Mauve was pointed at its first calibration target, eta UMa, a bright star in the constellation Ursa Major, approximately 104 light-years from Earth.
Read Moreabout ‘First light’ from Mauve heralds a new era for astronomical data
Mauve was launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-15 rideshare programme on 28 November 2025.
The project, named RadioLuna, aims to uncover whether a fleet of small satellites in a lunar orbit could detect faint radio signals from the universe’s earliest days—signals that are nearly impossible to pick up on Earth due to man-made radio interference.
Il progetto, denominato RadioLuna, consiste in una flotta di piccoli satelliti in orbita lunare per rilevare deboli segnali radio provenienti dai primordi dell’universo, segnali che sono quasi impossibili da captare sulla Terra a causa delle interferenze radio antropogeniche.
