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Long-duration gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow observations offer cutting-edgeopportunities to characterise the star formation history of the Universe backto the epoch of reionisation, and to measure the chemical composition ofinterstellar and intergalactic gas through absorption spectroscopy. The mainbarrier to progress is the low efficiency in rapidly and confidentlyidentifying which bursts are high redshift ($z > 5$) candidates before theyfade, as this requires low-latency follow-up observations at near-infraredwavelengths (or longer) to determine a reliable photometric redshift estimate.So far this task has been performed by instruments on the ground, but skyvisibility and weather constraints limit the number of GRB targets that can beobserved and the speed at which follow-up is possible. In this work we developa Monte Carlo simulation framework to investigate an alternative approach basedon the use of a rapid-response near-infrared nano-satellite, capable ofsimultaneous imaging in four bands from $0.8$ to $1.7\mu$m (a mission conceptcalled SkyHopper). We find that such a nano-satellite is capable of detectingin the H band (1.6 $\mu$m) $72.5\% \pm 3.1\%$ of GRBs concurrently observablewith the Swift satellite via its UVOT instrument (and $44.1\% \pm 12.3\%$ ofhigh redshift ($z>5$) GRBs) within 60 minutes of the GRB prompt emission. Thiscorresponds to detecting $\sim 55$ GRB afterglows per year, of which 1-3 have$z > 5$. These rates represent a substantial contribution to the field ofhigh-$z$ GRB science, as only 23 $z > 5$ GRBs have been collectively discoveredby the entire astronomical community over the last $\sim 24$ years.Additionally, we find that launching a mini-constellation of 3 near-infrarednano-satellites would increase the detection fraction of afterglows to $\sim83\%$ and substantially reduce the latency in the photometric redshiftdetermination.

SkyHopper mission science case I: Identification of high redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts through space-based near-infrared afterglow observations