Participation in Snowmass2021 Community Planning Exercise

Michelle Hui, Dan Kocevski, Colleen Wilson-Hodge, and Joshua Wood (ST12) are contributing white paper drafts to the Snowmass2021 community planning study which was delayed a year due to COVID-19. Snowmass2021 is organized by the Division of Particles and Fields (DPF) of the American Physical Society and allows the particle physics community to identify a scientific vision for the future of particle physics in the United States.

This year saw increased interest in space-based observations of Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) because of the 2017 detection of a GRB outburst from a binary neutron star merger, which was made by the Relativistic Astrophysics group here at Marshall. Colleen Wilson-Hodge is providing an overview of how current space-based missions can address fundamental physics questions while  Kocevski and Hui provided contributions that describe the GRB-focused StarBurst and MoonBEAM SmallSat mission concepts currently in development at Marshall. Wood provided a contribution describing the key technology advancements behind the MoonBEAM instrument design. The final Snowmass2021 summary report is expected to be published at the end of 2022.

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