The High Energy Transient Explorer Mission (HETE-2)

The HETE-2 (http://space.mit.edu/HETE/) program is an international collaboration to help unravel the mystery of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). The primary goal of HETE-2 is to determine the origin and nature of cosmic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by simultaneous observation of soft and medium X-rays and gamma-rays to provide precise localization of GRB's and identification of counterparts to these explosions. HETE-2 was launched on October 9, 2000 and declared fully operational on February 6, 2001.

HETE-2 carries three science instruments:

• a set of wide-field gamma-ray spectrometers (FREGATE (http://space.mit.edu/HETE/fregate.html))
• a wide-field X-ray monitor (WXM (http://space.mit.edu/HETE/wxm.html))
• a set of soft X-ray cameras (SXC (http://space.mit.edu/HETE/sxc.html))

For more information, visit the HETE Archive (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/hete2/).