The Preliminary Mauve Science Programme: Science themes identified for the first year of operations

TL;DR

Mauve addresses the ultraviolet data gap by performing low-resolution UV–visible spectroscopy (200–700 nm) on a 16U small satellite to enable extensive time-domain studies of stellar activity, exoplanet host environments, and exotic stellar populations. The paper outlines the platform, commissioning and calibration plans, and a Year 1 science programme of 10 themes spanning stellar flares, CME signatures, quiescent UV emission, young exoplanet hosts, Be and Herbig Ae/Be stars, and binaries, implemented through diverse observing cadences. Simulations and planning indicate strong scientific potential, with a flexible framework that can adapt to in-flight performance and new community members, and a pathway toward Mauve+ with higher spectral resolving power for detailed line studies. Collectively, Mauve aims to deliver broad UV coverage, inform planetary atmosphere models, guide future UV missions, and provide a valuable data library for time-domain astrophysics.

Abstract

Mauve is a low-cost small satellite developed and operated by Blue Skies Space Ltd. The payload features a 13 cm telescope connected with a fibre that feeds into a UV-Vis spectrometer. The detector covers the 200-700 nm range in a single shot, obtaining low resolution spectra at R~20-65. Mauve has launched on 28th November 2025, reaching a 510 km Low-Earth Sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite will enable UV and visible observations of a variety of stellar objects in our Galaxy, filling the gaps in the ultraviolet space-based data. The researchers that have already joined the mission have defined the science themes, observational strategy and targets that Mauve will observe in the first year of operations. To date, 10 science themes have been developed by the Mauve science collaboration for year 1, with observational strategies that include both long duration monitoring and short cadence snapshots. Here, we describe these themes and the science that Mauve will undertake in its first year of operations.

Figures (15)

• Figure 1: Candidate target list coloured by spectral type across the Mauve field of regard.
• Figure 2: Cumulative flare frequency as a function of the flare amplitude in the TESS bandpass (600-1000 nm). The flare data are taken from 2023ApJ...948...64I.
• Figure 3: Comparison of simulated spectra based on different models for flare continuum. The flare amplitude for all models is 2.4% in the TESS bandpass. The error bars represent three standard errors of mean for each bin.
• Figure 4: Post-flare coronal dimming associated with a CME detected in the Sun He II 30.4 nm line from SDO/EVE. The shaded region indicates the interval of CME-related dimming. While the He II line does not lie in the wavelength region covered by Mauve, the example illustrates that post-flare coronal dimming is associated with CME-related mass depletion. We expect analogous stellar coronal dimming events within the wavelength coverage of Mauve.
• Figure 5: Simulated Mauve SEDS (upper panel) and S/N (lower panel) for example K0V, G0V and F0V stars $V_{\mathrm{mag}}=6$ using an exposure time of 30 minutes.