With the first images from the spacecraft now in hand, the team behind NASA\u2019s Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat, or SPARCS, is ready to begin charting the energetic lives of the galaxy\u2019s most common stars to help answer one of humanity\u2019s most profound questions: Which distant worlds beyond our solar system might be habitable?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Initial, or \u201cfirst light,\u201d images mark the moment a mission proves its instruments are functioning in space and ready to transition to full science operations. This milestone is especially important for SPARCS, whose observations depend on highly precise ultraviolet (UV) measurements, making the demonstration of the camera\u2019s performance critical to achieving its science goals. The spacecraft launched<\/a> Jan. 11; the images came down Feb. 6 and were subsequently processed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Roughly the size of a large cereal box, SPARCS will monitor flares and sunspot activity on low-mass stars \u2014 objects only 30% to 70% the mass of the Sun. These stars are among the most common in the Milky Way and host the majority of the galaxy\u2019s roughly 50\u202fbillion habitable-zone terrestrial planets, which are rocky worlds close enough to their stars for temperatures that could allow liquid water and potentially support life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing SPARCS\u2019 first ultraviolet images from orbit is incredibly exciting. They tell us the spacecraft, the telescope, and the detectors are performing as tested on the ground and we are ready to begin the science we built this mission to do,\u201d says SPARCS Principal Investigator Evgenya Shkolnik, professor of Astrophysics at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, which leads the mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n The SPARCS spacecraft is the first dedicated to continuously and simultaneously monitoring the far-ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet radiation from low-mass stars for extended periods. Over its one-year mission, SPARCS will target approximately 20 low-mass stars and observe them over durations of five to 45 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although such stars are small, dim, and cool compared to the Sun, they are also known to flare far more frequently than our solar system\u2019s star. The flares can dramatically affect the atmospheres of the planets they host. Understanding the host star is key to understanding a planet\u2019s habitability.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so excited that we are on the brink of learning about exoplanets\u2019 host stars and the effect of their activities on the planets\u2019 potential habitability,\u201d said Shouleh Nikzad, the lead developer of the SPARCS camera (dubbed SPARCam) and the chief technologist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cI\u2019m doubly excited that we are contributing to this mission with detector and filter technologies we developed at JPL\u2019s Microdevices Laboratory.\u201d Created in 1989, the facility is where inventors harness physics, chemistry, and material science, including quantum, to deliver first-of-their-kind devices and capabilities for the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The filters were made using a technique that improves sensitivity and performance by enabling them to be directly deposited onto the specially developed UV-sensitive \u201cdelta-doped\u201d detectors. The approach of detector-integrated filters eliminated the need for a separate filter element, resulting in a system that is among the most sensitive of its kind ever flown in space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe took silicon-based detectors \u2014 the same technology as in your smartphone camera \u2014 and we created a high-sensitivity UV imager. Then we integrated filters into the detector to reject the unwanted light. That is a huge leap forward to doing big science in small packages,\u201d Nikzad said, \u201cand SPARCS serves to demonstrate their long-term performance in space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n This technology paves the way for future missions like NASA\u2019s next potential UV-capable flagship mission, the Habitable Worlds Observatory<\/a> mission concept, as well as smaller interim missions, such as the agency\u2019s forthcoming UVEX (UltraViolet EXplorer<\/a>), which is led by Caltech in Pasadena.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The mission takes advantage of advances in computational processing as well, with an onboard computer that can perform data processing and intelligently adjust the observation parameters to better sample the development of flares as they happen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe SPARCS mission brings all of these pieces together \u2014 focused science, cutting-edge detectors, and intelligent onboard processing \u2014 to deepen our understanding of the stars that most planets in the galaxy call home,\u201d said David Ardila, SPARCS instrument scientist at JPL. \u201cBy watching these stars in ultraviolet light in a way we\u2019ve never done before, we\u2019re not just studying flares. These observations will sharpen our picture of stellar environments and help future missions interpret the habitability of distant worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n Funded by NASA\u00a0and led by Arizona State University, SPARCS is managed under the agency\u2019s Astrophysics Research and Analysis program.\u00a0The agency\u2019s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) selected SPARCS in 2022 for a ride to orbit. The initiative is a low-cost pathway for conducting scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, enabling students and faculty to gain hands-on experience with flight hardware design, development, and building.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Blue Canyon Technologies fabricated the spacecraft bus.<\/p>\n News Media Contact<\/p>\n Matthew Segal Alise Fisher \/ Karen Fox
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-8307
matthew.j.segal@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546 \/ 202-385-1287
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n