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Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope Soft X-ray CubeSat

NASA’s BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope) is an active 6U CubeSat launched on January 11, 2026 to monitor the soft X-ray sky from 0.5 to 20 keV. Its wide-field coded-aperture telescope searches for gamma-ray bursts, gravitational-wave counterparts, and other high-energy transients, providing rapid source localizations for follow-up.

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Identity

Family Name
BlackCAT
Full Name
Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope Soft X-ray CubeSat
Roles
observatoryresearch
Status
active
Type
spacecraft

Details

Description
NASA’s BlackCAT (Black Hole Coded Aperture Telescope) is an active 6U CubeSat launched on January 11, 2026 to monitor the soft X-ray sky from 0.5 to 20 keV. Its wide-field coded-aperture telescope searches for gamma-ray bursts, gravitational-wave counterparts, and other high-energy transients, providing rapid source localizations for follow-up.
First Flight Year
2,026

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Assets & Meta

Creation Time
August 13, 2026 at 03:03:24 UTC
Updated Time
August 13, 2026 at 03:03:24 UTC