{sup 30}S Beam Development and X-ray Bursts

Over the past three years, we have worked on developing a well-characterized {sup 30}S radioactive beam to be used in a future experiment aiming to directly measure to extrapolate the {sup 30}S(alpha,p) stellar reaction rate within the Gamow window of Type I X-ray bursts. The importance of the {sup 30}S(alpha,p) reaction to X-ray bursts is discussed. Given the astrophysical motivation, the successful results of and challenges involved in the production of a low-energy {sup 30}S beam are detailed. Finally, an overview of our future plans regarding this on-going project are presented.