A report on the First Technology Demonstration mission of the Little UV Camera (LUVCam1)
Abstract
Here we report on the status of the first on-orbit technology demonstration of the Little UV Camera (LUVCam1). LUVCam1 is a 0.4U payload aboard the 2U cubesat GRBBeta that was launched in July 2024. The primary objective of the mission was to qualify the GSENSE4040 CMOS sensor and its readout electronics in preparation for the Quick UltraVIolet Kilonova Surveyor (QUVIK; Werner et al. \cite{Werner22, Werner24}) satellite. LUVCam will serve as the primary scientific camera for this mission. We report on the performance of the GSENSE4040FSI sensor used on LUVCam1, beginning with its in-lab characterization followed by an assessment of its on-orbit performance using astronomical observations made by LUVCam1. The camera remains operational two years later and has taken pictures of the Moon and stars that we show here. Through LUVCam1, we demonstrated an approach leveraging new-space to qualify the latest COTS CMOS sensors for astronomy missions.
Versions
Related
- The second Little UV Camera (LUVCam2) mission
- Proton acceleration at interplanetary shocks: A numerical study for the HENON mission
- Ensemble pulsational characteristics of eclipsing binaries containing β Cep stars observed by the TESS mission
- Exploring the faint limit of the ESA Plato space mission. A case study of extragalactic research with the self-lensing supermassive black hole binary candidate, Spikey
- VLT/X-Shooter spectroscopic characterisation of the Didymos system, target of the ESA Hera mission
BibTeX
@misc{silayan2026report,
title = {{A report on the First Technology Demonstration mission of the Little UV Camera (LUVCam1)}},
author = {Coby Silayan and Suresh Sivanandam and Aaron Tohuvavohu and Albert Lau and Marianna Dafčíková and Mark Barnet and Patrick Nkwari and Shaojie Chen and Gavin Hay and J. C. Fronteddu and Norbert Werner and Andras Pal and Filip Münz and Jakub Řípa and Emily Hu and Andy Gong},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.21252},
eprint = {2609.21252},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21252},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A report on the First Technology Demonstration mission of the Little UV Camera (LUVCam1)
AU - Coby Silayan
AU - Suresh Sivanandam
AU - Aaron Tohuvavohu
AU - Albert Lau
AU - Marianna Dafčíková
AU - Mark Barnet
AU - Patrick Nkwari
AU - Shaojie Chen
AU - Gavin Hay
AU - J. C. Fronteddu
AU - Norbert Werner
AU - Andras Pal
AU - Filip Münz
AU - Jakub Řípa
AU - Emily Hu
AU - Andy Gong
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.21252
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21252
AB - Here we report on the status of the first on-orbit technology demonstration of the Little UV Camera (LUVCam1). LUVCam1 is a 0.4U payload aboard the 2U cubesat GRBBeta that was launched in July 2024. The primary objective of the mission was to qualify the GSENSE4040 CMOS sensor and its readout electronics in preparation for the Quick UltraVIolet Kilonova Surveyor (QUVIK; Werner et al. \cite{Werner22, Werner24}) satellite. LUVCam will serve as the primary scientific camera for this mission. We report on the performance of the GSENSE4040FSI sensor used on LUVCam1, beginning with its in-lab characterization followed by an assessment of its on-orbit performance using astronomical observations made by LUVCam1. The camera remains operational two years later and has taken pictures of the Moon and stars that we show here. Through LUVCam1, we demonstrated an approach leveraging new-space to qualify the latest COTS CMOS sensors for astronomy missions.
ER -