AGILE and the Gamma-Ray Bursts

AGILE is an ASI high-energy astrophysics mission dedicated to the observation of the Universe. The satellite was successfully launched on April 23, 2007 to a quasi equatorial low-background orbit. The AGILE instrument is very compact and light (~100 kg): a gamma-ray imager (sensitive in the energy band 30 MeV-50 GeV) is the central part of the instrument that includes also a light hard X-ray imager (18-60 keV) positioned on top of the instrument, and an omnidirectional Calorimeter (350 keV-100 MeV). AGILE is aimed at the study of the most energetic phenomena of our Universe including AGNs, GRBs, Galactic sources and transients. For the first time in gamma-ray astrophysics, AGILE reaches a field of view of about 3 sr with excellent angular resolution and good sensitivity. The unique combination of a hard X-ray imager and a gamma-ray imager is ideal for GRB and transient studies that constitute a crucial part of the AGILE scientific program. We summarize here the main characteristics of the GRB broad-band detection system on board of the AGILE satellite and report on some early GRB detections.