CUTE
(Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment)
(CubeSat ultraviolet space telescope)
CUTE (for Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment)
was an ultraviolet space telescope launched in Fall 2021
consisting of a spectrograph on a 20×8 cm
Cassegrain reflector packaged in a 6-unit CubeSat
(30 cm × 20 cm × 10 cm).
It remained operational until orbital decay resulted in
reentry into Earth atmosphere on July 17, 2026.
Its purpose was to carry out
transmission spectroscopy within the 255-330 nanometer wavelength
range, aiming to determine mass loss rates of
extra-solar planet atmospheres (atmospheric escape).
It is an example of the notion of deploying a very small,
inexpensive satellite customized for specific research.
An unrelated satellite mission is CUTE-1.7 + APD II, which is an
Earth-observation mission, launched in 2008 and apparently
still active.
(spacecraft,ultraviolet,telescope,past)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Ultraviolet_Transit_Experiment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUTE-1.7_%2B_APD_II
https://lasp.colorado.edu/home/cute/
https://lasp.colorado.edu/2026/07/30/farewell-to-cute-smallsat-leaves-large-legacy/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023AJ....165...63F/abstract
https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/cute.htm
https://icubesat.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/b.1.1.201905201536-fossati.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/tiny-satellites-will-address-sizeable-questions-in-space-science
https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/France_CUTE_APAC_2021_TAGGED.pdf
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/science-enabling-technology/the-cute-mission-innovative-design-enablesobservations-of-extreme-exoplanets-from-a-smallpackage/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018JATIS...4a4004F/abstract
https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=49263
| WaveL | Freq | Photon
Energy | | |
| 248.7nm | 1.3PHz | 5.0eV | begin | CUTE |
| 337.6nm | 888THz | 3.7eV | end | CUTE |
|
Referenced by page:
ultraviolet astronomy
Index