UK startup Blue Skies Space has confirmed the launch date for its stargazing satellite Mauve for October 2025.
The satellite will be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-15 rideshare programme.
Mauve will measure the activity of nearby stars, helping scientists understand the impact of powerful stellar flares on exoplanets and the prospects of harbouring life.
Blues Skies Space is transforming access to space science data by making the data captured by its satellites available to any researcher in the world via an annual membership.
Traditionally, space data has been provided to researchers through government agencies (such as NASA, ESA etc) but there is huge demand for these satellites and they are often heavily oversubscribed.
The news comes after Blue Skies Space secured more than £2m in funding in April this year.
Mauve is Blue Skies Space’s first satellite and is equipped with a 13 cm telescope that will observe hundreds of stars in the Ultraviolet and visible wavelengths.
The data will provide a greater understanding of their magnetic activity, powerful flares, and the impact on the habitability of neighbouring exoplanets.
Prof Giovanna Tinetti, chief scientist and co-founder of Blue Skies Space, commented: “The launch of Mauve will help accelerate space science by unlocking greater access to more time-domain, Ultraviolet data complementing the larger facilities such as the Hubble Space Telescope.”
Academics sit at the heart of Blue Skies Space’s science programmes, with researchers who sign up before launch being able to lead and shape the global research collaboration, directing where in space the Mauve satellite looks and how long it looks for during its three-year mission.
Early participants already include researchers from Boston University, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Rice University, Vanderbilt University, and Western University.
Dr Marcell Tessenyi, CEO and co-founder of Blue Skies Space, said: “We are delighted to confirm the launch date for Mauve. It is a crucial step in our mission to accelerate the supply of space science data and making it accessible to any researcher, anywhere in the world.
“Mauve’s rapid development timeline—less than three years from concept to launch—represents a new paradigm in the swift delivery of science satellites and their essential datasets.”
With offices in the UK and Italy, Blue Skies Space has assembled an experienced team who have previously worked at organisations such as NASA, Airbus, Surrey Satellite Technology, Caltech and UCL, bringing a wealth of expertise in space science, satellite engineering, satellite construction and operations.