BRITE

BRITE

A replica of Heweliusz (BRITE-PL)
Country of origin	Canada Austria Poland
Applications	Astronomy
Specifications
Bus	Generic Nanosatellite Bus
Launch mass	10 kilograms (22 lb)
Dimensions	20 centimetres (7.9 in) cube
Regime	Low Earth
Production
Status	Operational
Built	6
Launched	6
Operational	3
Retired	2
Lost	1

BRITE-Constellation is an ongoing space mission carrying out two-band photometry in wide fields with a constellation of six (presently, three operational) BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) nanosatellites. The mission was built by a consortium of three countries, Canada, Austria, and Poland, each operating two BRITE satellites. The six satellites were launched into low-Earth orbits between February 2013 and August 2014. Each satellite is a cube-shaped spacecraft with sides of 20 centimetres (7.9 in) hosting an optical telescope of 3 centimetres (1.2 in) aperture feeding an uncooled CCD with a field of view of approximately 20° × 24°. The satellites were intended for photometry of the brightest stars in single passband located in the blue (three satellites) or red (the other three satellites) part of the optical range.