The Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research Explorer (STAR-X)

The Survey and Time-domain Astrophysical Research eXplorer (STAR-X), comprising an X-ray telescope, a UV telescope and a capable spacecraft bus, is an X-ray and UV time-domain surveyor capable of rapidly responding to Targets of Opportunity. STARX captures the early X-ray and UV evolution of transient populations to learn how stellar explosions work and how they fuel cosmic chemistry, monitors rapid and intense X-ray and UV variability around black holes to unveil the accretion processes that allow black holes to grow near cosmic dawn, and witnesses the development of massive galaxy clusters by detecting faint X-ray sources at high redshift. STAR-X fills a critical X-ray and UV gap in the era of large, wide-field, time-domain surveyors and multi-messenger observatories, thereby directly responding to the Astro2020 recommendation for a space-based, sustaining “time-domain and multi-messenger program.”

The major partners of the STAR-X team are NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Colorado, and Ball Aerospace. GSFC will manage the project, provide the X-ray telescope by manufacturing an X-ray mirror assembly and integrating it with a focal plane assembly that will provided by MIT; CU-Boulder will provide the UV telescope and conduct mission operations; Ball Aerospace will build the spacecraft bus and integrate it with the X-ray and UV telescopes.