Credit: SpaceX
LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2025: Blue Skies Space, a UK-space science data company, has successfully launched its first satellite, Mauve, marking the start of a three-year mission to study the stars and how their activity influences the habitability of distant exoplanets.
The satellite was launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15 on 28 November 2025 at 18:45 GMT. This marks a major milestone for the company and the beginning of its mission to deliver science data from space in a fast and cost-effective way.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the Transporter-15 mission to orbit https://t.co/Z5aXwR9Uao
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 28, 2025
Mauve will enable the study of transient, energetic phenomena from stars, largely emitted through powerful explosions (flares) that will affect the planets around them. This emission is largely seen at energetic ultraviolet wavelengths, which Mauve can observe over long periods of time thanks to its sensitivity to light in the 200-700 nanometer range. In addition to stellar flares, research priorities include young exoplanet hosts, hot stars and binary stars.
Research institutions worldwide have already secured subscriptions to access data collected by Mauve. These include Boston University, Columbia University, INAF’s Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Konkoly Observatory, Kyoto University, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Maynooth University, Rice University, Vanderbilt University, and Western University.
“Mauve will open a new window on stellar activity that has previously been largely hidden from view,” said Professor Giovanna Tinetti, Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Blue Skies Space. “By observing stars in ultraviolet light, wavelengths that can’t be studied from Earth, we’ll gain a much deeper understanding of how stars behave and how their flares may impact the environment of orbiting exoplanets. Traditional ground-based telescopes just can’t capture this information, so a satellite like Mauve is crucial for furthering our knowledge.”
“Our vision is to make space science data as accessible as possible,” said Dr Marcell Tessenyi, CEO and co-founder of Blue Skies Space. “Mauve will undergo commissioning before delivering datasets to scientists in early 2026, and serve as a springboard to launch a fleet of satellites addressing the global demand for space science data.”
About Mauve
Mauve, Blue Skies Space’s first satellite, will measure the activity of nearby stars, helping scientists understand the impact of powerful stellar flares on exoplanets and the prospects of harbouring life. Mauve is a small satellite that will operate in low-Earth orbit, equipped with a 13 cm telescope to observe stars in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths (200-700 nm).
Mauve was built by a consortium of European companies and launched within 3 years of conception, a fast timeline for science satellites. C3S LLC, based in Hungary, is the spacecraft’s prime and platform provider, with ISISPACE of the Netherlands providing the attitude, determination and control system for high-accuracy pointing.
| Wavelength Coverage | 200 – 700 nm (UV – Visible) |
| Telescope | 13 cm Cassegrain |
| Spectral Resolution | 10.5 nm (max R=65) |
| Detector | CMOS Linear Array |
| Mass | 18.6 kg |
| Orbit | LEO 10:30 LTAN, 500 km |
Mauve’s data is made available to participating researchers through a three-year science programme, with those who sign up early being able to lead and shape the observational programme each year. Mauve’s current research priorities are:
- Stellar flares: Some of the coolest stars are subject to large explosions (flares) that produce high-energy emissions, occasionally outshining the star itself. Studying these events helps scientists understand how magnetic fields accumulate and release large amounts of energy, and understand similar events produced by our Sun.
- Young exoplanet hosts: Young stars with planets still taking shape around them reveal the early stages of planetary evolution. By studying these systems, scientists trace how planets grow, migrate, and settle into their mature orbits — offering clues to the history of our own Solar System.
- Hot stars: Hot stars emit abundant ultraviolet radiation, and Mauve will study both the youngest ones, surrounded by clouds of gas and dust, and some of the older ones, rapidly rotating and shedding material into surrounding disks of gas, affecting their evolution.
- Binary stars: Systems where two stars orbit one another are vital for testing theories of gravity, stellar mass, and evolution. Because their mutual orbits can be measured precisely, binaries offer the most accurate way to determine stellar masses, anchoring models of how all stars live and die.
Learn more about Mauve: https://bssl.space/mauve/
Media available at: https://bssl.space/mauve/resources/
The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101082738 and is supported by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Horizon Europe Guarantee Scheme.
About Blue Skies Space
Blue Skies Space is a company pioneering a new model to deliver high-quality space science data in accelerated timescales to the global scientific community, helping them to answer humanity’s greatest scientific questions. Through a fleet of low-Earth orbit satellites, the company aims to serve the global demand for high-quality science data across many research areas, including the monitoring of stars, understanding what the atmospheres of faraway exoplanets are made of, as well as the composition of asteroids in our Solar System.
With offices in the UK and Italy, Blue Skies Space has assembled an experienced team that has 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.
Learn more about Blue Skies Space: https://bssl.space/