Gamma-rays
BurstCube
BurstCube is a wide-field gamma-ray monitor designed to fit in a cubeSat profile to detect gamma-ray bursts and will test new gamma-ray detector technology.
Multimessenger Missions
Overview
The joint discovery of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from the binary neutron star merger GW170817 was a watershed moment for astrophysics. NASA missions played a critical role in this discovery, from constraining the speed of gravity, to determining the site of heavy (r-process) element formation, to furthering our understanding of the formation and structure of relativistic jets. The recent detection of a neutrino correlated in space and time with a flare from gamma-ray blazar has also provided a tantalizing clue to the origin of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. These studies of astrophysical transients and time-domain and multimessenger phenomena are perhaps the most rapidly growing field of astrophysics, rich with opportunities for exciting discoveries. In the present/near-future, NASA is well-positioned to capitalize on the exciting scientific opportunities in time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics. As highlighted in the 2019 Astrophysics Senior Review of Operating Missions, the portfolio provides a suite of capabilities that is “greater than the sum of its parts”, and will contribute significantly to the major science questions in this field.
The current NASA Astrophysics Fleet, flying and in development.
"The complementary nature of these missions makes the overall capability of the portfolio more than the sum of its parts, and many of the most exciting developments in contemporary astrophysics draw on observations from several of these observatories simultaneously."
2019 Astrophysics Senior Review
Executive Summary, Page 2Multimessenger Mission Timeline
NASA missions played a critical role in the discovery and characterization of the first binary neutron star merger (GW170817). In the near future, the balanced mission portfolio is well-positioned to continue to make major contributions to EM followup of gravitational-wave sources. Current workhorse facilities in the area of time-domain and multi-messenger astronony such as Fermi, Swift, Chandra, & HST are well past design lifetimes. These capabiltiies are currently being augemted and will eventually be replaced by specalized CubeSats, SmallSats, and Missions of Opportunity, many of which are currently in development and lager missions currently being proposed.
Target of Opportunity Capabilities
Several of NASA's astrophysics missions provide community submitted target of opportunity requests to observe new and intersting transient events. The number of these opportunities and the latency in observing the requested target varies by mission and is driven by a combination of funding and technical limitations. The table below outlines the current ToO capabilities. Given growing community need and the anticipated increase in number of events to follow-up, increasing the number of available requests and improving to the technical limitations that limit response are top priorities of existing missions as well as those currently in development.
NASA's Active Multimessenger Missions
According to a suvery of the community performed by NASA's 2020 GW-EM Task Force report, Swift, Fermi, HST, Chandra have been the most utilized missions for multimessenger science. In addition, NuSTAR, NICER, TESS are recognized as playing important supporting role for rare bright events. There is also significant community interest in using JWST for multimessenger follow-up in the next decade.
Gamma-Rays
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
Fermi provides an unprecedented energy coverage of the gamma-ray spectrum. Its two instruments collective cover an energy range from 8 keV to over 200 GeV, with an extremely large field of view, making it indispensable as a gamma-ray monitor.
Gamma-Rays
X-rays
Ultraviolet
Optical
The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory
Swift is a multi-wavelength space observatory and has long been a workhorse for time-domain and multimessenger astronomy. Its three instruments work together to observe GRBs and their afterglows in the gamma-ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands.
Ultraviolet
Optical
Infrared
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
HST is one of the most versatile space telescopes in operation and has become a vital research tool for multimessenger astronomy. HST features a 2.4m mirror, and its five main instruments observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
X-rays
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Chandra is one of the most versatile X-ray telescopes in orbit, providing sensitive X-ray coverage from 0.1 to 10 keV with at a resolution of 0.5 arcsec, coupled with a robust target of opportunity program.
X-rays
XMM-Newton
XMM-Newton is an X-ray observatory that consists of 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations.
X-rays
NuStar
NuStar is a direct-imaging X-ray telescope with energies beyond those of the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton, covering an energy range of 3-79 keV at a resolution of 9.5 arcsec.
X-rays
NICER
Nicer is a soft X-ray telescope that is capable of providing precise time of arrival information for each photon detected by its array of 56 X-ray Timing Instruments between 0.2 to 12 keV.
X-rays
IXPE
IXPE exploits the polarization state of light from sources to provide insight into our understanding of X-ray production in objects such as neutron stars and pulsar wind nebulae
Optical
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)
TESS is designed to discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest dwarf stars in the sky. The survey strategy of the night sky employed by TESS makes it sensitive to a number of time-domain transient sources.
NASA's Multimessenger Mission in Development
Gamma-rays
Glowbug
Glowbug is a wide-field gamma-ray monitor to be launched to the ISS to detect gamma-ray bursts and will test new gamma-ray detector technology.
Gamma-rays
The StarBurst Multimessenger Pioneer
StarBurst is a wide-field gamma-ray monitor designed to detect the electromagnetic counterpart to neutron star mergers.
Gamma-rays
The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI)
COSI is a soft gamma-ray survey telescope (0.2-5 MeV) designed to probe the origins of Galactic positrons, uncover the sites of nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy, perform pioneering studies of gamma-ray polarization, and find counterparts to multi-messenger sources.