The StarBurst Multimessenger Pioneer

The StarBurst Multimessenger Pioneer is a highly sensitive and wide field gamma-ray monitor designed to detect the prompt emission of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs), a key electromagnetic (EM) signature of neutron star (NS) mergers. With over 400% the effective area of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and full coverage of the unocculted sky (8 Sr), StarBurst will make highly sensitive observations of EM counterparts to NS mergers and be a key partner to the gravitational wave (GW) network in discovering NS mergers at a fraction of the cost of currently operating gamma-ray missions. StarBurst is among the first of a new class of Pioneer class missions and is designed as a SmallSat to be deployed to Low Earth orbit (LEO) as a secondary payload using an ESPA-Grande interface for a nominal 1-year mission starting in mid 2025. StarBurst relies heavily on the heritage of the GBM, SIRI, BurstCube, and Glowbug instruments, consisting of an array of 12 NaI(TI) scintillator detectors that utilize new, low mass and low voltage, Silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) to cover an energy range from 30 keV to 1 MeV. In conjunction with GW and follow-up observations across the EM spectrum, StarBurst will seek to further our understanding of SGRB progenitors, probe the remnants of NS mergers, constrain the neutron star equation of state, and probe the structure of relativistic outflows produced in neutron star mergers.