CUTE
The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) investigated how intense stellar radiation drives atmospheric escape from close-orbiting giant exoplanets. Led by the University of Colorado Boulder’s LASP with NASA funding, it used ultraviolet transit observations from a 6U spacecraft. Launched on 27 September 2021, the mission returned its final data in mid-July 2026 after nearly five years, also providing practical training for students and early-career engineers.
Follow this mission
Alerts are unavailable because this mission is no longer active.
Identity
- Aliases
- Colorado Ultraviolet Transit ExperimentCUTE Mission
- Name
- CUTE
- Status
- completed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- The Colorado Ultraviolet Transit Experiment (CUTE) investigated how intense stellar radiation drives atmospheric escape from close-orbiting giant exoplanets. Led by the University of Colorado Boulder’s LASP with NASA funding, it used ultraviolet transit observations from a 6U spacecraft. Launched on 27 September 2021, the mission returned its final data in mid-July 2026 after nearly five years, also providing practical training for students and early-career engineers.
- Destination
- 560-km sun-synchronous Earth orbit for near-ultraviolet transit spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres and atmospheric escape
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2021-09-27
- Vehicle Families
- -
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 13, 2026 at 18:56:22 UTC
- Updated Time
- October 17, 2026 at 14:06:29 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- -
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles
- -