Private company Blue Skies Space announced that its scientific satellite Mauve is scheduled to launch in October 2025. The satellite will be used by astronomers to study dynamic processes occurring on distant stars and exoplanets. Mauve is planned to be launched into low Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-15 co-flight program.

Mauve is the first Blue Skies Space satellite equipped with a 13cm telescope that will be used to collect data on hundreds of stars and observe them in both optical and ultraviolet wavelength ranges. The observations will focus on magnetic activity of stars and flares, similar to that seen on our Sun.

The Mauve telescope will also collect information about exoplanets (planets orbiting stars outside our solar system) and their potential habitats.

Blue Skies Space said researchers are being asked to sign up to make observations and submit suggestions for where the telescope should be pointed during its three-year mission.

Astronomers from Boston University, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Rice University, Vanderbilt University and Western University attended the event.

“The launch of Mauve will help accelerate the development of space science by providing wider access to more data in the ultraviolet range, complementing data from larger objects such as the Hubble Space Telescope. Mauve will help understand the behaviour of a population of nearby stars, many of which are more active than our Sun. By observing other stars with planets, we will better understand the behaviour of our Sun and its potential impact on Earth,” said Professor Giovanna Tinetti, Chief Scientist and Co-Founder of Blue Skies Space.