STAR-X

Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research eXplorer

What is STAR-X?: X-ray Telescope + UV Telescope + Rapidly-Responding Spacecraft

STAR-X is a MIDEX mission proposed to NASA in December 2021. Comprising an X-ray telescope (XRT) provided by GSFC and MIT, a UV telescope (UVT) provided by the University of Colorado, and a spacecraft (SC) provided by Ball Aerospace, STAR-X is designed to conduct time-domain surveys and to respond rapidly to transient events discovered by other observatories such as LIGO, Rubin LSST, Roman WFIRST, and SKA.

Latest News
14 Feb 2023
UMBC Partners on STAR-X, a $3M NASA Mission Concept Study Through the CRESST II Research Consortium<
UMBC researchers are partnering on STAR-X, a nine-month mission concept study investigating black holes, galaxy clusters, and often-elusive transient cosmic events like supernova explosions. STAR-X stands for Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research Explorer. It is one of two Explorer missions to receive $3 million from NASA for this concept phase, before NASA selects one in 2024 to proceed with implementation, targeted for launch in 2028.
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28 Nov 2022
Northwestern University Press Release on STAR-X
NASA has selected STAR-X, a space mission proposed to the agency's Explorer program that includes Northwestern University astrophysicists Vicky Kalogera, Wen-Fai Fong and Charlie Kilpatrick, as one of two finalists to launch a research facility into space in 2028.
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12 Oct 2022
Special Session on Proposed STAR-X Mission Accepted for HEAD meeting, March 26-30, in Hawaii
A list of speakers and titles can be found on the events page.

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