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

_Published Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 8:10 PM EDT · Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![NASA insignia. — Primary](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/nasa_meatball_large.jpg)

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.

## Sources

- [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-launch-services-for-starburst-gamma-ray-detector/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/iWvAk2qZbTpN5QTPB8nWVe
Published: 2026-09-18T00:10:10.656Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-17T20:37:09.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-18T09:43:49.937Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)