Related papers: The Versatile CubeSat Telescope: Going to Large Ap…
Astronomical observations in the X-ray band are subject to atmospheric attenuation and have to be performed in the space. CubeSats offer a cost effective means for space-based X-ray astrophysics but allow only limited mass and volume. In…
CubeSats are excellent platforms to rapidly perform simple space experiments. Several hundreds of CubeSats have already been successfully launched in the past few years and the number of announced launches grows every year. These platforms…
In this paper we present HighRes: a laboratory demonstration of a 3U CubeSat with a deployable primary mirror that has the potential of achieving high-resolution imaging for Earth Observation. The system is based on a Cassegrain telescope…
The miniaturization of electronics, sensors and actuators has enabled the growing use of CubeSats and sub-20 kg spacecraft. Their reduced mass and volume has the potential to translate into significant reductions in required propellant and…
When the first CubeSats were launched nearly two decades ago, few people believed that the miniature satellites would likely prove to be a useful scientific tool. Skeptics abounded. However, the last decade has seen the highly successful…
At a fraction the total cost of an equivalent orbital mission, scientific balloon-borne platforms, operating above 99.7% of the Earth's atmosphere, offer attractive, competitive, and effective observational capabilities -- namely space-like…
We present the baseline conceptual design of the Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) for the Very Large Telescope. CUBES will provide unprecedented sensitivity for spectroscopy on a 8 - 10 m class telescope in the ground…
Liquid mirror telescopes are of interest to Astronomy because of their very low capital and operating costs. Low cost has a potentially revolutionary impact since it allows one to dedicate a large telescope to a narrowly focused project…
As telescope apertures increase, the challenge of scaling spectrographic astronomical instruments becomes acute. The next generation of extremely large telescopes (ELTs) strain the availability of glass blanks for optics and engineering to…
In the era of Extremely Large Telescopes, the current generation of 8-10m facilities are likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been…
ASTROSAT is an astronomy satellite designed for simultaneous multi-wavelength studies in the Optical/UV and a broad X-ray energy range. With four X-ray instruments and a pair of UV-Optical telescopes, ASTROSAT will provide unprecendented…
We present the on-orbit performance of the Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment ($CUTE$). $CUTE$ is a 6U CubeSat that launched on September 27th, 2021 and is obtaining near-ultraviolet (NUV, 2480 A -- 3306 A) transit spectroscopy of…
In the era of Extremely Large Telescopes, the current generation of 8-10m facilities are likely to remain competitive at far-blue visible wavelengths for the foreseeable future. High-efficiency (>20%) observations of the ground UV (300-400…
We present a design for a wide-field spectroscopic telescope. The only large powered mirror is spherical, the resulting spherical aberration is corrected for each target separately, giving exceptional image quality. The telescope is a…
CubeSats are emerging as low-cost tools to perform astronomy, exoplanet searches and earth observation. These satellites can target an object for science observation for weeks on end. This is typically not possible on larger missions where…
Satellites are the efficient way to achieve global scale quantum communication (Q.Com) because unavoidable losses restrict fiber based Q.Com to a few hundred kilometers. We demonstrate the feasibility of establishing a Q.Com uplink with a…
CubeSats have become a meaningful option for deep-space exploration, but their autonomy must be increased to maximize the science return while limiting the complexity in operations. We present here a solution for an autonomous orbit…
CubeSats are tiny satellites with increasing capabilities. They have been used for more than a decade by universities to train students on space technologies, in a hands-on project aiming at building, launching and operating a real…
Small satellite communications recently entered a period of massive interest driven by the uprising space applications. CubeSats are particularly attractive due to their low development costs which makes them very promising in playing a…
The Ultraviolet Transient Astronomical Satellite (ULTRASAT) is a scientific UV space telescope that will operate in geostationary orbit. The mission, targeted to launch in 2024, is led by the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel…