AIRIS: High-Precision Optical Follow-Up Telescope for Gamma-Ray Burst Observation with ADAPT

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic events in the universe, yet their origins and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Capturing the evolution of GRB afterglows across frequency bands (multi-messenger astronomy) is needed to better characterize these bursts. The Antarctic Demonstrator for the Advanced Particle-astrophysics Telescope (ADAPT) is a NASA mission led by James Buckley of the WashU physics department, designed to demonstrate a Compton scattering detector for a future space-based gamma-ray and cosmic-ray observer. Planned for a December 2026 weather balloon flight over Antarctica, ADAPT will provide unprecedented sensitivity and wide field of view, producing localizations and polarization constraints on gamma-ray bursts in seconds. However, it has a limited capability to refine GRB localization and cannot provide optical afterglow imaging. AIRIS (ADAPT Incidence Resolution & Imaging Subsystem) is a fast-slewing optical telescope mounted on the same platform as ADAPT. AIRIS is designed to refine GRB localization sent by ADAPT and provide optical images of their afterglows. AIRIS will respond to GRB triggers identified by ADAPT, slewing up to 30 degrees per second to capture GRB afterglows. Due to AIRIS’ rapidly slewing mount and co-location with ADAPT’s rapid computing pipeline, AIRIS is quickly able to observe the optical afterglows of GRBs. Furthermore, AIRIS’ near-space vantage point, low-noise SONY CMOS sensor, and large aperture 200mm f/1.8 lens, enables the observation of very faint signals. Additionally, AIRIS’s precise localizations will feed into NASA's General Coordinates Network, guiding telescopes worldwide to observe GRB afterglows, contributing to multi-messenger astronomy.