Student-built satellite EIRSAT-1 detects not just one, but two gamma-rays bursts
The Educational Irish Research Satellite, or EIRSAT-1 for short, is a fully-functional mini-satellite designed, built, and tested by students from University College Dublin (UCD). Part of ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! programme, this small satellite features payloads built from scratch by the students themselves. One of these, GMOD, has just returned some exciting results.
GMOD is a detector to study gamma-ray bursts, which are the most luminous explosions in the universe. They occur when a massive star dies, or two stars collide, and are of great interest to astronomers. GMOD has made two detections of gamma-ray bursts.
The first, with an official designation of GRB240821B, was detected on 21 August 2024. It is a “long” type gamma-ray burst, which accounts for around 70% of those observed. “Long” is a relative term, and in the case of gamma-ray bursts means that the event had a duration greater than two seconds. They are caused by the death of a high-mass star.
GMOD’s second success came a mere 79 minutes later, when it detected GRB240821A. This was a rarer “short” type, likely caused by two neutron stars colliding and forming a black hole.
The EIRSAT-1 team posted their findings to the international gamma-ray burst scientific community, allowing for the information to be disseminated rapidly, and telescopes and satellites to make follow-up observations.
EIRSAT-1 was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Friday 1 December 2023 at 18:19 GMT/19:19 CET and so far, has been in space for over 300 days. During this time, it has completed more than 4500 orbits of Earth, and travelled approximately 200 million km.
The success of EIRSAT-1 demonstrates the capability and potential of university-led satellite missions, contributing valuable data to the scientific community while providing students with hands-on experience in space technology. Congratulations to the team and all involved!
- For more updates on EIRSAT-1 and Fly Your Satellite! please visit: https://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/