NASA selects SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare for StarBurst gamma-ray mission

NASA selected SpaceX to launch the agency's StarBurst small satellite, which is designed to investigate neutron star mergers and the origins of short gamma-ray bursts. The spacecraft is scheduled to fly no earlier than 2028 on a Bandwagon rideshare aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The selection is a firm-fixed-price task order under NASA's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract, an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity vehicle with a 10-year ordering period and a maximum total value of $1 billion across all contracts. NASA did not disclose the value of the StarBurst order. StarBurst is part of NASA's Astrophysics Pioneers Program for lower-cost small-spacecraft investigations. It will hunt short gamma-ray bursts from neutron-star mergers and combine those detections with gravitational-wave measurements.