BurstCube

Overview

BurstCube was a 6U Cubesat mission to detect, localize, and rapidly disseminate information about gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). It was launched on March 21, 2024 on SpaceX’s 30th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Stations, and was deployed from the ISS on April 18, co-launched with another CubeSat mission SnoOPI. BurstCube monitored the sky for variable and unusual transient gamma-ray events. The primary science objective was to detect and characterize short GRBs (<2 s) that are the counterparts of GW sources. BurstCube was also sensitive to all GRBs such as long duration hypernovae, and supernova, and transient galactic sources such as magnetars. It was intended to have an initial operations period of one year.

Key facts

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Launch year

2024

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Status

active