The High-Energy Space Environment branch is building Glowbug, a gamma-ray burst (GRB) experiment to fly on the International Space Station. Although Glowbug is similar in effective area to the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, it will use a new, spatially coherent burst detection algorithm, making it the most sophisticated GRB detector ever flown and the most sensitive to short GRBs.

Construction will shortly begin on StarBurst, a free-flying instrument with 3x the effective area of the Fermi GBM. StarBurst heavily leverages the technology developed for Glowbug to facilitate rapid development and early launch. With its sensitivity, it will play a crucial role in extending the reach for electromagnetic signatures of neutron star mergers detected by next-generated gravitational wave observatories.

We invite applicants interested in both instrumentation and gamma-ray burst science to work on all aspects of the Glowbug and StarBurst projects, e.g.: radiation transport computations for understanding the instrument response; validating algorithms with on-orbit data; analyzing and publishing the light curves and spectra of unique GRBs.

Keywords:

Active galactic nuclei; Gamma-ray astronomy; Gamma-ray bursts; Novae; Solar flares; Supernovae; Gamma ray; Astronomy; Telescopes; Imaging; Software;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants