NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) to launch its StarBurst observatory aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, giving scientists a new tool to hunt the violent neutron-star mergers behind short gamma-ray bursts.
Falcon 9 Gets Another NASA Mission
StarBurst will ride on a SpaceX Bandwagon rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida no earlier than 2028. NASA awarded the launch as a firm-fixed-price task order under its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare contract, which carries a $1 billion maximum value across awards during a 10-year ordering period.
The award adds to SpaceX’s growing government manifest. NASA has already assigned Musk’s space venture additional commercial crew missions, while the Space Force recently awarded SpaceX $1.6 billion for 18 Falcon 9 launches. Falcon 9 has also begun handing some Starlink work to Starship after SpaceX completed its last planned Falcon 9 Starlink launch from Florida.
StarBurst Targets Violent Neutron Star Collisions
StarBurst’s science target is far more violent. The SmallSat will watch the entire sky not blocked by Earth for the initial high-energy flashes from short gamma-ray bursts, which can occur when two neutron stars merge. NASA calls gamma-ray bursts among "the most powerful explosions in the universe."
The observatory will use 12 CsI(Tl) scintillation detectors sensitive to gamma rays between 30 and 1,000 keV. NASA says StarBurst offers more than five times the effective collecting area of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and could detect as many as 10 short gamma-ray bursts annually.
Multimessenger Astronomy Opens New Cosmic Window
Scientists will combine those gamma-ray observations with gravitational-wave detections and follow-up telescope measurements, creating a multimessenger view of the same collision. In 2017, astronomers observed neutron-star merger GW170817 through both gravitational waves and gamma rays for the first time, confirming a key connection between short bursts and merging neutron stars.
The mergers also forge heavy elements including gold and platinum. StarBurst principal investigator Daniel Kocevski said studying them can reveal "fundamental physics, the origins of elements, and even the expansion of the universe."
StarBurst belongs to NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers Program, which funds lower-cost astrophysics investigations using SmallSats, balloons and other compact platforms with a $20 million mission cost cap.
Benzinga Edge Rankings show SpaceX stock offers a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long term.
Price Action: SPCX shares were trading 0.91% higher at $156.22 in pre-market trading on Friday.
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