cubesat Archives

The strength of indirect detection signals from an Earth-like exoplanet as a function of stellar effective temperature. Bands encompassing main sequence spectral classes A through M color coded by temperature are indicated at the top. Here, Earth-like is defined as a 1-Earth mass object in an orbit receiving irradiance equivalent to 1 AU from our Sun (the solar constant). Radial Velocity signals (solid blue line) are seen to exhibit a rapid rise in signal strength (given on the right-hand abscissa) for cooler, M dwarf systems where they become detectable with present submeter per second RV precision. On the other hand, astrometric deflection signals (colored diamond symbols) rise with host star temperature, and decline linearly with distance from values of up to several microarcseconds for the nearest stars. For convenience the plot also indicates the size of the temperate orbit modeled (in AU, left abscissa) and its corresponding orbital period (in years, also left abscissa). -- astro-ph.IM

Alpha Centauri, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cubesats and smallsats, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

The TOLIMAN Mission: A Low-cost Space Telescope For High Precision Narrow-angle Astrometry

by Keith CowingMarch 18, 2026March 18, 2026

The TOLIMAN project is engaged with the construction, launch and operation of a low-cost space telescope of unorthodox optical design. Its primary science goal targets an exhaustive search for temperate-orbit […]

Astronomy & Telescopes, Cubesats and smallsats, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

Launch Of Pandora Satellite And CubeSats To Explore Exoplanets (Update)

by Keith CowingJanuary 10, 2026January 11, 2026

Update: Pandora was launched on 11 January 2026 at 8:44 am ET. A new NASA spacecraft called Pandora is awaiting launch ahead of its journey to study the atmospheres of […]

Conception of LabSat bio-nanosatellite with five basic functional blocks of lab-payload to conduct a biological experiment.-- Nature

Cubesats and smallsats, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Sample Return, Space Life Science, Space Stations, Status Report

Autonomous, Miniature Research Station (lab-payload) For The Nanosatellite Biological Mission: LabSat

by Keith CowingAugust 28, 2025August 28, 2025

There is an increase in demand for bio-nanosatellites and biomedical methodologies as a result of experiments conducted in microgravity and radiation conditions.

Cloud cover can keep optical instruments on satellites from clearly capturing Earth's surface. Still in testing, JPL's Dynamic Targeting uses AI to avoid imaging clouds, yielding a higher proportion of usable data, and to focus on phenomena like this 2015 volcanic eruption in Indonesia Landsat 8 captured. Credit: NASA/USGS

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Cubesats and smallsats, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Orbital Recon: Use Of AI to Make Earth-Observing Satellites Smarter

by Keith CowingAugust 12, 2025August 12, 2025

Editor’s note: for more than half a century we have been learning how to use the viewpoint from space to study our home world. The instruments we have developed often […]

The SPARCS payload consisting of a telescope with a 9-cm primary mirror and a 3.25 cm secondary mirror feeding a dichroic beam splitter which transmits light to a NUV detector and reflects light to a FUV detector. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Cubesats and smallsats, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Building SPARCS, an Ultraviolet Science CubeSat for Exoplanet Habitability Studies, Technology Advancements, and Mission Training

by Keith CowingJuly 12, 2025July 11, 2025

The Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS) is a NASA-funded 6U-CubeSat mission designed to monitor ultraviolet (UV) radiation from low-mass stars.

An artist’s impression of the proposed VERVE mission to Venus the answer whether tiny bacterial lifeforms really do exist in the planet’s clouds. Credit Danielle Futselaar Licence type Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Venus

The Venus Explorer for Reduced Vapours in the Environment (VERVE)

by Keith CowingJuly 10, 2025July 10, 2025

The answer to whether tiny bacterial lifeforms really do exist in the clouds of Venus could be revealed once-and-for-all by a UK-backed mission.

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

NASA Exoplanet Archive: Getting CUTE With New Data

by Keith CowingDecember 14, 2024December 14, 2024

The archive has added a new dataset by NASA’s Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE)CubeSat. The mission is measuring near-ultraviolet transmission spectroscopy of a dozen Jupiter- and Neptune-sized planets and monitoring […]

Schematic raytrace of the STAMP-1 instrument. The 40 cm primary mirror feeds a two-channel spectrograph with a next-generation microshutter array as the multi-object selection mechanism at telescope focus. -- astro-ph.IM

Astronomy & Telescopes, Cubesats and smallsats, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

The Smallsat Technology Accelerated Maturation Platform-1 (STAMP-1): A Proposal to Advance Ultraviolet Science, Workforce, and Technology for the Habitable Worlds Observatory

by Keith CowingJuly 25, 2024July 25, 2024

NASA’s Great Observatories Maturation Program (GOMAP) will advance the science definition, technology, and workforce needed for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) with the goal of a Phase A start by […]

Cubesats and smallsats, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Radiation, Space Life Science, Status Report

Biosentinel Deep Space Mission

by Keith CowingJuly 21, 2024July 7, 2024

BioSentinel was launched as a secondary payload on the space launch system (SLS) Artemis I mission on November 16, 2022, and is currently in a heliocentric orbit at approx. 36 […]