BlackCAT

BlackCAT is a small X-ray astronomy space telescope in the form of a 6U CubeSat developed by NASA and Penn State. Its objective is to observe gamma ray bursts, counterparts to multi-messenger events, and other high energy transient astronomical events. The spacecraft launched on 11 January 2026 on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission "Twilight" together with two other astronomy mission by NASA: Pandora and SPARCS. The spacecraft is expected to undergo two months of in-orbit commissioning followed by a one year science mission. Its orbital lifetime is expected to be approximately 10 years.