BurstCube Spacecraft

Autonomously detect gamma ray bursts (GRBs) onboard to detect fading broadband afterglows.

NASA-developed 6U CubeSat designed to search the sky for brief flashes of high-energy light such as gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and other hard X-ray transients. 

Long and short gamma ray bursts are stellar remnants that can be the result of some of the universe’s most powerful explosions like the collapse or collision of massive stars, or when a neutron star collides with a black hole. BurstCube will use a new kind of compact, low-power silicon photomultiplier array to detect the elusive bursts of light. 

With the ability to detect these brief flashes from space, BurstCube can help alert other observatories to witness changes in the universe as they happen. Astronomers can also benefit from the information because these bursts are important sources for gravitational wave discoveries. 

Autonomously detect gamma ray bursts (GRBs) onboard and rapidly downlink data to maximize chances of detecting fading broadband afterglows. It will increase the likelihood of coincident detection and the number of short GRBs that can be correlated with gravitational wave signals. BurstCube will provide astrophysical context, evidence of extreme physical process and rare, dramatic end-stage stellar evolution.

As of June 2024, the BurstCube team is making significant progress on commissioning the science instrument. The team has powered on the detectors, enabled science data production, and analyzed both lowand high-resolution data. The final step in instrument commissioning is to enable triggering, which will allow the team to obtain alerts at any time in BurstCube’s orbit rather than waiting for scheduled passes to downlink data.

Originally 3U and known as UVI-BurstCube.