Name

BlackCAT

Satellite ID

ZJAA-2480-3107-6868-7733

NORAD ID

67369

Country of Origin

United States of America

Launch Date

2026-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

Deploy Date

2026-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

BlackCAT is an X-ray coded-aperture-telescope on a 6U CubeSat platform that launched in 2026. It is designed for observations of X-ray sources and new transients in the 0.5–20 keV band. The instrument have a wide field of view (0.85 steradian) and are capable of catching gamma ray bursts from the distant universe, galactic transients, flares from blazars, and monitoring the X-ray sky. In addition to the primary high-redshift GRB science, BlackCAT will monitor known source variability and search for rare and exciting new events including gravitational-wave X-ray counterparts, magnetar flares, supernova shock breakouts, and tidal disruption events. The mission thus functions as a multi-wavelength/messenger complement to present and future facilities, while providing rapid notifications. Silicon X-ray hybrid CMOS detectors form the focal plane array. In addition to carrying out its science programs, BlackCAT also serves as a pathfinder for future economical sky monitoring networks.