It's a never-ending project, even when it's successful, Fenimore said. The technical advances on this project are considerable. The key to the speedy identification and notification of burst and other fleeting cosmic events is that the satellite has to autonomously locate the gamma ray burst by processing the images right there, on board. That's work that is normally done with a lot of hands-on by people on the ground. It will provide accurate burst triggers and moderate resolution spectra.
All instruments use on-board sensors to determine safe and appropriate operational conditions.
Operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration , of the US Department of Energy.