LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2025: Blue Skies Space has successfully completed the integrated payload tests and shipped the payload for integration into its first satellite, Mauve. This is a key milestone in Mauve’s construction, building up to its scheduled launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-15 in October 2025.
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 from Mauve will provide a greater understanding of stellar flares and their impact on the habitability of neighbouring exoplanets.
The payload, comprising the telescope, spectrometers and connecting fibres was assembled and tested at Media Lario S.r.l, Mauve’s telescope supplier and a high-performance optical solution provider based in Italy. Following successful tests, the payload was shipped to Budapest, Hungary where C3S LLC, the spacecraft prime will integrate them into the satellite platform.
Ian Stotesbury, Lead Systems Engineer at Blue Skies Space, said: “The integrated payload tests are an end-to-end verification of the optical system and allow us to validate the performance of the payload in the lab. The successful completion of these tests gives us increased confidence in the spacecraft’s modelled performance and allowed us to ship the components for integration into the spacecraft.”
These components are a vital part of the spacecraft and will be integrated into the platform along with other standard subsystems and the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) supplied by ISIS – Innovative Solutions in Space BV.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101082738.