JPL: ASTERIA Demonstrates Big Potential in a Small Package
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:57 pm
Astrophysics CubeSat Demonstrates Big Potential in a Small Package
NASA | JPL-Caltech | ASTERIA | 2018 Apr 12
NASA | JPL-Caltech | ASTERIA | 2018 Apr 12
The ASTERIA satellite, which was deployed into low-Earth orbit in November, is only slightly larger than a box of cereal, but it could be used to help astrophysicists study planets orbiting other stars.
Mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, recently announced that ASTERIA has accomplished all of its primary mission objectives, demonstrating that the miniaturized technologies on board can operate in space as expected. This marks the success of one of the world’s first astrophysics CubeSat missions, and shows that small, low-cost satellites could be used to assist in future studies of the universe beyond the solar system. ...
ASTERIA, or the Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research In Astrophysics, weighs only 22 pounds (10 kilograms). It carries a payload for measuring the brightness of stars, which allows researchers to monitor nearby stars for orbiting exoplanets that cause a brief drop in brightness as they block the starlight. ...
