Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope
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The Microvariability and Oscillations of STars telescope, better known simply as MOST, is Canada's first and (as of mid-2005) only space telescope. It is also the smallest space telescope in the world.
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[edit] Mission parameters
- Launch Date:June 30, 2003 14:15 UTC
- Launch Vehicle: Rockot launcher
- Launch Site: Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia
- Perigee: 819 km
- Apogee: 832 km
- Inclination: 98.7°
- Period: 101.4 minutes
[edit] Description
As its name suggests, its primary mission is to monitor variations in star light, which it does by observing a single target for a long period of time (up to 60 days). Larger space telescopes cannot afford to remain focused on a single target for so long due to the demand for their resources.
At 53 kg (117 pounds) 65 cm wide and tall (2 feet each) and 30 cm (1 foot) deep, it is the size and weight of a small chest or an extra-large suitcase filled with electronics. This places it in the microsatellite category.
MOST was developed as a joint effort of the Canadian Space Agency, Dynacon Enterprises Limited, the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and the University of British Columbia. Led by Principal Investigator Jaymie Matthews, the MOST science team's plan is to use observations from MOST to use asteroseismology to help date the age of the universe, and to search for visible-light signatures from extrasolar planets.
MOST features an instrument comprising a visible-light dual-CCD camera, fed by a 15-cm aperture Maksutov telescope. One CCD gathers science images, while the other provides images used by star-tracking software that, along with a set of four reaction wheels (computer-controlled motorized flywheels that are similar to gyroscopes) maintain pointing accuracy of almost 1 arc-second, better pointing by far than any other microsatellite to date.
The design of the rest of MOST was inspired by and based on microsatellite bus designs pioneered by AMSAT, and first brought to commercial viability by the microsatellite company SSTL (based at the University of Surrey in the UK); during the early stages of MOST development, the core group of AMSAT microsatellite satellite designers advised and mentored the MOST satellite design team, via a know-how transfer arrangement with UTIAS. The team achieved additional cost savings by using antennas supplied by the Electromagnetics Group at New Mexico State University Physical Science Laboratory. Two of the four quadrifilar helix antennas are visible on the photograph. This approach to satellite design is notable for making use of commercial-grade electronics, along with an engineering development approach rather different from that used in most other space-engineering programs, to achieve relatively very low costs: MOST's life-cycle cost (design, build, launch and operate) is less than $10 million in Canadian funds (about 7 million Euros or 6 million USD, at exchange rates at time of launch).
The satellite is managed by the Canadian Space Agency's Space Science Branch, and was funded under its Small Payloads Program. It is expected to last for about five years. As of three and a half years after launch, despite failures of several of its components (one of the four reaction wheels and one of the two CCD driver boards), the satellite is still operating well, as a result of an on-going program of on-board software upgrades to improve performance and to reconfigure around failed units by exploiting built-in hardware redundancy.
[edit] Discoveries
The MOST team has reported a number of discoveries. In 2004, they reported that the star Procyon does not oscillate to the extent that had been expected[1], although this has been disputed. In 2006, observations revealed a previously unknown class of variable stars, the "slowly pulsating B supergiants" (SPBsg).[2] Further reports of discoveries are listed on the MOST science page at the University of British Columbia.
[edit] Trivia
Canadian media has referred to this as the humble space telescope, to contrast it with the Hubble Space Telescope.
[edit] See also
- Eddington mission (now cancelled)
- COROT
- Kepler Mission
- asteroseismology
[edit] References
- ^ CSA - Small Satellite Makes Big Discovery
- ^ [astro-ph/0606712] Most Detects G- and P-Modes in the B Supergiant HD 163899 (B2Ib/II)
