UniBRITE-1
UniBRITE-1 is, along with TUGSAT-1, one of the first two Austrian satellites to be launched. Along with TUGSAT, it operates as part of the BRIght Target Explorer constellation of satellites. The two spacecraft were launched aboard the same rocket, an Indian PSLV-CA, in February 2013. UniBRITE is an optical astronomy spacecraft operated by the University of Vienna as part of the BRIght Target Explorer programme.
Features
UniBRITE-1 was manufactured by the of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, based on the Generic Nanosatellite Bus, and had a mass at launch of . The satellite will be used, along with five other spacecraft, to conduct photometric observations of stars with apparent magnitude of greater than 4.0 as seen from Earth. UniBRITE-1 was one of the first two BRITE satellites to be launched, along with the Austrian TUGSAT-1 spacecraft. Four more satellites, two Canadian and two Polish, were launched at later dates.UniBRITE-1 will observe the stars in the red color range whereas TUGSAT-1 will do it in blue. Due to the multicolour option, geometrical and thermal effects in the analysis of the observed phenomena are separated. The much larger satellites, such as MOST and CoRoT, both do not have this colour option. It will be extremely helpful in the diagnosis of the internal structure of stars. UniBRITE-1 will photometrically measure low-level oscillations and temperature variations in stars brighter than visual magnitude
, with unprecedented precision and temporal coverage not achievable through terrestrial based methods.