NASA has officially selected SpaceX to launch the StarBurst mission, a specialized detector designed to study neutron star mergers and short gamma-ray bursts. The mission will utilize the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, with the launch scheduled to take place no earlier than 2028 from the SLC-40 pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The StarBurst instrument will be deployed as part of the Bandwagon rideshare mission. This contract is structured as a fixed-price agreement under NASA’s VADR program, which stands for Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare. The VADR program is a 10-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a total ceiling of $1 billion for all missions.
The primary objective of StarBurst is to conduct a full-sky survey to detect high-energy gamma-ray events. By integrating these observations with gravitational wave data and other telescope inputs, researchers aim to analyze these cosmic phenomena in a multi-messenger approach. The project is funded under the Astrophysics Pioneers program for small-scale space missions.
