HETE-2
Full Name: High Energy Transient Explorer-2
Phase: Past
Launch Date: October 09, 2000
Mission Project Home Page: http://space.mit.edu/HETE/
HETE-2 is using UV, X-ray and gamma ray instruments to study gamma ray bursts (GRBs). HETE-2 can localize bursts with several arcsecond accuracy, in near real-time aboard the spacecraft. The coordinates of GRBs detected by HETE are distributed to interested ground-based observers within seconds of burst detection, thereby allowing detailed observations of the initial phases of GRBs.
The HETE program is an international collaboration led by the Center for Space Research at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. Our collaborating institutions include the Institute for Chemistry and Physics (RIKEN), the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements (CESR), the University of Chicago, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Santa Cruz, the Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the Ecole Nationale Superieure de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (Sup'Aero), the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
The primary goal of HETE-2 is to determine the origin and nature of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). This is accomplished through the simultaneous, broad-band observation in the soft X-ray, medium X-ray, and gamma-ray energy ranges, and the precise localization and identification of cosmic gamma-ray burst sources (GRBs).
The original HETE spacecraft was lost as a result of a launch failure on November 4, 1996.