Related papers: Early results from GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2

GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2: GRB observations with CubeSats after 3 years of operations

GRBAlpha is a 1U CubeSat launched in March 2021 to a sun-synchronous LEO at an altitude of 550 km to perform an in-orbit demonstration of a novel gamma-ray burst detector developed for CubeSats. VZLUSAT-2 followed ten months later in a…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-09-04 Filip Münz , Jakub Řípa , András Pál , Marianna Dafčíková , Norbert Werner , Masanori Ohno , László Meszáros , Vladimír Dániel , Peter Hanák , Ján Hudec , Marcel Frajt , Jakub Kapuš , Petr Svoboda , Juraj Dudáš , Miroslav Kasal , Tomáš Vítek , Martin Kolář , Lea Szakszonová , Pavol Lipovský , Michaela Ďuríšková , Ivo Veřtát , Martin Sabol , Milan Junas , Roman Maroš , Pavel Kosík , Zsolt Frei , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Yasushi Fukazawa , Gábor Galgóczi , Balázs Csák , Robert László , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Nikola Husáriková , Kazuhiro Nakazawa

GRBAlpha, VZLUSAT-2 and GRBBeta -- GRB observations with CubeSats

Results from GRBAlpha, VZLUSAT-2 and GRBBeta CubeSats and their on-board gamma-ray detectors for monitoring transients are summarised in this article. GRBAlpha was a 1U CubeSat launched in March 2021 to a 550 km altitude polar orbit…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-01-26 Jakub Ripa , Marianna Dafcikova , Andras Pal , Norbert Werner , Masanori Ohno , Laszlo Meszaros , Filip Munz , Balazs Csak , Gabor Galgoczi , Nikola Husarikova , Tomas Vitek , Pavel Kosik , Michaela Duriskova , Martin Kolar , Lea Szakszonova , Michal Pazderka , Filip Hroch , Martin Topinka , Yasushi Fukazawa , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Masato Yokota , Jean-Paul Breuer , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Hirokazu Odaka , Yuto Ichinohe , Peter Hanak , Miroslav smelko , Ivo Vertat , Tomas Urbanec , Ales Povalac , Miroslav Kasal , Jakub Kapus , Jan Hudec , Marcel Frajt , Maksim Rezenov , Vladimir Daniel , Petr Svoboda , Juraj Dudas , Martin Sabol , Robert Laszlo , Martin Koleda , Hsiang-Kuang Chang , Tsung-Che Liu , Chih-Hsun Lin , Chin-Ping Hu , Che-Chih Tsao , Kaustubha Sen , Chih-En Wu , Aaron Tohuvavohu , Suresh Sivanandam , Mark Barnet

GRBAlpha: A 1U CubeSat mission for validating timing-based gamma-ray burst localization

GRBAlpha is a 1U CubeSat mission with an expected launch date in the first half of 2021. It carries a 75 x 75 x 5 mm CsI(Tl) scintillator, read out by a dual-channel multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) setup, to detect gamma-ray bursts…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2020-12-03 András Pál , Masanori Ohno , László Mészáros , Norbert Werner , Jakub Řípa , Marcel Frajt , Naoyoshi Hirade , Ján Hudec , Jakub Kapuš , Martin Koleda , Robert Laszlo , Pavol Lipovský , Hiroto Matake , Miroslav Šmelko , Nagomi Uchida , Balázs Csák , Teruaki Enoto , Zsolt Frei , Yasushi Fukazawa , Gábor Galgóczi , Kengo Hirose , Syohei Hisadomihi , Yuto Ichinohe , László L. Kiss , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Hirokazu Odaka , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Kento Torigoe

GRBAlpha: the smallest astrophysical space observatory -- Part 1: Detector design, system description and satellite operations

Aims. Since launched on 2021 March 22, the 1U-sized CubeSat GRBAlpha operates and collects scientific data on high-energy transients, making it the smallest astrophysical space observatory to date. GRBAlpha is an in-obit demonstration of a…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2023-03-29 András Pál , Masanori Ohno , László Mészáros , Norbert Werner , Jakub Řípa , Balázs Csák , Marianna Dafčíková , Marcel Frajt , Yasushi Fukazawa , Peter Hanák , Ján Hudec , Nikola Husáriková , Jakub Kapuš , Miroslav Kasal , Martin Kolář , Martin Koleda , Robert Laszlo , Pavol Lipovský , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Filip Münz , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Maksim Rezenov , Miroslav Šmelko , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Martin Topinka , Tomáš Urbanec , Jean-Paul Breuer , Tamás Bozóki , Gergely Dálya , Teruaki Enoto , Zsolt Frei , Gergely Friss , Gábor Galgóczi , Filip Hroch , Yuto Ichinohe , Kornél Kapás , László L. Kiss , Hiroto Matake , Hirokazu Odaka , Helen Poon , Aleš Povalač , János Takátsy , Kento Torigoe , Nagomi Uchida , Yuusuke Uchida

BurstCube: Concept, Performance, and Status

The first simultaneous detection of a short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) with a gravitational-wave (GW) signal ushered in a new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In order to increase the number of SGRB-GW simultaneous detections, we need full sky…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2019-07-26 Jacob R. Smith , Michael S. Briggs , Alessandro Bruno , Eric Burns , Regina Caputo , Brad Cenko , Antonino Cucchiara , Georgia de Nolfo , Sean Griffin , Lorraine Hanlon , Dieter H. Hartmann , Michelle Hui , Alyson Joens , Carolyn Kierans , Dan Kocevski , John Krizmanic , Amy Lien , Sheila McBreen , Julie E. McEnery , Lee Mitchell , David Morris , David Murphy , Jeremy S. Perkins , Judy Racusin , Peter Shawhan , Teresa Tatoli , Alexey Uliyanov , Sarah Walsh , Colleen Wilson-Hodge

The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission

The Swift mission, scheduled for launch in early 2004, is a multiwavelength observatory for gamma-ray burst (GRB) astronomy. It is the first-of-its-kind autonomous rapid-slewing satellite for transient astronomy and pioneers the way for…

Astrophysics · Physics 2010-03-19 N. Gehrels , G Chincarini , P. Giommi , K. O. Mason , J. A. Nousek , A. A. Wells , N. E. White , S. D. Barthelmy , D. N. Burrows , L. R. Cominsky , K. C. Hurley , F. E. Marshall , P. Meszaros , P. W. A. Roming , Swift Science Team

Characterization of more than three years of in-orbit radiation damage of SiPMs on GRBAlpha and VZLUSAT-2 CubeSats

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are prone to radiation damage which causes an increase of dark count rate. This leads to an increase in low-energy threshold in a gamma-ray detector combining SiPM and a scintillator. Despite this drawback,…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2025-04-17 Jakub Ripa , Marianna Dafcikova , Pavel Kosik , Filip Munz , Masanori Ohno , Gabor Galgoczi , Norbert Werner , Andras Pal , Laszlo Meszaros , Balazs Csak , Yasushi Fukazawa , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Hirokazu Odaka , Yuto Ichinohe , Jakub Kapus , Jan Hudec , Marcel Frajt , Maksim Rezenov , Vladimir Daniel , Petr Svoboda , Juraj Dudas , Martin Sabol , Robert Laszlo , Martin Koleda , Michaela Duriskova , Lea Szakszonova , Martin Kolar , Nikola Husarikova , Jean-Paul Breuer , Filip Hroch , Tomas Vitek , Ivo Vertat , Tomas Urbanec , Ales Povalac , Miroslav Kasal , Peter Hanak , Miroslav smelko , Martin Topinka , Hsiang-Kuang Chang , Tsung-Che Liu , Chih-Hsun Lin , Chin-Ping Hu , Che-Chih Tsao

CAMELOT: Cubesats Applied for MEasuring and LOcalising Transients - Mission Overview

We propose a fleet of nanosatellites to perform an all-sky monitoring and timing based localisation of gamma-ray transients. The fleet of at least nine 3U cubesats shall be equipped with large and thin CsI(Tl) scintillator based soft…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2018-06-12 Norbert Werner , Jakub Řípa , András Pál , Masanori Ohno , Norbert Tarcai , Kento Torigoe , Koji Tanaka , Nagomi Uchida , László Mészáros , Gábor Galgóczi , Yasushi Fukazawa , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Zsolt Várhegyi , Teruaki Enoto , Hirokazu Odaka , Yuto Ichinohe , Zsolt Frei , László Kiss

Inflight performance of the GECAM Gamma-ray and Charge particle Detectors

The GECAM mission consists of two identical microsatellites (GECAM-A and GECAM-B). Each satellite is equipped with 25 gamma-ray detectors (GRD) and 8 charged particle detectors (CPD). The main scientific objective of the GECAM mission is to…

Instrumentation and Detectors · Physics 2021-12-10 X. Q. Li , X. Y. Wen , S. L. Xiong , K. Gong , D. L. Zhang , Z. H. An , Y. B. Xu , Y. Q. Liu , C. Cai , Z. Chang , G. Chen , C. Chen , Y. Y. Du , M. Gao , R. Gao , D. Y. Guo , J. J. He , D. J. Hou , Y. G. Li , C. Li , C. Y. Li , G. Li , L. Li , Q. X. Li , X. F. Li , M. S. Li , X. H. Liang , X. J. Liu , F. J. Lu , H. Lu , X. Ma , B. Meng , W. X. Peng , R. Qiao , F. Shi , L. M. Song , X. L. Sun , H. Wang , H. Z. Wang , J. Z. Wang , P. Wang , Y. S. Wang , X. Wen , S. Xiao , Y. P. Xu , S. Yang , J. W. Yang , Q. B. Yi , Fan. Zhang , S. N. Zhang , C. Y. Zhang , C. M. Zhang , Fei Zhang , K. Zhang , P. Zhang , X. Y. Zhao , Y. Zhao , S. J. Zheng , X. Zhou

The Gamma-Ray Monitor onboard the SVOM satellite

The Gamma-Ray Monitor (GRM) is a key scientific payload onboard the Space-based Multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) satellite, designed specifically for the detection and study of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Launched into a 625 km…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2026-04-28 Jian-Chao Sun , Yong-Wei Dong , Jiang He , Jiang-Tao Liu , Lu Li , Rui-Jie Wang , Xin Liu , Li Zhang , Min Gao , Yue Huang , Hao-Li Shi , Li-Ming Song , Wen-Jun Tan , Chen-Wei Wang , Jin Wang , Jin-Zhou Wang , Ping Wang , Xing Wen , Bo-Bing Wu , Shao-Lin Xiong , Juan Zhang , Shuang-Nan Zhang , Xiao-Yun Zhao , Shi-Jie Zheng

A compact instrument for gamma-ray burst detection on a CubeSat platform I: Design drivers and expected performance

The Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 (EIRSAT-1) is a 2U CubeSat being developed under ESA's Fly Your Satellite! programme. The project has many aspects, which are primarily educational, but also include space qualification of new…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2021-08-19 David Murphy , Alexey Ulyanov , Sheila McBreen , Maeve Doyle , Rachel Dunwoody , Joseph Mangan , Joseph Thompson , Brian Shortt , Antonio Martin-Carrillo , Lorraine Hanlon

Expected Gamma-Ray Burst Detection Rates and Redshift Distributions for the BlackCAT CubeSat Mission

We report the results of an extensive set of simulations exploring the sensitivity of the BlackCAT CubeSat to long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BlackCAT is a NASA APRA-funded CubeSat mission for the detection and real-time…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-10-03 Joseph M. Colosimo , Derek B. Fox , Abraham D. Falcone , David M. Palmer , Frederic Hancock , Michael Betts , William A. Bevidas , Jacob C. Buffington , David N. Burrows , Zachary E. Catlin , Timothy Emeigh , Thomas Forstmeier , Kadri M. Nizam , Collin Reichard , Ana C. Scigliani , Lukas R. Stone , Ian Thornton , Mitchell Wages , Daniel Washington , Michael E. Zugger

HERMES: Gamma Ray Burst and Gravitational Wave counterpart hunter

Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) bridge relativistic astrophysics and multi-messenger astronomy. Space-based gamma/X-ray wide field detectors have proven essential to detect and localize the highly variable GRB prompt emission, which is also a…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-09-18 G. Ghirlanda , L. Nava , O. Salafia , F. Fiore , R. Campana , R. Salvaterra , A. Sanna , W. Leone , Y. Evangelista , G. Dilillo , S. Puccetti , A. Santangelo , M. Trenti , A. Guzmán , P. Hedderman , G. Amelino-Camelia , M. Barbera , G. Baroni , M. Bechini , P. Bellutti , G. Bertuccio , G. Borghi , A. Brandonisio , L. Burderi , C. Cabras , T. Chen , M. Citossi , A. Colagrossi , R. Crupi , F. De Cecio , I. Dedolli , M. Del Santo , E. Demenev , T. Di Salvo , F. Ficorella , D. Gačnik , M. Gandola , N. Gao , A. Gomboc , M. Grassi , R. Iaria , G. La Rosa , U. Lo Cicero , P. Malcovati , A. Manca , E. J. Marchesini , A. Maselli , F. Mele , P. Nogara , G. Pepponi , M. Perri , A. Picciotto , S. Pirrotta , J. Prinetto , M. Quirino , A. Riggio , J. Řípa , F. Russo , D. Selčan , S. Silvestrini , G. Sottile , M. L. Thomas , A. Tiberia , S. Trevisan , I. Troisi , A. Tsvetkova , A. Vacchi , N. Werner , G. Zanotti , N. Zorzi

Glowbug, a Low-Cost, High-Sensitivity Gamma-Ray Burst Telescope

We describe Glowbug, a gamma-ray telescope for bursts and other transients in the 30 keV to 2 MeV band. It was recently selected for funding by the NASA Astrophysics Research and Analysis program, with an expected launch in the early 2020s.…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2020-09-28 J. E. Grove , C. C. Cheung , M. Kerr , L. J. Mitchell , B. F. Phlips , R. S. Woolf , E. A. Wulf , M. S. Briggs , C. A. Wilson-Hodge , D. Kocevski , J. Perkins

Compact CubeSat Gamma-Ray Detector for GRID Mission

Gamma-Ray Integrated Detectors (GRID) mission is a student project designed to use multiple gamma-ray detectors carried by nanosatellites (CubeSats), forming a full-time all-sky gamma-ray detection network that monitors the transient…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2021-09-14 Jia-Xing Wen , Xu-Tao Zheng , Jian-Dong Yu , Yue-Peng Che , Dong-Xin Yang , Huai-Zhong Gao , Yi-Fei Jin , Xiang-Yun Long , Yi-Hui Liu , Da-Cheng Xu , Yu-Chong Zhang , Ming Zeng , Yang Tian , Hua Feng , Zhi Zeng , Ji-Rong Cang , Qiong Wu , Zong-Qing Zhao , Bin-Bin Zhang , Peng An , GRID collaboration

Gamma-Ray Burst detection prospects for next generation ground-based VHE facilities

Gamma-ray Bursts (GRB) were discovered by satellite-based detectors as powerful sources of transient $\gamma$-ray emission. The Fermi satellite detected an increasing number of these events with its dedicated Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM),…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2021-09-29 G. La Mura , U. Barres de Almeida , R. Conceição , A. De Angelis , F. Longo , M. Pimenta , E. Prandini , E. Ruiz-Velasco , B. Tomé

Simulations of expected signal and background of gamma-ray sources by large field-of-view detectors aboard CubeSats

In recent years the number of CubeSats (U-class spacecrafts) launched into space has increased exponentially marking the dawn of the nanosatellite technology. In general these satellites have a much smaller mass budget compared to…

Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics · Physics 2021-05-04 Gábor Galgóczi , Jakub Řípa , Riccardo Campana , Norbert Werner , András Pál , Masanori Ohno , László Mészáros , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Norbert Tarcai , Kento Torigoe , Nagomi Uchida , Yasushi Fukazawa , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Naoyoshi Hirade , Kengo Hirose , Syohei Hisadomi , Teruaki Enoto , Hirokazu Odaka , Yuto Ichinohe , Zsolt Frei , László Kiss

SkyHopper mission science case I: Identification of high redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts through space-based near-infrared afterglow observations

Long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow observations offer cutting-edge opportunities to characterise the star formation history of the Universe back to the epoch of reionisation, and to measure the chemical composition of…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-08-17 Matt Thomas , Michele Trenti , Jochen Greiner , Mike Skrutskie , Duncan A. Forbes , Sylvio Klose , Katherine J. Mack , Robert Mearns , Benjamin Metha , Gianpiero Tagliaferri , Nial Tanvir , Stan Skafidas

Testing and Performance of UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope

The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory pathfinder (UFFO-p) is a new space mission dedicated to detect Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and rapidly follow their afterglows in order to provide early optical/ultraviolet measurements. A GRB location is…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2017-12-18 J. Ripa , M. B. Kim , J. Lee , I. H. Park , J. E. Kim , H. Lim , S. Jeong , A. J. Castro-Tirado , P. H. Connell , C. Eyles , V. Reglero , J. M. Rodrigo , V. Bogomolov , M. I. Panasyuk , V. Petrov , S. Svertilov , I. Yashin , S. Brandt , C. Budtz-Jorgensen , Y. -Y. Chang , P. Chen , M. A. Huang , T. -C. Liu , J. W. Nam , M. -Z. Wang , C. R. Chen , H. S. Choi , S. -W. Kim , K. W. Min

Gamma-Ray Burst Polarimetry with the COMCUBE-S CubeSat Swarm -- Design and Performance Simulations

COMCUBE-S (COMCUBE-S (Compton Telescope CubeSat Swarm) is a proposed mission aimed at understanding the radiation mechanisms of ultra-relativistic jets from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). It consists of a swarm of 16U CubeSats carrying a…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-02-10 Nathan Franel , Vincent Tatischeff , David Murphy , Alexey Ulyanov , Caimin McKenna , Lorraine Hanlon , Prerna Baranwal , Christophe Beigbeder , Arnaud Claret , Ion Cojocari , Nicolas de Séréville , Nicolas Dosme , Eric Doumayrou , Mariya Georgieva , Clarisse Hamadache , Sally Hankache , Jimmy Jeglot , Mózsi Kiss , Beng-Yun Ky , Vincent Lafage , Philippe Laurent , Christine Le Galliard , Joseph Mangan , Aline Meuris , Mark Pearce , Jean Peyré , Arjun Poitaya , Diana Renaud , Arnaud Saussac , Varun Varun , Matias Vecchio , Colin Wade