The Ultraviolet Type Ia Supernova CubeSat (UVIa): Science Motivation & Mission Concept

TL;DR

UVIa is a CubeSat mission designed to study ultraviolet emissions from Type Ia supernovae, testing explosion models and providing valuable data for future high-redshift surveys, while also demonstrating space-borne UV technology.

Contribution

This paper introduces the UVIa mission concept, combining UV supernova observations with space technology testing within a cost-effective CubeSat framework.

Findings

UVIa will observe UV emissions from SNe Ia shortly after explosion.

It will provide multi-band UV and optical data over several days.

The mission aims to support future high-redshift supernova surveys.

Abstract

The Ultraviolet (UV) Type Ia Supernova Mission (UVIa) is a CubeSat/SmallSat concept that stands to test critical space-borne UV technology for future missions like the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) while elucidating long-standing questions about the explosion mechanisms of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). UVIa will observe whether any SNe Ia emit excess UV light shortly after explosion to test progenitor/explosion models and provide follow-up over many days to characterize their UV and optical flux variations over time, assembling a comprehensive multi-band UV and optical low-redshift anchor sample for upcoming high-redshift SNe Ia surveys (e.g., Euclid, Vera Rubin Observatory, Nancy Roman Space Telescope). UVIa's mission profile requires it to perform rapid and frequent visits to newly discovered SNe Ia, simultaneously observing each SNe Ia in two UV bands (FUV: 1500-1800A and NUV: 1800-2400A) and one optical band (u-band: 3000-4200A). In this study, we describe the UVIa mission concept science motivation and basic mission design. The UVIa mission concept has been submitted to the CubeSats category of the NASA ROSES Astrophysics Research & Analysis (APRA) program (\$10M cost cap) and NASA Astrophysics Pioneers program (\$20M cost cap).