A space-based early warning system for the colossal space explosions called gamma ray bursts launched early in Monday morning, 48 hours later than planned.
Once commissioned, the satellite will lock onto a GRB in seconds and relay precise coordinates to Earth. An army of ground-based telescopes will then be trained on the spot.
GRBs last for anything from 10 milliseconds to more than 15 minutes. They release as much energy in ten seconds as a billion of our Suns. But no one is sure what causes them or exactly where they originate.
The High Energy Transient Explorer 2 is the size and shape of a dishwasher, and is the first satellite dedicated to the study of GRBs. At the moment, it takes hours or days before astronomers realise a burst has taken place. Teams around the world will receive GRB data from HETE-2 within 10 to 20 seconds.
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“HETE-2 may well revolutionise the field of high-energy astronomy by alerting optical and radio observatories when gamma-ray bursts are in progress and precisely where observers should look,” says George Ricker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the satellite was built.
HETE-2 replaces HETE, which was lost during launch in 1996 when its rocket exploded. HETE-2 was launched over the Pacific Ocean using an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket .
The HETE-2 home page is at space.mit.edu/HETE
