Irish astrophysicists join satellite mission to study the hidden lives of stars

Ireland's Maynooth University has joined an international space science mission with the successful launch of Mauve, a small ultraviolet telescope developed by UK-based company Blue Skies Space.

The satellite, which was launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-15 on 28 November 2025, marks the beginning of a three-year mission to study how stars behave and how their activity influences the habitability of distant exoplanets.

With funding from Research Ireland, Maynooth University became a member of the Mauve Science Programme in August 2025. A research team from the Department of Physics, led by Dr Emma Whelan, will use Mauve to investigate how stars and planets form, focusing on a class of young stars known as Herbig Ae/Be stars.

Herbig Ae/Be stars are in a critical stage of development before they begin hydrogen fusion and become main sequence stars, like our Sun. Dr Whelan’s team will study their brightness over long periods to identify variability and search for signs of early planet formation.

"I am very excited to be embarking on this adventure with Mauve and eagerly anticipate the research opportunities it will bring,” Dr Whelan said. “Until now, my work has primarily relied on ground-based eight-metre-class telescopes, so Mauve represents an exciting new direction for me. Its monitoring capabilities will provide a fresh window on star formation and offer valuable new insights.”

The group plans to build light curves for a large sample of these stars, tracking how their brightness changes daily for up to three months. Comparing this data to observations of less massive stars may provide key insights into whether larger young stars form and develop planets in the same way as Sun-like stars.

The importance of the Mauve Space Programme is not only in its scientific goals but also in how it represents a new, faster, and more collaborative approach to doing space science. Designed and built in under three years, Mauve is a small, suitcase-sized satellite, weighing around 18kg, and equipped with a 13 cm telescope that observes in ultraviolet and visible light (200–700 nm).

Its compact design and commercial access model allow research institutions worldwide to subscribe to the science programme, gaining direct access to space-based data without relying on highly competitive national telescope allocations.

Along with Maynooth University, other research institutions that have subscribed to the Mauve Science Programme include Boston University, Columbia University, INAF’s Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Kyoto University, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Konkoly Observatory in Hungary, Rice University and Vanderbilt University in the US and Western University in Canada.

Speaking about the launch, Professor Giovanna Tinetti, Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Blue Skies Space said: “Mauve will open a new window on stellar activity that has previously been largely hidden from view. By observing stars in ultraviolet light, wavelengths that can’t be studied from Earth, we’ll gain a much deeper understanding of how stars behave and how their flares may impact the environment of orbiting exoplanets. Traditional ground-based telescopes just can’t capture this information, so a satellite like Mauve is crucial for furthering our knowledge.”

“Our vision is to make space science data as accessible as possible,” said Dr Marcell Tessenyi, CEO and Co-founder of Blue Skies Space. “Mauve will undergo commissioning before delivering datasets to scientists in early 2026 and serve as a springboard to launch a fleet of satellites addressing the global demand for space science data.”

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