The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment Mission Overview

Kevin France, Brian Fleming, Arika Egan, Jean Michel Desert, Luca Fossati, Tommi T. Koskinen, Nicholas Nell, Pascal Petit, Aline A. Vidotto, Matthew Beasley, Nicholas DeCicco, Aickara Gopinathan Sreejith, Ambily Suresh, Jared Baumert, P. Wilson Cauley, Carolina Villarreal D’Angelo, Keri Hoadley, Robert Kane, Richard Kohnert, Julian LambertStefan Ulrich

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Atmospheric escape is a fundamental process that affects the structure, composition, and evolution of many planets. The signatures of escape are detectable on close-in, gaseous exoplanets orbiting bright stars, owing to the high levels of extreme-ultraviolet irradiation from their parent stars. The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) is a CubeSat mission designed to take advantage of the near-ultraviolet stellar brightness distribution to conduct a survey of the extended atmospheres of nearby close-in planets. The CUTE payload is a magnifying near-ultraviolet (2479-3306 Å) spectrograph fed by a rectangular Cassegrain telescope (206 mm × 84 mm); the spectrogram is recorded on a back-illuminated, UV-enhanced CCD. The science payload is integrated into a 6U Blue Canyon Technology XB1 bus. CUTE was launched into a polar, low-Earth orbit on 2021 September 27 and has been conducting this transit spectroscopy survey following an on-orbit commissioning period. This paper presents the mission motivation, development path, and demonstrates the potential for small satellites to conduct this type of science by presenting initial on-orbit science observations. The primary science mission is being conducted in 2022-2023, with a publicly available data archive coming online in 2023.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number63
JournalAstronomical Journal
Volume165
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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