The BRITE Constellation nanosatellite mission: Testing, commissioning and operations

Abstract

BRITE (BRIght Target Explorer) Constellation, the first nanosatellite mission applied to astrophysical research, is a collaboration among Austria, Canada and Poland. The fleet of satellites (6 launched, 5 functioning) performs precise optical photometry of the brightest stars in the night sky. A pioneering mission like BRITE - with optics and instruments restricted to small volume, mass and power in several nanosatellites, whose measurements must be coordinated in orbit - poses many unique challenges. We discuss the technical issues, including problems encountered during on-orbit commissioning (especially higher-than expected sensitivity of the CCDs to particle radiation). We describe in detail how the BRITE team has mitigated these problems, and provide a complete overview of mission operations. This paper serves as a template for how to effectively plan, build and operate future low-cost niche-driven space astronomy missions.

arXiv comment54 pages, 12 figures, accepted by PASP

References in corpus (4)

• Kepler Mission Design, Realized Photometric Performance, and Early Science
• The CoRoT satellite in flight : description and performance
• BRITE-Constellation: nanosatellites for precision photometry of bright stars
• Massive pulsating stars observed by BRITE-Constellation. I. The triple system Beta Centauri (Agena)

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