U-M astronomy will lead its first satellite mission with NASA grant

U-M astronomy will lead its first satellite mission with NASA grant
by Matt Davenport for UM News
Ann Arbor, MI (SPX) Feb 20, 2025

The first space mission led by the University of Michigan Department of Astronomy is scheduled to launch in 2029 with the support of a NASA grant worth $10 million.

The mission is called STARI-STarlight Acquisition and Reflection toward Interferometry-and will showcase the viability of a new technique for studying exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system.

The technique could be used in the future to better understand whether any of the exoplanets we know about are capable of supporting life as we know it.

"We've detected thousands of these planets and most by indirect means-in other words, not directly through the light they emit," said John Monnier, a U-M professor of astronomy and leader of the project. "It's time to change that."

The grant was awarded by the Astrophysics Research and Analysis program of NASA's Astrophysics Division.

Proof of technology

STARI itself isn't designed to show us new things about those planets. Rather, it will demonstrate a crucial technology for a powerful technique called interferometry to prove that larger, more expensive future missions can use this approach to look for signs of life on other planets.

Interferometry requires multiple satellites, separated by hundreds of yards, maneuvering in precise coordination to bounce starlight between each other. The satellites need to transmit light to each other with pinpoint accuracy while moving and being separated by roughly the length of a football field.

It's this level of control and stability that STARI intends to demonstrate using two small satellites called CubeSats. Both of STARI's satellites-named STARI-1 and STARI-2-are about the size of a briefcase.

"The most challenging aspect of the STARI mission will be achieving the precise coordination and control required for formation flying on a CubeSat platform," said Gautam Vasisht, a collaborator on the project and a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL.

The advantage of using CubeSats is that they cost a small fraction of what it would take to get a larger mission off the ground. Although they can't completely match the performance of bigger, more sophisticated satellites, CubeSats offer a lower cost way to prove components of the technology needed for those larger missions.

"By testing formation flying technologies on a CubeSat platform, STARI paves the way for future missions that could revolutionize our ability to study distant Earth-like planets," Vasisht said. "It's a demonstration of how innovative engineering and a strong collaboration can push the boundaries of what's possible in astronomy."

In addition to Vasisht of JPL, the team is joined by experts from across the country, led by Simone D'Amico at Stanford University, E. Glenn Lightsey at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Leonid Pogorelyuk at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI.

James Cutler, a professor of aerospace engineering who also spearheads the CubeSats Working Group in the U-M Space Institute, is also a co-investigator.

Research Report:STARI: STarlight Acquisition and Reflection toward Interferometry