ASTERIA (spacecraft)

ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) was a miniaturized space telescope technology demonstration and opportunistic science mission to conduct astrophysical measurements using a CubeSat. It was designed in collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. ASTERIA was the first JPL-built CubeSat to have been successfully operated in space. Originally envisioned as a project for training early career scientists and engineers, ASTERIA's technical goal was to achieve arcsecond-level line-of-sight pointing error and highly stable focal plane temperature control. These technologies are important for precision photometry, i.e., the measurement of stellar brightness over time. Precision photometry, in turn, provides a way to study stellar activity, transiting exoplanets, and other astrophysical phenomena.

ASTERIA was launched on 14 August 2017 and deployed into low Earth orbit from the International Space Station on 20 November 2017. The primary mission lasted 90 days, but the satellite continued operations for 745 days through three extended missions until last successful communications were made on December 5, 2019. The satellite decayed 24 April 2020. The Principal Investigator was Canadian-American astronomer and planetary scientist Sara Seager, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.