  Type I X-ray bursts and superbursts from accreting neutron stars illuminate
the accretion disk and produce a reflection signal that evolves as the burst
fades. Examining the evolution of reflection features in the spectra will give
insight into the burst-disk interaction, a potentially powerful probe of
accretion disk physics. At present, reflection has been observed during only
two bursts of exceptional duration. We investigate the detectability of
reflection signatures with four of the latest well-studied X-ray observatory
concepts: Hitomi, NICER, Athena, and LOFT. Burst spectra are modeled for
different values for the flux, temperature, and the disk ionization parameter,
which are representative for most known bursts and sources. The effective area
and through-put of a Hitomi-like telescope are insufficient for characterizing
burst reflection features. NICER and Athena will detect reflection signatures
in Type I bursts with peak fluxes $\ge 10^{-7.5}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, and
also effectively constrain the reflection parameters for bright bursts with
fluxes of $10^{-7}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ in exposures of several seconds.
Thus, these observatories will provide crucial new insight into the interaction
of accretion flows and X-ray bursts. For sources with low line-of-sight
absorption, the wide band-pass of these instruments allows for the detection of
soft X-ray reflection features, which are sensitive to the disk metallicity and
density. The large collecting area that is part of the LOFT design would
revolutionize the field by tracing the evolution of the accretion geometry in
detail throughout short bursts.
