NASA has selected SpaceX to launch StarBurst, a small astrophysics satellite that will study neutron star mergers and short gamma-ray bursts, with liftoff planned no earlier than 2028 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will fly on a Falcon 9 as part of a Bandwagon ride-share mission under NASA’s VADR launch services contract.
StarBurst is part of NASA’s Astrophysics Pioneers programme and is intended to capture the earliest emission from short gamma-ray bursts by observing the portion of the sky not blocked by Earth. Data from the satellite will be combined with gravitational-wave detections and observations from other telescopes to support multimessenger astronomy.
The award was structured as a firm-fixed-price task order within VADR, NASA’s 10-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity framework for dedicated and ride-share launches. The arrangement reflects NASA’s continued use of commercial SpaceX missions for lower-cost scientific payloads, rather than reserving dedicated rockets for smaller research satellites.