NASA's BurstCube to decode cosmic blasts

Washington: NASA on Friday launched a shoebox-sized satellite, which aims to unravel the mysteries of cosmic blasts, to the International Space Station (ISS).

The satellite, BurstCube, is enroute to the orbiting lab aboard SpaceX’s 30th Commercial Resupply Services mission. It lifted off at 4:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday, March 21 (2:25 am IST, Friday), from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

After reaching the ISS, "BurstCube will be unpacked and later released into orbit, where it will detect, locate, and study short gamma-ray bursts -- brief flashes of high-energy light", NASA said in a statement.