UV astronomy with small satellites
Pol Ribes-Pleguezuelo, Fanny Keller, Matteo Taccola

TL;DR
This paper explores the potential of small satellites equipped with UV telescopes for astronomy, highlighting their suitability for niche UV observations due to affordability and specific instrument design.
Contribution
It identifies UV astronomy as a promising niche for small satellite platforms and proposes a compatible instrument design for effective UV observations.
Findings
Small satellites can effectively perform UV astronomy observations.
A 36 cm aperture telescope with a spectrometer suits small satellite UV missions.
Small satellite UV observatories can fulfill specific scientific objectives.
Abstract
Small satellite platforms with high performance avionics are becoming more affordable. So far, with a few exceptions, small satellites have been mainly dedicated to earth observation. However, astronomy is a fascinating field with a history of large missions and a future of promising large mission candidates. This prompts many questions; can the recent affordability of small satellites change the landscape of space astronomy? What are the potential applications and scientific topics of interest, where small satellites could be instrumental for astronomy? What are the requirements and objectives that need to be fulfilled to successfully address the astronomical investigations of interest? Which kind of instrumentation suits the small platforms and the scientific use cases best? This paper discusses possible scientific use cases that can be achievable with a relatively small telescope…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsStellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Astro and Planetary Science · Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
