JPL Camera Technology Aboard Tiny NASA Spacecraft Returns First Images From Orbit

A miniature NASA spacecraft carrying ultraviolet camera technology developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena has returned its first images from orbit, the agency announced Thursday, confirming the telescope’s instruments are working and clearing the way for a one-year science mission.

The spacecraft, called SPARCS — short for Star-Planet Activity Research CubeSat — will study flares and sunspot activity on low-mass stars, among the most common in the Milky Way. Those stars host the majority of the galaxy’s roughly 50 billion habitable-zone terrestrial planets, according to a JPL press release. Understanding how the stars behave will help scientists assess whether those distant worlds could support life.

SPARCS launched Jan. 11 and transmitted its first images Feb. 6. The images were subsequently processed, and NASA announced the milestone Thursday. The milestone, known in astronomy as “first light,” proves that a spacecraft’s instruments are functioning in space and ready for full science operations, according to JPL.

Roughly the size of a large cereal box, SPARCS is the first spacecraft dedicated to continuously and simultaneously monitoring far-ultraviolet and near-ultraviolet radiation from low-mass stars for extended periods, according to JPL. Over its mission, it will target approximately 20 such stars and observe each for five to 45 days.

The camera at the heart of the mission — dubbed SPARCam — uses detector and filter technologies developed at JPL’s Microdevices Laboratory, a facility established in 1989. Shouleh Nikzad, JPL’s chief technologist and the lead developer of SPARCam, said her team built filters directly onto UV-sensitive “delta-doped” detectors, eliminating the need for a separate filter element. The result, according to JPL, is among the most sensitive UV imaging systems of its kind ever flown in space.

“We took silicon-based detectors — the same technology as in your smartphone camera — and we created a high-sensitivity UV imager. Then we integrated filters into the detector to reject the unwanted light. That is a huge leap forward to doing big science in small packages,” Nikzad said in the JPL press release.

Low-mass stars range from 30% to 70% the mass of the Sun. Though small, dim and cool compared to the Sun, they flare far more frequently, and those flares can dramatically affect the atmospheres of orbiting planets, according to JPL. Understanding the host star is key to understanding a planet’s habitability.

The mission also includes an onboard computer that can perform data processing and intelligently adjust the observation parameters to better sample the development of flares as they happen, according to JPL.

David Ardila, SPARCS instrument scientist at JPL, said the mission combines focused science, cutting-edge detectors and intelligent onboard processing.

“By watching these stars in ultraviolet light in a way we’ve never done before, we’re not just studying flares,” Ardila said in the press release. “These observations will sharpen our picture of stellar environments and help future missions interpret the habitability of distant worlds.”

The technology demonstrated by SPARCS paves the way for future NASA missions, according to JPL. Those include the Habitable Worlds Observatory, a proposed flagship mission, and UVEX, the UltraViolet EXplorer, which is led by Caltech in Pasadena.

SPARCS is funded by NASA and led by Arizona State University under NASA’s Astrophysics Research and Analysis program. NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative selected the mission in 2022 for a ride to orbit. Blue Canyon Technologies fabricated the spacecraft bus.

The mission will also demonstrate the detectors’ long-term performance in the space environment, Nikzad said.

“SPARCS serves to demonstrate their long-term performance in space,” she said.