The second Little UV Camera (LUVCam2) mission
Abstract
The second Little UltraViolet Camera (LUVCam2) is a 80mm-diameter dual UV-optical space telescope that will observe the UV flares around low-mass stars, with planned flight as a ∼1.4U payload aboard the 3U CubeSat BRNOsat in late 2027. We present the concept of operations, full system architecture, optomechanical, and electrical design for LUVCam2. LUVCam2 is the second technology demonstration for the LUVCam electronics board, with the first LUVCam (LUVCam1) still operating in low-Earth orbit (launched July 2024). The main upgrade of LUVCam2 is the use of the backside-illuminated GSENSE4040BSI CMOS sensor, promising significant improvement to UV quantum efficiency over the frontside-illuminated model used in LUVCam1. Other upgrades to LUVCam2 include the incorporation of the LUVCam on-board computer onto the readout electronics, an integrated 1W heater and thermal control system, and novel operational capability for LUVCam2 to perform on-sensor star-tracking using optical images of background stars.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{hu2026second,
title = {{The second Little UV Camera (LUVCam2) mission}},
author = {Emily Hu and Suresh Sivanandam and Albert Lau and Coby Silayan and Mark Barnet and Shaojie Chen and Gavin Hay and Nadim Hatoum and Aaron Tohuvavohu and Norbert Werner and Marianna Dafčíková and Filip Münz and Patrick Nkwari and Jakub Řípa and Andras Pal},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.26589},
eprint = {2609.26589},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26589},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The second Little UV Camera (LUVCam2) mission
AU - Emily Hu
AU - Suresh Sivanandam
AU - Albert Lau
AU - Coby Silayan
AU - Mark Barnet
AU - Shaojie Chen
AU - Gavin Hay
AU - Nadim Hatoum
AU - Aaron Tohuvavohu
AU - Norbert Werner
AU - Marianna Dafčíková
AU - Filip Münz
AU - Patrick Nkwari
AU - Jakub Řípa
AU - Andras Pal
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.26589
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26589
AB - The second Little UltraViolet Camera (LUVCam2) is a 80mm-diameter dual UV-optical space telescope that will observe the UV flares around low-mass stars, with planned flight as a ∼1.4U payload aboard the 3U CubeSat BRNOsat in late 2027. We present the concept of operations, full system architecture, optomechanical, and electrical design for LUVCam2. LUVCam2 is the second technology demonstration for the LUVCam electronics board, with the first LUVCam (LUVCam1) still operating in low-Earth orbit (launched July 2024). The main upgrade of LUVCam2 is the use of the backside-illuminated GSENSE4040BSI CMOS sensor, promising significant improvement to UV quantum efficiency over the frontside-illuminated model used in LUVCam1. Other upgrades to LUVCam2 include the incorporation of the LUVCam on-board computer onto the readout electronics, an integrated 1W heater and thermal control system, and novel operational capability for LUVCam2 to perform on-sensor star-tracking using optical images of background stars.
ER -