.com/95576/missing-big-bang-arctic-telescope-found/

The trucker dumped the cargo at a truck wash and went off on his own, eventually falling asleep at another truck stop.

 

[B.J.]

Obviously the driver got fired, but it surprises me that the police won't press any charges. I suppose it might be because he didn't actually break any laws, but I doubt he's going to get off with just being fired in the end.

 

[zephramc]

I'm thinking the driver was high on meth or something during the time he was supposed to be transporting the telescope.

Glad they found it and it was unharmed. The article didn't say, but since the telescope was designed to "see" radiation, I'm guessing it had some precious metals which could have been sold for a tidy sum.