BurstCube: a CubeSat for gravitational wave counterparts
BurstCube is a 6U (10 x 20 x 30 cm) CubeSat designed to detect gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and enable multimessenger observations, scheduled to launch in early 2024. BurstCube science is informed by the coincident detection of GRB 170817A and gravitational wave (GW) 170817, which confirmed compact binary mergers as progenitors for GRBs. Future coincident detections will also provide important context to the GW measurements - namely constraining the neutron star equation of state and testing fundamental physics, while also probing the origin of GRB prompt emission. Full sky coverage in the gamma-ray regime is needed to increase the likelihood of such measurements. Once in orbit, BurstCube will expand sky coverage while rapidly providing public alerts and localization information to the community using the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and General Coordinates Network (GCN). This work will describe the current status of the mission, as well as an outline of post-launch operations, performance, and science goals.
Authors
- Sean R. Semper
- M. S. Briggs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2105-7711)
- Lucia Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0310-1424)
- Sarah Walsh
- John Krizmanic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9690-9352)
- R. M. Kippen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1091-073X)
- Robert Moss (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4186-9322)
- Pi Nuessle
- S. Guiriec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5780-8770)
- Teresa Tatoli
- S. Griffin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0779-9623)
- J. G. Mitchell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4501-5452)
- P. Shawhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8249-8070)
- R. Caputo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9280-836X)
- Jacob Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9820-6001)
- Carolyn Kierans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6677-914X)
- O. J. Roberts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7150-9061)
- C. Wilson‐Hodge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8585-0084)
- S. McBreen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1477-618X)
- Sibasish Laha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2714-0487)
- D. Kocevski
- A. Y. Lien (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7851-9756)
- David Murphy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4713-0377)
- D. H. Hartmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8028-0991)
- Daniel P. Violette
- J. S. Perkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9608-4023)
- J. L. Racusin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4744-9898)
- C. M. Hui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0468-6025)
- A. Goldstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0587-7042)
- Lee J. Mitchell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1016-2145)
- Boyan A. Hristov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9556-7576)
- A. Bruno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5191-1662)
- Georgia de Nolfo
- L. Hanlon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2931-3732)
- Isabella Brewer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1908-8551)
- Israel Martinez-Castellanos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2471-8696)
- Eric Burns (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2942-3379)
- Alyson Joens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5783-8590)
- Julie Cox (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6082-1642)
- Julie McEnery
- Ava Anne Myers
- David C. Morris
- Brad Cenko
- Alexey Uliyanov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6935-8949)
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Louisiana State University (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- Universities Space Research Association (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of America (US)
- George Washington University (US)
- Clemson University (US)
- University of Alabama in Huntsville (US)
- Catholic University of America (US)
Publication Details
- Published
- 2024-08-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3020456
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.99