Astrophysics

High Energy Transient Explorer 2 (HETE 2)

Survey Observatory · Directed · PI-led · Launched on October 9, 2000 · Completed · LCC: $95M/$184M (2025 $)Life-cycle cost: NASA’s reported cost to build, launch, and operate a mission through its prime mission, plus documented partner contributions, in 2025 dollars. Extended missions are not included. Methods · Wikipedia

Scope Active Mission WindowActivePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through two years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. For HETE 2, papers published March 1, 2001 to April 1, 2010. Methods LifetimeLifetimeEvery tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. For HETE 2, papers published from 2002 to November 3, 2026. Methods
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed papers we found that name the mission or its instruments in their titles, abstracts, or keywords. Papers that used the data without naming it are missed. Methods127
CitationsCitations: every citation these publications have drawn to date. Older missions have had longer to collect them. Methods11,196
Citation indices
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods45
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods105
m-indexm-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes; the figure shown is as of November 3, 2026. It also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods1.8
toritori (total research impact, from SciX): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Always over every tracked publication to date, whichever scope is chosen. Methods80
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Like tori, always over every tracked publication to date. Methods388

Publications and citations by year (lifetime)

Publications per yearCumulative citations

Institutional contributions (lifetime)The institutions SciX lists for each paper’s authors, as printed on the paper, located through the Research Organization Registry. A square counts a paper once, however many of its authors worked there. Methods

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Tracked publications over the lifetime (127)

All publications CSV · JSON

  1. The physics of gamma-ray bursts

    Piran, Tsvi, 2004, RvMP

    1,844 lifetime citations

  2. A very energetic supernova associated with the γ-ray burst of 29 March 2003

    Hjorth, Jens, 2003, Natur

    1,406 lifetime citations

  3. Spectroscopic Discovery of the Supernova 2003dh Associated with GRB 030329

    Stanek, K. Z., 2003, ApJ

    1,199 lifetime citations

  4. The afterglow of GRB 050709 and the nature of the short-hard γ-ray bursts

    Fox, D. B., 2005, Natur

    498 lifetime citations

  5. Short Gamma-Ray Bursts with Extended Emission

    Norris, J. P., 2006, ApJ

    482 lifetime citations

  6. A Study of Compact Object Mergers as Short Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitors

    Belczynski, Krzysztof, 2006, ApJ

    302 lifetime citations

  7. The optical afterglow of the short γ-ray burst GRB 050709

    Hjorth, Jens, 2005, Natur

    283 lifetime citations

  8. The First Survey of X-Ray Flares from Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by Swift: Temporal Properties and Morphology

    Chincarini, G., 2007, ApJ

    282 lifetime citations

  9. Global Characteristics of X-Ray Flashes and X-Ray-Rich Gamma-Ray Bursts Observed by HETE-2

    Sakamoto, T., 2005, ApJ

    249 lifetime citations

  10. Discovery of the short γ-ray burst GRB 050709

    Villasenor, J. S., 2005, Natur

    237 lifetime citations

  11. The Second Swift Burst Alert Telescope Gamma-Ray Burst Catalog

    Sakamoto, T., 2011, ApJS

    237 lifetime citations

  12. A Unified Jet Model of X-Ray Flashes, X-Ray-rich Gamma-Ray Bursts, and Gamma-Ray Bursts. I. Power-Law-shaped Universal and Top-Hat-shaped Variable Opening Angle Jet Models

    Lamb, D. Q., 2005, ApJ

    156 lifetime citations

  13. Spectral analysis of 35 GRBs/XRFs observed with HETE-2/FREGATE

    Barraud, C., 2003, A&A

    149 lifetime citations

  14. A Redshift Determination for XRF 020903: First Spectroscopic Observations of an X-Ray Flash

    Soderberg, A. M., 2004, ApJ

    141 lifetime citations

  15. The redshift distribution of Swift gamma-ray bursts: evidence for evolution

    Daigne, Frédéric, 2006, MNRAS

    138 lifetime citations

  16. The BATSE-Swift luminosity and redshift distributions of short-duration GRBs

    Guetta, D., 2006, A&A

    135 lifetime citations

  17. The First Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope GRB Afterglow Catalog

    Roming, P. W. A., 2009, ApJ

    129 lifetime citations

  18. High Energy Transient Explorer 2 Observations of the Extremely Soft X-Ray Flash XRF 020903

    Sakamoto, T., 2004, ApJ

    124 lifetime citations

  19. Comparison of the Gamma-Ray Burst Sensitivity of Different Detectors

    Band, David L., 2003, ApJ

    123 lifetime citations

  20. Afterglows, Redshifts, and Properties of Swift Gamma-Ray Bursts

    Berger, E., 2005, ApJ

    118 lifetime citations

How we found these papers

We searched NASA’s Science Explorer (SciX) for peer-reviewed articles naming HETE 2 in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces.

((abs:"HETE-2" OR abs:"HETE-II" OR =abs:"High Energy Transient Explorer 2" OR =abs:"High Energy Transient Explorer II" OR (abs:HETE AND abs:("gamma-ray burst" OR "gamma-ray bursts" OR GRB OR GRBs OR "X-ray flash" OR "X-ray flashes" OR XRF OR XRFs OR WXM OR FREGATE OR SXC OR "soft gamma repeater" OR SGR) NOT abs:"J1900.1-2455")) AND collection:astronomy) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[2001-03 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "ACPD" OR "AIASJ" OR "AMTD" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "BGD" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "CliPD" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "ESDD" OR "ESSDD" OR "ESuDD" OR "GID" OR "GMDD" OR "GeCAS" OR "HESSD" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NHESD" OR "NPGD" OR "NewSc" OR "OcScD" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SOILD" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "TCD" OR "ZemVs")

Open in SciX

Added after review (7)

  1. Spectroscopic Discovery of the Supernova 2003dh Associated with GRB 030329 Discovery of the supernova in the afterglow of GRB 030329, a burst localized by HETE-2. Decision 🤖
  2. A very energetic supernova associated with the γ-ray burst of 29 March 2003 Supernova linked to GRB 030329, a burst detected and localized by HETE-2. Decision 🤖
  3. A Redshift Determination for XRF 020903: First Spectroscopic Observations of an X-Ray Flash First redshift for an X-ray flash, XRF 020903, discovered by HETE-2. Decision 🤖
  4. The afterglow of GRB 050709 and the nature of the short-hard γ-ray bursts X-ray afterglow of the short burst GRB 050709, localized by HETE-2. Decision 🤖
  5. Discovery of the short γ-ray burst GRB 050709 HETE-2 discovery and localization of the short burst GRB 050709. Decision 🤖
  6. The optical afterglow of the short γ-ray burst GRB 050709 Optical afterglow of the short burst GRB 050709, localized by HETE-2. Decision 🤖
  7. Prompt and Afterglow Emission Properties of Gamma-Ray Bursts with Spectroscopically Identified Supernovae Analysis of supernova-linked bursts that uses HETE-2 data for GRB 030329. Decision 🤖

Removed after review (12)

  1. Limits on the early afterglow phase of gamma-ray burst sources from TAROT-1 Ground telescope limits on earlier bursts; mentions HETE-2 only as a future alert source. Decision 🤖
  2. Hyper- and Suspended-Accretion States of Rotating Black Holes and the Durations of Gamma-Ray Bursts Burst theory paper; mentions HETE-2 only as a possible future test. Decision 🤖
  3. Gamma-ray bursts: LIGO//VIRGO sources of gravitational radiation Burst theory review; mentions HETE-2 only in a prediction for future observations. Decision 🤖
  4. Interpreting the Behavior of Time-resolved Gamma-Ray Burst Spectra Burst spectral modelling of earlier data; mentions HETE-2 only as a future prospect. Decision 🤖
  5. Study of Gamma-Ray Burst Binary Progenitors Burst progenitor population study; mentions HETE-2 only as a future prospect. Decision 🤖
  6. Present and future instrumentation for high-energy astrophysics in Italy Survey of Italian high-energy instruments; lists HETE-2 among missions and reports no results. Decision 🤖
  7. Gamma-Ray Burst Dust Echoes Revisited: Expectations at Early Times Burst dust-echo theory; mentions HETE-2 only as a source of future localizations. Decision 🤖
  8. The Liverpool Telescope automatic pipeline for real-time GRB afterglow detection Describes a ground telescope's burst pipeline; reports no results. Decision 🤖
  9. The search for optical emission on and before the GRB trigger with the WIDGET telescope Describes a ground camera that watches HETE-2's field; reports no detections. Decision 🤖
  10. Performance of GRB monitor with Astro-E2 Hard X-ray Detector (HXD-II) Describes another satellite's burst detector; mentions HETE-2 only for comparison. Decision 🤖
  11. Euro-Asian Collaboration for Gamma-Ray Burst Optical Observations Describes a ground observing collaboration; mentions HETE-2 only as a future alert source. Decision 🤖
  12. Compact Object Modeling with the StarTrack Population Synthesis Code Stellar population code paper; lists HETE-2 only among observatories it could serve. Decision 🤖