Participation in the “MAUVE” Ultraviolet Smallsat Mission
Kosuke Namekata, Special Visiting Researcher, and Professor Masahiro Ikoma from the Division of Science have decided to participate in the “MAUVE” ultraviolet smallsat mission by the British private company, Blue Skies Space Ltd. Scheduled to launch in 2025, MAUVE adopts a new format that allows research institutions and individual researchers to participate through memberships. An agreement between the National Institutes of Natural Sciences and Blue Skies Space Ltd. was signed on April 22, with Kosuke Namekata and Professor Masahiro Ikoma responsible for planning observations and generating scientific outcomes.
MAUVE aims to observe stellar flares, which are surface explosions of stars similar to the Sun, in the ultraviolet spectrum (200-700 nanometers). Unlike other ultraviolet satellites, MAUVE will adopt a unique approach to focus on observations of stars, like the Sun, which will yield an unprecedented amount of stellar flare data in the ultraviolet. This data aims to contribute to understanding the radiation mechanisms of stellar flares from visible to ultraviolet light.
Ultraviolet radiation from stars significantly impacts the chemical evolution of the atmospheres of surrounding exoplanets. This research is expected to enable more accurate “space weather forecasts” for exoplanets and provide crucial information for studying exoplanet atmospheres with future projects like TMT and Ariel.
This research was supported by the grant of the NINS OPEN MIX LAB Program (NINS Program No. OML022403).
