{"work":{"id":"48e3eb45-6331-4f96-ba38-372aed94e9a2","openalex_id":null,"doi":null,"arxiv_id":"astro-ph/0405233","raw_key":null,"title":"The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission","authors":null,"authors_text":"N","year":2004,"venue":"astro-ph","abstract":"The Swift mission, scheduled for launch in early 2004, is a multiwavelength observatory for gamma-ray burst (GRB) astronomy. It is the first-of-its-kind autonomous rapid-slewing satellite for transient astronomy and pioneers the way for future rapid-reaction and multiwavelength missions. It will be far more powerful than any previous GRB mission, observing more than 100 bursts per year and performing detailed X-ray and UV/optical afterglow observations spanning timescales from 1 minute to several days after the burst. The objectives are to determine the origin of GRBs; classify GRBs and search for new types; study the interaction of the ultra-relativistic outflows of GRBs with their surrounding medium; and use GRBs to study the early universe out to z>10. The mission is being developed by a NASA-led international collaboration. It will carry three instruments: a new-generation wide-field gamma-ray (15-150 keV) detector; a narrow-field X-ray telescope; and a narrow-field UV/optical telescope. Redshift determinations will be made for most bursts. In addition to the primary GRB science, the mission will perform a hard X-ray survey to a sensitivity of ~1 mCrab (~2x10^{-11} erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} in the 15-150 keV band), more than an order of magnitude better than HEAO A-4. A flexible data and operations system will allow rapid follow-up observations of all types of high-energy transients, with rapid data downlink and uplink available through the NASA TDRSS system. The mission is currently funded for 2 years of operations and the spacecraft will have a lifetime to orbital decay of ~8 years. [ABRIDGED]","external_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0405233","cited_by_count":null,"metadata_source":"pith","metadata_fetched_at":"2026-07-10T13:17:05.770216+00:00","pith_arxiv_id":"astro-ph/0405233","created_at":"2026-05-11T10:31:02.407238+00:00","updated_at":"2026-07-10T13:17:05.770216+00:00","title_quality_ok":true,"display_title":"The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission","render_title":"The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission"},"hub":{"state":{"work_id":"48e3eb45-6331-4f96-ba38-372aed94e9a2","tier":"hub","tier_reason":"10+ Pith inbound or 1,000+ external citations","pith_inbound_count":23,"external_cited_by_count":null,"distinct_field_count":4,"first_pith_cited_at":"2026-02-06T06:02:40+00:00","last_pith_cited_at":"2026-07-09T03:55:45+00:00","author_build_status":"not_needed","summary_status":"needed","contexts_status":"needed","graph_status":"needed","ask_index_status":"not_needed","reader_status":"not_needed","recognition_status":"not_needed","updated_at":"2026-08-17T21:09:41.041599+00:00","tier_text":"hub"},"tier":"hub","role_counts":[{"context_role":"background","n":1}],"polarity_counts":[{"context_polarity":"background","n":1}],"runs":{},"summary":{},"graph":{},"authors":[]}}