Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment: a mission development history and future possibilities from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's first ultraviolet astronomy CubeSat
Article
Article Title | Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment: a mission development history and future possibilities from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's first ultraviolet astronomy CubeSat |
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ERA Journal ID | 210799 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Patton, Tom, France, Kevin and Egan, Arika |
Journal Title | Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems |
Journal Citation | 10 (3) |
Article Number | 030301 |
Number of Pages | 21 |
Year | 2024 |
Publisher | SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 2329-4124 |
2329-4221 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.3.030301 |
Web Address (URL) | https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Journal-of-Astronomical-Telescopes-Instruments-and-Systems/volume-10/issue-3/030301/Colorado-Ultraviolet-Transit-Experiment--a-mission-development-history-and/10.1117/1.JATIS.10.3.030301.short |
Abstract | The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) first dedicated exoplanetary spectroscopy mission, the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE), is used to search for signatures of atmospheric escape, the process by which constituent gases depart a planetary atmosphere. Through transit spectroscopy, the signs of escape driven by the high level of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from their parent stars are detectable around close-in planets. CUTE is a 6U CubeSat developed and operated by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) of the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, United States; it looks for these signs of escape by surveying close-in extrasolar planets in the near-UV (2479 to 3306 Å) with 208 × 84mm Cassegrain telescope-fed, UV-enhanced charged coupled device. Funded through a NASA ROSES proposal in 2017 and forced to deal with a worldwide pandemic during the heart of its fabrication and test program, CUTE has demonstrated the capability of small satellites to launch on schedule and perform challenging astronomical measurements. We will highlight the CUTE mission’s science objectives, implementation, and tribulations on its road to delivering a successful science program while discussing lessons learned pertaining to the development of CubeSat programs and the application of those lessons for a CUTE-style follow-on mission in the future. |
Keywords | Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment; ultraviolet; spectroscopy; escape; transit; CubeSat |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 5101. Astronomical sciences |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southern Queensland |
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, United States | |
University of Colorado Boulder, United States | |
Johns Hopkins University, United States |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/zv089/colorado-ultraviolet-transit-experiment-a-mission-development-history-and-future-possibilities-from-the-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration-s-first-ultraviolet-astronomy-cubesat
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