39091 - CANX 3A (BRITE-AUSTRIA)

CanX-3, also known as BRIght-star Target Explorer (BRITE), is a mission planned to make photometric observations of some of the brightest starts in the sky in order to examine these stars for variability. The observations will have a precision at least 10 times better than achievable using ground-based observations, and it will be packaged inside a CanX-class nanosatellite.

The design is a 20 cm cube, chosen to accommodate the main telescope. It leverages a number of technologies qualified on CanX-2 and incorporates SFL's high-performance attitude control system, using reaction wheels developed in collaboration with Sinclair Interplanetary.

The purpose of the BRITE-AUSTRIA / TUGSAT-1 project, funded by the Austrian Space Program, is the development of the first Austrian satellite. The scientific goal of this nanosatellite mission is the investigation of the brightness oscillations of massive luminous stars by differential photometry. The scientific instrument is an optical camera with a high-resolution CCD to take images from distant stars with magnitude of 3.5.

Alternate Names

CANX-3
TUGSAT-1

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2013-02-25
Launch Vehicle: PSLV-CA
Launch Site: Sriharikota, India